Curaçao
Curaçao (; , ; , ) is a Lesser Antilles island in the southern Caribbean Sea and the Dutch Caribbean region, about north of the Venezuelan coast. It is a constituent country () of the Kingdom of the Netherlands.
Netherlands Antilles
Curaçao and Sint Maarten became distinct constituent countries alongside Aruba which had become a distinct constituent country in 1986; whereas Bonaire, Sint Eustatius, and Saba (the "BES Islands") became special municipalities within the Netherlands proper.
From 1815 onwards Curaçao and Dependencies formed a colony of the Kingdom of the Netherlands. Slavery was abolished in 1863, and in 1865 a government regulation for Curaçao was enacted that allowed for some very limited autonomy for the colony. Although this regulation was replaced by a constitution () in 1936, the changes to the government structure remained superficial and Curaçao continued to be ruled as a colony.