Page 7 - AHATA

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local Thursday 28 augusT 2025
The Aruban Cunukero; From past to present

(Oranjestad)—Aruba’s cul- when Aruba experienced
ture consists of rich histori- its duper dry climate, many
cal traditions that make up farmers would see a big
the Aruban identity and loss in their livestock, and
lifestyle. However, the life hence profit.
of the cunukero (farmer) is
perhaps the most impor- Although the WIC at one
tant aspect of our culture, point did try to come up
in a sense representing to with an initiative to get
locals the true essence of more people to have
the Aruban. land on the island, the cli-
mate never really allowed
Historically, cunucus (farms) real profit from farming.
played a huge role in the Because of the climate,
early social and economic Aruban farmers in gen-
development of Aruba, eral could not keep large
and its relevance dates quantities of livestock. At
back to the early days of a certain point toward the
the colonization era. Upon end of the 18th century,
being discovered by Span- the climate got so bad that
ish conquistadors in the late many farmers decided to
15th century, Aruba was leave the island for a while.
used primarily as a ranch, island.
housing horses and cattle These Aruban farmers were For this reason, the farm-
brought from Europe. Dur- also limited to the amount ing economy on the island
ing the Dutch colonization of cattle they could keep. remained small. As the
era where the West Indian Most kept goats as cattle, years went by and people
Company (WIC) dominat- as only those who were af- noticed that these farms
ed the economic sphere filiated with the WIC could could not really produce
on the island, using the land keep (more) sheep. Of the any sustainable profit, farm-
to set up cattle farms and 76 goat herders on the is- ers kept their small piece of
ranches remained popular. land, about 45 of them had land just to live off of. This is
less than 30 goats, and only why the Aruban cunukeros
Anthropologist Sidney Mintz 7 of them had more than only played a very tiny role
divided Caribbean farmers 60 goats. into the plantation econo-
back in four categories: my.
It wasn’t until the WIC was
The “squatters”, who were defunct in late 18th cen- In modern Aruba, cunucus
mostly comprised of illegal hunting cattle—large ma- tury that these farmers and cunukeros still exist on
and poor colonists, run- From 1636 (beginning of jority of which were des- were able to obtain more the island, fortunately with
away slaves and deserters Dutch colonization era) to tined for Curacao, clean freedom as cunukeros. Af- more freedom and more
who took advantage of before the oil industry in water tanks and chop ter 1824, the government opportunity to tap into the
the Spanish’s weak supervi- 1924, Aruba’s population wood, among other things. gave these farmers official agricultural market. These
sion on Caribbean islands consisted of mostly farmers. permission to keep live- farmers usually sell their pro-
like Cuba and the DR; These farmers were mostly As much as these farmers stock, and the obligations duce on a smaller scale,
Then you have “Early Yeo- indigenous and were char- were given to opportunity once placed on them were like during farmers’ market
men”, who were legal acterized as peasants. They to live “free” with a plot of officially discarded. events and other types of
farmers who came to the weren’t allowed to partici- land, their exclusion from (holiday) events.q
west under contract. Once pate in trading, but instead the trading and business Because of the dry climate
their contract expired, they were granted a piece of world, as well as being de- in Aruba, growing food for Source: “Arubaans Akkoord:
were given a plot of land land to live off of. However, prived the chance to be- commercial purposes was Opstellen over Aruba van
for independent use; in exchange for this grant, come real property and not popular. The focus was voor de komst van de olie-
industrie (Aruban Accord:
Proto-Peasants were plan- these indigenous farmers cattle owners, made them mainly on cattle herding Essays on Aruba Before the
tation slaves who were were obligated to work for a unique group among and taking care of live- Arrival of the Oil Industry)”
allowed to have a small the WIC, doing daily tasks Caribbean farmers at the stock. However, livestock by Alofs, Luc; Rutgers, Wim;
piece of land to grow food such as taking care of or time. need food to survive, and Coomans, Henny E. red.
for their own consumption.
This was to curb the cost of The WIC placed a lot of
living on the plantations; restrictions on these indig-
Lastly you have the “Run- enous farmers—a method
away Peasantries”, usu- to safeguard their cattle
ally comprised of runaway deposit on the island. The
slaves who acquired farm- indigenous farmers were
ing tools and cattle through mostly granted less than 7
stealing or through secret acres of land. Those who
exchanges with other owned bigger land were
slaves from different plan- either once affiliated with
tations. the WIC or were colonists
However, the Aruban cu- who settled on the island
nukeros back then are to try their luck at farming.
hard to place, and their his- In 1767, there were about
tory may explain why. 120 houses/cunucus on the