WILLEMSTAD

chief town of Curaao and capital of the Netherlands Antilles (q.v.) in the Caribbean Sea, on the southern coast of Curaao. It is divided into two parts by the Sint Anna Baai (Saint Anne Bay) leading to Schottegat Harbour. The two halves, Punda and Otrabanda (Other Side), are joined by the Koningin Emma Brug, or Queen Emma Pontoon Bridge, built in 1888. A fixed bridge was completed in 1974. Willemstad is a Caribbean centre of trade, petroleum storage and refining, tourism, and banking. The town has many Dutch-style gabled houses. Important buildings include Ft. Amsterdam, which once guarded the entrance to Schottegat Harbour and is now the seat of government; the Dutch Reformed Church (1769); and the Mikve Israel Synagogue (1732), the oldest in the Western Hemisphere. There is also an old slave market and the Curaao Museum. Pop. (1985 est.) 125,000.