Published on Apr 22, 2015
Bonaire is a Caribbean island which, together with Aruba and Curaçao, forms the group known as the ABC islands, located off the north coast of South America near the western part of Venezuela. Bonaire’s capital is Kralendijk. The island has a permanent population of 17,408 and an area of 294 km² (together with nearby uninhabited Klein Bonaire).
The name Bonaire is thought to have originally come from the Caquetio word ‘Bonay’, a name that meant low country. The early Spanish and Dutch modified its spelling to Bojnaj and also Bonaire. The French influence while present at various times never was strong enough to make the assumption that the name means ‘good air’.
Bonaire was part of the Netherlands Antilles until the country’s dissolution on 10 October 2010, when the island became a special municipality within the country of the Netherlands. It is now considered the Caribbean Netherlands, or BES Islands comprising three special municipalities located in the Caribbean: the islands of Bonaire, Sint Eustatius, and Saba.
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