antilles

• Geography

Geography

The Antilles is located in North Western Europe, West and North-West coastline the North Sea, borders with Belgium from the South and Germany from the East and Northeast.It comprises two island groups in the Caribbean Sea - one includes Curacao and Bonaire north of Venezuela and the other is east of the Virgin Islands .The geographical coordinates are 52 30 N, 5 45 E. Mostly coastal lowland and the land reclaimed from sea (polders); low and flat; about half of the surface of the Netherlands is less than 1 m above sea level, and large parts of it (ca 24%) are actually below sea level. Some hills are only in southeast of the country. The Antilles has total area of  960 sq km including land are of 960 sq km and waterarea of  0 sq km. The land area  includes Bonaire, Curacao, Saba, Sint Eustatius, and Sint Maarten (Dutch part of the island of Saint Martin) .

Capital   Willemstad

Languages   

Dutch (official), Papiamento a Spanish-Portuguese-Dutch-English  dialect predominates, English widely spoken, Spanish

Currency    Antillean Guilder ,also known as Florin or gulden (NAG)

Climate

The Netherlands has a mild, maritime climate, similar to England; summers are generally warm with colder, rainy periods, and excessively hot weather is rare, but last years happens more and more often. Winters can be fairly cold, windy, with rain and some snow. The possibility of extreme cold is rare. Rain occurs throughout the whole year, spring being the driest season.

Temperatures in the southern islands vary little from an annual average of 81° F (27° C), and the heat is tempered by the easterly trade winds. The islands lie west of the usual hurricane zone. Rainfall in the south is low and variable, often less than 22 inches (550 millimetres) a year. The climate is similar in the northern islands, but rainfall is greater and hurricanes occur. The annual rainfall is greatest on Sint Eustatius and Saba (42 inches and 47 inches, respectively) and falls mainly between May and November, occasionally in association with hurricanes.