Curaçao: from colonial dependence to autonomy

This is the story of one of the most fascinating and most contested islands in the Caribbean, the island of Curaçao. Discovered long before the United States, Curaçao was Spanish for well over 130 years. It was the Spaniards who in 1527 imported the scrub whose fruits are still used in preparing Curaçao liqueur. Each season about a,hundred cruise ships sail from New York to Curaçao. The Grace Line operate a weekly tourist service to the island. Spain, the Netherlands, France and England fought each other over Curaçao, which, with the exception of some brief intervals, has been linked with the Netherlands since 1634. Everywhere on the island one can find the remnants of forts and fieldworks designed to keep the enemy off in centuries now gone by. Today they are no longer needed for their original purpose, and one of the strongest of Curaçao's fortresses, the Waterfort, now shelters within its ramparts the recently constructed Hotel Intercontinental. Curaçao’s main source of income is the oil-refinery, which started operating in 1916. Exports of oil-products averaging 750 million guilders annually completely eclipse the 10 million guilders which represent the other export-products. At present the Government are zealously active in broadening the basis of the island's prosperity. The former colony of Curaçao is the largest island of the Netherlands Antilles, which have been a fully autonomous part of the Kingdom of the Netherlands since 1954.