Everyone’s aware of the U.K. being comprised of four constituent countries, but so is the Kingdom of the Netherlands. Even more remarkably, the Kingdom of the Netherlands is the only independent state in the world that uses 4 different currencies within its boundaries.
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A few other fun facts (I’ll edit as I remember more):
* The Kingdom of the Netherlands is the only country in Europe that uses the U.S. Dollar in an integral part of its territory (Bonaire, Saba, Sint Eustatius). These 3 islands (called special municipalities) have a whopping 26,000 people, or 0.14% of the Country of the Netherlands.
* The United Kingdom is the country that uses the most currencies when you include British Overseas Territories (from the Euro in Akrotiri and Dhekelia to the U.S. Dollar in the British Virgin Islands and the Turks and Caicos Islands).
* *However*, the British Overseas Territories do not form part of the United Kingdom itself, whereas Aruba, Curacao and Sint Maarten are integral parts of the Kingdom of the Netherlands on the same legal footing as Northern Ireland, Scotland, and Wales in the U.K. (of course with far less influence given the Country of the Netherlands is 98% of the Kingdom’s population).
* France has many overseas holdings, but all except for French Polynesia, New Caledonia, and Wallis and Futuna use the Euro (they instead use the CFP Franc). As with the U.K. above, however, the only overseas regions of France that are integral parts of the French Republic are: French Guiana, Guadeloupe, Martinique, Mayotte, and Réunion. All use the Euro.
* The Kingdom of the Netherlands is the only independent state who is split on EU membership. The Country of the Netherlands is an EU member, but Aruba, Curaçao, and Sint Maarten are not. This arrangement would be akin to Scotland being an EU member, but not England.
* *However,* there is no such legal distinction among citizens. All citizens of any constituent country in the Kingdom are Dutch citizens and, therefore, EU citizens. So Aruba is not in the EU but a Dutch citizen from Aruba is an EU citizen by virtue of his/her Dutch nationality.
* Although the ABC Islands are often grouped together due to proximity, they are all in different countries of the Kingdom: Aruba is its own country, Bonaire joined the Country of the Netherlands in 2010, and Curacao is its own country. There’s a shocking amount of petty jostling between them, hence why the Netherlands Antilles collapsed: [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dissolution_of_the_Netherlands_Antilles](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dissolution_of_the_Netherlands_Antilles)
The Netherlands is after all a former colonial power. Major power. In the 1950’s they were fighting heavily in Indonesia. I read that in the late 90’s from Brother Andrew’s book “God’s Smuggler”.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Andrew_van_der_Bijl
This guy smuggled bibles to the Soviet Union with some Volkswagen Beetle in the 1950’s.
A special bunch we are 🙂