Kingdom of The Netherlands
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Caribbean elements of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, like Aruba and the Dutch Antilles, and former colonies of the Netherlands, such as Suriname, have large Creole populations consisting mostly of the descendants of slaves.
When freed during the 19th century, the ancestors of these people received surnames which were given by their former owners, many of which referred to a specific character trait. For example Aruban governor Frits Goedgedrag's name is Dutch for "good behavior", whereas football player Edson Braafheid's name means "goodness".
Many kept these names, while others later chose their own. The new names were often in the local Spanish-based creole language, and subsequently changed to 'proper' Spanish by Dutch officials. This explains why many Arubans and some Surinamese have Spanish surnames, but no Spanish ancestry.
Read more about this topic: Slave Name
Famous quotes containing the words kingdom of the, kingdom of, kingdom and/or netherlands:
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—Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–1882)
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—Bible: New Testament, Matthew 13:44.
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—Bible: New Testament, Matthew 6:9-13.
“Greece is a sort of American vassal; the Netherlands is the country of American bases that grow like tulip bulbs; Cuba is the main sugar plantation of the American monopolies; Turkey is prepared to kow-tow before any United States pro-consul and Canada is the boring second fiddle in the American symphony.”
—Andrei Andreyevich Gromyko (1909–1989)