History of Curacao

Curacao is a large protected natural port that was mapped before 16th century and in due course became a prominent hub of commercial activities. This island is the place of origin of Papiamentu, the language of the ABC Islands spoken as far as the Netherlands Antilles Islands of St. Eustatius, Saba and St. Maarten. Curacao is also the birth place of the famous liqueur with the same name which is probably more famous than the island itself.

The original settlers of Curacao were the Amerindian Arawks and their sub-groups who migrated from South America to this place some 6,000 years ago. The Caiquetios group settled here thus giving the name to the island. There are few other stories about how the island got its name. The Spanish soldier and explorer, Alonso de Ojeda, left several of his sailors at this island on his voyage to discover South American Coast as they had developed scurvy. On his return, he found the sailors cured because of the abundant availability of vitamin C-rich fruits on the island. It is believed that Ojeda then named the island Curacao after an archaic Portuguese word for ‘cure’. The other story is that the island was named ‘Curazon’ by Spaniards while the mapmakers changed the spelling to Curacao. By the early 16^th century, the Spanish realized that there is very little gold and fresh water in the island and abandoned it.

The Dutch West India Company established their control over Curacao in 1634 and had made Peter Stuyvesant, the Dutch explorer, the Governor of the island in 1642. He established plantations having landhuizen structures, visible seen even today, in various forms of agriculture mainly, peanuts, maize and fruits. With the construction of huge forts, Curacao became a haven for Dutch West India Company to carry out trade.

The main trading activities included slave trade from Africa to other islands of the Dutch West Indies and to Spanish Main. During the time of the slave trade, the language Papiamentu came into being. It is a combination of several languages having dialects of Portuguese, Spanish, Dutch and African languages and became the main form of communication between slaves and their captors.

Due to its strategic location, British and French got attracted to the island. British successfully took over the reigns of Curacao from the Dutch twice, i.e., from 1800-1803 and from 1807-1815. The 1815 Treaty of Paris solved the Caribbean disputes and handed over Curacao to the Dutch West India Company. After the Dutch took over, the island went into oblivion. Although slavery disappeared but social and economic conditions became harsh.

A new era came into being for Curacao when oil was discovered off the Venezuelan Coast in 1920. Curacao along with Aruba became important distillation centers for crude oil imported from Venezuela. Royal Dutch Shell Refinery of Curacao became the biggest business and employer in the island and several immigrants were attracted to this place. During World War II, the Allies established an American military base at Waterfort Arches near Willemstad in Curacao due to the importance its refinery.

As soon as the World War II got over, Curacao joined hands with rest of the Caribbean for independence. It got an autonomous status within the Kingdom of the Netherlands. Curacao along with Bonaire, Saba, St Eustatius and St Maarten constituted the Netherlands Antilles with their administrative center in Willemstad. Aruba later became independent and separated from the five islands. At present, the kingdom has three partners, namely, The Netherlands, the five islands of the Netherlands Antilles and Aruba.

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