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LOCAL Monday 24 June 2024
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The Aruban Cunukero

From past to present

(Oranjestad)—Aruba’s culture carded.
consists of rich historical traditions
that make up the Aruban identity Because of the dry climate in Aru-
and lifestyle. However, the life of ba, growing food for commercial
the cunukero (farmer) is perhaps purposes was not popular. The
the most important aspect of our focus was mainly on cattle herd-
culture, in a sense representing to ing and taking care of livestock.
locals the true essence of the Aru- However, livestock need food to
ban. survive, and when Aruba experi-
enced its duper dry climate, many
Historically, cunucus (farms) played farmers would see a big loss in their
a huge role in the early social and livestock, and hence profit.
economic development of Aruba,
and its relevance dates back to Although the WIC at one point did
the early days of the colonization try to come up with an initiative to
era. Upon being discovered by get more people to have land on
Spanish conquistadors in the late the island, the climate never really
15th century, Aruba was used pri- allowed real profit from farming.
marily as a ranch, housing horses Because of the climate, Aruban
and cattle brought from Europe. farmers in general could not keep
During the Dutch colonization era through stealing or through secret group among Caribbean farmers large quantities of livestock. At a
where the West Indian Company exchanges with other slaves from at the time. certain point toward the end of
(WIC) dominated the economic different plantations. the 18th century, the climate got
sphere on the island, using the land The WIC placed a lot of restrictions so bad that many farmers decided
to set up cattle farms and ranches However, the Aruban cunukeros on these indigenous farmers—a to leave the island for a while.
remained popular. back then are hard to place, and method to safeguard their cattle
their history may explain why. deposit on the island. The indige- For this reason, the farming econ-
Anthropologist Sidney Mintz divid- nous farmers were mostly granted omy on the island remained small.
ed Caribbean farmers back in four From 1636 (beginning of Dutch less than 7 acres of land. Those As the years went by and people
categories: colonization era) to before the oil who owned bigger land were ei- noticed that these farms could
industry in 1924, Aruba’s popula- ther once affiliated with the WIC or not really produce any sustainable
1. The “squatters”, who were tion consisted of mostly farmers. were colonists who settled on the profit, farmers kept their small piece
mostly comprised of illegal and These farmers were mostly indig- island to try their luck at farming. In of land just to live off of. This is why
poor colonists, runaway slaves and enous and were characterized as 1767, there were about 120 hous- the Aruban cunukeros only played
deserters who took advantage of peasants. They weren’t allowed to es/cunucus on the island. a very tiny role into the plantation
the Spanish’s weak supervision on participate in trading, but instead economy.
Caribbean islands like Cuba and were granted a piece of land to These Aruban farmers were also
the DR; live off of. However, in exchange limited to the amount of cattle In modern Aruba, cunucus and cu-
2. Then you have “Early Yeo- for this grant, these indigenous they could keep. Most kept goats nukeros still exist on the island, for-
men”, who were legal farmers who farmers were obligated to work for as cattle, as only those who were tunately with more freedom and
came to the west under contract. the WIC, doing daily tasks such as affiliated with the WIC could keep more opportunity to tap into the
Once their contract expired, they taking care of or hunting cattle— (more) sheep. Of the 76 goat herd- agricultural market. These farm-
were given a plot of land for inde- large majority of which were des- ers on the island, about 45 of them ers usually sell their produce on a
pendent use; tined for Curacao, clean water had less than 30 goats, and only 7 smaller scale, like during farmers’
3. Proto-Peasants were plan- tanks and chop wood, among of them had more than 60 goats. market events and other types of
tation slaves who were allowed to other things. (holiday) events.
have a small piece of land to grow It wasn’t until the WIC was defunct
food for their own consumption. As much as these farmers were giv- in late 18th century that these Source: “Arubaans Akkoord: Op-
This was to curb the cost of living en to opportunity to live “free” with farmers were able to obtain more stellen over Aruba van voor de
on the plantations; a plot of land, their exclusion from freedom as cunukeros. After 1824, komst van de olieindustrie (Aruban
4. Lastly you have the “Run- the trading and business world, as the government gave these farm- Accord: Essays on Aruba Before
away Peasantries”, usually com- well as being deprived the chance ers official permission to keep live- the Arrival of the Oil Industry)” by
prised of runaway slaves who ac- to become real property and cat- stock, and the obligations once Alofs, Luc; Rutgers, Wim; Coomans,
quired farming tools and cattle tle owners, made them a unique placed on them were officially dis- Henny E. red.

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