A Brief History

The Amerindians

Few traces remain today of Curaçao's original inhabitants. Archaeologists have conducted excavations at a handful of sites around the island, unearthing implements and human burial sites which they believe correspond to two different Amerindian groups.

The first inhabitants probably migrated from Venezuela around 2500 BC. These hunters and gatherers had no agriculture or ceramics. The island's oldest archaeological site, dating from this period, is located in the limestone terraces behind the airport. Here, archaeologists have found simple tools carved from stone and shell, as well as some of the oldest Amerindian remains yet to be found in the Caribbean. A group of these inhabitants migrated to Bonaire around 1500 BC.

They lived in pole huts and made ceramic vessels, as well as ornaments and implements of shell, stone and bone. Half a dozen of their small villages have been excavated around the island, at present day Kenepa, Santa Cruz, San Hironimo, San Juan, De Savaan, and Santa Barbara (none of these sites are at present open to the public). Their cave paintings and rock art are well preserved and can easily be seen at Christoffel Park and the Hato Caves.

Some 2,000 Caiquetíos are estimated to have been living on Aruba, Bonaire and Curaçao when the Spaniards arrived. Legend has it that, impressed by the relatively large stature of the Caiquetíos, the rather short Spaniards first dubbed Curaçao la isla de los gigantes, "island of the giants."

The Spaniards virtually wiped out the natives, transporting most of them to Hispañola (present day Dominican Republic and Haiti) to work their prosperous mines.

When the Dutch took the island in 1634 they deported most of the remaining Caiquetíos, fearing they would be spies for the Spaniards. By the beginning of the 19th century none of the original inhabitants remained.