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WORLD NEWS Monday 2 deceMber 2024
The Aruban Cunukero

From past to present

(Oranjestad)—Aruba’s cul-
ture consists of rich histori-
cal traditions that make up
the Aruban identity and
lifestyle. However, the life
of the cunukero (farmer) is
perhaps the most important
aspect of our culture, in a
sense representing to lo-
cals the true essence of the
Aruban.

Historically, cunucus (farms)
played a huge role in the
early social and economic
development of Aruba,
and its relevance dates
back to the early days of
the colonization era. Upon
being discovered by Span-
ish conquistadors in the late
15th century, Aruba was were allowed to have a these indigenous farmers 7 of them had more than noticed that these farms
used primarily as a ranch, small piece of land to grow were obligated to work for 60 goats. could not really produce
housing horses and cattle food for their own con- the WIC, doing daily tasks any sustainable profit, farm-
brought from Europe. Dur- sumption. This was to curb such as taking care of or It wasn’t until the WIC was ers kept their small piece of
ing the Dutch colonization the cost of living on the hunting cattle—large ma- defunct in late 18th cen- land just to live off of. This is
era where the West Indian plantations; jority of which were des- tury that these farmers why the Aruban cunukeros
Company (WIC) dominat- 4. Lastly you have the tined for Curacao, clean were able to obtain more only played a very tiny role
ed the economic sphere “Runaway Peasantries”, water tanks and chop freedom as cunukeros. Af- into the plantation econo-
on the island, using the land usually comprised of run- wood, among other things. ter 1824, the government my.
to set up cattle farms and away slaves who acquired gave these farmers official
ranches remained popular. farming tools and cattle As much as these farmers permission to keep live- In modern Aruba, cunucus
through stealing or through were given to opportunity stock, and the obligations and cunukeros still exist on
Anthropologist Sidney Mintz secret exchanges with to live “free” with a plot of once placed on them were the island, fortunately with
divided Caribbean farmers other slaves from different land, their exclusion from officially discarded. more freedom and more
back in four categories: plantations. the trading and business opportunity to tap into the
world, as well as being de- Because of the dry climate agricultural market. These

1. The “squatters”, However, the Aruban cu- prived the chance to be- in Aruba, growing food for farmers usually sell their pro-
who were mostly com- nukeros back then are hard come real property and commercial purposes was duce on a smaller scale,
prised of illegal and poor to place, and their history cattle owners, made them not popular. The focus was like during farmers’ market
colonists, runaway slaves may explain why. a unique group among mainly on cattle herding events and other types of
and deserters who took ad- Caribbean farmers at the and taking care of live- (holiday) events.
vantage of the Spanish’s From 1636 (beginning of time. stock. However, livestock
weak supervision on Carib- Dutch colonization era) to need food to survive, and Source: “Arubaans Ak-
bean islands like Cuba and before the oil industry in The WIC placed a lot of when Aruba experienced koord: Opstellen over Aru-
the DR; 1924, Aruba’s population restrictions on these indig- its duper dry climate, many ba van voor de komst van
2. Then you have “Ear- consisted of mostly farmers. enous farmers—a method farmers would see a big de olieindustrie (Aruban
ly Yeomen”, who were legal These farmers were mostly to safeguard their cattle loss in their livestock, and Accord: Essays on Aruba
farmers who came to the indigenous and were char- deposit on the island. The hence profit. Before the Arrival of the Oil
west under contract. Once acterized as peasants. They indigenous farmers were Industry)” by Alofs, Luc; Rut-
their contract expired, they weren’t allowed to partici- mostly granted less than 7 Although the WIC at one gers, Wim; Coomans, Hen-
were given a plot of land pate in trading, but instead acres of land. Those who point did try to come up ny E. red.
for independent use; were granted a piece of owned bigger land were with an initiative to get
3. P r o t o - P e a s a n t s land to live off of. However, either once affiliated with more people to have land
were plantation slaves who in exchange for this grant, the WIC or were colonists on the island, the climate
who settled on the island never really allowed real
to try their luck at farming. profit from farming. Be-
In 1767, there were about cause of the climate, Aru-
120 houses/cunucus on the ban farmers in general
island. could not keep large quan-
tities of livestock. At a cer-
These Aruban farmers were tain point toward the end
also limited to the amount of the 18th century, the cli-
of cattle they could keep. mate got so bad that many
Most kept goats as cattle, farmers decided to leave
as only those who were af- the island for a while.
filiated with the WIC could
keep (more) sheep. Of the For this reason, the farm-
76 goat herders on the is- ing economy on the island
land, about 45 of them had remained small. As the
less than 30 goats, and only years went by and people