History And Geography

History

Curacao is perhaps the most historically significant region of the Antilles or of Netherlands as a whole. Prior to western settlement, Curacao was home to the Arawaks of Amerindian decent. It is believed that this group came to inhabit Curacao after migrating from Central and Southern American. The island gets its name from the Arawak group of Caiquetios, who were the predominant native settlement.

Curacao came on the world map, literally and figuratively, during the medieval period of seafaring. Following Christopher Columbus' discovery of the West Indies, more exploration and cartography expeditions were carried out in the Caribbean. In 1499, Spaniards Alonso de Ojeda and Amerigo Vespucci set foot on the island, becoming the first Europeans to do so. The Spanish, however, were deeply affected by their discovery of gold in the South American mainland and finding none of the precious yellow metal on Curacao, they declared it ‘useless'. Nonetheless, they stayed on the island for nearly a century and half thereafter, keeping to their norm of cultural conversion and made certain that no indigenous people survived to the modern era. They passed the island on to the Netherlands in 1633.

The Dutch soon discovered that the dry ponds of Curacao were a rich source of salt and this became a Dutch monopoly in the Caribbean. Within a few years, the island turned in to a commercial center for the Dutch West India Company. Their major imports and exports were of course slaves from Africa. During the days of the slave trade in Curacao, the local language Papiamentu was born out of the union of Dutch, Portuguese, Spanish, and African dialects.

However, unlike the Spanish, Curacao's features as a naturally developed port and its position in the Caribbean did not go unnoticed by other colonial powers. The Dutch had to fight off the French and British to maintain control over the island. In the 19th century, the British did succeed and the Dutch were expelled. Nonetheless, in the wars that followed, the Netherlands again gained the upper hand and this lead to the signing of the Paris Treaty that gave Curacao back to Netherlands as part of the Dutch Antilles.

Curacao called for independence in the period following World War II like the rest of the colonies. It got its autonomy as part of the Antilles that today forms a third of the Kingdom of Netherlands.

Geography

A part of the group of islands known as the Netherlands Antilles, Curacao lies approximately 440 miles northeast of Venezuela and 940 miles north of the equator. Measuring from west to east, Curacao covers approximately a total area of 182 square miles. The approximate length of Curacao is 38 miles while the breadth varies from 3 to 9 miles. The capital of Curacao, Willemstad, is divided by the Saint Anna Bay into two parts. These two parts are known as Punda and Ortrobanda. St. Christoffel is the highest mountain of Curacao, measuring 1,200 ft high.

Four major geological units divide Curacao, namely the Knipp Group, the Limestone Formation, the Middle Curacao Formation and the Curacao Lava Formation. The Curacao Lava Formation is a 5000 m thick succession of underwater basalts and is known to be the oldest rock of the island. The Knipp Group is made of siliceous sedimentary rock and is mostly found in the northwestern part of the island. The middle section of Curacao is known as the Middle Curacao Formation while the Limestone Formations are found along the coasts.

The scarcity of rainfall imparts a barren look to the island and also restricts the survival of plants and animals residing here to a particular type. However, the variety of plants, rock formations, and landscapes found here are really surprising. The ever-present trade winds greatly affect the local plant life, helping them endure the dry weather. The island is home to almost 450 species of local plants among which the cacti are the most widespread. Limestone cliff formations and volcanic rocks add to a topography that is typical to the coastal areas of the island. The east end of the island is mostly flat and barren with very few settlements. This part of the island is connected to its coastal inlets through some secondary roads.