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Curaçao

Kòrsou - Pais Kòrsou, Land Curaçao

Last modified: 2023-12-09 by rob raeside
Keywords: antilles | curaçao | curacao | yacht club | netherlands antilles |
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(2:3) image by Mark Sensen, 14 December 2003 and António Martins-Tuválkin, 10 November 2010


Official Name: Country of Curaçao,  Land Curaçao
Capital: Willemstad
Location: Caribbean
Government Type: Constitutional Monarchy, Overseas Country of Kingdom of the Netherlands 
Flag adopted: 2 July 1984
ISO Code: CW


See also:


Flag of Curaçao

Ratio: 2:3. Adopted: 2 July 1984.
Mark Sensen

A blue flag with a yellow stripe (about the width of the white stripe in the Danish flag), located below the center line, and containing two 5 pointed white stars in upper hoist, the upper one smaller and to the left of the lower one.
William M. Grimes-Wyatt, 8 April 1996

From www.curacao-tourism.com (defunct): "Curaçao’s flag portrays the blue sea and sky, bisected by the yellow sun. The two stars represent Curaçao and its uninhabited sister island Klein Curaçao; their five points symbolize the five continents from which the varied local population originates".
Erki Kurrikoff, 5 Febuary 2002

According to Album 2000 [pay00] - Curaçao - A blue flag of proportions 2:3 with a yellow stripe in the lower part, propotions 5:1:2. At the upper hoist two white stars. The diameter of the imaginary circle circumscribing the first star equal to one sixth of the flag height, the centre located at an imaginary vertical line one sixth of the flag height from the hoist and an imaginary horizontal line one sixth of the flag height from the top of the flag. The diameter of the imaginary circle circumscribing the second star equal to two nineth of the flag height, the centre located at an imaginary vertical line one third of the flag height from the hoist and an imaginary horizontal line one third of the flag height from the top of the flag. The blue is Pantone 280, the yellow is Pantone 102.
Mark Sensen, 14 December 2003


Previous Flags of Curaçao

(2:3)
image by António Martins-Tuválkin, 10 November 2010

Acording to Emblemes et Pavillons, issue 5, February 1986, Curaçao has two flags.
Their chronologie is:
1) 12 May 1981, comission star working in the selection of a flag;
2) Flag adopted 29 November 1982, like the current one but with the stars rotated;
3) Modification 2 July 1984.
Jaume Ollé, 30 May 2010

I modified Mark Sensen's image to match this, assuming that Jaume meant rotated 180 degrees, i.e., flipped vertically, i.e., standing on one tip, instead of on two. Due to the geometry of the flag, this amounts almost exactly to say that the stars point to the upper hoist.
António Martins-Tuválkin, 10 November 2010


Doubtful Historical Flag


image by Jarig Bakker, 31 January 2003

From "Vlaggenalbum" of Gouda's Roen (c. 1950) - The flag for Curaçao is the Dutch flag with a Coat of Arms in the center (apparently not the Coat of Arms of that island); I haven't seen it in any flagbook, so this seems to be highly doubtful. The ship is of the Netherlands West India Company, see <www.ngw.nl>.
Jarig Bakker, 31 January 2003

Both Suriname and the Netherlands Antilles used the Coat of Arms of the "Geoctrooiëerde Westindische Compagnie" (Dutch West India Company), that is a three-master on a way sea. So this Coat of Arms may have been used on flags. Note that the old Coat of Arms at <www.ngw.nl> has a white scroll with black lettering, and not a red scroll.
Jarig Bakker, 2 Febuary 2003


New Status to Curaçao

Last news I could stored is one seen 27 Sept. 2003 in which it is said that Curaçao Parliament wants the "independent status" whithin the Kingdom of the Netherlands, just like "Aruba did in 1986 and Sint Maartin ". According to the news <www.sinteur.com> a referendum is planed to "next year", then sometime in 2003.
Juan Manuel Gabino Villascán, 26 October 2003

Indeed some (Curaçao and Sint Maarten) want a status aparte. But there must be an agreement with the others islands and the Dutch government first.
Mark Sensen, 27 October 2003

Minister Nicolai of Kingdomrelations reached a historic agreement with Curaçao and Sint Maarten. The islands will become separate countries, like Aruba.   That means that the co-operation between the Netherlands and the Netherlands Antilles, as agreed by the "Koninkrijksstatuut" of 1954, will end. It is agreed that there will be a common court of justice of the Netherlands, Curaçao and Sint Maarten. There are also agreements on policing and prosecution. The Netherlands will take care of the debts of the Netherlands Antilles, totalling 2,5 billion Euros. The Netherlands Antilles will cease to exist on 1 July 2007. Bonaire, Saba and Sint Eustatius will become Dutch municipalities. Aruba is a separate entity since 1986.
No info about change of flags. The currency is also unclear, although it seems that Aruba might be forced to enter the Euro-zone(!)
Source: <www.nos.nl> reported by Stefan Lambrechts.
Jarig Bakker, 3 November 2007

The Kingdom of the Netherlands is a UN member. The islands Aruba and NA were (one) member of UPU and observers of several other organizations (UNWTO etc.).
The expectations is that this will be changed to Aruba, Curaçao and Sint Maarten as one member/observer.
The Olympic Comittee has changed the rules for membership of non-indepentent entities. Existing members will stay a normal member, but new non-independent members will not be admitted. This means that Aruba stays a IOC member, but Curaçao and Sint Maarten athletes will have to be part of the Netherlands team.
Maxim van Ooijen, 11 October 2010

The status of Curaçao and Sint Maarten are the same now as that of Aruba. Aruba has its own IOC delegation, I'm sure that Curaçao and Sint Maarten will get everything Aruba has (IOC delegation, ISO 3166 code, etc) in time, probably by the time of London 2012.
The BES (Bonaire, St. Eustatius, Saba) islands is a different kettle of fish - they are now considered integral parts of the Netherlands, I would assume any Olympic athletes from the BES islands would march with the Netherlands team.
David Kendall, 11 October 2010

ISO has issued new country codes for islands in the Dutch West Indies to reflect their new administrative status following constitutional reform by the government of the Netherlands.
The islands of Curaçao and Sint Maarten become autonomous countries of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, with the following two-letter and three-letter country codes issued under the ISO standard, ISO 3166-1:
Sint Maarten (Dutch part) - SX  SXM
Curaçao - CW CUW
The islands of Bonaire, Saint Eustatius and Saba become Dutch municipalities which are assigned the following ISO 3166-1 code:
Bonaire, Saint Eustatius and Saba  - BQ BES
The codes for the Netherlands Antilles are deleted from ISO 3166-1 and transitionally reserved for a period of 50 years:
Netherlands Antilles  - AN ANT
Source: http://www.iso.org/iso/pressrelease.htm?refid=Ref1383 2010-12-20
Jarig Bakker, 29 December 2010

Football world governing body FIFA in its official website has replaced the page "Netherlands Antilles" for that of "Curaçao" In the link "Associations" of the same site in English, the name "Netherlands Antilles" used to appear between "Netherlands" and "New Caledonia"; right now it appears no more. Insted, the name "Curaçao" has been placed between "Cuba" and "Cyprus".
A month ago, the International Olympic Committee ruled that all athletes from the former Netherlands Antilles would participate in the 2011 Pan American Games and 2012 Olympic Games under the Olympic Flag as independent Athletes; after that all of them shall compete under the Dutch flag. At the same time IAAF (World Athletics Federation) witdrew its recognition towards the non-existent Netherlands Antilles stating that Athletes from the former territory shall compete for the Netherlands from now on.
Though lacking of official statements, it seems that FIFA decided to keep recognition to Curaçao as the legal successor of the Netherlands Antilles.
The flag shown for Curaçao in the FIFA site is this one, the code in use is : CUW (the same used by ISO-3166)
Juan Manuel Gabino Villascán, 6 March 2011


Curaçao flag blunder in Amsterdam

Invited to the Netherlands by Queen Beatrix, Abdullah Gül, President of the Republic of Turkey, was welcomed on 17 April 2012 in an official ceremony organized on the Dam, Amsterdam's main square. The municipal administration decorated the place with the flags of the Netherlands, of Turkey, of of the Dutch provinces and and of the Dutch overseas territories.Unfortunately, the flag of Curaçao was hoisted upside down, as shown in a video footage available on the website of the "AT5" news service.
Source: http://www.at5.nl/artikelen/79562/gemeente-blundert-met-vlag-curacao
Ivan Sache, 24 April 2012


Stamp Issuing

Fortunately the 2011 issues are somewhat flag-related as well: One of them is the series "Constitution - New Beginning" with eleven stamps with the theme of fish in the sea, where the design of the Curaçao flag appears on the portrayed fish. ...
Peter Hans van den Muijzenberg, 19 November 2010

Issued on 11 January 2011. (Apparently we need to be precise, if we consider them flags on stamps at all, as it appears the country has a  new issue each month.) Curaçao didn't join in with the dinghy series, and has not issued any other flag-related stamps since the fish, as far as I can tell.
Peter Hans van den Muijzenberg, 08 May 2012