Curaçao 6.98

Curaçao is a Lesser Antilles island country in the southern Caribbean Sea and the Dutch Caribbean region, about 65km north of the Venezuelan coast. It is a constituent country (land) of the Kingdom of the Netherlands.It was formerly called Curaçao and Dependencies (1815–1954) and the Country of Curaçao; it includes the main island of Curaçao and the uninhabited island of Klein Curaçao ("Little Curaçao"). It has a population over 160,000 in an area of 444km2, and its capital is Willemstad.Before the dissolution of the Netherlands Antilles on 10 October 2010, Curaçao was administered as the "Island Territory of Curaçao" (Dutch: Eilandgebied Curaçao, Papiamentu: Teritorio Insular di Kòrsou), one of five island territories of the former Netherlands Antilles.EtymologyIn the 16th and 17th centuries, sailors on long voyages would get scurvy from lack of vitamin C. According to some accounts, Portuguese sailors who were ill were left at the island now known as Curaçao. When their ship returned, they had recovered, likely cured from scurvy, probably after eating fruit with vitamin C. From then on the Portuguese referred to this as Ilha da Curação (Island of Healing). Another explanation is that it is derived from the Portuguese word for heart (coração), referring to the island as a centre in trade. An unstressed o in Continental Portuguese is usually pronounced, so the Portuguese word for heart, coração, is actually pronounced. Spanish traders took the name over as Curaçao, which was followed by the Dutch.