Page 16 - HOH

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local Tuesday 20 May 2025
The district of Savaneta: The capital before Oranjestad

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