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 In 1634, the Dutch West India Company needed a deep-water port as a base for its trading empire. They found the perfect harbor in Curaçao, one of Spain’s “islas inútiles” (useless islands) and took possession. Because of its strategic location between Africa, the Caribbean and North America, Curaçao prospered as a center for slave trade.
By the 1700s, slavery made Curaçao one of the richest islands in the Caribbean. The Dutch farmed large plantations with palatial landhouses (landhuizen). Owners designed their houses using classic Dutch architectural styles and eye-soothing pastels. A number of landhouses survive as examples of this architecture, while preserving art, culture and history dating from the Arawak Indians to contemporary times.
Savonet Plantation, one of the first and largest on the island, once covered 3,885 acres. The land, with the island’s highest peak and abundant wildlife, is preserved as Christoffel National Park. The restored 1662 gold-colored house with white trimming opened in 2010 as a cultural museum featuring multi-media exhibits that illustrate the lifestyles of the Arawak, Spanish and Dutch colonial periods.
 Not all plantations covered vast acreage. The 7-acre Landhuis Bloemhof (circa 1735) harvested water, not crops. Two dams collected the precious commodity for Willemstad. Later, as the residence of artists Max and May Henriquez, it became a meeting place for art, theater and literature. After renovation in 2002, the house and landscaped grounds opened as a center for creative arts with exhibitions, workshops and performances.
The blue sea and turquoise sky, tropical fruits, and vivid colors of island birds inspire bold, rich colors in paintings. Landhuis Habaai (circa 1600) once served as a residence and school and now houses the prestigious Alma Blou Art Gallery. The gallery features Caribbean paintings, sculptures, ceramics and jewelry. A café offers dining in a sculpture garden.
 Though a center for slavery, Curaçao has deep religious convictions and a long tradition of religious tolerance. Sephardic Jews fleeing the Spanish/Portuguese Inquisition found refuge in Willemstad in 1674. The Mikvé Israel-Emanuel Synagogue, rebuilt in 1732, is the oldest active synagogue in the Western Hemisphere. Its Jewish Cultural Museum contains historic artifacts, some of which are still used in worship services today.
The Protestant Church of Curaçao dates to the founding of the colony in 1635. Step through the seaside archway of Fort Amsterdam and face the gold and white Fortchurch, built in 1769. Note the British cannonball from 1804 impaled in the façade above the door. The Protestant Cultural Historical Museum contains a small museum with cultural artifacts dating from colonial days.
A New Country With An Old Soul
 When the Netherland Antilles officially disappeared as a political entity on October 10, 2010, Curaçao and Sint Maarten became the world’s newest autonomous countries. Thus, it could be said that Curaçao is just over one year old—and yet, this newborn’s cultural heritage is among the most fascinating in the Caribbean.
At the time of the European arrival in Curaçao, the island was inhabited by Amerindians from the Caiquetio tribe, a branch of the Arawak ethnic group whose people were said to be mighty tall. That is why Alonso de Ojeda called it “The Island of the Giants” when he claimed it for the Spanish crown in 1499. But Spain had little interest for an arid territory with few riches and Curaçao remained an unimportant outpost until the Dutch Republic broke into the scene.
After the Dutch West India Company established the colony of New Amsterdam (later New York) in 1624 and seized the settlement of Pernambuco in Brazil from Portugal in 1630, it sought a middle point between the two new colonies to facilitate trade. Thus, in 1634 the Dutch conquered Curaçao from the Spaniards. Soon Curaçao became a major point in the triangular trade route, where slaves were nurtured, sold and shipped on to their final destinations. From 1634 to 1814, the year slave trade was abolished in the Netherlands, over 100,000 slaves changed hands in Curaçao. Today, the influence of the African Diaspora on the island can be seen, from its bold Carnival celebrations to the cadence of its language, Papiamentu. There is also a palpable Portuguese vein to this language, which was likely brought into the island by the Sephardim (Spanish) Jews after the Portuguese recovered Dutch Brazil in 1654.
 Curaçao’s fortunes saw a decline as a result of the end of the slave trade. That is until the 1920s when so much oil was found in the basin of Lake Maracaibo in Venezuela that no one knew exactly what to do with it. Royal Dutch Shell then built ISLA, one of the largest refineries in the world, bringing a large influx of Dutch, American and Caribbean immigrants to the island. These various cultures all blended together in Willemstad and created a thrillingly diverse society that regards baseball as a passion and mondongo as a delicacy.
And yet, it is in the music where we can most appreciate the effects that have been conjured by the melting pot of Curaçao. From Afro-Cuban beats to South American rhythms, from merengue to calypso, from the reveries of Carnival, with Curaçao’s own tambú, to the lustful twirls brought about by the Salsa Festival and the heartfelt bravado of the North Sea Jazz Festival, music has carved a place in the island lifestyle that goes well beyond the commonplace.
Lasting Architecture
By Els Kroon
From the earliest times, foreign visitors have appreciated Willemstad’s unique Dutch colonial architecture. Back in 1634 the Dutch colonizers hardly could have imagined that the lively, colorful palette of structures they were to erect in the capital of Willemstad would one day be acclaimed as lasting monuments on UNESCO’s World Heritage List.
Through the ages the picturesque buildings fell into disrepair and several restoration attempts were made. As early as 1959 the local Monument Preservation Foundation began to take a keen interest in restoring individual buildings, but it wasn’t until the end of the 1980s that a decade-long campaign to rehabilitate Willemstad began. With a commitment on the part of both the public and private sectors, their restorations resulted in Willemstad’s inclusion in UNESCO’s prestigious list from December 1997 to this day.
From the travel logs of 18th-century visiting merchants, to the most recent international advertising campaigns, the curled gables and tiled roofs gracing so many buildings are listed among Curaçao’s top attractions.
Read more about Curacao's colorful arquitecture.
Simón Bolívar
Great Liberator of South America leaves a Curaçao island legacy
 Simón Bolívar, great liberator of five South American countries, wasn't always welcome in his own hometown, Caracas. When Venezuela declared its independence in 1812, Spain retaliated with a heavy hand. Bolívar, a revolutionary leader, and his two sisters fled to nearby Curaçao, where a sympathetic Jewish merchant provided them with housing.
The sisters lived in what is now the Octagon Museum, which has an exhibit on Bolívar. His home, no longer standing, overlooked the Willemstad harbor, where he worked on his manifesto for a war of independence, which he announced later that year in Cartagena, Colombia. Bolívar - the George Washington of South America - eventually drove Spain from the New World and secured independence for Venezuela, Colombia, Ecuador, Peru, and Bolivia. But after a lifetime of fighting colonial rule, El Libertador died penniless in 1830.
Bon Biní...
I ora nos ta leu foi kas
Nos tur ta rekorda
Korsou su solo i playanan
Orguyo di nos tur
Laga nos gloria kreador
Tur tempu i sin fin
K'e la hasi nos digno
Di ta yu di Korsou.
And when we are far from home
We do always remember
Curaçao, its sun and beaches
The pride of us all
Let us honour our Creator
All times and without end
That He has made us worthy
To be children of Curaçao.
Y cuando estamos lejos del hogar
Siempre pensamos
En el sol y las playas de Curazao
Nuestro orgullo
Gloria a nuestro Creador
Por siempre y eternamente
Porque nos ha hecho dignos
Hijos de Curazao.
This is an excerpt from Curaçao's national anthem.
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