Dutch and Spanish Influence on the Early History of Curacao

The early history of Curacao is a varied and complicated one.  It was discovered by the Spanish and later taken by the Dutch.  Both exploited the natives on the island as slaves, and early on, the island was center in the Caribbean for the slave trade.  It would later become of strategic value in the Caribbean for the trade coming from South America into the Caribbean which led to European powers to fight for control of the island for years, with it exchanging hands on a number of occasions.  It remains in Dutch hands til the present day. 

Curacao was discovered by Europeans in 1499 when Alonso de Ojeda, a Spainard and Lieutenant of Christopher Columbus, happened upon the island.  The island was considered of little importance by the Spanish at the time as there was no gold or mineral deposits.  However, they would eventually use the island for another large revenue generating activity: the slave trade. 

In 1505, Spanish Indieros settled on the island.  These Spaniards made their living in the slave trade.  They exported at least 2,000 indigenous people from Curacao, probably mostly all Arawak indians to Hispaniola to work in the Spanish silver mines on that island.  This plus the Columbian Exchange had a decimating effect on the native population of the island.  By the beginning of the 18th century, Curacao was one of the most important slave depots on the island, with as many as 14,000 slaves on the island at any given time and 40% of the slaves coming across the Atlantic would come to Curacao at some point in their shipment.  Who the ruling European power seems to be inconsequential, as all who ruled the island used it mostly as a slave depot.  This led to an even diluted indigenous population.  By 1790, the entire population of Arawak indians on Curacao would be extinct.

On July 29, 1634, Curacao would fall into Dutch hands.  The Dutch West India Company would send Johann Van Walbeek, a fleet of six ships and 225 soldiers to conquer the island from the Spanish.  It was easily conquered as the island was manned by only small garrison of Spanish soldiers.  The Dutch would fortify the island and allow the island to remain an important slave depot.

The society of the island would have three main groups of people at this time:  Western Europeans,  Sephardic Jews, and black slaves.  The Sephardic Jews had fled Brazil in 1654 and quickly became very important merchants and business men on the island and within the Caribbean itself.  As well as a slave depot, Curacao was a important port for goods coming out of South America being shipped to Europe.  The Brittish and French would be reliant on Dutch and Jewish merchants to move these goods along, so much so that they tried to take the island from the Dutch on a number of occasions.

Between 1650 and 1670, England was regularly at odds with the Dutch. Curacao's monopoly in the slave trade was especially irritating to the English. Once they had chased the Dutch out of New York in 1665, the English focused their attention on Curacao. They commissioned privateers, or pirates, to harass their Dutch enemy. Towards the close of the eighteenth century, the French occupied the Dutch Republic in Europe. The French navy was soon using Curacao as a harbor, and the island paid the cost. Moreover, the British, who were at war with France, blockaded the trade of the island.  The government on Curacao was ready to expel the French.  The island government was even prepared to accept British dominion. From 1800 to 1803 and from 1807 to 1816 Curacao was administered by the British. The Dutch regained the island in 1816. Meanwhile, the Dutch Republic had become the Kingdom of the Netherlands, with its own Royal Dutch Navy.

Curacao's early history is a turbulent one.  It transformed from a peaceful island of Arawak Indians, with 15 villages spread around the island, to a European slave depot and war zone.  The natives of the island would become all but extinct.  It would exchange hands amongst the European powers on a number of occasions, with the Dutch retaining the island from 1816 til today. 


Sources:

Brushaber, Susan, and Arnold Greenberg. 2002. Aruba, Bonaire & Curacao Alive!. Hunter Publishing, 2002. eBook Collection (EBSCOhost), EBSCOhost (accessed September 18, 2011).

 Curacao Port Authority.  Curacao Maritime Museum.  "History."  http://www.curacaomaritime.com/history.htm.

Paul K. Sutton,  Europe and the Caribbean.  London : Macmillan Caribbean, 1991.