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LOCAL Tuesday 20 February 2024

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

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