Pre-colonial The original inhabitants of Curaçao were the
Arawak and
Caquetio Amerindians. Their ancestors had migrated to the island from the mainland of South America, probably hundreds of years before Europeans' first arrival.
Spanish colonization The first Europeans recorded as seeing the island were members of a Spanish expedition under the leadership of
Alonso de Ojeda in 1499. The Spaniards
enslaved most of the Caquetios (Arawak) for
forced labour in their
Hispaniola colony, but paid little attention to the island itself. Not all imported species fared equally well, and the Spanish also learned to use Caquetio crops and agricultural methods, as well as those from other Caribbean islands. Though historical sources point to thousands of people living on the island, agricultural yields were disappointing; this and the lack of precious metals in the salt mines led the Spanish to call Curaçao "the useless island". Over time, the number of Spaniards living on Curaçao decreased while the number of aboriginal inhabitants stabilized. Presumably through natural growth, return and colonization, the Caquetio population then began to increase. In the last decades of Spanish occupation, Curaçao was used as a large cattle ranch. At that point, Spaniards lived around
Santa Barbara, Santa Ana and in the villages in the western part of the island, while the Caquetios are thought to have lived scattered all over the island.
Dutch colonial rule warships under
Charles Brisbane capturing Curaçao on 1 January 1807 In 1634, during the
Eighty Years' War of independence between the
Republic of the Netherlands and Spain, the
Dutch West India Company under Admiral
Johann van Walbeeck invaded the island; the Spanish surrendered in San Juan in August. Approximately 30 Spaniards and many indigenous people were then deported to Santa Ana de Coro in Venezuela. About 30 Taíno families were allowed to live on the island while Dutch colonists started settling there. Commerce and shipping—and
piracy—became Curaçao's most important economic activities. Later,
salt mining became a major industry, the mineral being a lucrative export at the time. From 1662, the Dutch West India Company made Curaçao a centre of the
Atlantic slave trade, often bringing slaves from West Africa to the island, before selling them elsewhere in the Caribbean and
Spanish Main. In 1674 the island became a
free port. In the
Franco-Dutch War of 1672–1678, French Admiral
Jean II d'Estrées planned to attack Curaçao. His fleet—12
men-of-war, three
fire ships, two transports, a
hospital ship, and 12
privateers—met with disaster, losing seven men-of-war and two other ships when they struck
reefs off the
Las Aves archipelago. The serious navigational error occurred on 11 May 1678, a week after the fleet set sail from
Saint Kitts. , 1885 Many Dutch colonists grew affluent from the slave trade, building impressive colonial buildings in the capital of Willemstad; the city is now a
UNESCO World Heritage Site. In 1795,
a major slave revolt took place under the leaders
Tula Rigaud, Louis Mercier, Bastian Karpata, and Pedro Wakao. Up to 4,000 slaves in northwest Curaçao revolted, with more than 1,000 taking part in extended gunfights. After a month, the slave owners were able to suppress the revolt. Curaçao's proximity to South America resulted in interaction with cultures of the coastal areas more than a century after the independence of the Netherlands from Spain. Architectural similarities can be seen between 19th century Willemstad neighbourhoods and the nearby Venezuelan city of
Coro in
Falcón State, which has also been designated a World Heritage Site. Netherlands established economic ties with the
Viceroyalty of New Granada that included the present-day countries of
Colombia and
Venezuela. In the 19th century, Curaçaoans such as
Manuel Piar and
Luis Brión were prominently engaged in the wars of independence of both Venezuela and Colombia. Political refugees from the mainland, such as
Simón Bolívar, regrouped in Curaçao. During the
French Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars,
British forces twice occupied Curaçao; the
first occupation lasted from 1800 to 1803, and the second occupation from 1807 to 1815. At the end of the
Napoleonic Wars stable Dutch rule returned in 1815. After the signing of the
Treaty of London, the island was incorporated into the colony of
Curaçao and Dependencies. The Dutch
abolished slavery in 1863, causing vast changes in the economy with the shift to
wage labour. Students on Curaçao, Aruba, and Bonaire were taught predominantly in Spanish until the early 19th century, when the British occupied all three islands. Teaching of Spanish was restored when Dutch rule resumed in 1815. Also, efforts were made to introduce widespread bilingual Dutch and
Papiamentu education in the late 19th century.
20th and 21st centuries When oil was discovered in the Venezuelan
Maracaibo Basin town of Mene Grande in 1914, Curaçao's economy was dramatically altered. In the early years, both
Shell and
Exxon held drilling
concessions in Venezuela, which ensured a constant supply of crude oil to refineries in
Aruba and Curaçao. Crude oil production in Venezuela was inexpensive. Both Shell and Exxon were
vertically integrated and controlled the entire industry, from pumping, transporting, and refining to sales. The refineries on Aruba and Curaçao operated in global markets and were profitable partly because of the margin between the production costs of crude oil and the revenues the sale of oil products. This provided a safety net for losses incurred through inefficiency or excessive operating costs at the refineries. In 1936 a burning bale of cotton thrown overboard by the crew of MS
Colombia, which lay anchored in the Schottegat, caused the oil floating on the water to catch fire. It took days to get the fire under control; houses had to be evacuated, but there were no casualties. During the Second World War, the island played an important role in the supply of fuel for the
Allied forces. In 1940, before the invasion of the Netherlands by
Germany, the British occupied Curaçao and the French Aruba. The presence of powers other than the Netherlands alarmed the Venezuelan government given the proximity of these islands at the entrance to the
Gulf of Venezuela and the fact they had historically been used as bases to launch incursions against Venezuelan territory. In 1941, US troops occupied the island and built the military airport "Hato". The main purpose was this deployment was to fight against expected future attacks by
Axis submarines and potentially long-distance German
bomber aircraft. The United States was also concerned over the potential threat of a German invasion of the continental US launched with the aid of German settlers in South America. In 1942 the port of Willemstad, one of the main sources of fuel for the Allied operations, was besieged by German submarines on several occasions under Neuland Operation. In August 1942, the Germans returned to Curaçao and attacked a
tanker before receiving fire from a Dutch
shore battery and slipping away. The
United States Navy established the
Fourth Fleet, which was responsible for countering enemy naval operations in the Caribbean and in the South Atlantic. The
United States Army also sent aircraft and personnel to help protect the oil refineries and bolster the
Venezuelan Air Force. In 1954, Curaçao and other Dutch Caribbean colonies were joined to form the
Netherlands Antilles. Discontent with Curaçao's seemingly subordinate relationship to the Netherlands, ongoing
racial discrimination, and a rise in unemployment owing to layoffs in the
Shell refinery led to a
series of riots in 1969. A state of emergency was declared after rioters set fire to the
Willemstad downtown and the bankers mansions. Protestors had to face the Dutch Navy marines dispatching from the local military base on the island, to quell the rebellion led by charismatic politicians such as
Papa Godett and
Stanley Browne. The riots resulted in two deaths, numerous injuries and severe property and infrastructural damage in Willemstad. In response, the Dutch government introduced far-reaching reforms, allowing Afro-Curaçaoans greater influence over the island's political and economic life, and increased the prominence of the local Papiamentu language. Curaçao experienced an economic downturn in the early 1980s. Shell's refinery on the island operated with significant losses from 1975 to 1979, and again from 1982 to 1985. Persistent losses, global
overproduction, stronger competition, and low market expectations threatened the refinery's future. In 1985, after 70 years, Royal Dutch Shell decided to end its activities on Curaçao. This came at a crucial moment. Curaçao's fragile economy had been stagnant for some time. Several revenue-generating sectors suffered even more during this period: tourism from Venezuela collapsed after the
devaluation of the
bolivar, and a slowdown in the transportation sector had deleterious effects on the Antillean Airline Company and the Curaçao Dry Dock Company. In the mid-1980s, Shell sold its refinery for the symbolic amount of one
Antillean guilder to a local government
consortium. In recent years, the ageing refinery has been the subject of lawsuits alleging that its emissions, including
sulphur dioxide and
particulate matter, far exceed safety standards. The government consortium leases the refinery to the Venezuelan
PDVSA state oil company. On 1 July 2007, Curaçao was due to become a country within the Kingdom of the Netherlands, like Aruba and the Netherlands Antilles. On 28 November 2006, the change was delayed when the island council rejected a clarification memorandum on the process. A new island council ratified this agreement on 9 July 2007. On 15 December 2008, Curaçao was again scheduled to become a separate country within the Kingdom of the Netherlands. A non-binding referendum on the move was held in Curaçao on 15 May 2009; 52% of voters supported it.
Since the dissolution of the Netherlands Antilles The
dissolution of the Netherlands Antilles came into effect on 10 October 2010. Curaçao became a country within the
Kingdom of the Netherlands, with the kingdom retaining responsibility for
defence and
foreign policy. The kingdom was also tasked with overseeing the island's finances under a
debt-relief arrangement agreed upon between the two. Curaçao's first
prime minister was
Gerrit Schotte. He was succeeded in 2012 by
Stanley Betrian,
ad interim. After the 2012 elections,
Daniel Hodge became the third prime minister on 31 December 2012. He led a
demissionary cabinet until 7 June 2013, when a new cabinet under the leadership of
Ivar Asjes was sworn in. Although Curaçao is autonomous, the Netherlands has intervened in its affairs to ensure that parliamentary elections are held and to assist in finalizing accurate budgets. In July 2017, Curaçaoan Prime Minister
Eugene Rhuggenaath said he wanted Curaçao to take full responsibility over its affairs, but asked for more cooperation and assistance from the Netherlands, with suggestions for more innovative approaches to help Curaçao succeed and increase its
standard of living. The Dutch government reminded the Curaçaoan government that it had provided assistance with oil refinery negotiations with the Chinese "on numerous occasions". The 2020
COVID-19 pandemic resulted in
austerity measures. Curaçao had to impose spending cuts to qualify for additional aid from the Netherlands. As part of the austerity package, the Government of Curaçao announced a 12.5% cut in benefits for civil servants. On 24 June 2020, a group of civil servants, together with
waste collectors from Selikor, marched to
Fort Amsterdam and demanded to speak with Rhuggenaath. with
tear gas. The city centre of Willemstad was later
looted. the city districts of
Punda and
Otrobanda were placed under
lockdown for the night, and a general
curfew was declared from 20:30 to 06:00. == Geography ==