Curazoa Curasao Curacoa, or Curassou, an island of the Dutch West Indies, in the Caribbean sea, 46 m. N. of the coast of Venezuela; lat. 12° 3' to 12° 24' K, lon. 68° 47' to 69° 16' W.; length N". W. to S. E. 36 m., breadth 8 m.; area, 164 sq. m.; pop. in 1870, 21,319, of whom about 2,000 were Protestants and 1,000 Jews, the remainder Roman Catholics. It has a hilly surface, with rugged coasts, and is exceedingly barren. The climate is dry and hot, though tempered by sea breezes, and the island is visited by the yellow fever every six or seven years. Fresh water is scarce, and is obtained either from rain or deep wells. Severe droughts frequently occur; the soil is so poor that provisions are imported, and some of the products once cultivated, as indigo, cotton, and cacao, are now entirely neglected. Sugar, tobacco, maize, cochineal, cattle, horses, asses, sheep, and goats are raised; the tamarind, banana, cacao palm, orange, and various kinds of kitchen vegetables grow well; and from the lime is made the celebrated Curacoa liqueur. Iron and copper ores exist, but are not worked.

The trade is mainly with the United States, the exports to which in 1870 amounted to $353,000, of which goat, kid, and deer skins formed $225,000. The principal harbor is that of Santa Anna on the S. W. coast, one side of the narrow entrance to which is defended by Fort Amsterdam, while on the other stands Willemsted or Curacoa, the capital of the island and of a government which includes this and the neighboring islands of Buen Ayre, Oruba (or Aruba), and Little Curacoa. It is also the seat of a Catholic vicar apostolic, whose jurisdiction embraces nearly all of the Dutch West Indies. - Curacoa was settled by the Spaniards in the 16th century, taken by the Dutch about 1630, captured by the British in 1798, restored to Holland at the peace of Amiens, again seized by England in 1807, and finally given up to the Dutch in 1814.