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local Tuesday 3 sepTember 2024
The Bushiribana Gold Mill Ruins and its history

(Oranjestad)—The Bushiri- structed in the area where
bana Gold Mill Ruins is one most gold was found by It wasn’t until 100 years lat-
of the most visited places by locals. The story of gold on er, in 1824, when a young
tourists on the island, as it lies Aruba actually dates back boy found a lump of gold
along the northern coast line to 1725, when a first explo- while out herding his fa-
near the mini pool and on the ration for gold on the island ther’s sheep. His father took
way to the Natural Bridge. was commissioned by the it to a local merchant who
Despite its seemingly plain Dutch West India Company. then sold the lump for $70.
appearance, this ruin rep- Under the leadership of Mr. Unbeknownst to the boy
resents one of the most im- Paulus Printz, a three-year and his father, they quite
portant histories of the island: search was conducted on literally struck gold, and as
The Aruban Gold Rush. Aruba, to no avail. Though word got out, a gold fever
they found some gold, it was spread among the locals
Built in 1872 by English com- enough to motivate a further who started searching for
pany Aruba Island Gold Min- search, and the assignment more gold. About 25 pounds
ing Company Ltd, the gold was discontinued by Printz worth was found. At the same time, the Aruban method that involved grind-
mill at Bushiribana was con- himself.
government took immediate ing the rocks and letting the
actions, and informed Cura- dust be blown away by the
cao that gold was found. At strong northeast wind, leav-
first, everyone could look for ing clumps of gold behind.
gold, as long as they sold it to The next step was melting
the government. However, the gold and letting it at-
after some time, the govern- tach to quicksilver in order
ment decided to implement to obtain pure gold. All these
stricter rules and banned lo- processes were done at the
cal search parties. Bushiribana Gold Mill.

Over the years, concession- The gold mill itself had a short
holding had seen different life-span: only 10 years in
companies from around service, but its structure re-
the world, all of which used mained relatively solid till this
primitive methods to dig day, and is now a historical
and carve out gold from remnant. q
the rocks. Aruba Island Gold
Mining Company Ltd. was no Sources: Etnia Nativa & gold-
different, but used a unique mineranch.com.

Aruba’s neighborhoods; the meaning behind their names

Just like any other coun-
try, Aruba has unique and
beautifully named neigh-
borhoods that all form a
part of its culture and de-
velopment. Many of these
names have a historical
background and meaning
that teaches us about the
island and its rich culture of the most well known rock this name from the Hill.
every day. formations. These forma-
tions became a well loved In the surrounding areas,
With this series, we want and visited attraction at DomingoAntonia Silvestre
to take you on a journey Aruba that is held in high built his by his own means
of discovery, where you’ll regards by both tourists the very first chapel or
learn not only the beautiful Ayo lean generalizing word. and locals alike. church of Aruba. The walls
names but the history be- Ajo, or Ayo, is a word with If you were to change a of this church were made
hind it that gives it life and Arawak-Indian origin. A part of the word “Ayo”, If you’d like to know more with rocks but the roof was
meaning. (or Ha) is an Indo-Antil- namely ‘Yo’, to ‘Yu’ and about the rock formations made of dry corn stalks. The
make ‘Ayu’, it would mean at Ayo, stay tuned for our church was inaugurated
“white.” article where we tell you all by father Pablo Algemesi
about its location and his-
However, as we now know, tory. If you’d like to know more
the name of the neighbor- about the Alto Vista
hood is ‘Ayo’. The word ‘Yo’ This neighborhood’s abbre- Church’s beautiful history,
stands for Yocahu, which is viation is; A. stay tuned for our article
another word for ‘creator’ where we tell you all you
in Arawak/Taino and in the Alto Vista need to know about it for
Papiamento spoken today, This word combination can when you visit it.
‘Ayo’ means ‘bye’. be roughly translated to a
‘high point of view’ and the This neighborhood’s abbre-
At Ayo, you can find some neighborhood received viation is; AV. q