The neighboring Dutch colony of Surinam in continental South America, did not become part of the Netherlands Antilles but became a separate autonomous country in 1954.

All the territories that belonged to the Netherlands Antilles remain part of the kingdom today, although the legal status of each differs.

[citation needed] This island subregion was located in the southern Caribbean Sea off the north coast of Venezuela.

Spanish explorers discovered both the leeward (Alonso de Ojeda, 1499) and windward (Christopher Columbus, 1493) island groups in the late 16th century.

Although this regulation was replaced by a constitution (Dutch: Staatsregeling) in 1936, the changes to the government structure remained superficial and Curaçao continued to be ruled as a colony.

[9] With the exception of Aruba, where slavery was not as widespread as the island was considered too dry by the Dutch for large-scale plantations.

During the war, the British and American occupation of the islands – with the consent of the Dutch government – led to increasing demands for autonomy within the population as well.

Even though the referendums held in the early 1990s resulted in a vote in favour of retaining the Netherlands Antilles, the arrangement continued to be an unhappy one.

The acts of parliament integrating the "BES" islands (Bonaire, Sint Eustatius and Saba) into the Netherlands were given royal assent on 17 May 2010.

There are three Caribbean islands that are countries (Dutch: landen) within the Kingdom of the Netherlands: Aruba, Curaçao, and Sint Maarten.

The Netherlands Antilles were not part of the European Union, but instead listed as overseas countries and territories (OCTs).

[needs update] Tourism, petroleum transshipment and oil refinement (on Curaçao), as well as offshore finance were the mainstays of this small economy, which was closely tied to the outside world.

The islands enjoyed a high per capita income and a well-developed infrastructure as compared with other countries in the region.

[24] Almost all consumer and capital goods were imported, with Venezuela, the United States, and Mexico being the major suppliers, as well as the Dutch government which supports the islands with substantial development aid.

A large percentage of the Netherlands Antilleans descended from European colonists and African slaves who were brought and traded there from the 17th to 19th centuries.

The rest of the population originated from other Caribbean islands as well as Latin America, East Asia and elsewhere in the world.

[citation needed] The language Papiamentu was predominant on Curaçao and Bonaire (as well as the neighboring island of Aruba).

This creole descended from Portuguese and West African languages with a strong admixture of Dutch, plus subsequent lexical contributions from Spanish and English.

After a decades-long debate, English and Papiamentu were made official languages alongside Dutch in early March 2007.

On the other hand, immigrants from the Dominican Republic, Haiti, the Anglophone Caribbean and Colombia had increased their presence on these islands in later years.

Several players have made it to the Major Leagues, such as Xander Bogaerts, Andrelton Simmons, Hensley Meulens, Randall Simon, Andruw Jones, Kenley Jansen, Jair Jurrjens, Roger Bernadina, Sidney Ponson, Didi Gregorius, Shairon Martis, Wladimir Balentien, and Yurendell DeCaster.

Andruw Jones played for the Atlanta Braves in the 1996 World Series hitting two home runs in his first game against the New York Yankees.

[28] The late Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez claimed that the Netherlands was helping the United States to invade Venezuela due to military games in 2006.