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Language: Dutch (English, Spanish, & Papiamento widely spoken)
Currency: Netherlands Antillean florin or guilder
Temperature: Average 80°F year-round
Square Miles: 180
Approx. Population: 148,000
Curacao is part of the Netherlands Antilles, but people of more than fifty different nationalities call this island home. In the capital of Willemstad, vendors in the Floating Market offer tropical fruits, spices, and kingfish and dorado fillets.
The island is rich with history and culture. The pastel buildings are due to a decree in 1817 by a governer Albert Kikkert, who complained that glare from the originally white buildings gave him headaches. The famous Mikve Israel-Emmanuel Synagogue was built by early Jewish settlers in 1732. Every day, the floor of the synagogue is sprinkled with sand, perhaps to symbolize the Israelites wandering through the desert during the Exodus or as a tradition birthed out of the necessity during the Inquisition, when the sand muffled the noise of secretly-worshiping Jews. Curacao's history from the slave-trade era is remembered in the Museum Kura Hulanda, part of the recently built Kura Hulanda complex. Another relic from Curacao's past, Fort Amsterdam, now serves as Curacao's parliament building.
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