The Charter (Statuut) for the Kingdom represents a de-colonization scheme devised in the 1950s. Rather than separating from what was left of the Dutch colonial empire, the overseas territories of Suriname, in South America, and Curacao, a group of island territories in the Caribbean Sea later renamed Netherlands Antilles, placed their relations with the Netherlands...Read More
The Congress of Vienna insisted on the creation of a strong buffer state against post Napoleonic France. Therefore the Southern Netherlands, roughly today’s Belgium, were merged into the new Kingdom of the Netherlands in 1815. The Kingdom became known as the ‘United Netherlands’. The Kingdom’s Constitution was amended accordingly by referendum, albeit with limited suffrage...Read More