Page 9 - HOH

a8 local
Monday 13 october 2025

The Aruban Cunukero; From past to present

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

However, the Aruban cunukeros
back then are hard to place, and
their history may explain why.