Curaçao - Adventure Guide to Aruba, Bonaire and Curacao - page 212

Did You Know? Many of the remaining Indians
were kicked off the island by Dutch settlers after
1634, and the Caiquetio bloodline was extinct on
Curaçao by the 1790s.
Juan de Ampues was appointed governor of the ABCs in 1526, and
brought slaves and livestock to Curaçao in an attempt to make the island
self-sufficient. While fighting off pirates, the ranches became a profitable
exporter of horses, animal hides, and dyewood.
The Dutch set their sights on the island (along with Aruba and Bonaire)
when they went seeking vengeance on all things Spanish during their war
for independence. In 1633, after losing St. Maarten to Spain, the Dutch
captured the ABCs as a consolation prize. Curaçao was the most valuable
of the three islands because of its deep-water harbor, and the Dutch West
India Company set up their administrative headquarters in Willemstad in
1634.
Fort Amsterdam was built on a strip of land at the mouth of Santa Anna
Bay to serve as defense for the island and protection for Dutch trade routes
in the Caribbean. The famous peg-legged Peter Stuyvesant became
Curaçao's governor in 1638 and, later, leader of all the New Netherlands.
He lived in Nieuw Amsterdam (New York) after he was appointed director
general in 1647.
Under Stuyvesant's leadership, the island was divided into plantations,
each with its own landhuis, which did some farming, but was more profit-
able at harvesting salt for export. The governor also established Curaçao
as a slave depot where captured Africans rested and regained their
strength after their grueling voyage and before their sale to new owners
throughout the Caribbean and the Americas.
During the height of the slave trade, as many as 14,000 captives would be
held on Curaçao at one time. Very few remained on the island, but those
who did never tired of looking for a path to freedom. The Hato Caves on
the north side of the island became a hideout for runaways and a planning
station for revolt. In 1795 slaves, inspired by the French Revolution and
uprisings on other Caribbean islands, staged the full-scale Tula Rebel-
lion . While the revolt caused death and destruction and caught the atten-
tion of blasé slave traders and owners, slavery continued until Dutch King
William III granted emancipation in 1863.
Cultures Mix
In addition to being a slave depot, Curaçao's harbor also
became an important trade and transportation center for
products being conveyed between Europe and the New World.
Well before the slave trade ended, new commercial ventures