Two new countries

[SP Cook]

Semi-off topic, but we do talk about political geography here quite a bit.

10-10-10 sees to death of a political entity and the birth of two more.  The Netherlands Antilles, a confederation of the ex-Dutch islands in the Carribbean, was disolved, with the tiny islands of Saba (population 1.4K), St. Eustatius (3K), and Bonaire (14K) becoming a part of the Netherlands itself (pretty much the relationship that France has with its former colonies) while St. Maarten (41K) and Curacao (141K) joined Aruba (which got a similar status back in 1986) as "constituant states" (independent but for foreign relations, pretty much similar to the status of Bermuda with the UK, and not too different from the US and Puerto Rico).   The "Kingdom of the Netherlands" now consists of four "constituant states" the Netherlands (in Europe) and its three Carribbean islands of Saba, St. Eustatius, and Bonaire; Aruba, Curacao, and St. Maarten.

Visited St. Maarten a few years ago.  You would hardly know it was Dutch.  Everybody spoke English, and all of the signage was in English (except for official signage which was French, Spanish, English and Dutch).  Road signs were all English and mostly US standard.  They supposedly had their own money, but I never saw any, everything was priced in US$ and that is all the money anybody had or wanted.  The weird exception was fuel, which was priced in the local currency at the pump (the attenant (full-serve mandatory) converted the price with a pocket calculator and that is what he asked for, US$).  French side was a little different.  Most signage was bi-lingual (French and English) but everything was priced in Euros (although $ were accepted), with Euro standard road signs.  Dutch cars had US sized plates (with motto of in English.).  French cars had European style plates, as in France.

[NJRoadfan]

Some info on St. Maarten...

The local currency is pegged to the US Dollar, the only thing my parents recall needed Antillean Guilders for was to buy gas. They tended to stay on the Dutch side, because of the strong Euro. In terms of standards, its a mix of US and European. For example, cell phones are a mix of GSM and CDMA on all four international bands (800/900/1800/1900 Mhz). Same with cars, most were US spec imports, but ECE spec cars were allowed too.

[Alps]

http://www.alpsroads.net/roads/sm if you want to take a look around Sint Maarten.  It's definitely not US standard road signs...

[mgk920]

Also, Sint Maartin is planning to convert its phones to World Zone 1/county code +1 at an undetermined date in the near future, getting an area code on the same numbering pool as Canada, the USA and several other places (ie, Burmuda, some Pacific islands and most of the rest of the Caribbean).  When it takes effect, they will drop country code +599 and become +1-721.

Mike

[NJRoadfan]

Also, Sint Maartin is planning to convert its phones to World Zone 1/county code +1 at an undetermined date in the near future, getting an area code on the same numbering pool as Canada, the USA and several other places (ie, Burmuda, some Pacific islands and most of the rest of the Caribbean).  When it takes effect, they will drop country code +599 and become +1-721.

Mike

I can add that to the list of "fraud" area codes. Many folks think that NANPA +1 country code numbers are the US or Canada and land up dialing them only to have a surprise on their phone bill. (The Dominican Republic is known for this) Will the French side retain their +590 country code?

[Chris]

These are not really new countries, they are constituent countries of the kingdom of the Netherlands, pretty much like Scotland, Wales, England and Northern Ireland form the United Kingdom.

The islands of Bonaire, Saint Eustatius and Saba will introduce the U.S. dollar on January 1st, 2011. The old currency, the Antillian guilder, will cease to exist on those islands.

[mgk920]

Also, Sint Maartin is planning to convert its phones to World Zone 1/county code +1 at an undetermined date in the near future, getting an area code on the same numbering pool as Canada, the USA and several other places (ie, Burmuda, some Pacific islands and most of the rest of the Caribbean).  When it takes effect, they will drop country code +599 and become +1-721.

Mike

I can add that to the list of "fraud" area codes. Many folks think that NANPA +1 country code numbers are the US or Canada and land up dialing them only to have a surprise on their phone bill. (The Dominican Republic is known for this) Will the French side retain their +590 country code?

Yes, for the time being, Saint Martin will remain +590.

Mike