Territory of Curaçao
| Curaçao and Dependencies | ||||||||||
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Curaçao en onderhorigheden (Dutch) Kòrsou i las dependenshas (Papiamento) |
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| Dutch colony | ||||||||||
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| Capital | Willemstad, Curaçao | |||||||||
| Languages | Dutch, English, and Papiamento | |||||||||
| Political structure | Colony | |||||||||
| History | ||||||||||
| • | Established | November 20, 1815 | ||||||||
| • | Proclamation of the Kingdom charter | December 15, 1954 | ||||||||
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The Colony of Curaçao and Dependencies (Dutch: Kolonie Curaçao en onderhorigheden; Papiamento: Kolonia di Kòrsou i dependensianan) was a Dutch colony from 1815 until 1828 and from 1845 until 1936. Between 1936 and 1948, the area was officially known as the Territory of Curaçao (Dutch: Gebiedsdeel Curaçao; Papiamento: Teritorio di Kòrsou), and after 1948 as the Netherlands Antilles. With the proclamation of the Charter for the Kingdom of the Netherlands on 15 December 1954, the Netherlands Antilles attained equal status with the Netherlands proper and Suriname in the overarching Kingdom of the Netherlands.
Under the terms of the Anglo-Dutch Treaty of 1814, the Netherlands regained control over its West Indies colonies, with the exception of Demerara, Essequibo, and Berbice. In the newly established United Kingdom of the Netherlands, these colonies were organized in the following way:
As a cost-reducing measure, the three colonies were merged into a single West Indies colony ruled from Paramaribo, Suriname, in 1828. This proved to be an unhappy arrangement, causing it to be partially reverted in 1845. Sint Eustatius did not regain its status as a separate colony, however, and came to be ruled from Willemstad, Curaçao:
In 1865, Curaçao's government regulation (Dutch: Regeringsreglement voor Curaçao en onderhorige eilanden) was altered to allow for a limited autonomy for the colony. The structure established in this regulation remained in force until 1936, when the first Constitution of Curaçao was enacted. This new basic law followed on a revision of the Dutch constitution in 1922, in which all references to the term "colony" were deleted. In the new parliament established in the colony, the Estates of Curaçao, ten out of fifteen members were elected by popular vote, with the remaining five being appointed by the governor. Only about 5% of the population of both colonies was allowed to vote in the elections.
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