카리브해(海)에 있는 네덜란드령의 6개 섬으로 구성되어 있으며 베네수엘라(YV) 북서부 앞바다에 있는 쿠라사우·보나르의 2개 섬과 리워드제도에 있는 사바·세인트유스타티우스·세인트마틴의 3개 섬으로 이루어져 있다. 그 중 쿠라사우섬이 가장 크고 중심적인 지위를 차지하며, 주도(主都) 빌렘스타트도 그 섬에 있다.

 Curacao is situated at 12 deg 6'North and 68 deg 56'West in the West Indies approximately 65 km off the coast of Venezuela. Together with Aruba,Bonaire, Little Bonaire and Little Curacao they are the small Netherland Antilles. The landscape is made up by some hills, bushes, cactuses, Divi Divi trees and small forests. The west coast includes some dream beaches and became a tourist center contrary to the east coast with its rocks.

Leutnant Alonso de Ojeda from the fleet of Kolumbus discovered the island in 1499. The English pirate Sir Francis Drake plundered a few villages in 1573. The Dutch conquered Curacao in 1634 and the famous Peter Stuyvesant was governor of the island from 1642-1646. Between 1666 and 1815 the island was possessed several times by Holland, England and France. The islands were finally handed over to Holland with the Paris Peace Treaty of 1783. During the 17th century more than 1000 jews settled on the island and founded the oldest Jewish community in the New World.

Nowadays Curacao has some 150,000 inhabitants who live from tourism, oil refineries and last not least from the biggest casino in the Caribbean. The capital Willemstad is situated at a lagoon in the south, worth seeing are the three bridges named after queens, old colonial style storefronts, a swimming market and several forts. Even the world famous liquor "Blue Curacao" is made in the Chobolobo-Landhuis.

Amateur radio: Prefix PJ2, DXCC entity: Netherland Antilles, not listed in the ARRL's Most Wanted List. Time difference: UTC-4h, CQ zone 9,ITU zone 11, IOTA reference SA-006.     <DX-NL 1273 December 13, 2001>