NETHERLANDS ANTILLES

n. group of several islands in the Caribbean Sea that make up an autonomous territory of the Netherlands

The Netherlands Antilles ( ), previously known as the Netherlands West Indies or Dutch Antilles/West Indies, are part of the Lesser Antilles and consist of two groups of islands in the Caribbean Sea: Curaçao and Bonaire, just off the Venezuelan coast, and Sint Eustatius, Saba and Sint Maarten, located southeast of the Virgin Islands. The islands form an autonomous part of the Kingdom of the Netherlands. The islands' economy depends mostly upon tourism and petroleum.
See more at Wikipedia.org...

Noun
1. a group of islands in the Lesser Antilles just north of Venezuela that are administered by The Netherlands
(hypernym) island
(part-holonym) Lesser Antilles, Caribees
(part-meronym) Aruba

Flag of Netherlands Antilles
Background Once the center of the Caribbean slave trade, the island of Curacao was hard hit by the abolition of slavery in 1863. Its prosperity (and that of neighboring Aruba) was restored in the early 20th century with the construction of oil refineries to service the newly discovered Venezuelan oil fields. The island of Saint Martin is shared with France; its southern portion is named Sint Maarten and is part of the Netherlands Antilles; its northern portion is called Saint-Martin and is part of Guadeloupe (France). Map of Netherlands Antilles More about Netherlands Antilles: Geography People Government Economy Communications Transportation Military Transnational Issues

Chief of state: Queen BEATRIX of the Netherlands (since 30 April 1980); represented by Governor General Frits GOEDGEDRAG (since 1 July 2002)

Head of government: Prime Minister Emily de JONGH-ELHAGE (since 26 March 2006)

Cabinet: Council of Ministers elected by the Staten (legislature)

Elections: the monarch is hereditary; governor general appointed by the monarch for a six-year term; following legislative elections, the leader of the majority party is usually elected prime minister by the Staten; election last held 27 January 2006 (next to be held by 2010)

note: government coalition - PAR, PNP, DP-St. M, UPB, WIPM Saba, DP-St. E