Netherlands Antilles

The name Aruba most likely came from the Caiquetio Oruba which means "Well situated island", seeing as it was the Caiquetio who were present on the island when it was first set foot upon by Alonso de Ojeda. Between 1529 and the signing of the Treaty of Westphalia (1648), the name "Isla de Oruba" was used for the island by the Spanish. After the signing, the island was ceded to the Dutch and gradually its name changed to Aruba.

Aruba is a generally flat, riverless island in the Leeward Antilles island arc of the Lesser Antilles in the southern part of the Caribbean. It lies 77 km (48 mi) west of Curaçao and 29 km (18 mi) north of Venezuela's Paraguaná Peninsula. Aruba has white sandy beaches on the western and southern coasts of the island, relatively sheltered from fierce ocean currents. This is where the bulk of the population live and where most tourist development has occurred. The northern and eastern coasts, lacking this protection, are considerably more battered by the sea and have been left largely untouched. As of 2022, Aruba only has 2.3% of forest-covered land area and only 0.5% of protected natural area.

The name 'Bonaire' is thought to be derived from the Caquetio word 'Bonay', meaning 'low country'. The early Spanish and Dutch modified its spelling to Bojnaj and also Bonaire. French influence, while present at various times, was never strong enough to make the assumption that the name means 'good air'. According to another theory, the name might be derived from the Spanish phrase "buen aire", which does mean 'good air', as the Spanish were the first Europeans to colonise the island.

Bonaire lies about 80 kilometres (50 mi) off the coast of Venezuela on the continental shelf of South America, and is thus geologically considered a part of the continent. Geologists believe that Bonaire was formed relatively recently. As the nearby continental shelf (now located near Montserrat, and the cause of the volcanic activity on that island) moved through the area, it forced a large mass of rock to the ocean surface and created the islands of the Lesser and Greater Antilles, including Bonaire. As the seabed rose a vast coral reef grew on what is now dry land. These corals were eventually exposed to air and perished, becoming surface limestone deposits over the millennia. Vast amounts of coral skeletons may be seen along the shoreline and across the interior of Bonaire. The island is essentially a coral reef that has been geologically pushed up and out of the sea. This also resulted in the natural fringing reef system seen today, in which the coral formations start at the shoreline. Tidal variations are only about 55–60 centimetres (1.8–2.0 ft), so the corals start at the low tide line and continue on, following the underwater topology of the island's base. Bonaire's tides are more affected by a combination of wind and low/ high-pressure systems than by the moon.

One explanation for the island's name is that Curaçao was the autonym by which its indigenous peoples identified themselves.[16] Early Spanish accounts support this theory, referring to the indigenous peoples as Indios Curaçaos. From 1525, the island was featured on Spanish maps as Curaçote, Curasaote, Curasaore, and even Curacaute.[18] By the 17th century, it appeared on most maps as Curaçao or Curazao. On a map created by Hieronymus Cock in 1562 in Antwerp, the island was called Qúracao. A persistent but undocumented story claims the following: in the 16th and 17th centuries—the early years of European exploration—when sailors on long voyages got scurvy from lack of vitamin C, sick Portuguese or Spanish sailors were left on the island now known as Curaçao. When their ship returned, some had recovered, probably after eating vitamin C-rich fruit there. From then on, the Portuguese allegedly referred to the island as Ilha da Curação (Island of Healing)[12] or the Spanish as Isla de la Curación.

Curaçao, as well as the rest of the ABC islands and Trinidad and Tobago, lies on the continental shelf of South America. It is a thin island with a generally hilly topography; the highest point is Christoffelberg in the northwest, with a peak at 372 m (1,220 ft) above sea level. The coastline's bays, inlets and hot springs offer a source of natural minerals, thermal conditions, and seawater used in hydrotherapy and mesotherapy, making the island one of many balneoclimateric areas in the region. Off the southeast coast lies the small, flat island of Klein Curaçao.

Theories about the origin of Saba's name include siba (the Arawakan word for 'rock'), sabot, sábado, and Sheba. The island was referred to by its present name, Saba, as early as 1595 when it appeared in a voyage account by John Hawkins. Before its present name, the island was designated "St. Christopher" (San Cristóbal) by Christopher Columbus.

Saba is a small island at 13 square kilometres (5.0 sq mi) in size and roughly circular in shape. It lies north-west of Sint Eustatius and south-west of Saint Barthélemy and Sint Maarten. The terrain is generally mountainous, culminating in Mount Scenery in the island's centre. Off the north coast lies the much smaller Green Island. Saba is the northernmost active volcano in the Lesser Antilles Volcanic Arc chain of islands. At 887 metres (2,910 ft), Mount Scenery is also the highest point within the Kingdom of the Netherlands. The island is composed of a single rhombus-shaped volcano measuring 4.6 kilometres (2.9 mi) east to west and 4.0 kilometres (2.5 mi) north to south[35] The oldest dated rocks on Saba are around 400,000 years old, and the most recent eruption was shortly before the 1630s European settlement (280 years B.P.). Between 1995 and 1997, an increase in local seismic activity was associated with a 7–12 °C (13–22 °F) rise in the temperature of the hot springs on the island's northwest and southeast coasts.

The island's name, Sint Eustatius, is Dutch for Saint Eustace (also spelled Eustachius or Eustathius), a legendary Christian martyr, known in Spanish as San Eustaquio and in Portuguese as Santo Eustáquio or Santo Eustácio. The island's prior Dutch name was Nieuw Zeeland ('New Zeeland'), named by the Zeelanders who settled there in the 1630s. It was renamed Sint Eustatius shortly thereafter.[12] The indigenous name for the island is Aloi meaning "cashew island" (origin Arawak).

Sint Eustatius is 6 miles (10 km) long and up to 3 miles (5 km) wide.[52] Topographically, the island is saddle-shaped, with the 602-meter-high dormant volcano Quill (Mount Mazinga), (from Dutch kuil, meaning 'pit'—originally referring to its crater) to the southeast and the smaller summits of Signal Hill/Little Mountain (or Bergje) and Boven Mountain to the northwest. The Quill crater is a popular tourist attraction on the island. The bulk of the island's population lives in the flat saddle between the two elevated areas, which forms the centre of the island.

The island was named by Christopher Columbus in honour of St Martin of Tours, as he first sighted it on the saint's feast day on 11 November 1493. "Sint Maarten" is Saint Martin in Dutch.

Sint Maarten occupies the southern part of the island of Saint Martin in the Leeward Islands; the northern half forms the French territory of Saint Martin. To the north across the Anguilla Channel lies the British Overseas Territory of Anguilla, to the south-east of the island lies the French island of Saint Barthélemy, and further south are the Dutch islands of Saba and Saint Eustatius. Sint Maarten is 34 km2 (13 sq mi). The terrain is generally hilly, with the highest peak being Mount Flagstaff at 383m.[5] The area to the west around the airport is flatter, and contains the Dutch section of the Simpson Bay Lagoon. The Great Salt Pond lies to north of Philipsburg. Several small islands lie off the coast. Little Key lies in the Simpson Bay Lagoon.