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 Curacao
(pop: 170,000), the largest of the five
islands comprising the Netherlands Antilles, lies in the
Caribbean Sea 60 kilometers off the Venezuelan coast at a
latitude of 12°N, outside the hurricane belt. It is 65
kilometers long and 11 kilometers at its widest, with an
area of 448 square kilometers. The landscape is barren,
because of low rainfall (560 millimeters a year) which
makes for sparse vegetation (consisting mostly of cactus
thickets), and although it is not flat, the only
significant hill is Mount Christoffel in the northwest,
which rises to a height of 375 meters. On a clear you can
see Aruba, Bonaire and Venezuela from the top. Deep bays
indent the south coast, the largest of which, Schottegat,
provides Willemstad with one of the finest harbors in the
Caribbean. On the island cactus plants grow up to six
meters high, and the characteristic wind-distorted divi
divi trees reach three meters, with another three meters
or so of branches jutting out away from the wind at right
angles to the trunk. The population is truly cosmopolitan,
and 79 nationalities are represented, of whom 16 percent
were born outside the Netherlands Antilles.
Click here to go to Curacao web site. |
