Talk:Bonaire

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Contents

[edit] Cities and Towns

I corrected the spelling of "Antriol", and moved it back to the Kralendijk suburb section. I've never heard of Jan Doran or Labra, so I double checked with a few natives, and they haven't heard of them either. Please explain where these are, or I will cut them out.

Do you really believe a separate Wikipedia entry for each and every small cluster of houses on Bonaire is necessary?

I know that I show as "anonymous" here, but I'm Kevin Wayne Williams, owner of The Great Escape in Belnem. 200.6.149.38 22:21, 9 January 2007 (UTC)

Deleted "Jan Doran" from list of cities. It is an abandoned settlement which is located in the national park. It remains in the list of abandoned settlements located in the national park.Kww 00:10, 18 February 2007 (UTC)

Relinked Boven Bolivia, link was wrong. Also modified the smaller villages, incorrect links (zkomes)

[edit] Diving most important

I moved the diving section upwards in the page. For the residents of the island, the most important thing we want visitors to the page to notice is that we have the best shore diving in the world. All else is secondary.

200.6.149.30 22:09, 7 January 2007 (UTC) Moved it back up again. Please leave it. "History comes first" may be normal, but Bonaire depends on diving ... it's our only real source of income. If the history section lasts for nine screens, a casual reader may not even get there.

If the judgement is that "History must come first", then please move the clothing factory discussion to its own article, and reference it from here. It's an interesting addition, and taught me some things about my island that I didn't know. However, it is very long, and takes up an amount of space disproportionate to its importance. Kww 12:50, 16 January 2007 (UTC)

I agree that the clothing industry section should get its own article, given the its length (especially considering the relative length of the Bonaire article as a whole). There could then be a shorter bit about it here. I might find some time to write that if no one else does. Main thing is, though, that this is an encyclopedia, not a promotion vehicle for Bonaire or a tourist guide (there is another wiki, wikitravel, for that, which also has a Bonaire article). There is a standard format for country articles (just look at a few), and that is that after the intro (in which, of course, diving should be mentioned as a main thing to do on this tourist island) first comes the history section. I wont do that yet because indeed the clothing industry section should be shortened at the same time. DirkvdM 13:02, 12 February 2007 (UTC)

I agree this is not a Bonaire promotion vehicle but the whole clothing industry section struck me -well- rather odd. Perhaps, mostly because of its length, it should be in separate article. Also it gave a mountain of data -including mortality rates of local women- but did not cite a single source.

Lastly I reworded the very Neutral POV unfriendly "But the new company was only interested in profit and not in the wellbeing of the Bonairean population"

I just moved the very long Schunck's Kledingindustrie Bonaire section to it's own article and created a link in the See Also section. Janderk 20:06, 5 August 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Girls=>Women

In the discussion of the old clothing factory (an interesting addition, BTW), the workers were referred to as "girls". As I understand it, most of the workers were in their twenties, so "women" is a more appropriate term in this day and age. 200.6.149.30 22:09, 7 January 2007 (UTC)

In writings of the time they were referred to as 'girls', but you're right, nowadays 'women' is more appropriate. DirkvdM 13:15, 12 February 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Legal Status

Is this island part of the Netherlands? Are the people there Dutch citizens? --Dara 02:13, July 13, 2005 (UTC)

Not Oficially, but the relationships between these countrys and the Netherlands are still very close. The islands are semy dependant of the Netherlands.--MeDP 22:56, 27 December 2005 (UTC)

Bonaire is a part of the Netherlands Antilles, which is an autonomous country in the Kingdom of The Netherlands. The citizens are Dutch citizens. In 2007, the Netherlands Antilles will cease to exist, and Bonaire will become a Kingdom Island. --Saintkevin 22:06, 15 August 2006 (UTC)

Bonaire will become part of The Netherlands, and the people are becoming Dutch citizens. The Netherlands Antilles will not exist next year. Today Bonaire and The Netherlands has decided that Bonaire will become a municipality of The Netherlands.The ministry of the Interior and Kingdom Relations Grandmaster e 16:30, 11 October 2006 (UTC)

They have always been Dutch citizens. The passport of native Antilleans always showed "Dutch" as the nationality. Saintkevin 22:27, 10 November 2006 (UTC)

Ironical note: despite being totally Dutch, those with a parent born on the island but living in the Netherlands proper are officially considered to be non-western allochtoon. DirkvdM 13:13, 12 February 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Link to Flag of Bonaire`

why does the table not link to Flag of Bonaire? Deror 12:43, 8 December 2006 (UTC)

There was a typo. It should be fixed now. — Epastore 20:54, 8 December 2006 (UTC)


[edit] External Links

Removed Arco Bonaire. Went there looking for a blog about Bonaire and found extremist political ramblings.

[edit] Ambiguous term "Indians"

Several times the article refers to "Indians". Maybe it should be obvious whether this means Indigenous peoples of the Americas or to people with origins in the Indian Subcontinent, but to me it seems ambiguous. I don't know which ethnic group is meant, and I think someone who does should change it to a less ambiguous term, or at least add a link to Indigenous peoples of the Americas or India or something. Static Sleepstorm 10:17, 31 October 2007 (UTC)

I think it's just you. The article starts with discussing how the population was a branch of the Arawaks, and then assumes that you will tie later references back to that.Kww 12:52, 31 October 2007 (UTC)
Okay, so to clarify. Juan de Ampues repopulated the island with Amerindians, rather than Asians? And these are the same Indians being referred to in the phrase "A small number of African slaves were put to work alongside Indians and convicts"? If this is the case, then maybe it would be useful to add where these Amerindians had come from? Mainland South America? Static Sleepstorm 17:07, 31 October 2007 (UTC)
I'll try to think of a way to clarify, and try to find sources so that I can be precise. When the Europeans came through here, they basically tyrannized and enslaved everyone. The Caribs lived north of here, and the Arawaks primarily to the south. Aruba, Bonaire, and Curacao were essentially the northern edge of Arawak territory in the Caribbean. I think they may have had some territory in Central America, as well, but I am uncertain. Indians brought in from Hispaniola would have been a mix of Caribs and displaced Arawaks. Today, I'm quite comfortable in saying that people I identify as "Bonairean" or "Curacaoan" are primarily a mix of Carib and black descent, with some white and Arawak admixture; while Arubans are primarily Arawak with some Carib, white, and black ancestry. What the mix was in 1532 isn't something I have available at my fingertips, and may have never been recorded.Kww 17:56, 31 October 2007 (UTC)

OK well good luck, I don't know if it's any help but on the page Arawak it says:
"On the mainland of South America there are some 2,450 (1980 census) Arawaks living in Venezuela, Guyana, Suriname, and French Guyana with 2,051 in Suriname. The Caribs on mainland South America number 10,225 (2000 WCD) in Venezuela, Guyana, Suriname, and French Guyana. The majority of the populations of Puerto Rico and Aruba are descended in part from the Arawaks — Taino in the case of the former."
Static Sleepstorm (talk) 10:46, 17 November 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Does area include Klein Bonaire?

The article currently states: "Bonaire has a land area of 288 km² (111 sq. miles)." And it goes on to say that Klein Bonaire is "6 km² (2.3 sq. miles)." But it is not clear if the area of Klein Bonaire is included or excluded from the area of Bonaire. Does anyone know the correct way to clarify this? — Epastore (talk) 21:56, 13 February 2008 (UTC)