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local Saturday 22 June 2024

The district of Savaneta

A quick history guide to the island’s first capital

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