Info about Curacao
Curacao history you most know about
It is believed that the first settlers in the island of Curacao where some local native, the Amerindian. They were known as the Arawaks. They were actually coming from South America, and once they arrived on this island, they called themselves Caiquetios. From their name Curacao got also its name. Nothing else interesting happened until the first European people decided to visit this island, somewhere around the 15th century. But it is believed that actually the Vikings were the ones that discovered the island. Anyway, in the 15th century some Spanish explored the island but they didn't stay too long, because the island was poor on gold, and also fresh water was difficult to find.
Only 2 centuries after that the Dutch West India Company claimed the Curacao Island for themselves. They brought farmers to cultivate for themselves, mostly the native fruits that already were on the island but also peanuts. Soon, the explorers found also saline pounds, so that salt mining started. Many Caribbean traders started to visit this island, but also merchant ships from all over the world. The city Willemstad, that is now the capital city of Curacao, was than a very important trade center. In that period of time Peter Stuyvesant was governor (he was actually named by the Dutch West India Company). Soon, the most famous trade on the island was the one with slaves, slaves that were brought from Africa. In that period the national language, Papiamentu, was developed. Obviously, the new language Papiamentu was a mixture of other languages, the most important ones were Dutch and African ones, because the captors began to communicate with the slaves they have captured.
Other cultures decided to move to the Curacao Island, starting with some Jewish families and than other Europeans were following also. People from South America also followed, because the island was now a very importing trade center, so it was also a good place to start a new life. Also, the slaves that were not solved used to work on the island, so that the agricultural sector developed even more. In the 18th century, the British and the French were fighting to gain some Caribbean islands, so, in time, they wanted to obtain also the Curacao Island. The British were the one that defeated the Dutch. But after some decades, the oil was discovered in the island, so Curacao fighted for its independence. They finally received some autonomy, but not independence.