1997, Willemstad on Curaçao
Willemstad is on the former Dutch island of Curaçao. The island's geographical location is relatively close to the Venezuelan coast of South America. Willemstad was founded in the beginning of the 17th century by merchants from Amsterdam as a trading post and slave trading centre. The city comprises several quarters, most of them grouped around a wide, natural harbour. The multicoloured historical buildings and the noticeable Dutch influences in the town's planning and architecture are characteristic of Willemstad.

Motivation
In 1997 the World Heritage Committee decided to place the historical part of Willemstad on the island of Curaçao on the World Heritage List on the basis of cultural criteria (2), (4) and (5). According to these criteria, cultural world heritage must (2) exhibit an important interchange of human values, over a span of time or within a cultural area of the world, on developments in architecture or technology, monumental arts, town-planning or landscape design; (4) be an outstanding example of a type of building, architectural or technological ensemble or landscape which illustrates (a) significant stage(s) in human history; and (5) be an outstanding example of a traditional human settlement, land-use, or sea-use which is representative of a culture (or cultures), or human interaction with the environment especially when it has become vulnerable under the impact of irreversible change.

The following considerations applied when Willemstad on Curaçao was inscribed on the List: The Committee noted that the historical town of Willemstad represents outstanding universal values as an example of a European colonial ensemble in the Caribbean, in which the organic growth of a multicultural society has been distinguishable for more than three centuries and which still contains in large measure important elements of the different origins from which that society developed.