The Columbia Encyclopedia, Sixth Edition. 2001-07.
Willemstad
(vl´mstät) (KEY) , city (1992 pop. 24,235), Curaçao, capital of the Netherlands Antilles. The city is the commercial and industrial center of the Netherlands Antilles as well as a free port and tourist center. It is important as a transshipment point and refining center for petroleum sent across the Gulf of Venezuela from Maracaibo; however, the petroleum demand declined in the mid-1980s. Willemstad has a distinctive Dutch character with streets lined by narrow, gabled houses.