Invasion of Martinique (1674) Martinique, the headquarters of the French colonial venture in the Caribbean. The Dutch believed that the capture of Martinique would enable them to quickly conquer France's other island outposts and rebuild their own war-ravaged network of Caribbean plantations, giving them dominance of the entire Lesser Antilles island chain. To achieve these aims, the Dutch assembled a powerful invasion force under Admiral Michiel de Ruyter, widely regarded as the greatest naval commander of the age, whose crushing victories had driven the English out of the war. Under his commanded sailed a fleet of eighteen major warships including his 80-gun flagship "De
Visa policy of the Kingdom of the Netherlands in the Caribbean Visa policy of the Kingdom of the Netherlands in the Caribbean A common visa exists since the end of 2010 for the territories of Aruba, Curaçao, Sint Maarten (landen () within the Kingdom) and the Caribbean Netherlands (Bonaire, Sint Eustatius and Saba, which are part of the country the Netherlands) which form together the territory of the Kingdom of the Netherlands in the Caribbean. The visa is not valid for the European part of the Netherlands, which is part of the Schengen Area. A standard visa is valid for all 6 islands and allows multiple entry for a maximum period