Search results
Results from the WOW.Com Content Network
Early in its history, Curaçao's economy was centered on salt mining from saline-rich ponds located in the eastern part of the island. Up until that time, dating back to the 16th century, settlers (first Spanish & later Dutch & Sephardic Portuguese Jews) made numerous, failed attempts at creating an agricultural industry.
Until 2007, the site was a Royal Netherlands Navy air base which operated for 55 years with a wide variety of aircraft, including Fireflies, Avengers, Trackers, Neptunes, Fokker F-27s, P-3C Orions, Fokker F-60s and several helicopter types. After the political decision to sell off all Orions, the air base wasn't needed anymore. [citation needed]
The Netherlands Antillean guilder (Dutch: gulden; Papiamento: florin) is the currency of Curaçao and Sint Maarten, which until 2010 formed the Netherlands Antilles along with Bonaire, Saba, and Sint Eustatius.
Beginning in 1893, the absence of coins and banknotes in Curaçao led S.E.L. Maduro & Sons to issue money coupons until the introduction of the 1901 Coinage Act. For a long time this 'Maduro Money' was accepted as payment on the ABC islands. [3]
The Caribbean guilder will replace the Netherlands-Antillean guilder as mandated by a regional constitutional reform in October 2010 that changed the political status of Curacao and St. Maarten.
In the 1940s and 1950s the refinery brought prosperity and modernisation to the island, but prosperity was unevenly distributed. The newly created Curaçao working class became increasingly dissatisfied with the pay practices of the Royal Shell. The participation of the Afro-Curaçaoan population in the political process was also limited.
Get AOL Mail for FREE! Manage your email like never before with travel, photo & document views. Personalize your inbox with themes & tabs. You've Got Mail!
In August 2013, the company's management and employees approached the Curacao government through various departments for a new loan of 5m Guilders (approx. US$2.8 million) to, among other items, pay employee salaries outstanding from July 2013. The appeal for the loan was denied by the Curacao Parliament on August 16, 2013. [3]