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Netherlands Antilles - -66.050007 15.045461

Netherlands Antilles Dutch Antillean Flag - White, with a horizontal blue stripe in the center superimposed on a vertical red band, also centered; five white, five-pointed stars are arranged in an oval pattern in the center of the blue band; the five stars represent the five main islands of Bonaire, Curacao, Saba, Sint Eustatius, and Sint Maarten.

Weather
Tropical; ameliorated by northeast trade winds.

Terrain
Generally hilly, volcanic interiors.

Currency
Netherlands Antillean Guilder (ANG)

Languages
Dutch (official), Papiamento (a Spanish-Portuguese-Dutch-English dialect) predominates, English widely spoken, Spanish

Religion
Roman Catholic, Protestant, Jewish, Seventh-Day Adventist

Ethnic groups
mixed black 85%, Carib Amerindian, white, East Asian

History
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.