Former Colonies
The Caribbean islands of Aruba, Curaçao, Sint Maarten, Bonaire, Sint Eustatius and Saba are dependencies of the Netherlands. The latter three are part of the Netherlands proper and are collectively known as the Caribbean Netherlands. Suriname and Indonesia became independent of the Netherlands in the period of decolonization: Suriname in 1975 and Indonesia in 1945 (it was not until 16 August 2005 that the Dutch government recognized 1945 - and not 1949 - as the country's year of independence).
Read more about this topic: Foreign Relations Of The Netherlands
Famous quotes containing the word colonies:
“All Protestantism, even the most cold and passive, is a sort of dissent. But the religion most prevalent in our northern colonies is a refinement on the principle of resistance; it is the dissidence of dissent, and the Protestantism of the Protestant religion.”
—Edmund Burke (1729–1797)
“So that’s our new flag. The thing we’ve been fighting for—thirteen stripes for the colonies and thirteen stars in a circle for the union.”
—Lamar Trotti (1898–1952)