The Netherlands Antilles, previously known as the Netherlands West Indies or Dutch Antilles/West Indies, is part of the Lesser Antilles and consists of two groups of islands in the Caribbean Sea: Curaçao and Bonaire, just off the Venezuelan coast, and Sint Eustatius, Saba and Sint Maarten, located southeast of the Virgin Islands. The islands form an autonomous part of the Kingdom of the Netherlands. The islands' economy depends mostly upon tourism and petroleum.

The windward islands are all of volcanic origin and hilly, leaving little ground suitable for agriculture. The leeward islands have a mixed volcanic and coral origin. The highest point is Mount Scenery, 862 metres (2,828 ft), on Saba (also the highest point in all the Kingdom of the Netherlands).

The Netherlands Antilles have a tropical climate, with warm weather all year round. The windward Islands are subject to hurricanes in the summer months.

The Netherland Antilles have no major administrative divisions, although each island has its own local government.

The two island groups of which the Netherlands Antilles consists are:

* the "Leeward Islands" (Benedenwindse Eilanden), part of the Leeward Antilles island chain off the Venezuelan coast (along with Aruba):
o Bonaire, including an islet called Klein Bonaire ("Little Bonaire")
o Curaçao, including an islet called Klein Curaçao ("Little Curaçao")
* the "Windward Islands" (Bovenwindse Eilanden) east of Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands. These are part of what are in English called the Leeward Islands, but in e.g. French, Spanish, German, Dutch and the English spoken locally these are considered part of the Windward Islands.
o Saba
o Sint Eustatius
o Sint Maarten, the southern half of the island Saint Martin (the northern half, Saint-Martin, is French and former part of the overseas department of Guadeloupe).


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