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  | |
| Regions with significant populations | |
|---|---|
| Curaçao | |
| Languages | |
| Papiamentu • Dutch • Spanish • English | |
| Religion | |
| Christianity | |
| Related ethnic groups | |
| Afro-Aruban • Afro-Dutch • Afro-Caribbeans |
Afro-Curaçaoans are people from the island ofCuraçao of fully or partially African descent. They make up the majority of Curaçao's population.[1]
Most enslaved Africans came fromWest Central Africa (specifically fromLoango andCabinda Province) with over 38,000 enslaved Africans.[2] The rest of the enslaved Africans were imported fromBight of Benin (over 37,000 enslaved Africans),Ghana (15,000 enslaved Africans came from this place, many of them wereAshantis[3]), Other places in Africa (3,268 enslaved Africans) includeSenegambia (over 2,000 enslaved Africans),Sierra Leone (669 enslaved Africans), theWindward Coast (542 enslaved Africans) and theBight of Biafra (over 1,000 enslaved Africans).
TheDutch West India Company founded the capital ofWillemstad on the banks of an inlet called the 'Schottegat'. Curaçao had been ignored by colonists, because it lacked gold deposits. Thenatural harbour of Willemstad proved to be an ideal spot for trade. Commerce and shipping — andpiracy—became Curaçao's most important economic activities. In addition, the Dutch West India Company made Curaçao a centre for theAtlantic slave trade in 1662.[citation needed]
Although a few plantations were established on the island by the Dutch, the first profitable industry established on Curaçao wassalt mining. The mineral was a lucrative export at the time and became one of the major factors responsible for drawing the island into international commerce.[citation needed]
For much of the 17th and 18th centuries, the primary business of the island was theslave trade. Enslaved Africans arrived often from Africa and were bought and sold on the docks in Willemstad before continuing on to their ultimate destination. The enslaved Africans that remained on the island were responsible for working the plantations established earlier. This influx of inexpensive manpower made the labor-intensive agricultural sector far more profitable and between the Netherlands and China the trading done on the docks and the work being done in the fields, the economic profile of Curaçao began to climb, this time built on the backs of the enslaved Africans.[4][5]
In 1795, a major slave revolt took place under the lead ofTula Rigaud, Louis Mercier, Bastian Karpata, and Pedro Wakao. Up to 4000 enslaved Africans on the northwest section of the island revolted. Over a thousand of the enslaved Africans were involved in heavy gunfights and the Dutch feared for their lives. After a month, the rebellion was crushed.[6]
The Dutch abolished slavery in 1863, creating a change in the economy. When the institution was abolished ten years later, the island’s economy was severely crippled.[citation needed]
Some inhabitants of Curaçao emigrated to other islands, such asCuba to work insugar cane plantations.[citation needed]
Other former enslaved Africans had no place to go and remained working for the plantation owner in thetenant farmer system.[7] This was an instituted order in which the former slave leased land from his former master. In exchange the tenant promised to give up most of his harvest to the former slave master. This system lasted until the beginning of the 20th century.[8]
According to the historian Luis Dovale Prado, between May 1702 and 1704, Spanish authorities residents inCoro, Venezuela, began to observe successive arrivals of a growing group offreed Africans to the east coast of the area, all them from the island of Curaçao and escaping from the French company Guinea (a French colonial empire organization that was dedicated to the sale of enslaved Africans in American territories and had representatives or commercial factors seats in Coro and Curaçao).[citation needed]
In 1704, the concern about the freed Africans became more important, when the colonial authorities found that certainly Coro had 30 freed Africans, including amulatto, and also had come fleeing from Curaçao using in your crossing somecanoes, small canoes or other boats rustic and risky.The Spanish of Coro organized the called "cacería" (hunt) for to pursue to theMaroons and for that purpose made use of the cooperation they received from theCaquetíos, with whom they maintained close partnership from the very beginning of the Spanish colonial invasion process.[9]
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| Secondary Afro-American diaspora |
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