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Bonaire ( ; , Papiamentu: Boneiru) is a special municipality (officially "public body") of the Netherlands, consisting of the Caribbean island of Bonaire and, nestled in its western crescent, the uninhabited islet of Klein Bonaire. Together with Aruba and Curaçao it forms a group referred to as the ABC islands of the Leeward Antilles, the southern island chain of the Lesser Antilles. The name Bonaire is thought to have originally come from the Caiquetio word 'Bonay'. The early Spanish and Dutch modified its spelling to Bojnaj and also Bonaire, which means "Good Air".
From the dissolution of the Netherlands Antilles on 10 October 2010, the BES islands Bonaire, Saba, and Sint Eustatius were given the status of public body (often referred to as "special municipality") within the Netherlands, while the islands of Curaçao and Sint Maarten are independent states within the Kingdom of the Netherlands. At present, although part of the Netherlands, it remains an overseas territory of the European Union.
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