List of Banks in the Caribbean

List of Banks in Bonaire

The Island Territory of Bonaire (Dutch: Eilandgebied Bonaire, Papiamento: Teritorio Insular di Boneiru) is one of five island territories (Eilandgebieden) of the Netherlands Antilles, consisting of the main island of Bonaire and, nestled in its western crescent, the uninhabited islet of Klein Bonaire. Together with Aruba and Curaçao it forms a group referred to as the ABC islands of the Leeward Antilles, the southern island chain of the Lesser Antilles.The name Bonaire is thought to have originally come from the Caiquetio word 'Bonay'.The early Spanish and Dutch modified its spelling to Bojnaj and also Bonaire,name means"Good Air".

As part of the Netherlands Antilles, Bonaire is also a part of the Kingdom of the Netherlands. The structure of the relationship between Bonaire, the Netherlands Antilles and the Kingdom is planned for change under proposed legislation. The Netherlands Antilles is scheduled to be dissolved as a unified political entity on 10 October 2010, so that the five constituent islands would attain new constitutional statuses: the BES islands Bonaire, Saba and Sint Eustatius will become special municipalities of the Netherlands, while the islands of Curaçao and Sint Maarten will become independent states within the Kingdom of the Netherlands

Antilles Banking Corporation Bonaire
Address: Kaya Almirante P.L. Brion 12
Phone: (599) 717-4500 / (599) 145-145
Fax: (599) 717-4510 

Banco di Caribe N.V.
Address: Kaya Grandi 22
Phone: (599) 717-7595 / (599) 717-8295 / (599) 717-7451
Fax: (599) 717-5153

Bank van de Nederlandse Antillen
Address: Centrumplein z/n
Phone: (599) 717-4041
Fax: (599) 717-4005

Island Finance Bonaire N.V.
Address: Kaya Grandi 42
Phone: (599) 717-5991 / (599) 717-5992 / (599) 717-5993
Fax: (599) 717-5994

MCB Maduro & Curiel's Bank (Bonaire) N.V.
Address: Kaya L.D. Gerharts 1
Phone: (599) 715-5520
Fax: (599) 717-8584

RBTT Bank N.V.
Address: Kaya Korona 15
Phone: (599) 717-8417 / (599) 717-8429
Fax: (599) 717-8469
 

History
Original Inhabitants
Bonaire's earliest known inhabitants were the Caquetios Indians, a branch of the Arawak who came by canoe from Venezuela in about AD 1000. Archeological remains of Caquetio culture have been found at certain sites northeast of Kralendijk and near Lac Bay. Caquieto rock paintings and petroglyphs have been preserved in caves at Spelonk, Onima, Ceru Pungi, and Ceru Crita-Cabai. The Caquetios were apparently a very tall people, for the Spanish name for the ABC Islands was 'las Islas de los Gigantes' or 'the islands of the giants.'

Discovery
In 1499, Alonso de Ojeda discovered Curaçao and a neighboring island that was almost certainly Bonaire. Ojeda was accompanied by Amerigo Vespucci and Juan de la Cosa. De La Cosa's Mappa Mundi of 1500 shows Bonaire and calls it Isla do Palo Brasil or "Island of Brazilwood." The Spanish conquerors decided that the three ABC Islands were useless, and in 1515 the natives were forcibly deported to work as slaves in the copper mines of Santo Domingo on the island of Hispaniola.

Spanish Period
In 1526, Juan de Ampies was appointed Spanish commander of the ABC Islands. He brought back some of the original Caquetios Indian inhabitants to Bonaire and Curaçao. Ampies also imported domesticated animals from Spain, including cows, donkeys, goats, horses, pigs, and sheep. The Spaniards thought that Bonaire could be used as a cattle plantation worked by natives. The cattle were raised for hides rather than meat. The Spanish inhabitants lived mostly in the inland town of Rincon which was safe from pirate attack.

Dutch Period
The Dutch West India Company was founded in 1621. Starting in 1623, ships of the West India Company called at Bonaire to obtain meat, water, and wood. The Dutch also abandoned some Spanish and Portuguese prisoners there, and these people founded the town of Antriol which is a contraction of "al interior" or "inside." The Dutch and the Spanish fought from 1568 to 1648 in what is now known as the Eighty Years War. In 1633, the Dutch, having lost the island of St. Maarten to the Spanish, retaliated by attacking Curaçao, Bonaire, and Aruba. Bonaire was conquered in March 1636. The Dutch built Fort Oranje in 1639 . While Curaçao emerged as a center of the slave trade, Bonaire became a plantation of the Dutch West India Company. A small number of African slaves were put to work alongside Indians and convicts, cultivating dyewood and maize and harvesting solar salt around Blue Pan. Slave quarters, built entirely of stone and too short for a man to stand upright in, still stand in the area around Rincon and along the saltpans as a grim reminder of Bonaire's repressive past.

English Period
During the Napoleonic Wars, the Netherlands lost control of Bonaire twice, once from 1800–1803 and again from 1807-1816. During these intervals, the British had control of the neighboring island of Curaçao and of Bonaire. The ABC islands were returned to the Netherlands under the Anglo-Dutch Treaty of 1814. During the period of British rule, a large number of white traders settled on Bonaire, and they built the settlement of Playa (Kralendijk) in 1810.

Emancipation
From 1816 until 1868, Bonaire remained a government plantation. In 1825, there were about 300 government-owned slaves on the island. Gradually many of the slaves were freed, and became freemen with an obligation to render some services to the government. The remaining slaves were freed on September 30, 1862 under the Emancipation Regulation. A total of 607 government slaves and 151 private slaves were freed at that time.

Allotment
In 1867 the government sold most of the public lands, and in 1870 they sold the saltpans. The entire population became dependent on two large private landowners, and this caused a great deal of suffering for many people. Many inhabitants were forced to move to Aruba, Curaçao, or Venezuela .

World War II
During the German occupation of the Netherlands during World War II, Bonaire was a protectorate of Britain and the United States. The American army built the Flamingo Airport as an air force base. After Germany invaded the Netherlands on May 10, 1940, many Dutch and German citizens were interned in a camp on Bonaire for the duration of war. In 1944, Queen Juliana of the Netherlands and Eleanor Roosevelt visited the troops on Bonaire..

Post War
This section requires expansion with:
More history.

After the war, the economy of Bonaire continued to develop. The airport was converted to civilian use, and the former internment camp was converted to become the first hotel on Bonaire . The Dutch Schunck family built a clothing factory known as Schunck's Kledingindustrie Bonaire. In 1964, Trans World Radio began broadcasting from Bonaire. Radio Netherlands Worldwide built two short wave transmitters on Bonaire in 1969. The second major hotel (Bonaire Beach Hotel) was completed in 1962. Salt production resumed in 1966 when the salt pans were expanded and modernized by the Antilles International Salt Company, a subsidiary of the International Salt Company . The Bonaire Petroleum Corporation (BOPEC) oil terminal was opened in 1975 for trans-shipping oil

Referendum 2010
Main article: Bonaire constitutional referendum, 2010
An announced referendum, that was scheduled on March 26, 2010, on the future of the island of Bonaire was cancelled in February 2010. The Governor of the Dutch Antilles, Frits Goedgedrag, decided to cancel it because it probably contravened international law, since part of the population is barred from voting. European Dutch nationals are only allowed to vote if they arrived on the island before January 1, 2007. Now the island council will have to convene to decide on this matter .

Tourism
Bonaire's economy is mainly based on tourism. The island caters mainly to scuba divers and snorkelers, as there are few sandy beaches, while the surrounding reefs are easily accessible from the shore. Bonaire is world renowned for its excellent scuba diving and is consistently rated among the best diving locations in the world. Bonaire's license plates carry the logo Divers Paradise (in English). Bonaire is also consistently recognized as one of the best destinations for snorkeling. Wind surfers also make a strong group of island tourists, as the east side of the island (facing the Caribbean Sea) has the large waves and wind gusts needed for windsurfing. Lac Bay, in the south east, is shallow, yet windy, and hence is considered an excellent place for intermediate sailors to improve their skills. Tourism infrastructure in Bonaire is contemporary and based on time-share resorts. There are a few small bed and breakfasts. Most resorts have an on-site dive shop. The rest are affiliated with a dive operation.

Geography

Bonaire is a popular tourist destination for both recreational diving and shore snorkeling.
Bonaire Island and Klein Bonaire, from space, March 1996. The white and flat red areas in the south are salt flats.
The Old Malmok lighthouse is in Washington Slagbaai National Park.Bonaire has a land area of 288 km² (111 sq. miles), while Klein Bonaire is a further 6 km² (2.3 sq. miles). Bonaire's Afdeling Bevolking (census) office reported that the population was 14,006 inhabitants as of December, 2006, which gives Bonaire island proper a population density of 49 inhabitants per km².

Bonaire lies outside the hurricane belt, and is served by Flamingo International Airport.

The island is ringed by a coral reef which is easily accessible from the shore along the Western and Southern sides. Furthermore, the entire coastline of the island has been declared a marine sanctuary, preserving local fish life.

The coral reef around uninhabited Klein Bonaire is particularly well conserved, and it draws divers, snorkelers, and boaters.

Bonaire also has several coral reefs where seahorses can be found.

Bonaire is also famed for its flamingo populations and its donkey sanctuary. Flamingos are drawn to the brackish water, which harbours the shrimp they feed on. Starting in the 16th century, the Dutch raised sheep, goats, pigs, horses and donkeys on Bonaire, and the descendants of the goats and donkeys roam the island today, with a small population of pigs roaming as well.

Washington Slagbaai National Park, located at the north side of the island, is an ecological preserve. The highest point of Bonaire, the mountainous Brandaris, 787 feet (240 m) high, located within this preserve, has a complete view of the island.

Elsewhere, environmental issues are a cause for concern, particularly with unregulated and illegal dumping of raw sewage and chemical pollutants which leach through the permeable limestone of the island and threaten the quality of groundwater. This is particularly of concern at the landfill site, which environmentalists state has no impermeable membrane present to prevent possible groundwater contamination by toxic waste. Destruction of wildlife habitat for commercial development thus threatening endangered species is also highlighted as a problem.

Lac Bay, (also known as Lac Cai or Lac Cay) on the eastern side of the island, is a windsurfer's paradise. Locals Taty and Tonky Frans in 2004 were ranked in the top five of the world's freestyle windsurfing professionals.

Atlantis Beach, on the western part of the island, is the local kitesurfing spot.

Aside from the tourist sites, Bonaire has become home to Saint James School of Medicine, which was founded by Physicians practicing and teaching basic/clinical medicine in the United States. Their goals encompass motivating students in the art of medicine utilizing a curriculum which parallels that of any U.S. based medical school.

Education
Bonaire’s educational system is patterned after the Dutch system. Early grades are taught solely in Papiamentu, with more and more Dutch being introduced as the grade level progresses.

There are also two offshore American Caribbean Medical Schools in Bonaire: Xavier University School of Medicine, Bonaire and Saint James School of Medicine. Although, Xavier has recently announced that the campus will be shifting entirely to Curaçao in September 2010.

Settlements
The only generally recognized towns on the island are Kralendijk and Rincon.

Kralendijk has many suburbs/neighbourhoods (on an island with such a small population, the distinction is not always clearcut). Kralendijk's suburbs/neighbourhoods include:

Antriol
Belnem
Hato
Lima
Noord Salina
Nikiboko
Republiek
Sabadeco
Sabana
Santa Barbara
Tera Cora
Other smaller settlements include

Fontein
Lagoen
Sorobon
Spelonk
Wanapa
Labra, Ishiri, Kokorobi, Jan Doran, Vlijt, Rigot, Porto Spano, and Kunchi were several smaller towns that had existed in the national park, but were later abandoned.

Languages
The official languages are Dutch, Papiamentu, and English. English became an official language of the Netherlands Antilles in March 2007. In practice, it is not used for official purposes on Bonaire. English and Spanish are widely spoken on the island.

Media
Trans World Radio Relay Station
Trans World Radio operates on Bonaire a radio relay station with a mediumwave transmitter and several shortwave transmitters at 12°6′23″N 68°17′1″W / 12.10639°N 68.28361°W / 12.10639; -68.28361 (Bonaire Trans World Radio Station). The mediumwave transmitter is the most powerful mediumwave transmitter in America. The antenna of the mediumwave transmitter consists of 4 231.6 metres tall masts arranged in a square.

Radio Netherlands Radio Relay Station
Radio Netherlands operate a shortwave relay station at 12°12′48″N 68°19′23″W / 12.21333°N 68.32306°W / 12.21333; -68.32306 (Radio Netherlands Bonaire Radio Relay Station).

 

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