Page 14 - AHATA

Monday 16 June 2025 locAl
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The Aruban Cunukero

From past to present

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

The WIC placed a lot of restrictions
on these indigenous farmers—a
method to safeguard their cattle
deposit on the island. The indige-
nous farmers were mostly granted
less than 7 acres of land. Those
who owned bigger land were ei-
ther once affiliated with the WIC or
were colonists who settled on the
island to try their luck at farming. In
1767, there were about 120 hous-
es/cunucus on the island.