Expressing the 'Top-Flex Identity!
Currently, novaTopFlex is focused on international topics, attempting to research for new posts that may become for sale on Patreon in the near future. The current focus is on the Lesser Antilles as well as potentially on select French Overseas Territories located in Oceania and elsewhere.
Of the Overseas Territories of the sovereign states associated with the European Union (EU), only nine (9) territories are fully integrated within the economic partnership, while thirteen (13) additional territories are included in European Union sovereignty without integration.
The nine (9) regions fully integrated into the European Union despite relative distances are as follows:
While the Netherlands represent the “Low Countries” of the European continent, similarly low territories also occur throughout the Caribbean claims of the Netherlands, including the more autonomous territories Aruba 🇦🇼, Curaçao 🇨🇼, and Sint Maarten 🇸🇽 as well as the more dependent territories Bonaire 🇧🇶, Sint Eustatius, and Saba.
With regard to the islands of the Dutch Caribbean, each of the listed island territories can properly be referred to as the “Caribbean Netherlands.” However, multiple distinct definitions of the Caribbean Netherlands have also been identified, including the ABC Islands (Aruba, Bonaire, Curaçao—all Papiamento and directly off the coast of South America and the western part of the Guianas) and the Netherlands Antilles (Sint Maarten, Sint Eustatius, Saba). When referring to the islands of the Caribbean Netherlands, the Papiamento Islands are, from west to east, Aruba, Curaçao, and Bonaire. Each of these constituencies of varying status maintains at least some level of sovereignty, with Aruba and Curaçao notable for having more autonomy than most other regions of the Netherlands.
This post specifically refers to the British Overseas Territories of the North Atlantic and Caribbean, including Bermuda, the Cayman Islands, Turks and Caicos, the British Virgin Islands, Anguilla, and Montserrat. Each of these territories provides at least a somewhat different experience from the general perspective of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, even though the additional nations are also included.
Within the British Overseas Territories, perhaps the most important characteristic is the slower pace of life associated with the United Kingdom in general, especially as the islands are significantly smaller and mostly notable for beach tourism in the Caribbean and for wild activity around Bermuda. Today, however, the vast majority of these island territories contains at least a national museum and/or gallery, with Bermuda also containing an underwater exploration institute directly attached to the island.
Islands that are privately owned will only be represented by the nation that such respective islands represent. Otherwise, the overall interests of the island nations of the Caribbean shall be represented in the following content.
A number of island nations and dependent territories at varying degrees of autonomy reside in the Caribbean region, primarily in the Antilles, with the split between the Greater and Lesser Antilles around Anguilla. The flags, where possible, shall also be represented within the content of this article.
This post is dedicated to the capital cities and capital towns of the different islands located within the Caribbean, including, but not limited to, the Greater and Lesser Antilles chains. Also to be included are the islands of Aruba, Curaçao, and Bonaire, though not San Andrés nor surrounding outlying islands of Colombia significantly closer to the Nicaraguan coast than the Colombian.
The Virgin Islands as a whole are named as such as a direct result of the 1492 expedition by Christopher Columbus resulting in the comparison to a notable virgin across the entire island chain. Today, the United States claims around fifty of the islands while the British claim around sixty. The Virgin Islands of the United States 🇻🇮 are centered around the particular islands of Saint Thomas, Saint John, and Saint Croix, while the Virgin Islands 🇻🇬 are centered around the particular islands of Tortola, Virgin Gorda, and Jost Van Dyke. The territorial capital associated with the United States is Charlotte Amalie, located on Saint Thomas, while the territorial capital associated with the British is a place known as Road Town, located on the island of Tortola.
Anguilla 🇦🇮 is a British Overseas Territory at effectively the northern end of the Leeward Islands and the Lesser Antilles. The island territory is located to the north of the island of St. Martin, which is split between the French territory of Saint-Martin in the north and the Dutch territory of Sint Maarten 🇸🇽 in the south. Dutch Sint Eustatius is also located fairly nearby, though closer to Saint Kitts and Nevis and using Oranjestad as the capital town.
While Anguilla contains fourteen (14) regional districts, The Valley is the capital district of the British Overseas Territory of Anguilla. Blowing Point is home to the ferry service to the French side of the island of Saint Martin immediately to the south.
Montserrat 🇲🇸 is an island nation located in the Lesser Antilles and toward the northern end of the Leeward Islands. Plymouth is the capital de jure of the British Overseas Territory; however, the community has no permanent population followed by the impacts of a significant volcanic eruption 🌋 on the southern side of the island. The northern side of Montserrat has largely remained unaffected, but southern Montserrat, including the capital, had been significantly impacted while the capital had become a ghost town.
The Cayman Islands 🇰🇾 are one of the British Overseas Territories and the particular territory with the largest count by population. George Town is the particular town that serves as the capital of the Cayman Islands and is located on the western end of the Island of Grand Cayman.
Society has also provided additional symbols associated with select geographical place names and nationalities, including the Irish ☘️ symbol, the Canadian 🍁 symbol, and the Easter Island 🗿 symbol. Interestingly enough, neither Alaska nor Hawaii have unique nor clearly distinct symbols, nor do the Galápagos Islands of Ecuador.
Within the South American realm, the flags in question are of Colombia 🇨🇴, Venezuela 🇻🇪, Guyana 🇬🇾, Suriname 🇸🇷, French Guiana 🇬🇫, Brazil 🇧🇷, Uruguay 🇺🇾, Argentina 🇦🇷, Chile 🇨🇱, Paraguay 🇵🇾, Bolivia 🇧🇴, Peru 🇵🇪, and Ecuador 🇪🇨. For Central America, flags of interest include Mexico 🇲🇽, Belize 🇧🇿, Guatemala 🇬🇹, Honduras 🇭🇳, El Salvador 🇸🇻, Nicaragua 🇳🇮, Costa Rica 🇨🇷, and Panama 🇵🇦 on the mainland, though additional nations and dependencies also exist within the Caribbean region. Bermuda 🇧🇲 is not associated with the Antilles and thus not with the Caribbean region, but Caribbean territories start with the Bahamas 🇧🇸 and end with Trinidad and Tobago 🇹🇹. Just past the southern end of the Bahamas 🇧🇸 is the Turks and Caicos Islands 🇹🇨, though on the opposite side of Cuba 🇨🇺 is the larger Cayman Islands 🇰🇾. Also within the general area is Jamaica 🇯🇲, with the next notable locations further east being Haiti 🇭🇹, the Dominican Republic 🇩🇴, Puerto Rico 🇵🇷, the United States Virgin Islands 🇻🇮, and the British Virgin Islands 🇻🇬.
For the Lesser Antilles, nations and dependencies also exist, with most dependencies associated with the colonizers from Europe and the Old World. The entire archipelago is clearly identified as part of the New World, along with much of the rest of the Western Hemisphere. From north to south, the island-nations include Anguilla 🇦🇮, Saint Barthélemy 🇧🇱, Antigua and Barbuda 🇦🇬, Montserrat 🇲🇸, Guadeloupe 🇬🇵, Dominica 🇩🇲, Martinique 🇲🇶, Saint Lucia 🇱🇨, Barbados 🇧🇧, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines 🇻🇨, Grenada 🇬🇩, and Trinidad and Tobago 🇹🇹. At the southern end of the Lesser Antilles is the South American mainland, nearing the Guyanese portion of Venezuela 🇻🇪.
The Virgin Islands 🇻🇬 and the Virgin Islands of the United States 🇻🇮 are related yet clearly distinct entities. Though the Spanish Virgin Islands of Puerto Rico 🇵🇷 are also of interest, referring to islands of Puerto Rican control east of the Puerto Rican mainland, the United States Virgin Islands and the British Virgin Islands alike are generally associated with the name “Virgin Islands.” Though originally a name attributed to Christopher Columbus, the United States Virgin Islands specifically refer to the portion of the archipelago containing Saint Thomas, Saint John, Saint Croix, and Water Island, while the British Virgin Islands is the portion containing Tortola, Virgin Gorda, and Jost Van Dyke. Overall, however, the United States Virgin Islands is comprised of around fifty islands whereas the British Virgin Islands is comprised of around sixty islands. In either case, the USVI contains the larger land area, as well as the majority of the population associated with the archipelago. In comparison, the BVI contains relatively fewer people, definitely smaller than the Turks and Caicos Islands and Bermuda and possibly also smaller than the Cayman Islands.
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