Netherlands Antilles

The Netherlands Antilles (Dutch: Nederlandse Antillen [ˈneːdərˌlɑntsə ɑnˈtɪlə(n)]; Papiamentu: Antia Hulandes) were a constituent country of the Kingdom of the Netherlands consisting of several island territories located in the Caribbean. They were also informally known as the Dutch Antilles. The country came into being in 1954 as the autonomous successor of the Dutch colony of Curaçao and Dependencies and was completely dissolved in 2010. The former Dutch colony of Surinam, although it was relatively close by on the continent of South America, did not become part of Netherlands Antilles but became a separate autonomous country at the same time. All of the islands territories that belonged to the Netherlands Antilles remain part of the Kingdom today, although the legal status of each differs, and as a group they are still referred to as the Dutch Caribbean regardless of their legal status.

Geographical grouping

The islands of the Netherlands Antilles are all part of the Lesser Antilles. Within this group, the country was spread over two smaller island groups: the northern part of the Leeward Islands and the western part of Leeward Antilles. No part of the country was in the southern Windward Islands.

Netherlands

The Netherlands (ⁱ/ˈnɛðərləndz/; Dutch: Nederland [ˈneːdərˌlɑnt]) is the main "constituent country" (Dutch: land) of the Kingdom of the Netherlands. It is a small, densely populated country located in Western Europe with three island territories in the Caribbean. The European part of the Netherlands borders Germany to the east, Belgium to the south, and the North Sea to the northwest, sharing maritime borders with Belgium, the United Kingdom and Germany. The largest and most important cities in the Netherlands are Amsterdam, The Hague and Rotterdam. Amsterdam is the country's capital, while The Hague holds the Dutch seat of government and parliament. The port of Rotterdam is the largest port in Europe – as large as the next three largest combined – and was the world's largest port between 1962 and 2004. The name Holland is also frequently used to informally refer to the whole of the country of the Netherlands.

"Netherlands" literally means "lower countries", influenced by its low land and flat geography, with only about 50% of its land exceeding one metre above sea level. Most of the areas below sea level are man-made. Since the late 16th century, large areas (polders) have been reclaimed from the sea and lakes, amounting to nearly 17% of the country's current land mass.

Hotel

A hotel is an establishment that provides lodging paid on a short-term basis. Facilities provided may range from a basic bed and storage for clothing, to luxury features like en-suite bathrooms. Larger hotels may provide additional guest facilities such as a swimming pool, business centre, childcare, conference facilities and social function services. Hotel rooms are usually numbered (or named in some smaller hotels and B&Bs) to allow guests to identify their room. Some hotels offer meals as part of a room and board arrangement. In the United Kingdom, a hotel is required by law to serve food and drinks to all guests within certain stated hours. In Japan, capsule hotels provide a minimized amount of room space and shared facilities.

The precursor to the modern hotel was the inn of medieval Europe. For a period of about 200 years from the mid-17th century, coaching inns served as a place for lodging for coach travelers. Inns began to cater for richer clients in the mid-18th century. One of the first hotels in a modern sense was opened in Exeter in 1768. Hotels proliferated throughout Western Europe and North America in the 19th century, and luxury hotels began to spring up in the later part of the century.

Plaza Hotel

Coordinates: 40°45′53″N 73°58′28″W / 40.764712°N 73.974574°W / 40.764712; -73.974574

The Plaza Hotel, located in the Midtown Manhattan neighborhood of the borough of Manhattan, New York City, is a landmark 20-story luxury hotel and condominium apartment building, owned by the Indian conglomerate, Sahara India Pariwar. With a height of 250 ft (76 m) and length of 400 ft (120 m) that occupies the west side of Grand Army Plaza, from which it derives its name, and extends along Central Park South in Manhattan. Fifth Avenue extends along the east side of Grand Army Plaza. The Plaza Hotel is recognized as a Historic Hotel of America by the National Trust for Historic Preservation.

Description

Grand Army Plaza

The hotel's main entrance at 768 Fifth Avenue faces the southern portion of Grand Army Plaza which commemorates the Union Army in the Civil War. Grand Army Plaza is in two sections, bisected by Central Park South. The section in front of the Plaza Hotel is centered by the Pulitzer Fountain, of Abundance by Karl Bitter, funded by the will of the newspaper publisher Joseph Pulitzer: the statue in the fountain is specifically Pomona, Roman goddess of orchards. The statue was posed for by Doris Doscher, also famous for posing for the Standing Liberty quarter. The north side of Grand Army Plaza, a corner cut out from Central Park, has Augustus Saint-Gaudens' part-gilded bronze equestrian statue of General Sherman. Scholars Gate, behind Grand Army Plaza, provided one of the two original main entrances to the carriage drives of Central Park, the other being Merchants Gate at the Grand Circle, now Columbus Circle. On the south side of the Plaza (between 57th and 58th Streets) once stood the French Renaissance château of Cornelius Vanderbilt II, designed by George B. Post; rising behind its gated front court, it was the grandest of the Fifth Avenue mansions of the Gilded Age. Bergdorf Goodman occupies its site.

Curaçao

Curaçao (/ˈkʊrəsaʊ/ KUR-ə-sow or /ˈkjʊərəsaʊ/ KEWR-ə-sow; Dutch: Curaçao;Papiamentu: Kòrsou) is an island country in the southern Caribbean Sea, approximately 65 kilometres (40 mi) north of the Venezuelan coast, that is a constituent country (Dutch: land) of the Kingdom of the Netherlands. Formally called the Country of Curaçao, (Dutch: Land Curaçao;Papiamento: Pais Kòrsou), it includes the main island and the uninhabited island of Klein Curaçao ("Little Curaçao"). It has a population of over 150,000 on an area of 444 km² (171 sq mi) and its capital is Willemstad.

Before the dissolution of the Netherlands Antilles on 10 October 2010, Curaçao was administered as the "Island Territory of Curaçao" (Dutch: Eilandgebied Curaçao, Papiamentu: Teritorio Insular di Kòrsou), one of five island territories of the former Netherlands Antilles.

Etymology

According to Edgard Otero, author of "Origins of countries' names", the island was discovered by Spaniards, who left in the island members of their crew who had become ill during the trip. When the ships returned to the island one year later, expecting to find the sick already dead, they found their old crew members healthy and healed. For that reason, the island was baptized as "Isla de la Curación" (Island of the Cure, or Island of Healing). In 1520 the island would figure for the first time in a map - which was nonetheless designed by the Portuguese, in whose language the island was called "Ilha da Curação" (Curação still means healing in Portuguese).