New Countries: Curaçao, Sint Maarten and “Bonaire, Saint Eustatius and Saba”
December 20, 2010
Three new countries came into being after the dissolution of the Netherlands Antilles in October 2010. Curaçao and Sint Maarten became countries within the Kingdom of the Netherlands whereas Bonaire, Saba, and Sint Eustatius became special municipalities of the Netherlands proper. ISO assigned the code BQ to the three BES islands, which results in the following table:
| ISO2 | ISO3 | ISO# | FIPS | CURR | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Bonaire, Saint Eustatius and Saba | BQ | BES | 535 | NL | USD |
| Curaçao | CW | CUW | 531 | UC | ANG/CMG |
| Sint Maarten | SX | SXM | 534 | NN | ANG/CMG |
The island of Saint Martin is divided into the French northern part (MF) and the Dutch southern part (SX). The French northern part seceded from Guadeloupe in 2007.
Note: The newly assigned ISO code ‘BQ’ may cause some issues as it was already in use in the past. Till 1979 it referred to the British Antarctic Territory (codes BQ, ATB) before it was merged with Antarctica (AQ).
December 20, 2010 at 6:18 pm
[...] This post was mentioned on Twitter by mike mahaffie. mike mahaffie said: GeoNames Blog: 3 new countries came into being after the dissolution of the Netherlands Antilles in October. http://is.gd/j5p8F [...]
December 21, 2010 at 9:32 am
[...] Curaçao and Sint Maarten became countries within the Kingdom of the Netherlands whereas Bonaire , Saba, and Sint Eustatius became special municipalities of the Netherlands proper. ISO assigned the code BQ to the three BES islands, … Lees Origineel hier: New Countries: Curaçao, Sint Maarten and “Bonaire, Saint Eustatius … [...]
January 14, 2011 at 7:05 pm
[...] Three new countries came into being after the dissolution of the Netherlands Antilles in October 2010. Curaçao and Sint Maarten became countries within the Kingdom of the Netherlands whereas Bonaire, Saba, and Sint Eustatius became special municipalities of the Netherlands proper. ISO assigned the code BQ to the three BES islands … Read More [...]
April 5, 2011 at 8:42 am
is there a postal code being use for sint eustatius?
April 5, 2011 at 10:39 am
I don’t think so. The following wikipedia page says ‘In Caribisch Nederland zijn (nog) geen postcodes ingevoerd.’: http://nl.wikipedia.org/wiki/Postcodes_in_Nederland
According to google translate it means that the postal codes have not yet been introduced there.
September 28, 2011 at 12:39 am
Are these three new countries recognized by the international communities, like UN? Why was there no publicity in this event? For example, take Republic of South Sudan which gained independence in July 9, 2011. The country is recognized within a short time.
October 1, 2011 at 5:25 pm
It is not the same thing as the independance of South Sudan. The countries here remain part of the Kingdom of the Netherlands.
February 11, 2013 at 8:22 pm
In my job I am trying my hardest to send a package to Sint Maarten, however, I need a city, a country code, and a region code. Not to mention a zip code in order for our SAP system to accept it.