Curaçao is an island off the coast of Venezuela in the southern Caribbean Sea. It is the central and largest of the so-called ABC Islands (Aruba, Bonaire, and Curaçao). A very popular destination for cruise ships, the island is about 65 km (40 mi) long but only 5-13 km (3-8 mi) in width. Curaçao changed hands several times during the early colonial period but was confirmed as a Dutch colony in 1815. From 1954 to 2010 it hosted the capital of the Netherlands Antilles, a federation of the Dutch territories in the West Indies. The Netherlands Antilles was dissolved in October 2010 and Curaçao is now a separate country under the Dutch crown (Land Curaçao in Dutch). The island's population is about 160,000. Dutch and English are official languages in Curaçao although a Portuguese-based creole language called Papiamento is also spoken. In Dutch vuurtoren is a lighthouse, lichtopstand is a smaller light beacon, baken is an unlit beacon, eiland is an island, baai is a bay, kaap is a cape or headland, and haven is a harbor. Aids to navigation in Curaçao are presumably maintained by the Curaçao Ports Authority. In 2008 the Tideland Signal Corporation installed new MaxLED-200 optics in Curaçao's navigational aids. According to Tideland all the lights had been out of service for several years prior to these renovations. ARLHS numbers are from the ARLHS World List of Lights. NL numbers are from the official Dutch list. Admiralty numbers are from volume J of the Admiralty List of Lights & Fog Signals. U.S. NGA List numbers are from Publication 110.
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Information available on lost lighthouses:
Notable faux lighthouses:
Adjoining pages: East: Bonaire | South: Eastern Venezuela | West: Aruba
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Posted April 21, 2006. Checked and revised March 25, 2025. Lighthouses: 5. Site copyright 2025 Russ Rowlett and the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.