Capital of the Netherlands of government. Between 1808 and 1810, during the Kingdom of Holland, King Louis Napoleon resided in Amsterdam and declared the city capital of his kingdom and seat of government. To accommodate the king, the grand seventeenth-century Town Hall of Amsterdam, prime example of the republican values that were prevalent for so long in the Netherlands, was converted into a Royal Palace. In 1810 the Netherlands were annexed by the French Empire and King Louis Napoleon was replaced by a French governor, who took up residence in the Royal Palace in Amsterdam. From 1810 to 1813 Amsterdam kept its position of
Kingdom of the Netherlands two official languages: its own national language Papiamento and the Kingdom of the Netherlands' Dutch language. Curaçao is a centralised unitary state, with similar administrative characteristics to Aruba. It has the Netherlands Antillean guilder as its currency. Sint Maarten is a centralised unitary state, with similar administrative characteristics to Aruba. It has the Antillean Guilder as its currency. Unlike the other Dutch Caribbean countries and special municipalities, Sint Maarten covers only part of an island. It consists of roughly the southern half of the divided island of Saint Martin. The northern half of the island is the French Collectivity of