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A9
LOCAL Monday 11 January 2021

Aruba’s Aloe

ORANJESTAD — The aloe
plant has been grown on
Aruba since the mid-1800.
The climate and the dry soil
are particularly suitable for
the aloe culture. The plant
flourishes well here: the
Aruban aloe has an aloin
content of 22 %, while the
content of aloin in the rest
of the world is 15% at the
most.

The flourishing of the aloe
culture in Aruba was un-
der Commander Jan Hele-
nus Ferguson (1866-1871).
That's why the road that
leads from downtown
through the aloe fields was In the beginning of 1900, try had a big impact on Casey Eman founded the United States. In 1951, the
named after him. In the the first scientific research the labor market on Aruba first aloe factory of Aruba, production of Aruban aloe
19th century, an aloe plan- is done on the aloe plant. and the aloe culture got under the name of Aruba amounted to about 15.000
tation was also construct- This confirmed clearly the a bit on the background. Aloe Products Company. pounds or 30% of the total
ed in Socotoro; Socotoro healing effect of aloin on It was only after World At the time, the aloe juices world production. Source:
has probably been named sunburn and other burns. War II that the aloe cul- were locally processed to http://www.historiadiaru-
after the island of Sokotra The arrival of the oil indus- ture was resumed. In 1949 aloin and shipped to the ba.aw. q
or Socotora, at the time a
British island in the Indian
Ocean, off the coast of Ye-
men. That island lies on the
same degree of longitude
as Aruba and aloe is grown
there too. The legend says
that Alexander the Great,
on the recommendation
of Aristotle, conquered this
island for the aloe that he
used to cure the wounds of
his soldiers.
On the aloe plantation
Mon Plaisir, owned by the
Frenchman Louis Bazin, a
for its time modern steam
driven cooking installa-
tion was installed, in the
beginning of 1900. In the
19th century, Aruba was
the main supplier of aloin
resin that was mainly used
for the production of laxa-
tives. The aloin was export-
ed abroad, mainly to New
York, but also to Hamburg
and to London. The resin
from the Antilles (called
`Curaçao resin’ at the time)
was one of the best in the
world and more expensive
than the other types on
the market. Aruba’s share
in the export of `Curaçao
resin’ was over 90%. In the
economy of that time,
before the arrival of the
oil industry, aloe meant a
reasonable source of in-
come, in particular for the
small 'cunucero' (farmer).
In times of unemployment
– de dry season – the aloe
culture was a good source
of existence.