Dependence and autonomy in sub-national island jurisdictions : the case of the kingdom of the Netherlands

I thank Godfrey Baldacchino and David Milne for their stimulating criticism on earlier drafts of this chapter, as well as the anonymous reviewers for The Round Table for additional useful suggestions. Much of the empirical matter presented in this chapter is based on Oostindie and Klinkers (2001, 2003). More elaborate analyses, references and background materials to this brief sketch of Dutch Caribbean decolonization may be found in these texts.Two centuries after the Haitian revolution the decolonization of the Caribbean still seems incomplete; nor is this situation likely to change in the near future. Of the four major European colonizers, only Spain has been forced to retreat from the region. With Puerto Rico (3.8 million people) and the US Virgin Islands (110000), the USA has the largest share of the population in the non-sovereign Caribbean, followed by France with its departements d'outre-mer (DOM, roughly 1 million), The Netherlands with the Netherlands Antilles (180000) and Aruba (90000), and the UK with its overseas territories (155000). In all, some 15% of the 37 million people living in the Caribbean today reside in non-sovereign territories.peer-reviewe

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Much has been written on the post-war decolonisation in the Caribbean, but rarely from a truly comparative perspective, and seldom with serious attention to the former Dutch colonies of Surinam, the Netherlands Antilles and Aruba. This study bridges both gaps. In their analysis of Dutch decolonisation policies since the 1940s, the authors discuss not only political processes, but also development aid, the Dutch Caribbean exodus to the metropolis and cultural antagonisms. A balance is drawn both of the costs and benefits of independence in the Caribbean and of the outlines and results of the policies pursued in the non-sovereign Caribbean by France, the Netherlands, the United Kingdom and the United States

El Caribe holandés

"Paradise Overseas" presents a tour around the main themes of Dutch Caribbean history and its contemporary legacies. Drawing on wide expertise in Caribbean and Latin American studies, Gert Oostindie strongly posits a refreshing analysis of the Dutch Caribbean in a comparative framework which will be of interest to historians, anthropologists and political scientists alike. Rather than aiming at a comprehensive narrative, he offers a thematic discussion of topics such as the contrasts between Dutch colonization in the Americas and Asia; African slavery, Asian indentured labour and the shaping of plural societies in the Dutch Caribbean; the major contrasts between and within the six Antillean islands and Suriname; the different trajectories of decolonisation and their subsequent costs and benefits; and the changing significance of ethnicity and national identity both in the Dutch Caribbean and its diaspora

Gedeeld Koninkrijk

Dutch Antilles and the Netherland

Sporen van de slavernij in Leiden

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Sytze van der Veen, Groot-Nederland & Groot-Colombia 1815-1830. De droom van Willem I

Sytze van der Veen, Groot-Nederland & Groot-Colombia 1815-1830. De droom van Willem I (Hilversum: Verloren, 2015, 272 pp., isbn 978 90 8704 545 6)