This month's World Heritage Site

Willemstad, Curacao, Netherlands Antilles

By Totty Posted on History

What a crossroads the Caribbean became after the voyages of Columbus! The Spanish, English, French and Dutch, and later the Americans, all disseminated their cultures in this sea of islands, whether through sovereignty or trade. A student of the era of imperialism and colonialism could look to the Caribbean as a microcosm of European conquests and rivalries that once spanned the globe.

The imperial age is over – Cuba is independent, as are Haiti, Jamaica, the Dominican republic and most of the islands that arc south toward the South American coast. Puerto Rico lingers as a U.S. possession, but it long ago won the right to decide whenever it wants to ask for statehood, independence or the continuation of its commonwealth status.

One of the few outright Caribbean possessions left to a European power is the Netherlands Antilles, several islands strewn throughout the sea that belong to The Netherlands and are self-governing states equal to the homeland provinces in Europe. Two of the islands, Curacao and Bonaire, lie 50 miles off the coast of Venezuela and make their living off of refining Venezuelan oil, shipbuilding and tourism.

The most important basis for that last industry, tourism, is the World Heritage City of Willemstad on Curacao. The island’s first European settlers were the Spanish in 1499, who were then ousted by the Dutch, by that time the word’s dominant traders and sailors, in 1634.

At Willemstad’s site they found a fine natural deepwater harbor, about the size of current-day Victoria’s in British Columbia, its many-arms looking somewhat like Sydney’s bay. At first the Dutch raised cattle, but soon followed their old maritime instincts and began trading with South America and up and down the West Indies. Unfortunately, one of the backbones of that trade was slavery.

(The upside centuries later is that Curacao now boasts 55 ethnicities among its 160,000 population. The gastronomic possibilities for such a small place are mind-boggling. Also, despite their regrettable involvement with slavery, the Dutch were among the first Europeans to practice religious tolerance. That attitude encouraged Dutch Jews to migrate to Curacao, where in 1732 they built the Mikve Israel Synagogue, now the oldest continuously used synagogue in the Americas.)

The predominant architectural style the Dutch chose for Willemstad was their own 17^th-century northern European vernacular, with its steeply pitched gables, large windows and soaring finials. As the Dutch became used to the reliability of the Caribbean’s bright sunlight, they departed from their native country’s prim palette and began splashing fiery and dramatic colors on their buildings. Willemstad’s buildings soon wore umbers, siennas and deep blues to compliment their red-tiled roofs. Spanish influences led the Dutch to ornament some of their gables with curlicues, and to display an increasing exuberance in design as the 18^th century rolled around. The arcades and balustrades on commercial buildings from that era are almost Venetian in their drama. 

The main concentration of 17^th and 18^th-century buildings is in Punda and Otrabanda, the town’s two oldest sections, which face each other across an inlet that connects the Caribbean to the town’s inner harbor. They are joined by the Queen Emma Bridge, a 114-year-old pedestrian bridge, built on pontoons, that swings open when ships enter or leave the harbor (in fact, locals call her “the Swinging Old Lady”).

Much of Punda and Otrabanda are dedicated to shopping, mostly due to the cruise ships that put in at Willemstad as a day trip. But if shopping and rushing about is not your game, the town and the island can be very rewarding. There’s much to do, from guided tours of the World Heritage sections to sailing, snorkeling, scuba diving, fishing, parasailing, beachcombing, bicycling, visiting nature preserves and museums, golfing, tennis, horseback riding and rum distillery tours. In short, enough to make you want to stay awhile.