America/Curacao

Time zone identifier: America/Curacao

Current civil offset: -04:00 (AST)

Current DST state: Observing Standard Time

First standard time adoption: Adopted on 1912-02-12

Local Mean Time (LMT): -04:35:47 based on geographic meridian

Total recorded transitions: 2 transitions across 3 distinct offsets

Associated countries: CW

Aliases (Link targets): America/Kralendijk, America/Lower_Princes

Historical Offset Step Chart (1880 to Present)

Text summary: America/Curacao shifted between 3 distinct offsets from 1912-02-12 through the modern era.

Complete Transition History (2 Transitions)

UTC Instant	Local Wall Time	Shift	Abbreviation	DST	Effect
`1912-02-12T04:35:47Z`	`1912-02-12 00:05:47`	-04:35:47 → -04:30	`-0430`	No	gap
`1965-01-01T04:30:00Z`	`1965-01-01 00:30:00`	-04:30 → -04:00	`AST`	No	gap

Notes from the Maintainers

Source: backzone (Lines 609 to 626)

Curaçao
Milne gives 4:35:46.9 for Curaçao mean time; round to nearest.

From Paul Eggert (2006-03-22):
Shanks & Pottenger say that The Bottom and Philipsburg have been at
-4:00 since standard time was introduced on 1912-03-02; and that
Kralendijk and Rincon used Kralendijk Mean Time (-4:33:08) from
1912-02-02 to 1965-01-01.  The former is dubious, since S&P also say
Saba Island has been like Curaçao.
This all predates our 1970 cutoff, though.

By July 2007 Curaçao and St Maarten are planned to become
associated states within the Netherlands, much like Aruba;
Bonaire, Saba and St Eustatius would become directly part of the
Netherlands as Kingdom Islands.  This won't affect their time zones
though, as far as we know.

Attributed Statements:

Paul Eggert (2006-03-22):

Shanks & Pottenger say that The Bottom and Philipsburg have been at -4:00 since standard time was introduced on 1912-03-02; and that Kralendijk and Rincon used Kralendijk Mean Time (-4:33:08) from 1912-02-02 to 1965-01-01. The former is dubious, since S&P also say Saba Island has been like Curaçao. This all predates our 1970 cutoff, though. By July 2007 Curaçao and St Maarten are planned to become associated states within the Netherlands, much like Aruba; Bonaire, Saba and St Eustatius would become directly part of the Netherlands as Kingdom Islands. This won't affect their time zones though, as far as we know.

Years on Record

Methodology Note: The 1970 Rule

tzdb guarantees accuracy for timestamps from 1970 onwards. Transitions prior to 1970 represent best-effort historical reconstructions.