Curaca'o

Curaca'o (also spelt Curaçoa and Curassou) is the most important of the Dutch West India Islands. It lies about 40 miles from the coast of Venezuela, is 36 miles long by 8 broad, and has a population (1890) of 26,245. The capital of Curaca'o is Willemstad, a very handsome town, situated on the bay of St Anna, with 10,000 inhabitants. The soil of Curaca'o and its dependent islands is less productive than that of other tropical lands. The chief produce is salt, and a rock rich in valuable phosphates, but careful cultivation produces sugar, tobacco, maize, figs, cocoa, coconuts, lemons, and oranges. The Curaca'o orange, Citrus Aurantium curassavensis, is a peculiar variety. Willemstad is the headquarters of the colonial government, which has authority not merely over the neighbouring islands of Aruba and Bonaire, but also over St Eustache, Saba, and the Dutch part of St Martin. Altogether the Dutch West Indies have a population of about 120,000. The trade is mainly with the United States. Curaca'o was discovered by Spain in 1527, taken by the Dutch in 1634, conquered by the English in 1807, and restored to Holland in 1815.