Page 8 - aruba-today-20201123

a8 local
Monday 23 noveMber 2020

The history of Aruba

The Spaniards, the Dutch phate in 1859. Both indus- tunately, the attack was a
and the English tries were the first important major failure. Aruba had
Aruba was discovered by source of income for the been spared massive dam-
the Spaniards in 1499. In the Aruban people. De gold age
16th century, the Spaniards digging continued up to
deported the entire Indian the First World War (1914) Striving for Separation
population and sent them and the exploitation of In the beginning of the thir-
away to the island of His- phosphate was also halted ties of the past century,
paniola to work in copper in the beginning of the 20th Aruba officially announced
mines. In the 17th century, century. to the Government of the
the Dutch conquered the Dutch Kingdom its wish to
Windward islands. On Aru- The Lago separate from Curaçao.
ORANJESTAD — Many of might also be from Spanish: ba horses and mainly goats The most important Jan Hendrik (Henny) Eman
our visitors consider our oro hubo (there was gold). were bred. Between 1806 change in the past cen- and Shon A Eman were the

One Happy Island as their The earliest mention on a and 1816, Aruba was oc- tury for Aruba was the es- advocates of 'Separación'
home away from home, so map spells Orua. cupied by the English. tablishment of the Lago Oil (separation).
we thought it is a good idea and Transport Company.
for you to know the history The pre-Columbian era Aloe, gold and phosphate The founding of this refinery The struggle for 'Status
of Aruba. Here’s our story in Before the discovery of De aloe plant was particu- prompted the need of for- Aparte'
a nutshell. Aruba by the Spaniards, larly suitable for the soil and eign labor and they came In the course of the seven-
the island was inhabited by the climate of Aruba. As of mainly from the English ties, a movement came
What’s in a name Indians, first by the Arawaks the 19th century, the juice speaking islands in the Ca- about that aimed to dis-
Most probably, the name and later the Caribs. They is exported and since 1947 ribbean. They established solve Aruba from the ad-
Aruba is of Indian origin, a lived of catching fish and there is an aloe factory on themselves in San Nicolas. ministrative unit of the
combination of ora (shell) collecting natural food. Aruba. In 1824, gold was In 1986, the outdated Lago Netherlands Antilles. After a
and oubao (island). But it found on Aruba and phos- closed but the refinery was couple of turbulent weeks
soon reopened by another in August 1977, the call for
oil company. independence was recog-
nized by the Dutch govern-
Aruba and World War II ment, which resulted in ob-
Aruba was home to one taining the so-called 'Sta-
of the biggest refineries in tus Aparte': in 1986, Aruba
the world, supplying a sub- became an independent
stantial part of the fuel to country within the Dutch
the allied troops. That's why Kingdom.
the island was targeted by
a German submarine. For- Continued on Page 9