<P> In 1954, under the "Charter for the Kingdom of the Netherlands", the Netherlands, Suriname and the Netherlands Antilles (at the time including Aruba) became a composite kingdom . The former colonies were granted autonomy, save for certain matters including defense, foreign affairs and citizenship, which were the responsibility of the Realm . In 1969, unrest in Curaçao led to Dutch marines being sent to quell rioting . In 1973, negotiations started in Suriname for independence, and full independence was granted in 1975, with 60,000 emigrants taking the opportunity of moving to the Netherlands . In 1986, Aruba was allowed to secede from the Netherlands Antilles federation, and was pressured by the Netherlands to move to independence within ten years . However, in 1994, it was agreed that its status as a Realm in its own right could continue . </P> <P> On October 10, 2010, the Netherlands Antilles were dissolved . Effective on that date, Curaçao and Sint Maarten acceded to the same country status within the Kingdom that Aruba already enjoyed . The islands of Bonaire, Sint Eustatius and Saba were granted a status similar to Dutch municipalities, and are now sometimes referred to as the Caribbean Netherlands . </P> <P> Generally, the Dutch do not celebrate their imperial past, and anti-colonial sentiments have prevailed since the 1960s . Subsequently, colonial history is not featured prominently in Dutch schoolbooks . This perspective on their imperial past only recently shifted with prime minister Jan Peter Balkenende's contentious call for the return of the VOC mentality . </P> <P> In some Dutch colonies there are major ethnic groups of Dutch ancestry descending from emigrated Dutch settlers . In South Africa the Boers and Cape Dutch collectively known as the Afrikaners . The Burgher people of Sri Lanka and the Indo people of Indonesia as well as the Creoles of Suriname are mixed race people of Dutch descent . </P>

Which european nation monopolized the slave trade until about 1600