| The Netherlands Antilles was organized in 1845 to include all the Dutch possessions in the West Indies. These territiories included two groups of islands: the "ABC" islands of Aruba, Bonaire, and Curaçao, located in the southern Caribbean roughly 65 km (40 mi) off the coast of Venezuela; and the smaller islands of Saba, Sint Eustatius, and the southern part of Sint Maartin in the Leeward Islands some 800 km (500 mi) to the northeast. Aruba withdrew from this federation in 1986 and has since been an autonomous territory; its lighthouses are on a separate page. In 1994, the people of the remaining five islands voted to retain their link to the Netherlands. The capital of the territory is Willemstad, Curaçao. As far as I know, there are no lighthouses in the Dutch Leeward Islands, so this page is devoted to the lighthouses of Curaçao and Bonaire. These islands are very popular tourist destinations, but not much information is available online concerning their lighthouses. Special thanks are due to Lothar Döhle, Don Wiss, Joost Keesing, and Willy Maal for the use of the photos on and linked to this page. Additional reports and photos from lighthouse visitors would be very welcome! ARLHS numbers are from the ARLHS World List of Lights. Admiralty numbers are from volume J of the Admiralty List of Lights & Fog Signals. U.S. NGA List numbers are from Publication 110.
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Notable faux lighthouses:
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Posted April 21, 2006. Checked and revised December 7, 2008. Lighthouses: 10. Site copyright 2008 Russ Rowlett and the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.