Curaçao

Curacao (Papiamentu: Kòrsou) is an island in the southern Caribbean Sea, off the Venezuelan coast. The Country of Curacao which includes the main island plus the small, uninhabited island of Klein Curacao (“Little Curacao”), is a constituent country of the Kingdom of the Netherlands. Its capital is Willemstad. The languages widely spoken are Papiamentu, Dutch, English and Spanish. Most people on the island (85 percent) speak Papiamentu. Many people can speak all four of these languages.

Curacao is the largest and most populous of the three ABC island (for Aruba, Bonaire and Curacao). It has a land area of  444 square kilometers (171 square miles). As of 1 January 2009, it has a population of 141,766. Prior to 10 October 2010, when the Netherlands Antilles was dissolved, Curacao was administered as the Island Territory of Curacao, one of the five island territories of the former Netherlands Antilles.

Curacao is known for its coral reefs, used for scuba diving. The beaches on the south side contain many popular diving spots. An unusual feature of Curacao diving is that the sea for drops steeply within a few hundred feet of the shore, and the reef can easily be reached without a boat. This drop-off is known as the ‘blue edge’. The southern coast is very different and offers remarkably calm waters. The coastline of Curacao features many bays and inlets, many of them suitable for mooring.

Curacao has a semiarid climate with a dry season from January to September and a wet season from October to December. The temperatures are relatively constant with small differences throughout the year. The coldest month is January with an average temperature of 26,5 °C (79,7 °F) and the warmest month is September with an average of 28,9 °C (84,0 °F). Curacao lies outside the hurricane belt, but is still occasionally affected by hurricanes, as for example Omar in 2008.

Curacao has one of the highest standards of living in the Caribbean, with a GDP per capita of US$ 20,500 (2009 est.) and a well-developed infrastructure. The main industries of the island include oil refining, tourism and financial services. Shipping, international trade and other activities related to the port of Willemstad make a contribution to the economy. To achieve the government's aims to make its economy more diverse, significant efforts are being made to attract more foreign investments. For its size, the island has a considerably diverse economy which does not rely mostly on tourism alone as is the case on many other Caribbean islands.

Because of its history, the island's population comes from many ethnic backgrounds. There is an Afro-Carribean majority of mixed African and European descent, and also sizeable minorities of Dutch, Latin American, French, South Asian, East Asian, Portuguese and Levantine people.