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Monday 30 october 2023 locAl
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The district of Savaneta

A quick history guide to the island’s first capital

( O r a n j e s t a d ) — B e f o r e dered the islands to the
Oranjestad became the Dutch.
island nation’s capital,
Aruba’s first capital was the The Dutch administration
district of Savaneta. Here appointed the island’s
is where the cultural iden- first commander, an Irish
tity of Aruba was born, and man named N. Williams.
from where the rest of the Because the Dutch were
island developed into what interested in other Carib-
it is today. bean islands and countries
in South America, they im-
Savaneta is said to have ported Dutch merchants
been the first place where and business men, all of
the Caquetio inhabitants whom resided in Savaneta.
first stepped foot on the This way, Savaneta official-
island. Though there isn’t ly became the island’s first
hard evidence to back this “Quebracho” (Kibrahacha) tree; used to make dye and paint capital.
up, but considering the leg-
end of the Cacique Arua, it form of civilization. However, at the end of
is believed that there were the 18th century, the com-
already movements on It wasn’t until 1499 when mander at the time, J.R.
Aruba—and Savaneta— Aruba met another group Lauffer, moved his office to
around 88 AD. of people who set foot on what is now “Horse Bay” in
the island: the Spanish ex- Oranjestad. Because the
The Caquetios probably plorer Alonso de Ojeda. De highest office on the island
made their way to the is- Ojeda first took notice of moved away from Sava-
land either from Venezuela, Aruba off the coast of Ven- neta, the capital lost its title
Colombia or other Carib- ezuela, during his explora- to what was called then
bean islands in the region, tion of the Latin American Playa.
but with good weather it country. This was on Au-
was relatively easy for them gust 9th, 1499. However, How Savaneta got its
to travel back and forth in de Ojeda didn’t actually name
their canoes. So, since the sail to the island till 4 days Commandeursbaai (Commander’s Bay) at Savaneta The name Savaneta prob-
Caquetios discovered the later, on August 23rd, 1499. the Spanish era on Aruba barks was via a route pass- ably has a Spanish ori-
island, Aruba found her first This was the beginning of (1499-1636). ing through Savaneta, and gin. It was said that when
so the first road between the Spanish climbed a hill
Alonso usually didn’t stop Savaneta and Santa Cruz called Yara, they saw that
at every island or land he was made. the area was mostly open
saw, especially not in the and had no big trees. In
Caribbean. He would often The Dutch colonial era Spanish, such a land area is
take notice of land from (1636-1805) called a “sabana”.
afar and continue sailing. During the 80-year war
However, Aruba was an ex- between The Netherlands Because of its land surface,
ception. He had heard that and Spain, Dutch explor- Savaneta was a great
there were “quebracho” ers and merchants began place to construct cattle
trees on the island, which to travel to the ABC is- farms. From here, the farm-
were commonly used to lands. Once they landed in er culture on Aruba was
produce dye or paint. But Aruba, they deported the born. Before the Aruban
since these trees could not small Arawakan and Span- Gold Rush and the con-
be found in Savaneta, he ish community that was liv- struction of the Refinery in
continued to search in the ing on the island. This was San Nicolas, most residents
area of what is now known the beginning of coloniza- were farmers, and Sava-
as Santa Cruz. The best tion of the ABC islands by neta had many inhabit-
way to transport the tree the Dutch empire. Around ants that farmed fruits and
the same, the West Indian vegetables. They also con-
Company (WIC) was born. tinued the tradition of rais-
Bonaire and Curacao were ing cattle, like goat, sheep,
mostly used for plantations, pigs and horses. Savaneta
where the Dutch had trans- was one of the first places
ported slaves from Africa. on the island to have a
Aruba, on the other hand, general farming culture.
was mostly used to raise From this culture, many oth-
cattle and to house the er traditions were born, like
haring factory. The Dutch the Dera Gay Holiday that
had often forced the indig- we celebrate every year
enous community to work on June 24th.
for them. Source: Historia di Savaneta
In 1636, when the Nether- (History of Savaneta) by Adolf
lands won the war against “Dufi” Kock.
Alonso de Ojeda Spain, the country surren-