Willemstad, Curacao, Caribbean
Willemstadis the capital city of Curaçao, an island in the southern Caribbean Sea that forms a constituent country of the Kingdom of the Netherlands formerly the capital of the Netherlands Antilles prior to its dissolution in 2010, it has an estimated population of 150,000.
Tourism is a major industry and the city has several casinos. The city centre of Willemstad has an array of colonial architecture that is influenced by Dutch styles. Archaeological research has also been developed there.
During 1800s, when the Dutch ruled Curaçao, the then-governor attributed the migraines that afflicted him to the powerful Caribbean sun reflecting off the colony's stark walls. As a result, an official decree that commanded citizens to paint the structures anything but white. Today, this World Heritage site owes its distinctive pastel shades to one man's maladies.
Due to its location near the Venezuelan oilfields, its political stability and its natural deep water harbour, Willemstad became the site of an important seaport and refinery. Willemstad's harbour is the largest oil handling port in the Caribbean. The refinery, at one point the largest in the world, was originally built and owned by Royal Dutch Shell in 1915. It was sold to the Curaçao government for the symbolic sum of one guilder in 1985 and is now leased to PDVSA, the state owned Venezuelan oil company.
