"The Dutch Caribbean refers to territories, colonies, and countries, both former and current, of the Dutch Empire and Kingdom of the Netherlands that are located in the Lesser Antilles archipelago of the Caribbean Sea. Current territories comprise the islands of Aruba, Curacao, Sint Maarten, Bonaire, Sint Eustatius, and Saba. The contemporary term is sometimes also used for the Caribbean Netherlands, an entity since 2010 consisting of the 3 islands of Bonaire, Sint Eustatius, and Saba, which are special municipalities of the Netherlands." All of the islands in the Dutch Caribbean were, at some point in their history, part of the colony of Curacao and Dependencies (1815–1954); and then the constituent country of the Netherlands Antilles (1954−2010). The autonomy of the Netherlands Antilles island areas was specified in the Islands Regulation of the Netherlands Antilles. The former Dutch colony of Suriname was not considered part of Dutch Caribbean, although it was in the southern Caribbean in Northeastern South America."
Egyptian civilization developed along the Nile River in large part because the river's annual flooding ensured reliable, rich soil for growing crops. Repeated struggles for political control of Egypt showed the importance of the region's agricultural production and economic resources.
