Aruba, Bonaire and Curaçao

Description

Aruba, Bonaire and Curaçao (the ABC islands, also known as the Leeward Islands from a colonial perspective) are three island territories in the Caribbean Sea, just off the coast of Venezuela. The indigenous Caquetío people spoke an Arawak language and probably settled the islands from the Paraguaná Peninsula in Venezuela. The Spanish conquistador Alonso de Ojeda visited the archipelago in 1499, ushering in a long period of European colonial rule. In 1634, the Dutch West India Company conquered the island of Curaçao from the small Spanish occupying force and developed the island, with its strategically located Sint Anna Bay, into a stronghold in the war between the Dutch Republic and Spain. Two years later, Aruba and Bonaire were also occupied from Curaçao. After peace with Spain in 1648, Willemstad, the capital of Curaçao, grew into a freeport, from where many slaves were traded with the Spanish colonies in the Americas.

The West India Company went bankrupt in 1791 and Curaçao was twice occupied by the British during the Napoleonic Wars. The Treaty of London of 1814 of 1814 placed the islands under the authority of the newly founded Kingdom of the Netherlands, which merged them administratively with Sint Eustatius and Dependencies and Suriname in 1828. The merger was partially reversed in 1845, after which Saba, Sint Eustatius and Sint Maarten were administered from Curaçao. The colony was renamed the Netherlands Antilles in 1948. Together with the Netherlands and Suriname it accepted the Charter for the Kingdom of the Netherlands in 1954, thereby completing the decolonisation of the Dutch colonies in the Caribbean. In 1986 Aruba became a separate country within the Kingdom of the Netherlands, a path followed by Curaçao in 2010. In that year, Bonaire became a ‘public entity’ of the Netherlands. This rather complicated administrative history has had an impact on the formation of archives and collections. Please take this into account in your research.

The period of Dutch colonial rule in Aruba, Bonaire and Curaçao is in part characterised by a history of slavery and the slave trade. The [Caquetío](http://www.wikidata.org/entity/Q5037181 people of Aruba, Bonaire and Curaçao had already been forced into labour during Spanish rule. Under Dutch rule, especially after the granting of the so-called Asiento de Negros in 1671, enslaved people from West Africa were shipped to Willemstad and traded with Spanish America or forced into labour on the islands. The National Archives in The Hague has an extensive research aid on its website that can help you research the history of slavery in Aruba, Bonaire and Curaçao. During the colonial period the Caribbean islands under Dutch colonial rule were called Curaçao en Onderhorigheden (Curaçao and Dependencies). As a result much archival material appears to relate only to Curaçao despite also containing information about the other islands formerly colonised by the Netherlands. Whilst the research aid provided by the National Archives in The Hague appears to be focused on Curaçao it also refers to archives that contain information about the other islands. There is also a research aid on Non-commissioned officers and soldiers in the army in the West Indies 1815-1950 that refers to relevant archival material about military personnel stationed in Aruba, Bonaire and Curaçao, as well as the research aid Civil servants in the West Indies: Suriname and the Antilles 1815-1936, which contains information about Dutch colonial civil servants in Suriname, Aruba, Bonaire, Curaçao, Saba, Sint Eustatius and Sint Maarten.

During the colonial period many objects were transported from Aruba, Bonaire and Curaçao to the European Netherlands, where they ended up in various museum collections. Searching for objects originating from Aruba, Bonaire and Curaçao can be difficult as objects can be located anywhere. When searching museum collections, it can be useful to use multiple search terms to find objects originating from Aruba, Bonaire or Curaçao. This is because an object may be attributed to a specific island in one case and to for example the Netherlands Antilles in another.

The Wereldmuseum, which manages a large collection of objects from Aruba, Bonaire and Curaçao, has divided its collection by region of origin. The ‘Caribbean’ category contains around 4,500 objects, but not all of these originate from Aruba, Bonaire or Curaçao; the selection also includes objects from Jamaica and Haiti, for example. For more information about researching museum collections, see the Doing Research research aid. See the Sourcesresearch aid for more information and tips on finding relevant sources for your research.

Provenance research

Below you will find various sources and websites for each island where you can find more information to get your research started. The Leiden University subject guide on the Caribbean contains a lot of useful information regarding the university’s Caribbean collection and other source locations. This list, compiled by the KITLV, contains various links to relevant websites (not all links are still active).

The Colonial Collections Consortium is currently conducting an audit of museum collections originating from Aruba, Bonaire and Curaçao that are held in institutions in the European Netherlands.

Aruba In collaboration with the the Internet Archive a large part of Aruba's cultural heritage has been digitised and made accessible. The collection can be accessed via both the Internet Archive website and the Coleccion Aruba website. The database does not only include collections located in Aruba itself but also relevant collections held for example in the National Archives of the Netherlands and the museums of the Wereldmuseum, as well as other institutions in the Netherlands. There is also a specific slavery database where you can search for (archival) collections relating to enslaved people in Aruba in the period 1840-1863. Unlike those enslaved in Suriname, who remained under Dutch state supervision for another ten years after the abolition of slavery in 1863, those enslaved in Aruba, Bonaire and Curaçao gained their freedom immediately on 1 July 1863.

Other relevant resources:

• Archivo Nacional Aruba
• Museo Arkeologico Nacional Aruba
• The research aid Kòrsou – Curaçao of the National Archives of the Netherlands also contains relevant information concerning Aruba.
• The Delpherincludes newspapers, such as the Amigoe di Curaçao, that contain relevant information about Aruba, Bonaire and Curaçao.
• The book De geschiedenis van Aruba tot 1816 : van zustereiland tot imperium in imperio' by historian Adi Martis describes the precolonial history of Aruba and the period of colonial rule by the Dutch West Indian Company.

Bonaire The Fundashon Históriko Kultural Boneriano (FuHiKuBo) is a central foundation in the Bonaire heritage field. Established in 1998, the foundation aims to document, collect and preserve everything related to the intangible heritage of Bonaire. This has resulted in various platforms, such as Archivo Boneiru and Patrimonio Kultural Intangibel Boneiru. As described above, it is important to use multiple search terms when researching Bonaire's heritage at Dutch institutions, for example by searching on 'Curaçao en Onderhorigheden' and not just on 'Bonaire'. This is because the islands in the Caribbean that were colonised by the Netherlands were assigned the administrative term Curaçao en Onderhorigheden, with no distinction being made between the different islands.

Other relevant resources:

• The research aid Kòrsou – Curaçao of the National Archives of the Netherlands also contains relevant information concerning Bonaire.
• The Colonial History research aid of the National Archives of the Netherlands can also direct you to relevant archival material regarding Bonaire.
• The Delpher collection includes newspapers, such as the Amigoe di Curaçao, that contain relevant information regarding Aruba, Bonaire and Curaçao.

Curaçao For a long time Curaçao was eponymous with the Caribbean islands that were colonised by the Netherlands, which means that a relatively large amount of archive material is available about this island. The National Archives of the Netherlands' research aid Kòrsou – Curaçao directs you to a large amount of relevant archive material about the colonial history of Curaçao. The research aids Curaçao: Slave and Emancipation Registers 1839-1863 and Curaçao: Free from Slavery (manumissions) 1722-1863 may also be relevant to research into the history of slavery on Curaçao.

The website Curaçao Historyprovides a useful timeline that divides the history of the island into clear time periods, which can help you to focus your research. The National Archives of Curaçao has an extensive website with a wide range of information.

Other relevant resources:

• The Delpher collection includes newspapers, such as the Amigoe di Curaçao, that contain relevant information regarding Aruba, Bonaire and Curaçao.
• The Coleccion Arubawebsite, which provides online access to a large part of Aruba’s cultural heritage, also contains information that is relevant to Curaçao.
• The research aid Plantations and real estate in Curaçao 1720-1845 of the National Archives of the Netherlands.

Sources