Five Themes of Geography: Netherlands Antilles Edition By: Logan Stenzel, Riley Bakke, Raini Grams, Dillon Loft, Joe Archbold

Place If your traveling to the Netherland Antilles then there's a few thing you need to know. If your going to be buying anything the Netherlands Antillean guilder is something you will need. This is the type of money they use here. The climate is warm and tropical, moderated by northeast trade winds. Tourism is very important to there economy. They are known for having many jubilant and grand celebrations. In one of there best celebrations it is common to see people parading down the streets in crazy and flamboyant costumes for HOURS. In this celebration you'll likely see colorful, impressive floats, live band preforming in the streets and even a few beauty contests. This celebration is called Carnival. They also having quite dramatic celebrations for birthdays, well, some birthdays. The fifth, fifteenth and the fiftieth birthdays are celebrated, others birthdays aren't celebrated with quite so much gusto. Eighty one percent of the population is Roman Catholic. The also have lots of scrumptious meals. Some of these meals are; funchi (corn soup), pan bati (A pancake made from corn flour, and carni stoba (goat stew).

Location The Netherlands Antilles are located in the beautiful Caribbean and are comprised five islands. They are the islands of Aruba, Bonaire, Curacao, and the Leeward islands. The largest island is Curacao it has a population of 158,334 and is know for its beautifully designed buildings and colorful houses. The Curacao is also a hot tourist spot because of its beautiful beaches. The islands are also know for having airplanes fly just above the beach. They also have their own soccer team that was founded in It also has many places where people cliff dive into the Atlantic ocean. The languages that are spoken there are Dutch, Papiamento, and English.

Human intercations There is great fishing in Netherlands Antilles. There are type of fish such as bar jack and blue tang. The products of agriculture are tobacco, sugar and cotton. Tourism affects the environment because people need to stay somewhere so they have to make resorts. Limestone is a huge part of the island and is mined for construction. The island is not part of the hurricane belt and because of the northeast trade wind the heat and humidity are less making a prime tourist destination.

Movement After a long international flight, you spy a narrow strip of beach ahead and you notice your plane’s nose dipping down to make a landing! As you dive down towards the beach you scrape over a chain-link fence and touchdown at Princess Juliana International Airport! The Netherlands Antilles is a Dutch territory. The Dutch originally fancied the rich salt deposits of the region. Besides the rich salt deposits the five islands of Netherlands Antilles were in an ideal location for a trading hub for the tragic and inhumane transatlantic slave trade. The islands facilitated what is known as Entrepôt trade. An Entrepôt is a port where goods are taken for import, export, collection, and distribution. Nowadays there is a prestigious sailing regatta that flocks of experienced sailors come to compete in. The Bonaire International Sailing Regatta is a great opportunity for experienced sailors to experience the beautiful beaches and brilliant blue waters. The Netherlands Antilles is one of the few Caribbean islands that doesn’t rely on the export of sugar. Instead oil is the main fuel for the Netherlands Antilles medium sized economy. Oil is imported from Brazil’s rich oil fields, then refined in the Netherlands Antilles, and exported around the world.

Region The Netherlands Antilles have a beautiful tropical climate. There are many amazing Cristian and Roman Catholic churches. If you visit the capital, Willemstad, you will learn that the government is a constitutional monarchy. You may also learn that some islands broke away from the Netherlands Antilles on October 10, Also, the main language of the Netherlands Antilles is English-based creole.

Fun Facts The Netherland Antilles has a literacy rate of Ninety seven percent. The Netherland Antilles is a territory of The Netherlands. Willemstad is their capital. Tennis courts are sometimes used for playing basketball on the island of Saba. Seventeen percent of the population is unimployed. Their national holiday is Queens day April thirtieth. The Netherland Antilles have five airports and yet have no high ways. The average lifespan of people here is seventy seven years Their flag has three colors on it. Red, white, and blue. Like our flag.