Sheba (Netherlands)
Saba (in Dutch): Saba, pronounced/хsa building/(
listen) also (Openbaar lichaam Saba, Public Entity of Saba) is an island of the Lesser Antilles (Caribbean Sea) with an area of 13 km2 (equivalent to 1300 hectares) that constitutes a special municipality and an integral part of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, located in the latitude 17° 38’ north and longitude 63° 13’ west, about 250 km southeast of Puerto Rico and 222 km north of the island of Aves in Venezuela. The island capital is The Bottom.
This territory is part of the overseas countries and territories of the European Union. The island has been part of the Kingdom of the Netherlands as a special municipality since 2010, but it is not part of the European Union like other European sovereign territories that share this status; for example Greenland (Denmark) or French Polynesia (France). However, there are other territories outside Europe under the sovereignty of European Union countries, which are an integral part of it, for example French Guiana in South America. Despite this, all citizens of the Kingdom of the Netherlands have a Dutch passport, and therefore Antilleans enjoy the same rights as citizens of the European Union.
Etymology
Theories for the origin of Saba's name include siba (an Arawak Indian word meaning "rock"), sabot, sábado, and Sheba. The island received its present name, Saba, since in 1595, when it appeared in a travelogue by John Hawkins. Prior to its present name, the island was designated by Christopher Columbus as "San Cristóbal". close to the Caribbean Sea. The name Isla de Saba (referring to another place) however appears in Spanish books as early as 1583.
History
Sabe is believed to have been inhabited by the Ciboney people as early as 1100 B.C. C. Later, around the year 800 d. C., the Arawaks settled on the island, coming from South America.
It is said that Christopher Columbus sighted Saba on November 13, 1493, and claimed it for Spain but did not land on it due to its rocky shores and cliffs.
Since the 17th century
In 1629 the Spanish Armada de Sotavento heading to Mexico with 20 galleons and 4,000 armed men under the command of Admiral Fadrique Álvarez de Toledo Osoria landed on the island of Nieves and captured several English ships anchored there. In September of the same year, the group of Spanish ships moved to San Cristóbal Island and razed the entire settlement.
Oral tradition and historians on Saba state that these same Spaniards allowed Irish slaves and their fellow Catholics to settle on Saba, where they christened their two settlements above what was later called Well's Bay, "Palmetto Point" and "Middle Island", after two similarly named villages they had lived in on the island of San Cristóbal.
In 1632, a group of English shipwrecked men landed on Saba.Saba was first colonized by the Dutch in 1640. The Dutch governor of the neighboring island of Saint Eustatius sent several Dutch families to colonize the island for the Dutch Company of the West Indies.
In 1635 Pierre d'Esnambuc Governor of the French Half of San Cristóbal claims Saba for the Kingdom of France. In 1648, the French tried to formally take possession, but had to share it for a few years with the Dutch. The original settlements can still be seen in Tent Bay. Finally, the Netherlands would take Saba as a colony with the help of the English during the occupation of the continent by Napoleon I.
In 1664, refusing to swear allegiance to the English crown, these original Dutch settlers were evicted to Saint Martin by Jamaican governors, or pirates—Edward, Thomas, and Henry Morgan.
During the 17th and 18th centuries the main industries were sugar and rum, and later fishing. The island was occupied by the United Kingdom; from 1795 to 1802 and in 1803 until 1817 when it is returned to the United Kingdom of the Netherlands.
The ruins of the first settlement, founded in 1640, can be found in Spring Bay. Of interest at The Bottom are the 800 carved stone steps that lead down to Ladder Bay. Everything that entered the island went up through them until the end of the 20th century.
In the 17th century, Saba was believed to be a favorable hideout for Jamaican pirates. England also deported its "undesirables" for them to live in the Caribbean colonies, and some of them also became pirates, and a few took refuge on Saba. As the island's coastline is forbidding and rugged, the island became a private sanctuary for families of smugglers and pirates. A notable pirate from Saba was Hiram Beakes, son of the island's Dutch councilor.
19th century
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In 1854 Mary Gertrude Hassell was born on the island, a teacher who studied in Curaçao in a convent school and studied in Caracas Venezuela. There she learned to do drawn thread work with the help of the daughters of wealthy Venezuelans who lived there, and introduced this art to Saba beginning in 1880, where it is generally known as ''Spanish work'' ( Spanish work ) With this she helped local families who started a business selling this craft in the United States.
In August 1857 Venezuela and the Netherlands submitted to Arbitration of the Queen of Spain a dispute over the possession of Isla de Aves, because the Netherlands considered that the island was linked to its colony of Saba by a Sandbar, and fishermen from Saint Eustatius and Saba had used the place to catch turtles and bird eggs, while Venezuela argued that it had inherited the island from Spain which had discovered all the Caribbean islands, that the fishermen were not acting on behalf of any government but for a private interest and that this island was not attached to the territory that the Netherlands had received.
The Spanish Judgment of June 30, 1865 declared that the property of the Island belonged to Venezuela and that the Netherlands should nevertheless be compensated. I argue that even if both islands had been united at present, the bank de arena was separated from the island of Saba and that the first state to have a military force and to exercise acts of sovereignty there had been Venezuela, which had inherited it from the General Captaincy of Venezuela.
In 1860 in the Windward Side area, St. Paul's Catholic Conversion Church was built with stones from the old sugar cane mill on the plain of Spring Bay. The land was donated by the family of Peter Hassell and his wife Esther Lovel Johnson exclusively for the construction of the church.
20th century
From 1940 to 1945, during the period of World War II, Nazi Germany defeated the Netherlands and occupied the European part of the kingdom, then the island was temporarily captured by a joint American and British military expeditionary force. The island was returned to Dutch administration in September 1945, months after Germany's Unconditional Surrender.
In 1943, Joseph "Lambee" Hassell, a self-taught engineer, began building a road on Saba, drastically improving transportation on the island, which had previously been accomplished only by foot or muleback. Plans for a larger airport and pier facing the mountains followed. tourist boats in 1972. As a result, tourism increased, gradually becoming an important part of Saba's economy.
In the 1960s, the Juancho E. Yrausquin Airport was built in the far northeast of Saba (Flat-Point). The airport can only be used with special permission from the authorities and is therefore closed to general air traffic. It can only be accessed by small aircraft, such as the Twin Otter. Winair operates several daily flights to neighboring islands.
In 1969, then 23-year-old Joseph Richardson became Saba's manager. He was the first non-white administrator of the Netherlands Antilles.
In 1978 Venezuela and the Kingdom of the Netherlands signed the maritime boundary treaty that defined the extension of the Dutch and Venezuelan exclusive economic zone in 2 areas, the first between the islands of Aruba, Curaçao and Bonaire (Facing Falcón State in Venezuela and next to the Los Monjes Archipelago) and a second area further north that includes the island of Saba and Sant Eustaquio, the latter taking Isla de Aves as a reference (the northernmost point of Venezuela in the Caribbean Sea). By then the six islands were part of an administrative entity called the Netherlands Antilles. The treaty recognizes an equidistant or median line between Aves Island and Saba Island as the maritime border.
Until 1983, Saba was part of the island territory of the Windward Islands, which also included Saint Eustatius and Saint Martin. In 1983, it received the status of an autonomous island territory and its own parliamentary representation in the States.
In 1985, due to the departure of Aruba from the Netherlands Antilles to become an autonomous country within the Kingdom, elections were held in the rest of the Netherlands Antilles in November and Will Johnson was elected full-fledged deputy.
On December 6 of that year, the new flag of Sheba was unveiled on Sheba Day before a crowd that gathered for the event.
21st century
On November 5, 2004, a referendum was held on the island in which 86.05% of the electorate voted to end the current status of Saba within the Netherlands Antilles, so after negotiating with the Dutch government the October 12, 2006 an agreement was reached that dissolves the Netherlands Antilles and makes Saba a special municipality or island of the Kingdom of the Netherlands. Although the separation was scheduled for December 15, 2008, it was postponed until October 10, 2010.
On 1 September 2009, Saba announced that it wanted to leave the Netherlands Antilles immediately, as it did not want to wait any longer for developments in the dissolution of the Netherlands Antilles. However, according to the Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs of the Kingdom, Bijleveld, it was not legally possible for Saba to leave the Antilles at that time.
Finally on October 10, 2010, the Netherlands Antilles dissolved and Saba, like Saint Eustatius and Bonaire, became a kind of special municipality of the Netherlands as a public body. The island is not part of the Schengen zone.
Geography
Most of Saba's surface is made up of the 888-meter inactive volcano Mount Scenery, which is itself the highest point in the kingdom of the Netherlands, lava that descended in the past towards the Caribbean Sea it caused the coast to take on a rocky shape. Saba is located 30 km southwest of the island of Saint Martin. It is approximately 4.5 km in diameter, and its area is 1300 hectares (13 km²). To the north of Saba there is a small uninhabited rocky island that belongs to the territory of Saba - Isla Verde (Green Island).
Flora
The climate is humid tropical, the island is covered by the jungle. Despite the fact that Saba was deforested in a large part of the colonial period due to indiscriminate felling of trees, during the following years it was possible to recover a secondary forest, rich in species that is very well connected by roads built for tourists, the marine national park de Saba of 43 hectares (0.43 km²) covers a large part of the north of the Island, and offers a sample of the biodiversity of flora and fauna of Saba. For divers, Saba and its coral reefs are one of the most fascinating dive sites in the Caribbean. There are several diving centers on the island, which are mainly frequented by hikers.
Wildlife
Despite its small size, Saba is home to large numbers of bats. The species that can be found are Monophyllus plethodon, the Jamaican fruit bat (Artibeus jamaicensis), the West Indian bat (Ardops nichollsi), the Stramineus natalus, the bat guano (Tadarida brasiliensis) and Molossus molossus. An extinct rijstrat also exists, but its identity is still unclear.
The cliffs of the island, partly within the Saba national park, are an important nesting area for tropical red-billed birds (Phaethon aethereus). There are also dangerous species of animals such as poisonous snakes such as the black racer and the black belly racer. Due to the high rainfall, mosquitoes can be a nuisance mainly during the rainy season.
Another species of snake found on Saba is the harmless Alsophis rufiventris ("red-bellied racer", also called "Saba racer" or "orange-bellied racer"), which is endemic to this part of the Caribbean Sea (specifically the Lesser Antilles). It is only found on Saba the Pantheranolis (Anolis sabanus), a small species of lizard in the genus Anolis.
A survey of the island's avifauna between 2010 and 2012 was able to detect a total of 107 different bird species on Saba. More than 30 of these species had not been seen before on Saba, and a large number of them are supposed to have migrated from nearby San Martin. Saba's rugged coastline has been designated an Important Bird Area by BirdLife International; Red-billed tropical birds and shearwaters, among others, nest here in large numbers.
To reach the top of Mount Scenery, the Mount Scenery Trail (with, according to the information board, 1,064 stone steps) leads through the rainforest.
The 350-hectare Mount Scenery National Park covers much of the north and northwest of the island and provides insight into the biodiversity of Saba's flora and fauna.
The underwater world near the island has been largely preserved from environmental degradation by the Saba National Marine Park, created in 1987, and by strict laws and regulations. For divers, Saba and its coral reefs are considered good diving areas. In Saba there are a few diving centers, frequented mainly by day tourists.
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Climate
The climate is tropical, warm, tempered by the trade winds that come from the northeast direction. Daily temperatures are between 21°C and 29°C, night temperatures are between 18°C and 24°C. The annual precipitation is approximately 1000 mm.
The dry season is usually between December and July, and rainfall varies with altitude and exposure to easterly trade winds. Annual rainfall is known to exceed 1,920 mm on the higher windward slopes and on the summit of the island. Saba is located in the hurricane belt and has been exposed to numerous tropical storms and hurricanes. The most important were Hugo in 1989 and Luis in 1995.
Impact on the Environment
Since the island's population centers are at least 240 m above sea level, direct human impact on marine resources is limited. There is little industry on the island and no significant agriculture. Therefore, effluents such as pesticides and industrial chemicals are non-existent. The three main impacts on the marine environment are sedimentation, diving tourism and fishing. The sedimentation comes from a rock crushing plant in the Fort Bay area and from natural runoff during heavy rains. At the end of 1995, a large-scale operation to export rock and sand was started at the rock crushing plant. This has significantly increased sedimentation at Tent Reef and other locations in the southwest of the island.
Natural runoff is significant and most of it is discharged directly into the ocean due to the island's steep slopes. in the ocean due to the steep slopes of the island, which are made up of loose agglomerates. In most places, the slopes are separated from the ocean by a thin, rocky beach.
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Saba's economy depends on tourism; 66% is related to diving. The Saba Marine Park that surrounds the entire island, welcomes about 5,000 divers a year who realize that they make about 25,000 dives. There is no doubt that some damage is caused by diving activities although it is limited and has decreased since 1993. There are reports of damage in 3.2% of the coral colonies near the mooring lines of the marine park in the study sites (high-use areas 0-20 m from the mooring) and 2.4% of the colonies in low-use areas (40-60 m from the mooring). The number of divers visiting Saba is slowly increasing. The results of a 1996 study on the park's carrying capacity were used to reduce or alleviate the development and pressure of diving on the marine ecosystem.
Several studies have evaluated the impact of fishing on surrounding reefs
To date, the island government, with the advice of the Saba Marine Park, has rejected proposals for coastal development. However, with future political changes to the island, there may be pressure to develop a marina and hotel/dive center on the southern part of the island in Giles Quarter. According to the island's legislation, all coastal development must be preceded by an environmental study-
Saba Bank
The Saba Bank, one of the largest atolls in the Caribbean and in the world with an area of 2,200 square kilometers, is located about 3 to 5 km southwest of Saba. It contains rare and unique species such as turtles, sharks, lobsters, whales and different types of coral. The fish and lobster populations of the Banco de Saba are targeted by fishermen.
The Banco de Saba is important to Saba, although it may have less perceived value than the coastal waters to residents, as most residents will never visit this area due to its remoteness.
The underwater world of Banco de Saba is largely unknown in the Netherlands and also in the Caribbean. However, this is part of the largest nature park in the Kingdom of the Netherlands.
The northeast side of the Banco de Saba is located about 4.3 km (2.7 mi) southwest of the island of Saba. It rises about 1,000 meters (3,300 ft) above the general depths of the surrounding seafloor. With a length of between 60 and 65 km and a width of between 30 and 40 km, the total area of the atoll is equivalent to an area larger than that of countries such as Mauritius or the Comoros Islands and has a depth of between 11 and 200 meters, of which 1,600 square kilometers are less than 50 meters.
From the northeast, the bank extends about 34 miles (55 km) to the southwest, with a reported minimum depth of 24 feet (7.3 meters) located about 9.3 miles (15 km) southwest of Mount Scenery. A depth of 8.2 meters (27 ft) is located about 16 km (9.9 mi) south of the island. The eastern side of the bank is fringed by a ridge of living coral, sand and rock, almost 48 km in length. The depth of the ridge ranges from 11 to 35 meters. To the west of this ridge, except for a few 16.5-meter (54 ft) and 18.3-meter (60 ft) deep patches of coral near the south side of the bank and a 16.4-meter (54 feet) deep near the west end of the bank, the bottom is light white coral sand with depths of 21.9 to 36.6 meters (72 to 120 feet), gradually increasing toward the edge of the bank, but still they end abruptly at depths of 54.9 meters (180 ft). At depths less than 20 meters (66 ft), the bottom can be clearly seen.
The Saba Bank, though important to the island for its fisheries, attracted little attention until the mid-1990s. Geologists have debated the nature of the shoreline and discovered extensive coral reefs. Seismic exploration for oil was carried out, but little else was known. This changed when the Netherlands Antilles began to regulate fishing and when it was discovered that large quantities of conch (Lobatus gigas), lobster and grouper were being exploited by foreign fishermen.
To protect these fish stocks, the government absolutely needed more information. Research began in the 1990s and as knowledge about the Banco de Saba increased with constant monitoring, the area turned out to be more and more interesting and valuable. Not only for the fish populations, but also for its rich biodiversity. In addition to the more than 80 km long coral reefs, an unrivaled variety of macroalgae was also found and rich communities of gorgonians (soft corals) were found.. It also became clear that it could be an important area for whales and tiger sharks.
But due to its enormous size (larger than the Dutch Wadden Sea) and limited resources, the knowledge gained was totally inadequate.
Banco Saba's investigation gained momentum when in 2010, the territory became the direct responsibility of the Netherlands and Bonaire, Saint Eustatius and Saba received the status of special municipalities. Suddenly, more financial resources and the scientific interest of the Dutch knowledge institutes became available. Banco de Saba was recognized as a national park and as an area of importance. Since then, a great deal of work has been done to assess the fishery, and the health and functioning of the coral reef have been assessed.
The park is managed by the Saba Bank Management Unit (SBMU), a subdivision of the Saba Conservation Foundation, which is directly responsible for park management. the other two national parks on Saba (Saba National Marine Park and Mount Scenery National Park). The SBMU is primarily responsible for monitoring fishing in the national park area and coordinating research work. In addition, patrols are carried out in protected areas.
Since October 2, 2010, the Banco de Saba area is protected by a national decree of the then Netherlands Antilles. This decree prohibits oil tankers and other large vessels from anchoring on the Banco de Saba to avoid damage to coral reefs. In October 2012, the National Park was designated as a Particularly Sensitive Maritime Zone by the International Maritime Organization. Since then, the passage through the area has been prohibited for ships of more than 300 tons.
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Geology
Saba is the northernmost volcano in the chain of island arcs of the Lesser Antilles. The Lesser Antilles arc is the result of the west-northwest subduction of the Atlantic lithosphere under the Caribbean plate. Sediment thickness along the trench decreases to the north, moving away from sediment sources on the South American subcontinent. Saba is the furthest from the documented geochemical effects in the southern volcanic arc of large sediment thicknesses, typically attributed to both source and upper level contamination (i.e. assimilation). Field mapping, petrology, mineralogy, K-Ar dating, and geochemical analyzes (principal and trace elements) indicate a complex history of magma petrogenesis including crystal fractionation, magma mixing, and, surprisingly, crustal assimilation. Saba was the first documented site of assimilation in the northern section of the Lesser Antilles arc.
Mixed magma manifests in the field as banded pumice and petrographically and mineralogically as complex zoning in phenocrysts (such as reverse zoning in plagioclase), disequilibrium mineral assemblages (for example, quartz and olivine), and imbalance between the minerals and the compositions of the whole rock (for example, the forsterite content in the olivine). Mass balance models of major and trace elements support the theory that fractionation of crystals (including amphibole) played an important role in magma evolution. However, several geochemical trends can only be explained by fractional assimilation-crystallization, based on the fact that the trends of various trace elements and the ratios of trace elements vary with increasing silica. Finally, it has not been possible to find any evidence of contamination of sedimentary origin in the most mafic rocks. It is possible that it exists, but it is superimposed by the later effects of assimilation.
Largest and deepest marine sinkholes in the world
In 2019, the Royal Netherlands Institute for Marine Research (NIOZ) and Wageningen Marine Research organized an expedition to the Bank of Saba, near the territorial sea and exclusive economic zone of Saba, the Netherlands, in the Caribbean region. Expert researchers collected data to gain more knowledge about sinks. In 2018, the same group of researchers discovered more than 20 huge holes between 10 and 375 meters deep and with diameters ranging from 70 to 1,100 meters. The floor of Banco de Saba is formed by a limestone deposit 1 to 2 kilometers thick. When the bank was above water during the ice ages and the sea level was 120 meters lower than it is now, the flowing fresh water dissolved the limestone and created large holes. This gave rise to the formation of caves, which subsequently collapsed. Interestingly, these sinkholes that developed on land were submerged after the last ice age (20,000 years ago), when the sea level rose again. Investigators later found that the sinkhole appeared to be leaking gas. The researchers then obtained the coordinates of a suspected hot spring in one of the sinkholes that could have leaked methane. These are considered to be the largest and deepest marine sinkholes in the world.
Politics and Government
Saba became a special municipality within the country of the Netherlands after the dissolution of the Netherlands Antilles on October 10, 2010 and is unique in that it is not part of any Dutch province. The constitutional status of the island, like that of the islands of Saint Eustatius and Bonaire, is enshrined in the BES Public Entities Act (Dutch: Wet op de Openbare Lichamen BES).
Inhabitants of the island vote for members of the Dutch House of Representatives, whose members are elected according to a proportional method on a party list. During the 2017 Dutch general election, the majority of locals voted for the social liberal party Democraten 66 (Democrats 66). Of the island's 2,000 residents, 900 were eligible to vote, and of those, only 42.8% (or 385 people) voted.
Sabanians with Dutch nationality can vote in elections to the Electoral College to elect members of the Dutch Senate (or Senate of the States-General, Eerste Kamer der Staten-Generaal). The 2019 Saba election, held at the same time as the 2019 Island Council election, resulted in four of Saba's five Electoral College seats going to the Windward Islands People's Movement (Windward Islands People's Movement) and one seat for the Saba Labor Party (Saba Labor Party).
Governor
The governor of the island is the head of the government of Saba. The Dutch monarch appoints the governor for a six-year term, and he reports to the Minister of the Interior and Kingdom Relations. The governor of the island chairs the meetings of the Island Council and the Executive Council
It is also responsible for representing the island government both in court and out of court, maintaining public order, enforcing policy and legislation, coordinating with other governments, and receiving and processing complaints about the island government. island.
The current governor of the island is Jonathan G. A. Johnson.
Legislature
Saba's legislative body is the Island Council, made up of five members. The councilors are elected by the citizens of the island every four years. The Island Council has the power to:
- Name and dismiss the Commissioners of the Executive Council.
- Adopt ordinances to be implemented by the Executive Council.
- Ask questions to the Executive Council.
- Start an investigation into the governor or the Executive Council.
- Approve the budget.
Following the 2019 island elections, the Windward Islands People's Movement (WIPM) holds all five seats on the Island Council. In 2019, Esmeralda Johnson was the youngest person ever elected to the Council.
Executive Branch
The Executive Council, appointed by the Island Council, acts as the executive branch of the government. The council has the following responsibilities:
- Daily administration of the island, except for functions reserved to the Island Council or the governor.
- Implement policies and legislation adopted by the Island Council.
- Establish rules concerning the administration of the island, except the Register.
- Name, promote, suspend or dismiss public officials, except those working for the Register, among others.
- Prepare the island's defense.
- Maintain contact with the Dutch ministries in The Hague.
- Implement the policies and legislation of the national government.
The council appoints the island secretary, currently Tim Muller.
The council consists of the island's governor and two commissioners appointed by the Island Council, both currently members of the WIPM. Each member of the Executive Council is assigned portfolios to oversee.
Police
Security in the territory is in charge of the police force of the Caribbean Netherlands or Korps Politie Caribisch Nederland (KPCN), the joint police force of the three islands BES (special municipalities), Bonaire, Saint Eustatius and Saba, all three in the Caribbean, which politically belong to the Netherlands. The police have been under the direction of José Rosales (Korpschef) since 2017.
The force operates under the authority of the Ministry of Security and Justice. During the maintenance of public order and carrying out relief work, under the authority of the Governor of the Island of the corresponding public body or island. During the investigation of criminal offences, the police force operates under the authority of the joint Attorney General of Curaçao, Saint Maarten and the Caribbean Netherlands.
Demographics
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According to 2004 data, the island has 1,424 inhabitants. Its main towns are The Bottom, the island capital, Windwardside, Hell's Gate, and Saint Johns. The small size of the island has given rise to a fairly small number of island families, who can trace their surnames back to around half a dozen families. This means that many surnames are shared throughout the island, the most common being Hassell and Johnson. Most of the families are a rich mix of Dutch, Scottish, and their African heritage. The population is also descended from the Irish who were exiled from that country after the accession of King Charles I of England in 1625, they were sent to the Caribbean in an effort to put down the rebellion after having acquired their lands by force.
Languages
The official languages are Dutch and English, Papiamento does not have a majority on the island unlike what happens in Aruba, Curaçao and Bonaire. On the other hand, Spanish is spoken by a minority.
| Language | Papiamento | English | Dutch | Spanish | Other |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Saba | 1 | 85 | 2 | 10 | 2 |
| Netherlands Antilles | 63 | 16 | 7 | 9 | 4 |
By 1780 there are sources indicating that the Dutch language had almost disappeared from the island. 5 people barely reported knowing how to read and write English in that year.
According to the report of the Prefect Monsignor of the Catholic Church for the region in 1836, almost the entire population of the island spoke only English in that year, and communication was not possible in Spanish, Dutch or in French at that time. According to this same information, however, the majority of the population was still illiterate.
English would only be the language of both primary and secondary schools officially in 1986.
Education
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By 1816 there was no public education in Saba, only a few private institutions, mostly associated with the Christian denominations present on the island.
In 1843 the first Catholic School on the island established by catechist Sarah Mardenborough was formally established.
In 1906, education in Dutch was introduced, which caused the emigration of part of the population to other English-speaking islands such as Barbados, Antigua or San Cristóbal.
In 1911 the Dutch government built the first public primary school which was expanded in 1920. In 1923 the first library on the Island was completed.
In 1986 English became official as the language of instruction on the island.
The primary school is Sacred Heart Primary School in St. John's. There is a secondary and vocational school at Saba la Saba Comprehensive School also in St. John's which opened its doors in 1976 and which extended education on the island from seventh to eleventh grade.
Saba University School of Medicine is a for-profit medical school located in the capital of Saba, The Bottom.
Religion
Saba is a territory where the majority of the population is a follower of Christianity. The main denominations are Catholic Christians (45%), followed by no denomination (18%), other denominations (11%), Anglican Christians (9%), Evangelical Christians (4%) Pentecostal Christians (4%) and at least 6% of the population is Muslim.
The first contact with Christians on the island occurred with the visit of Christopher Columbus in 1493, which did not mean the arrival of the Catholic Church immediately. The first Christian groups to settle on the island are believed to have been Protestants from the Netherlands in 1640.
During the period of nominal Spanish domination the island was included in the jurisdiction of the Diocese of Puerto Rico.
The oldest Church on record is the Christuskerk (Christ Church or Church of Christ), an Anglican temple that was renovated in 1777 after being damaged by a Hurricane in 1772 and whose exact date of construction is unknown. In the same year 1777, Pastor Kirkpatrick also asked the Dutch commander Johannes de Graaff for permission to officially establish the Anglican Church on Saba before that some locals used the Netherlands Reformed Church to celebrate their baptisms.
Although the Roman Catholic Church is currently very active on Saba, it did not establish itself on the island until quite late. Early contact includes the visit of Père Labat in 1701.
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The island was also visited by the Apostolic Prefect of the Catholic Church for the Dutch Colonies in the Caribbean in 1836 Monsignor Martinus Niewindt, according to his report there was no Catholic priest to attend the Island at that time. He then returned in May of the same year with the Venezuelan priest Manuel Romero who had settled in Curaçao 1 year earlier for political reasons. Communication was difficult at first because neither of the 2 priests spoke English, Romero spoke only Spanish and Monsignor only French and Dutch. In June 1836, the first Catholic mass on the island was officially celebrated in Saba. And 5 children were presented to be baptized.
The oldest Catholic Church on record that is still in operation today is St. Paul's Conversion Church in Windward dating from 1860.
Missionary activity, the arrival of immigrants from other parts of the Netherlands and from other territories in the Caribbean and Europe made the Catholic Church the most important to date, accounting for almost half of the believers.
Economy
During the 17th and 18th centuries, sugar and rum were the most important economic products; subsequently, fishing gained in importance. Sulfur mining in the late 19th century was never profitable due to difficult transportation across rough seas and was abandoned soon after time.
The famous Saba lace (Saba lace), also called Spanish lace, have been important export products. In the 1870s, the young Mary Gertrude Hassell Johnson was sent to study in a convent in Caracas, where she learned this craft. The technique became popular on the island, and the ladies copied the addresses of American companies from the containers of goods coming from that country, and wrote to the employees. They often received return orders for the lace, and this started a considerable cottage industry.
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The main road, simply called The Road (El Camino) is the only land communication route on the island. Its construction was directed by Lambert Hassell, who studied road construction through a correspondence course. The Camino was built entirely by hand, and was completed in 1958. It is an intimidating course, and the switchbacks at Hell's Gate and those descending from The Bottom to Fort Bay are extremely difficult.
The island of Saba is recognized today as a tourist destination, and as a formidable site for diving. There is a port, recently expanded (2006), and a tiny airport with service from San Martín. There is also a ferry that leaves from San Martín.
Saba's nominal gross domestic product was US$48 million in 2018. The island's trade balance is heavily negative; in 2020, imports worth more than $21 million were offset by exports of only about $357,000.
The currency used is the US dollar since January 1, 2011, when it replaced the Antillean guilder as legal tender on the island; the old currency ceased to be valid (in Saba) in that month.
Tourism
Tourism is very important and is considered the economic pillar. After hurricanes Matthew (September 2016) and Irma (September 2017), the number of visitors increased again in 2019; there were 8,900 visitors by plane, 6,500 visitors by ferry from Sint Maarten and another 1,600 visitors aboard smaller cruise ships. Most of the air visitors come from Aruba, Curaçao and Saint Martin (28%), the United States (25%) and the European part of the Netherlands (18%). Saba has several hotels and an international airport; however, takeoff and landing facilities are limited to small aircraft. Most of the tourists are day trippers who arrive from San Martin in the morning, climb the volcano (1064 steps) and leave again in the afternoon. In addition, Saba is home to several diving schools. Additionally, since 1988 there has been a medical school on the island, the Saba University School of Medicine, which attracts many American students.
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In the 1980s, it was particularly easy to obtain a driving license in Saba, which could be exchanged for a Dutch driving license in the Netherlands. Until 1993, there were seven driving schools that guaranteed obtaining a driving license in one week. When the Netherlands ended this possibility in 1993, Saba's economy took a huge hit.
Sheba is known as the Immaculate Queen. The island is kept absolutely clean, thanks to a crew of workers who daily collect waste in the main cities and along the Camino.
Energy
Like many Caribbean islands, Saba is dependent on imported fossil fuels, making it vulnerable to global fluctuations in the price of oil, which have a direct impact on the cost of electricity. Electricity supply is dependent on of a diesel power plant that covers 60% of the island's demand.
According to a report by the Global Association for Low Emission Development Strategies (LEDS GP), the Government of Saba made the decision to transform the island into 100% sustainable energy to end dependence on fuel-generated electricity fossils. This new energy policy is defined in the "Social Development Plan 2014-2020" and in the "Saba Energy Sector Strategy". Interim targets are 20% renewable electricity by 2017, which was achieved in 2018; and 40% by 2020, which is expected to be reached in March 2019.
Infrastructure
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The main road "The Road", built between 1938 and 1958, is 14.5 km long and runs through most of the island. There are currently over 800 registered motor vehicles on the island. The inhabitants of the territory use vehicles even for the shortest journeys, so sometimes there is a real traffic jam in the towns of The Bottom or Windwardside.
Saba has a small airport, Juancho E. Yrausquin (IATA code SAB), built in the early 1960s on the only important plain on the island. The airport is named after the Minister of Finance and Social Affairs, who had promised financial support from the government to build the airport. The airport's extremely short runway of 400 meters is considered to be one of the shortest commercial runways in the world, making landing on Saba a special experience for passengers. The Caribbean airline Windward Islands Airways (Winair) regularly flies to Saba from the neighboring islands of Saint Martin and Saint Eustatius.
The port of Leo A. Chance Pier (named after a minister in the government of the Netherlands Antilles who provided the funding) in Fort Bay, opened in 1972, has a regular ferry connection with the neighboring island from San Martín and offers moorings for sailing and motor boats. Since 2010, the sister ship Erika, decommissioned by the Deutsche Gesellschaft zur Rettung Schiffbrüchiger (German Society for the Rescue of Shipwrecked Persons), has been used by the still fairly young local sea rescue organization Saba Sea Rescue in the often stormy south coast.
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The Hyperbaric Center of the Saba Marine Park, created in 1980, offers emergency medical attention for diving accidents with a decompression chamber for four people, also for the surrounding Caribbean islands.
The island's electricity supply has been the responsibility of the Saba Electric Company (Saba Electric Company) since 2012, Its power station, located about 300 meters north of the port of Fort Bay and commissioned in 2016, it has an installed capacity of 4.3 MW. Just over 9 million kWh of electricity are produced per year; the percentage of renewable energies in total electricity generation, which was only 1% in 2017, could already increase to more than 25% in 2019 The Saba Electric Company power plant is located about 300 meters north of the port of Fort Bay and was commissioned in 2016.
Culture
Lifestyle on Saba is generally slow, with little nightlife, even with the emergence of an ecotourism industry in recent decades. The island's inhabitants are proud of their history of conserving the environment, calling Sheba "the virgin queen".
Saba women continue to make two traditional products of the island, Saba lace and Saba spice. Saba Lace is a hand-sewn lace, which began to be made by the island's women in the late 19th century and became a thriving mail-order business with the United States. Saba Spice is a rum drink, made with a combination of spices.
As elsewhere in the Caribbean and the Americas, the local population celebrates an annual carnival. The Saba Carnival takes place the last week of July and includes parades, music bands, contests and food.
Another event celebrated in the capital, The Bottom, is 'Saba Day'. This is the island's national day, in which all offices, schools and shops remain closed. The island celebrates its diversity and culture with many activities and parades. At The Bottom, a concert is held on the sports field attended by local artists and from other Caribbean countries. A wahoo fishing tournament is also held on Sheba Day, attracting boats from neighboring islands such as Saint Martin, Saint Eustatius and Saint Barthélemy.
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There is a radio station on Saba, "Saba Radio", which broadcasts on 93.9 FM and 1410 AM.
There is an internet newspaper on Saba, Saba News, which publishes local news and news from the rest of the Dutch Caribbean.
Museums
The Dutch Museum of Saba, in Windwardside, whose collections include unique Dutch antiquities in the Caribbean, dating from 150 to 400 years ago (miniatures, lace, paintings, Persian tapestries, etc).
The Harry L. Johnson Museum in Windwardside has exhibits that include collections from the 19th century and early 20th century, including vintage photographs of Dutch royalty, Saba's first telephone, a Steinway piano and an old stone oven, as well as artifacts from the island's Native American archaeological sites.
The Major Osman Ralph Simmons Museum at The Bottom, founded by Major Osmar Ralph Simmons, a former island police officer for over 40 years, preserves and exhibits items he found on the island.
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