|
Saba Island
More Caribbean Islands Travel Guide - Hotels - Rental Cars and
Resort vacations
Find a premier Hotel & Resort at
Hilton Hotels.
or book Sheraton Hotels and Resorts
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Saba (pronounced "SAY-ba") is the
smallest island of the Netherlands Antilles,
located at latitude 63.13 degrees West,
longitude 17.38 degrees North. It consists
largely of the extinct volcano, Mount Scenery
(888 m), the highest point of the Kingdom of the
Netherlands.
Saba has a land area of 13 km² (5 sq. miles). At
the 2001 Netherlands Antilles census, the
population was 1,349 inhabitants, which means a
population density of 104 inh. per km². In 2004
the population was estimated at 1,424
inhabitants.
Its current major settlements include The
Bottom, Windwardside, Hell's Gate and St. Johns.
Despite the island's Dutch affiliation, English
is the principal language spoken on the island
and has been used in its school system since
1986. A medical school on the island adds as
many as 300 residents when classes are in
session and is the prime educational attraction.
History
Christopher Columbus is rumored to have sighted
Saba on November 13, 1493, but did not land. In
1632 on Saba a group of shipwrecked Englishmen
landed upon Saba, but claimed they found the
island uninhabited and were retrieved by others.
In 1635 a stray Frenchman claimed Saba for Louis
XIII of France and around the year 1640, Holland
sent Dutch peoples from the neighbouring island
of St. Eustatius to colonize Saba. Holland
finally took possession of Saba in 1816.
Through the 17th and 18th centuries its major
industries were sugar and rum, and, later,
fishing. In the 1600s Saba was believed to be a
favorable hideout for Saba Islandn pirates.
The remains of the 1640 settlements can be found
on the west side at Tent Bay.
Geography & environment
Of note in The Bottom area, are 800 steps carved
from stone, to go from Ladder Bay to The Bottom.
Everything was carried to the island by hand
until the later 20th century.
There is one road, brilliantly called "The
Road". Its construction was masterminded by
Josephus Lambert Hassell who, despite the common
opinion of Dutch and Swiss engineers, believed
that a road could be built. He took a
correspondence course in civil engineering, and
started building the road with a crew of locals
in 1938. After five years of work the first
section of the road, from Fort Bay to The
Bottom, was completed. It wasn't until 1947
however, that the first motorvehicle arrived. In
1951 the road to Windwardside and St. Johns was
opened, and in 1958 the road was completed.
Driving "the road" is considered to be a
daunting occasion, and the curves in
Windwardside are extremely difficult.
In 1963 the island had created a 400 metre
landing strip for easier trips to the island by
flight. It is one of the shortest commercial
runways in the world, and as such, only three
models of airplane are approved for landing.
Consistent air service from St. Maarten is, as
of 2006, available through Winward Island
Airways (Winair) and Liat. In 1972 a pier was
completed in Fort Bay to access the island and
has made it easier for visitors to come there.
The environment of Saba is usually a woodland
forest full of ferns and damp soil. There used
to be forests of Mahogany trees until a
hurricane in the 1960's broke all of the trees.
The Mahogany trees are considered at risk of
going extinct on the island. Visitors refer to
Saba's forests as "the Elfin Forest" because of
its high altitude mist and mossy appearance.
Since then there has been a woodland reserve
created and aptly named "Elfin Forest Reserve".
Saba's lush plant and animal wildlife are
diverse and are looked after by the Saba
Conservation Foundation.
Economy & tourism
Saba lace (also known as "Spanish work") was a
major export of Saba. In the 1870s, as a young
lady, Mary Gertrude Hassell Johnson was sent to
a Caracas convent for study - where she learned
the craft. The lacework spread through the
island. Ladies would copy addresses of
businesses off of shipping containers from the
United States, and write to the employees. Often
they would get orders for the lacework, and it
started a considerable cottage industry.
The island of Saba is known today for tourism
and ecotourism. Scuba diving, climbing and
hiking. The scuba diving in particular is deep
and somewhat challenging, but even though Saba
is a small island it actually supports not one,
but two Hyperbaric chambers in case of diving
emergencies. There are few anchorages, and a
small airport with service from St. Maarten.
There is also ferry service from St. Maarten.
Saba's brilliantly colorful and pristine coral
life make it one of the most sublime places to
scuba dive in the world. Many attribute the
underwater life's purity to the island's
remoteness and the caring of the people.
Saba is known as the "Unspoiled Queen". Like the
Dutch side of Saint Martin, the island is
spotlessly clean.
|
|
|
The Netherlands Antilles (Dutch:
Nederlandse Antillen), previously known as the
Netherlands West Indies, are part of the Lesser
Antilles and consist of two groups of islands in
the Caribbean Sea that form an autonomous part
of the Kingdom of the Netherlands (none of the
other Antilles use this term in their name). The
islands' economy is dependent mostly upon
tourism and petroleum.
History
Main articles: History of the Netherlands
Antilles,
Both the lewards(Alonso de Ojeda, 1499) and
Windward (Christopher Columbus, 1493) island
groups were discovered and initially settled by
the Spanish. In the 17th century, the islands
were conquered by the Dutch West India Company
and were used as bases for slave trade. Only in
1863 was slavery abolished.
In 1954, the islands were promoted from colony
to a part of the Kingdom of the Netherlands. The
island of Aruba was part of the Netherlands
Antilles until 1986, when it was granted a
"status apart", and became a separate part of
the kingdom. Some of the other islands have
indicated that they wish to obtain the same
status, but no agreements on this have yet been
reached. Other options sometimes considered are
independence or together becoming a province of
the Netherlands. (see: Dutch colonial empire)
Future status
Beatrix
Queen of the NetherlandsIn 2004 a commission of
the governments of the Netherlands Antilles and
the Netherlands reported on a future status for
the Netherlands Antilles. The commission advised
to revise the Statute of the Kingdom of the
Netherlands in order to dissolve the Netherlands
Antilles. Two new countries inside the Kingdom
of the Netherlands would be formed, Curaçao and
Sint Maarten. Bonaire, Saba and Sint Eustatius
would become directly part of the Netherlands as
Kingdom Islands. On November 28, 2005, an
agreement was signed between the Dutch
government and the governments of each island
that would put into effect the commission's
findings by July 2007. [1]
Islands
Main articles: Islands of the Netherlands
Antilles,
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)
off the Venezuelan coast (with also Aruba
nearby):
Bonaire, including an islet called Klein Bonaire
("Little Bonaire")
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.
Saba
Sint Eustatius
Sint Maarten, the southern half of the island
Saint Martin (the northern half, Saint-Martin,
is French and part of the overseas department of
Guadeloupe). |
|
|
Background:
|
Once
the center of the Caribbean slave trade, the island
of Curacao was hard hit by the abolition of slavery
in 1863. Its prosperity (and that of neighboring
Aruba) was restored in the early 20th century with
the construction of oil refineries to service the
newly discovered Venezuelan oil fields. The island
of Saint Martin is shared with France; its northern
portion is named Saint-Martin and is part of
Guadeloupe, and its southern portion is named Sint
Maarten and is part of the Saba Island.
|
|
Map references:
|
Central America and the Caribbean |
|
Area:
|
total: 960 sq km
note: includes Bonaire, Curacao, Saba, Sint
Eustatius, and Sint Maarten (Dutch part of the
island of Saint Martin)
water: 0 sq km
land: 960 sq km |
|
Area - comparative:
|
more
than five times the size of Washington, DC |
|
Climate:
|
tropical; ameliorated by northeast trade winds |
|
Terrain:
|
generally hilly, volcanic interiors |
|
Ethnic groups:
|
mixed
black 85%, Carib Amerindian, white, East Asian |
|
Religions:
|
Roman
Catholic, Protestant, Jewish, Seventh-Day Adventist
|
|
Languages:
|
Dutch
(official), Papiamento (a
Spanish-Portuguese-Dutch-English dialect)
predominates, English widely spoken, Spanish |
|
Currency:
|
Netherlands Antillean guilder (ANG) |
|
Currency code:
|
ANG
|
|
Exchange rates:
|
Netherlands Antillean guilders per US dollar - 1.790
(fixed rate since 1989) |
|
Internet country code:
|
.an
|
|
|
|
|
|
