Page 16 - AHATA

A11
LOCAL Friday 25 OctOber 2024
The district of Savaneta: The capital before Oranjestad

(Oranjestad)—Before Oranjestad were commonly used to produce
became the island nation’s capi- dye or paint. But since these trees
tal, Aruba’s first capital was the could not be found in Savaneta,
district of Savaneta. Here is where he continued to search in the area
the cultural identity of Aruba was of what is now known as Santa
born, and from where the rest of Cruz. The best way to transport the
the island developed into what it is tree barks was via a route passing
today. through Savaneta, and so the first
road between Savaneta and San-
Savaneta is said to have been the ta Cruz was made.
first place where the Caquetio in-
habitants first stepped foot on the The Dutch colonial era (1636-1805)
island. Though there isn’t hard evi- During the 80-year war between
dence to back this up, but consid- The Netherlands and Spain, Dutch
ering the legend of the Cacique explorers and merchants began
Arua, it is believed that there were to travel to the ABC islands. Once
already movements on Aruba— they landed in Aruba, they deport-
and Savaneta—around 88 AD. ed the small Arawakan and Span-
ish community that was living on
The Caquetios probably made the island. This was the beginning
their way to the island either from of colonization of the ABC islands
Venezuela, Colombia or other Ca- by the Dutch empire. Around the
ribbean islands in the region, but same, the West Indian Company
with good weather it was relatively (WIC) was born. Bonaire and Cura-
easy for them to travel back and cao were mostly used for planta- Commandeursbaai (Commander’s Bay) at Savaneta
forth in their canoes. So, since the tions, where the Dutch had trans- became the island’s first capital. neta was a great place to con-
Caquetios discovered the island, ported slaves from Africa. Aruba, struct cattle farms. From here, the
Aruba found her first form of civili- on the other hand, was mostly However, at the end of the 18th farmer culture on Aruba was born.
zation. used to raise cattle and to house century, the commander at the Before the Aruban Gold Rush and
the haring factory. The Dutch had time, J.R. Lauffer, moved his office the construction of the Refinery in
It wasn’t until 1499 when Aruba often forced the indigenous com- to what is now “Horse Bay” in Oran- San Nicolas, most residents were
met another group of people who munity to work for them. jestad. Because the highest office farmers, and Savaneta had many
set foot on the island: the Span- In 1636, when the Netherlands won on the island moved away from inhabitants that farmed fruits and
ish explorer Alonso de Ojeda. De the war against Spain, the coun- Savaneta, the capital lost its title to vegetables. They also continued
Ojeda first took notice of Aruba off try surrendered the islands to the what was called then Playa. the tradition of raising cattle, like
the coast of Venezuela, during his Dutch. goat, sheep, pigs and horses. Sa-
exploration of the Latin American How Savaneta got its name vaneta was one of the first places
country. This was on August 9th, The Dutch administration appoint- The name Savaneta probably on the island to have a general
1499. However, de Ojeda didn’t ed the island’s first commander, has a Spanish origin. It was said farming culture. From this culture,
actually sail to the island till 4 days an Irish man named N. Williams. Be- that when the Spanish climbed a many other traditions were born,
later, on August 23rd, 1499. This was cause the Dutch were interested in hill called Yara, they saw that the like the Dera Gay Holiday that
the beginning of the Spanish era other Caribbean islands and coun- area was mostly open and had no we celebrate every year on June
on Aruba (1499-1636). tries in South America, they import- big trees. In Spanish, such a land 24th.q
ed Dutch merchants and business area is called a “sabana”.
Alonso usually didn’t stop at every men, all of whom resided in Sava- Source: Historia di Savaneta (History of
island or land he saw, especially neta. This way, Savaneta officially Because of its land surface, Sava- Savaneta) by Adolf “Dufi” Kock.
not in the Caribbean. He would of-
ten take notice of land from afar
and continue sailing. However,
Aruba was an exception. He had
heard that there were “quebra-
cho” trees on the island, which

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