Curaçao is one of the Leeward Islands located in the Lesser Antilles, in the Caribbean Sea, and has been an autonomous state within the Kingdom of the Netherlands since the dissolution of the Federation of the Netherlands Antilles on October 10, 2010. It has a population of 158,665 (2019) and covers an area of 444 km². Its capital is Willemstad, and its ISO 3166-1 alpha-2 code is “CW.”

Numerous theories attempt to explain the origin of the name Curaçao.

The most likely theory is that it derives from the Portuguese words coração, “heart,” or curação, “the art of healing”—the latter referring to the treatment of sailors’ scurvy using the island’s fruits. Another theory suggests that it is instead the name by which the island’s first inhabitants identified themselves; the first Spanish explorers, in fact, referred to the Arawaks of the island as Indios Curaçaos. Beginning in 1525, the island appeared on Spanish maps as Curaçote, Curasaote, Curasaore, and even Curacaute. In the 17th century, it appeared on most Portuguese-language maps as Curaçao or Curazao. On a map created by Jérôme Cock in 1562 in Antwerp, the island is named Qúracao.