Comment by behnamoh
2 days ago
the bigger question is: what business does the Netherlands have all the way across the ocean in an island? Who gave them the "right" to own it?
2 days ago
the bigger question is: what business does the Netherlands have all the way across the ocean in an island? Who gave them the "right" to own it?
What do you mean "all the way across the ocean". From where? The distance from Curaçao to the Dutch people is exactly zero.
What "right" are you talking about, is there an agency where we file a claim, and it issues us "rights"?
All people from all nations, tribes and states came from somewhere, sometimes even replacing the local population. Sometimes peacefully, like Anglo-Saxons pushed out local Britons in England, sometimes violently, like Normans invaded and conquered England.
Or like the rich and diverse American Indian history -- tribes came and went, sometimes replaced, pushed out, conquered or assimilated with previous peoples who lived there. Please define "right".
> Sometimes peacefully, like Anglo-Saxons pushed out local Britons in England
The Battle of Chester has entered the chat.
No one ever "peacefully" pushes anyone else out of their homes.
Naah, I'm pretty sure history can find an example of pretty much anything. Here's another example (just less researched) -- Slavic dispersion in Europe. And I'm 100% sure there a lot of other examples of peaceful expansion or assimilation, because for the most history land was abundant, but shortage of hands to tend to it. There was just no reason to fight (and record it).
It doesn't mean some kings declared that land their own (some declared everything), but they couldn't enforce it. So usually it boiled down to main argument whether something is "yours" -- collecting taxes (aka tribute). As long as someone's can enforce collecting tribute, then they deserve to have the title of "owning" it.
Btw, One of the ways historians determine whether migration was mostly peaceful is by looking at archeological gender structure -- if there's a lot of female immigrants (e.g. Slavic expansion), then they are more likely to be moving by whole families. But if there are few females -- more likely it was invasion (e.g. Huns). Not absolute signal of course, as nothing is in history.
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OK so now do America and Hawaii or Puerto Rico.
How far is Hawaii from the USA?
The same business the US has in Guam or Puerto Rico, the UK in the Bahamas etc. It was a colony. They decided to become independent but still part of the kingdom of the Netherlands which was their choice. So the current status is such because the people of Curacao have decided they wanted it this way.
To be more accurate: the same business anyone who isn't a Native American has in the US.
We didn't have the right, obviously, but it has happened and we need to deal with the current situation. And the Netherlands has offered them sovereignty multiple times in the last fifty years, they can leave anytime they want. But nowadays they want to stay in the kingdom, mostly because it offers them some security and stability.
You could pick up a history textbook and find out.
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