Page 9 - AHATA

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local Tuesday 3 June 2025
The district of Savaneta: The capital before Oranjestad

(Oranjestad)—Before Oranjestad dye or paint. But since these trees
became the island nation’s capi- could not be found in Savaneta,
tal, Aruba’s first capital was the he continued to search in the area
district of Savaneta. Here is where of what is now known as Santa
the cultural identity of Aruba was Cruz. The best way to transport the
born, and from where the rest of tree barks was via a route passing
the island developed into what it is through Savaneta, and so the first
today. road between Savaneta and San-
ta Cruz was made.
Savaneta is said to have been the
first place where the Caquetio in- The Dutch colonial era (1636-1805)
habitants first stepped foot on the During the 80-year war between
island. Though there isn’t hard evi- The Netherlands and Spain, Dutch
dence to back this up, but consid- explorers and merchants began
ering the legend of the Cacique to travel to the ABC islands. Once
Arua, it is believed that there were they landed in Aruba, they deport-
already movements on Aruba— ed the small Arawakan and Span-
and Savaneta—around 88 AD. ish community that was living on
the island. This was the beginning
The Caquetios probably made of colonization of the ABC islands
their way to the island either from by the Dutch empire. Around the
Venezuela, Colombia or other Ca- same, the West Indian Company
ribbean islands in the region, but (WIC) was born. Bonaire and Cura-
with good weather it was relatively cao were mostly used for planta- Commandeursbaai (Commander’s Bay) at Savaneta
easy for them to travel back and tions, where the Dutch had trans-
forth in their canoes. So, since the ported slaves from Africa. Aruba,
Caquetios discovered the island, on the other hand, was mostly
Aruba found her first form of civili- used to raise cattle and to house
zation. the haring factory. The Dutch had
often forced the indigenous com-
It wasn’t until 1499 when Aruba munity to work for them.
met another group of people who In 1636, when the Netherlands won
set foot on the island: the Span- the war against Spain, the coun-
ish explorer Alonso de Ojeda. De try surrendered the islands to the
Ojeda first took notice of Aruba off Dutch.
the coast of Venezuela, during his
exploration of the Latin American The Dutch administration appoint- Savaneta, the capital lost its title to the construction of the Refinery in
country. This was on August 9th, ed the island’s first commander, what was called then Playa. San Nicolas, most residents were
1499. However, de Ojeda didn’t an Irish man named N. Williams. Be- farmers, and Savaneta had many
actually sail to the island till 4 days cause the Dutch were interested in How Savaneta got its name inhabitants that farmed fruits and
later, on August 23rd, 1499. This was other Caribbean islands and coun- The name Savaneta probably vegetables. They also continued
the beginning of the Spanish era tries in South America, they import- has a Spanish origin. It was said the tradition of raising cattle, like
on Aruba (1499-1636). ed Dutch merchants and business that when the Spanish climbed a goat, sheep, pigs and horses. Sa-
men, all of whom resided in Sava- hill called Yara, they saw that the vaneta was one of the first places
Alonso usually didn’t stop at every neta. This way, Savaneta officially area was mostly open and had no on the island to have a general
island or land he saw, especially became the island’s first capital. big trees. In Spanish, such a land farming culture. From this culture,
not in the Caribbean. He would of- area is called a “sabana”. many other traditions were born,
ten take notice of land from afar However, at the end of the 18th like the Dera Gay Holiday that
and continue sailing. However, century, the commander at the Because of its land surface, Sava- we celebrate every year on June
Aruba was an exception. He had time, J.R. Lauffer, moved his office neta was a great place to con- 24th.q
heard that there were “quebra- to what is now “Horse Bay” in Oran- struct cattle farms. From here, the
cho” trees on the island, which jestad. Because the highest office farmer culture on Aruba was born. Source: Historia di Savaneta (History of
were commonly used to produce on the island moved away from Before the Aruban Gold Rush and Savaneta) by Adolf “Dufi” Kock.

Alonso de Ojeda “Quebracho” (Kibrahacha) tree; used to make dye and paint