ST. EUSTATIUS (STATIA)

The second largest of the three Dutch Wind ward (Bovenwindse) Netherlands Antilles, with about 3,000 inhabi tants who live between two mountains, of which the Quill is an extinct volcano. In 1636, the Dutch West India Company conquered the is land from the French. It became very profitable as a transit port, for in stance, for selling arms during the American Warof Independence. At that time, some 30,000 people were living there. The answering of the salute fire of a ship flying the U.S. flag in 1776 provoked the English. They declared war on the Dutch a few years later and took St. Eustatius in 1781. However, it was returned to the Dutch in 1816. The main lan guage remained English. The island’s administration—the authority and his deputies and the council of five members—is located in the capital of Oranjestad. Tourism has become the main source of earnings. In 2005, a plebiscite showed that the majority of St. Eustatius residents wish to maintain the present constitutional situation, in contrast to the other Netherlands Antilles. Because of this situation, Sint Eustatius will have another status in 2008.

See also Colonies; Statute of the Kingdom of the Netherlands.