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LOCAL Wednesday 24 January 2024

Livelihood before tourism (Part I) Episode CCXLI - 241

Each week, Etnia Nativa pres-
ents a new episode about cultural
heritage, native knowledge, and
the responsibility to acknowledge
heritage, traditions, and the lim-
ited space our tribe had living on
an island. It’s sharing today a brief
introduction to the history of how
Aruba’s livelihood was before oil
and tourism. Natives faced a con-
stant existential adaptation since
the Spanish era until the gold rush.

Aruba’s gainful economic life has
known periods of dire extremes.
There have been occasions of
near famine as a result of net-to-
no means of support since a great
part of what the island could pro-
duce during good or bad times
had to be shipped to Curacao. Pe-
riods of quick, short-lived prosperity
and a stable economy based pri-
marily on oil refining followed.

Under the Spanish regime during
Aruba’s recorded beginning, trib-
al people busied themselves with
many trades and crafts. Some of
these endeavors had devastating proposed to develop an econom- Indies Company’s home office in London, extracted 2075 ounces of
results on the landscape, deplet- ic structure in the ABC islands. Aru- Holland. Quickly dispatched was gold. The project died in 1882 when
ing the island almost completely ba was to be the horse breeding Paulus Printz, a European miner. costs became prohibitive. Anoth-
of a particular tree for the export farm; Curacao was the plantation Although he never produced any er company started in 1897 and
of Campeche wood, or its variety, island; and Bonaire was dedicated gold, he reported the presence of failed shortly thereafter. It wasn’t
Brasil wood. The wood, which grew to the salt industry. The natives bred metallic ores. Just about a centu- until the Aruba Goud Maatschap-
in abundance on Aruba centuries horses on the island, which, from ry later, gold was found in Aruba. pij got under way in 1908 that prof-
ago, yielded a red dye used in the the bay at Oranjestad, hence the Naturally, legend covers the inci- itable mining was conducted. It
textile industry. Over a century of name Paardenbaai (Horses ‘Bay), dent (see Episode 173). Accord- continued until World War I, when
Spanish rule transformed Aruba were sent to the mainland to be ingly, a 12-year-old youth tending it cut off its supply of necessary ma-
into a large rancho. Goats, sheep, used for military purposes, mainly his father’s sheep was stuck by a terials. Gold was never mined suc-
burros, cattle, and pigs were against the Spanish. cactus needle while crossing a val- cessfully in Aruba again. Attempts
brought to the island, bred, and ley called Lagabai, near Rooi Fluit, were made to recover the previ-
allowed to roam freely over the Until the mid-18th century, when a dry river bed. The lad bent down ous material as late as 1947, but to
countryside. The animals ‘freedom a few privileged persons were al- to remove the piercing barb, and no avail.
undoubtedly came during the pe- lowed to settle in Aruba for trading in so doing, spied a shining object.
riods when the island went unin- purposes, the island’s economic It turned out to be gold—yes, pure Interested in connecting and
habited by Europeans. The native life was little more than the trad- Aruban gold. grounding yourself to your travel
Caquetios very often left Aruba for ing of sheep, goats, flour, fruits, destination, living history, autoch-
the mainland, today Venezuelan, and water with marauding French, It was alluvial gold, and nothing thonous art, and the island`s true
since it was all part of their ances- Spanish, English, and pirate ships. much was done about its recov- identity? Then book a visit to Et-
tral territory and tribal political land. Aruba’s history is void of slave trad- ery other than the island’s residents nia Nativa. This is a unique peek
It is reported that when the Dutch ing. While Curacao grew to be a panning the streams. Between into a local native gem! Let our
took over Curacao, the news ran leading slave market in this trade, 1832 and 1846, some gold was acclaimed columnist lecture you
fast, and many natives went into Aruba never became a point extracted from deep quarries. In through the most interesting hour.
hiding or left Aruba, leaving the is- of exchange. It wasn’t until the 1854, the first exclusive rights to ex- Aruban stories undiscovered—an
land almost uninhabited. After the Emancipation of 1863 that Africans ploit the minerals of Aruba were adventure beyond beaches. Visit
Dutch promised to respect their came to Aruba, and then to seek granted. Nothing much was done, his magnificent dwelling, bursting
land, boats, and animals, the Indi- employment. however, which was pretty much with culture and island heritage!
ans began to return to their villages the case until Jan van der Biest, an Whats App +297 592 2702 etniana-
in Aruba under Dutch rule. The first mention of gold in Aruba Aruban acting as superintendent tiva03@gmail.com
occurred in 1725, when rumors of of the Bushiribana works of the Aru-
During the Dutch era, means were hidden wealth reached the West ba Island Gold Mining Co., Ltd. of