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The forgotten African roots of Aruba.

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  I wanted to create this post because I have read on different websites that Arubans are mostly descendants of the indigenous people of Aruba and Europeans with no African ancestry whatsoever. As if the black population in Aruba are only the descendants of immigrants from mainly the Anglophone Caribbean and other islands, as if slavery never existed in Aruba at all, in Curacao? Of course! Bonaire? Sure! Sint Maarten? Totally! Sint Eustatius? Yup! Saba? Duh!, but in Aruba? Nope.   I even found a old blog about the 'real' history of Aruba, which was pretty interesting but the author only told about the Amerindians and Europeans, and I grew tired of it.  In Aruba there is not that much mention regarding slavery in Aruba, they only know about slavery in Curacao and take much pride in their indigenous ancestry which Aruba teaches, in contrast to Curacao in which the opposite happens, indigenous roots are pretty much ignored and they only tell you that Arubans and Bonairians have i

The history of Coro (Venezuela) and its connection to Aruba, Bonaire, and Curacao.

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Coro, Venezuela. Coro is the capital of the Falcon State in Venezuela and the second oldest city in Venezuela, founded on July 26th 1527 by Juan de Ampies. But what has Coro got to do with the ABC islands? Today I want to show you guys a short introduction regarding the history of Coro and the ABC islands. Caquetios. The Caquetio indians were natives of northwestern Venezuela who lived around Lake Maracaibo and inhabited the Falcón State of which Coro is the capital. The Caquetio indians had goot relationships with their Caquetio cousins in Aruba, Bonaire and Curacao and there also traded with them, and intermarriages were very common between them. Also the Caquetios indians of the ABC islands had their own Caciques (chiefs, leaders) but their supreme leader, was the Great Cacique Manaure who pretty much had a legendary status and the Caciques all claimed that they were descendant from him. The great chief Manaure. Even when the Dutch eventually conquered the islands from the Spanish,

A treasure hunt for the early proofs of Papiamento/Papiamentu - Part Three

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Publications in Papiamento in the 19th century. In the course of the 19th century not only did they wrote about Papiamento, but also a number of edidtions was published in Papiamento, especially religious publications by the mission in Curacao, but also by the Protestant Church in Aruba. Those who want to study Papiamento of the 19th century are in fact desginated for this religiou expenditure. The work was printed on the press of the Victariate in Barber by M.J. Niewindt  and on the press of J.J. Putman in Santa Rosa for the purposes of religious education, such as catechismuses and prayer books. Statue of Bisshop Niewindt in Curacao, Otrabanda. Putman also provided textbooks for teaching in his school. It is clear that the mission, both through preaching during the church services and by publications has meant a tremendous incentive for the status of Papiamento that in this way of vernacular, developed ino a cultural language. Today, these expenditures offer the possibility

A treasure hunt for the early proofs of Papiamento/Papiamentu - Part Two

Afbeelding
Colonial passers-by on Papiamento: 'important, though often hostile'. When Father Michael Johannes Alexius Schabel S.J. In his 'report' of 1705 which is the first known so far about Papiamento he wrote, that the island Curacao was already multilingual. The language siaution was even complicated at the beginning of the 18th century. Father Victor de Dole preached in French. The Jews had their own language Judeo-Espanol and Judeo-Portuguese, the Protestant had their Dutch and Schabel almost still preached in Spanish with several times on request in Dutch. Bohemia. The Bohemia-based father Schabel had learned DUtch when the stayed in the Low Countries (Modern-day Netherlands and Belgium) from 1699 to 1704, which offered him the oppertunity to also preach in Dutch, according to his diary at the request of many: "On New Years Day in the year 1708, I have read the first mass and for the first time preached in my home and church. I have preached for those who a