ph.
two widely separated groups of islands in the Caribbean Sea, in the Lesser Antilles. The southernmost group, situated just off the north coast of Venezuela, consists of the islands of Bonaire and Curaçao. The northern group comprises the islands of St. Eustatius, St. Martin, and Saba. In 1954, the islands were granted self-government and became an autonomous region of the Netherlands. The Netherlands Antilles were dissolved in 2010, with Curaçao and St Martin becoming self-governing territories and the other islands becoming municipalities of the Netherlands.
