Bonaire, Sint Eustatius and Saba — books & literature

The story of Bonaire, Sint Eustatius and Saba

Long before Europeans arrived, Caquetío people paddled from the Venezuelan coast to settle Bonaire around a thousand years ago, while Amerindian voyagers of the wider Lesser Antilles passed through Saba and Sint Eustatius. Christopher Columbus's expedition sighted the islands in 1493, and Spain claimed Bonaire in 1499, later dismissing it as an "Isla Inútil" , a useless island , for its dry, salt-crusted terrain. The Dutch West India Company seized Bonaire and Sint Eustatius in 1636, turning Bonaire into a plantation and salt-pan colony worked by enslaved Africans, while Sint Eustatius grew into "The Golden Rock," an 18th-century free port so busy with contraband trade that its cannons fired the First Salute to the American flag in 1776. Saba, settled by the Dutch around 1640, built a fiercely self-reliant community of fishers, sailors and lace-makers on its single dormant volcano. Slavery was abolished across the Dutch Caribbean in 1863. All three islands remained part of the Netherlands Antilles until that federation dissolved in 2010, when Bonaire, Sint Eustatius and Saba became special municipalities of the Netherlands , the Caribbean Netherlands , adopting the US dollar in 2011. Today each keeps its own distinct island character, bound together mainly by shared Dutch governance.

Timeline — key moments

1. circa 1000

   Caquetío people from the Venezuelan coast settle Bonaire.

2. 1493

   Christopher Columbus's expedition sights Saba and Sint Eustatius on his second voyage.

3. 1499

   Spanish explorers Alonso de Ojeda and Amerigo Vespucci claim Bonaire for Spain.

4. 1636

   The Dutch West India Company seizes Bonaire and Sint Eustatius from Spain.

5. circa 1640

   Dutch settlers establish a colony on Saba.

6. 1776

   Fort Oranje on Sint Eustatius fires the "First Salute" to the American flag (16 November).

7. 1863

   Slavery is abolished throughout the Dutch Caribbean.

8. 1954

   The Netherlands Antilles becomes an autonomous country within the Kingdom of the Netherlands.

9. 2010

   The Netherlands Antilles dissolves; Bonaire, Sint Eustatius and Saba become special municipalities of the Netherlands (10 October).

10. 2011

    The US dollar replaces the Netherlands Antillean guilder as official currency (1 January).

Top 10 things to know about Bonaire, Sint Eustatius and Saba

1. Bonaire, Sint Eustatius and Saba are not a country but three special municipalities of the Netherlands, nicknamed the "BES islands."
2. Each island keeps its own seat: Kralendijk on Bonaire, Oranjestad on Sint Eustatius, and The Bottom on Saba.
3. The US dollar has been the official currency since 1 January 2011.
4. Saba's Mount Scenery (887 m) is the highest point in the entire Kingdom of the Netherlands.
5. Sint Eustatius was known as "The Golden Rock," an 18th-century free port that helped arm the American Revolution.
6. Bonaire is ranked among the world's top shore-diving destinations, ringed almost entirely by a protected marine park.
7. Papiamentu, a creole blending Portuguese, Spanish, Dutch and West African roots, is the everyday language of most Bonaireans.
8. Saba has no beaches , its only flat ground is a single short airstrip cut into volcanic rock.
9. Rincon, on Bonaire, founded by the Spanish in the early 1500s, is one of the oldest towns in the Dutch Caribbean.
10. Bonaire protects one of the Caribbean's largest Caribbean flamingo populations at its Pekelmeer sanctuary.

Famous people from Bonaire, Sint Eustatius and Saba

Say it in Bonaire, Sint Eustatius and Saba's language

Did you know?

• ★Sint Eustatius's 1776 First Salute is widely cited as the first formal foreign acknowledgment of American independence.
• ★Saba's Mount Scenery (887 m) is higher than any point in the European Netherlands.
• ★Bonaire's surrounding waters have been a protected marine park since 1979, one of the oldest in the Caribbean.

Bonaire, Sint Eustatius and Saba culture

• Papiamentu, rooted in Portuguese and West African speech, is spoken day-to-day by most Bonaireans alongside official Dutch.
• Rincon, Bonaire's oldest town, hosts the Dia di Rincon festival each April with music, food and folklore.
• "Saba lace," a fine drawn-thread embroidery historically stitched by island women, remains a signature Saban craft.
• Diving and windsurfing shape Bonaire's modern identity, drawing visitors to its coral reefs and steady trade winds.

Why read Bonaire, Sint Eustatius and Saba's books

Writing from these small Dutch Caribbean islands blends Papiamentu oral tradition, Dutch-language scholarship, and stories of trade, slavery and survival at sea , a modest but distinct shelf worth discovering.