Bonaire is a Caribbean island which,
together with Aruba and Curaçao, forms the group known as the
ABC islands, located off the north coast of South America near
the western part of Venezuela. Bonaire's capital is Kralendijk.
The island has a permanent population of 17,408 and an area of
294 km² (together with nearby uninhabited Klein Bonaire). The
name Bonaire is thought to have originally come from the Caquetio
word 'Bonay'. The early Spanish and Dutch modified its spelling
to Bojnaj and also Bonaire, which means "Good Air".
Bonaire was part of the Netherlands Antilles until the country's
dissolution on 10 October 2010, when the island became a special
municipality within the country of the Netherlands. They have
decided to use the US dollar as their currency.
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