Netherlands Antilles

Population: 212,226 (July 2001 est.)

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

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...

Currency: Netherlands Antillean guilder (ANG, No information)

Data from CIA World Factbook. Click on CIA link for more. Click on map or flag for larger images.