National Arms of Curaçao

	NATIONAL ARMS OF CURAÇAO Country : Curaçao Loading map... {"minzoom":false,"maxzoom":false,"mappingservice":"leaflet","width":"250px","height":"250px","centre":false,"title":"","label":"","icon":"","lines":[],"polygons":[],"circles":[],"rectangles":[],"copycoords":false,"static":false,"zoom":7,"defzoom":14,"layers":["OpenStreetMap"],"image layers":[],"overlays":[],"resizable":false,"fullscreen":false,"scrollwheelzoom":true,"cluster":false,"clustermaxzoom":20,"clusterzoomonclick":true,"clustermaxradius":80,"clusterspiderfy":true,"geojson":"","clicktarget":"","imageLayers":[],"locations":[{"text":"","title":"","link":"","lat":12.1611999999999991217691786005161702632904052734375,"lon":-68.98210000000000263753463514149188995361328125,"icon":""}],"imageoverlays":null}

Official blazon
Dutch	Gedeeld: in zilver, varende op een zee van effen blauw, een geheel opgetuigd driemast oorlogsschip met volle zeilen in natuurlijke kleur, voerende op de middelste mast de Nederlandse vlag, op de voormast een vlag met het wapen van Amsterdam en op de achtermast de vlag der West-Indische Compagnie; in zilver, een groene oranjeboom met oranje appelen, staande op een groene grond. Hartschild: in rood een zwarte paal, beladen met drie verkorte St Andrieskruisen van zilver, paalsgewijze gerangschikt. Het schild gedekt met een gouden kroon van vijf bladeren.
English	Per pale: 1. Argent, a sailing vessel on waves of the sea, proper; 2. Argent, an orange tree proper; Escutcheon: Gules, a pale Sable charged with three crosses saltire Argent. Crown: The crown of a marquess.

Origin/meaning

The arms were officially granted on July 24, 1964.

The ship is taken from the arms of the Dutch West-Indian Company (WIC), who founded a colony on the island. The tree is a so-called Pomerans-tree (type of orange), with the Curacao-oranges. The escutcheon is the arms of the city of Amsterdam, that bought the colony from the WIC. The city also built the large fortress Fort Amsterdam in the town of Willemstad.

In 1795, after the dissolution of the West India Company in 1791, a committee was formed in Curaçao to design a new seal. This did not differ very much of the old seal of the Company, see the image below.

After the restitution of Curaçao by the British in 1815, the achievement of state of the Netherlands was used in the same way as in the other parts of the Dutch West Indies.

Image gallery

The seal from 1791
The arms on a tax stamp

Literatuur:

Curaçao heraldry portal

This page is part of the Curaçao heraldry portal	Heraldry of the World
Civic heraldry: National Arms of Curaçao Heraldic literature of Curaçao Total pages in the Curaçao section : 10 of which images : 5	Other heraldry: Ecclesiastical heraldry Military heraldry Educational heraldry Institutional heraldry Corporate heraldry Heraldic postcards Heraldic stamps Personal arms