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Archaic age dwellers of Aruba
Aruba's prehistoric era can be divided into two periods: the archaic and the Neo-Indian  period. The archaic period is characterized by a fisher-hunter-gatherers lifestyle. Amerindians during this period not only chipped stones but also polished and sharpened them. One notable site, Sero Muskita, yielded a tool older than other Archaic Age sites on the island. The finishing techniques and shape of this tool resembles one found at Arikok, suggesting a date before approximately 2000 BC. These tools' presence on the island may be due to occasional visits from the mainland. Seroe Colorado location suggest indigenous habitation on Aruba dating back to around 1500 BC.

Archaic Amerindians in South America led a seminomadic lifestyle, depending on hunting large game. However, as their prey became scarce, they adapted to coastal living. Instead of settling permanently, they moved between different locations for varying periods. In total, 33 sites from the Archaic Age have been identified on Aruba. These sites mainly consist of coastal shell middens containing bivalves and oysters. Typically, these middens are found within one kilometer of the coastline. Additionally, there are specific sites for stone extraction and stone working, such as Coashiati and Dos Playa. These sites were previously categorized as belonging to either the Archaic or Ceramic Age due to the presence of similar rock types and stone working techniques found in contexts from both periods.

Leeward Islands maintained connections and engaged in trade with mainland South America, particularly with partners in the present-day Falcón-Zulia state in Venezuela and possibly the La Guajira Peninsula. The specific language group to which they belonged remains uncertain. This idea is supported by the discovery of 60 to 70 burial grounds at Malmok and Canashito in Aruba. Among these burial sites, five are found smaller Canashito burial ground and are dated between 100 BC to 100 AD. Interestingly, isotopic research revealed that one of the individuals buried there was not from Aruba and had a different diet compared to the other four individuals of Aruban origin. This finding suggests that early human migration and cultural exchange were already part of the cultural pattern of these archaic Indians at an early stage.

The burial site in Malmok, Aruba, dates back to the period between 450 and 1000 AD. The Arubans of that time had a short and stocky physique, with adult men averaging 1.57 m in height and women averaging 1.49 m. The burial customs offer insight into the social dynamics of the archaic island inhabitants. Based on the burial patterns, it was deduced that they traveled in clans of fifteen to thirty people. These groups were led by an adult man, who was buried at the center of the cluster. His elevated status was emphasized by the presence of several stones marking his grave. The rest of the family group was buried around him.

Recent research provides evidence of yet unresolved form of cultural continuity between archaic and neo-Indian inhabitants. In particular, the discovery of maize traces references to agricultural or horticultural at the pre-ceramic site in Canashito. At Spaans Lagoen evidence of the use of pottery by archaic populations has been found, indicating that archaic inhabitants did in fact have a form of agriculture or horticulture and ceramics.

Neo-Indian period: the Caquetío
The archaic population disappeared from Aruba from the archeological record around 950 AD, shortly after the arrival of the neo-Indian—Caquetío. It is clear that the Caquetíos had a superior culture in socio-economic and technological terms. It is possible that the new Caquetío Indians lived alongside the archaic Indians on Aruba for a time and that they were ultimately displaced or assimilated.

In the year 1500, the Caquetío people lived on Aruba. They belonged to the Arawak people. The origin of Arawak civilization is located in the central Amazon region. Between 1500 and 500 BC, the influence of the Arawaks had expanded to the Caribbean basin and the Guianas. Between 850 and 1000 AD, Caquetío Indians migrated from western Venezuela, probably from the Paraguaná and Guajire peninsulas, to the Leeward Antilles. They belonged to the Arawak-Maipure language family. The name Caquetío refers to how this group referred to themselves during their first contact with Europeans. They had longer and narrower skulls than the archaic population, and their height was up to 1.60 m. The newcomers brought pottery and agriculture to the islands and are therefore classified as part of the neo-Indian period.

The area over which the legendary cacique Manaure exercised his authority was the coastal region of the current state Falcón-Zulia at Venezuela, including the Paraguaná peninsula, as well as Aruba, Curaçao and Bonaire. The Caquetío people had a highly developed process of state formation. They had a chiefdom, which in human evolution is often a precursor to a kingdom, where central leaders—paramount chiefs—controlled multiple subordinate political-administrative units. The emphasis was more on the political and religious alliances between indigenous communities than on the military control or subjugate vast territories. At the head of the Caquetío chiefdom was a spiritual leader called diao who had both secular and religous authority in modern terms. He was endowed with powers that could influence nature: a shaman. The diao position was hereditary. By being allowed to marry multiple wives, the diao was able to establish and maintain political alliances with other groups, tribes, or villages. The chiefdom was centralized in its design, but not based on authoritarian or violence-based subjagation. The Spanish conquistador interrupted this process of expansion at the time of the European contact.

The Caquetío territory consisted of several, and therefore smaller, political units that were under the authority of lower "second-tier chiefs" who were subordinate to the highest authority.How the central authority was exercised over the units is not clear. However, there are reports from the contact period that suggest the diao did not exert his power over the lower units in arbitrary manner. Likely there was a form of consultation between the diao and lower leaders. In the 16th century, two sub-units, the Guaranos and Amuayes, lived on the Paraguaná peninsula.Aruba, which is less than 30 kilometers away from Paraguaná, was previously connected to one of these units.

After the Diao and the regional sub-units, such as the mentioned Guaranaos an Amuayes in Paraguaná, the village formed the third level of governance in the hierarchy of the chiefdom. Aruba had five villages: three larger ones Ceri Noca, Tanki Flip , and Savaneta, and two smaller ones near Tanki Leendert and Parkietenbos, which have not yet been systematically studied. The location of Aruban villages varied. They were situated in places where beneficial agriculture land was available and where the most favorable hydrological conditions prevailed, such as where several rooi came together and where relatively much water was available.

The Caquetío people probably used a shifting cultivation farming method, also known as slash-and-burn. The yields from agriculture and fishing were supplemented by engaging in trade of raw materials and artifacts that were not locally available or producible. The Leeward Caquetíos certainly did not live in isolation, but formed outlying regions of a dynamic chiefdom with regional trading networks.

Burial practices
In 1882, a french explorer named Alphonse L. Pinart, documented an account provided by an old Aruba Indian. According to the Indian's account, witnessed at the former Indian encampment at Saboneta, a native female was inhumed in one of the large conical ollas. Her body was doubled up inside the vase, with the head protruding through the orifice. Subsequently, a smaller urn was placed upside down on the head and the entire burial was covered with earth.

The Caquetío people were buried in clusters, both within and potentially outside village boundaries. At times, there was a secondary burial, possibly reserved for exceptional individuals. In the primary burial, the deceased were buried in a large pot, covered with a smaller pot placed on top. In a secondary burial, the body was initially buried without a pot, and after a few months or years, the bones were exhumed and reburied in smaller pots for a second time. Some pots contained grave offerings such as axes, shells, and pottery. Remarkably, the secondary burial method was practiced until recently in South America. The striking similarity between the Neo-Indian burial practices in Aruba and the post-Columbian variant in Guajira justifies the assumption that the similar beliefs about life after death existed in both societies. Further research is needed on the fact that there were several burial customs among the Aruban Caquetío people at the time of the confrontation of Caquetío civilizations and the colorful procession of Europeans, including Spaniards and Italians, Christians, humanists, and Jews, who sailed under the Spanish flag and, in the name of their God and their rulers undertook the colonization and devastation of the newly discovered areas.

1648–1687
Between the Peace of Westphalia in 1648 and the Peace of Nijmegen in 1678, there were 30 years of crisis in the Dutch Antilles and the entire Caribbean region. By 1648, Curaçao had lost its importance as a military outpost. Governor Peter Stuyvesant had a plan to strengthen the connections between the islands and New Netherland. He believed that the two colonies could support each other: New Netherland would provide food in exchange for slaves from Curaçao, horses from Aruba, and salt from Bonaire.

But Stuyvesant didn't anticipate the rivalry between the two colonies, which prevented them from working together effectively. The Dutch in Curaçao preferred to sell their goods to other Caribbean islands where they could get a better price, rather than trading with their fellow countrymen in New Netherland. Additionally, the islands were involved in illegal trade with the Spanish mainland and didn't want to switch to legal trade with New Netherland. Governor Stuyvesant needed slaves to strengthen New Amsterdam's defenses, but he mostly received old or sick slaves, called mancarrons, in response to his requests. The better slaves were sold elsewhere to the highest bidder. However, the people in New Netherland weren't motivated by unselfish reasons or a strong sense of patriotism. They continued to trade with their French, English, and Swedish neighbors across the border. Only in extreme situations did their shared heritage become more important than making money. For example, when the islands faced famine due to a series of dry seasons, Stuyvesant came to the rescue by sending a ship with food just in time.

The troubled relationship between the Curaçao islands and New Netherland came to a sudden end in 1664. At that time, even though a war between England and the United Provinces hadn't been officially declared yet, an English fleet led by Richard Nicolls demanded that New Amsterdam surrender. While the Dutch briefly regained control of the colony in 1673, it was once again used as leverage in 1674 to show the English the dangers of their alliance with France.

During the 17th century, the Dutch considered England their main adversary, as evidenced by the three wars they fought against the English. Unlike the first Anglo-Dutch War (1652-1654), the second Anglo-Dutch war (1665-1667) had a long-lasting impact in the Caribbean.

In the end, the Second Anglo-Dutch War and the subsequent peace treaty in 1667 marked a pivotal moment in Caribbean colonial possessions. Dutch supremacy waned, and the enforcement of English Navigation Acts left a lasting impact on regional trade. Nevertheless, the Caribbean islands eventually regained stability and prosperity, experiencing fewer changes in colonial holdings for centuries to come.

Slavery in Dutch Caribbean
The WIC drew up an economical scheme for the three islands: Curaçao would focus on agriculture, Bonaire would be used for salt production and maize cultivation, and Aruba would primarily serve as a horse-breeding center. According to the plan, Bonaire and Curaçao needed people from Africa, while Aruba required Indians. The Indian vaqueros possessed the knowledge of horse breeding and had the ability to swiftly capture freely roaming animals whenever needed. In 1636, Aruba was not left uninhabited after the Dutch took control of the island. After the departure of both the Spaniards and the indigenous Arawak people, a third wave of Amerindians repopulated Aruba from the mainland.

The role of slave labor on the Leeward Islands was limited due the arid climate, which hindered the development of plantation economies. As a result, the social dynamics on the islands differed from those in the Caribbean colonies. Slavery in Curaçao had its origins in trade rather than plantation agriculture, and the prosperity of the Protestant and Jewih elite was tied to commercial activities. In comparison to the English islands, Curaçao had a larger population of domestic and artisan slaves. Bonaire, until 1869, functioned as a government-owned plantation where slaves primarily worked in the salt pans. The number of slaves ranged from 200 to over 300. Bonaire lacked a class of white settlers (Alofs, 2012). Aruba also held an exceptional position among the Leeward Islands in several respects. Similarly to the Spaniards, the Dutch WIC primarily used Aruba for breeding horses, donkeys, sheep, and goats for trade and to supply Curaçao with food. Colonization was prohibited on Aruba until 1754, until then, only a few slaves were employed for food production, a few hundred Amerindians worked with the government's livestock, a commander, and a few administrative officials resided on Aruba.

Between 1754 and 1767, European settlers from Curaçao established themselves on Aruba for the first time to start corn plantations. The proceeds from these plantations were intended to benefit the food supply on Curaçao. The freedoms of these settlers were limited. Trade, land sales, and livestock keeping were prohibited. Like the Amerindians, they were also obligated to perform so-called corvée services, such as chopping firewood, cleaning reservoirs for rainwater, or capturing livestock for the WIC. In 1767, Aruba had 120 households, of which eight were working for the Company and twelve were residing on the island with the Company's permission. The remaining hundred households were registered as indigenous (Heinze en Alofs, 1997). The corn plantations had already fallen into decline by then.

After approximately 1785, the number of settlers grew due to the relaxation of the settlement policy. Aruba increased in importance for the trade of Curaçao. Namely, the Paardenbaai served as transit port for Curaçao's trade in goat skins and provisions with the mainland. In 1807 to 1816, during the English interregnum, trade, livestock farming, and agriculture were neglected. However, the population increased from 1546 to 1732. The number of slaves rose from around 30 in 1795 to 194 in 1806 and 336 in 1816. After returning to the Dutch hands, the revival of trade continues until 1823. The discovery of gold, in 1824, and the implementation of a more liberal Regulation of Administration and Governance in 1824 made settlement on the island more attractive.

The plantation agriculture, which had little significance, aimed to cultivate profitable crops while also generating employment. From 1836 to 1845, Governor R.F. van Rader made unsuccesful attempts to explore new sources of prosperity. His main goal with agricultural attempts to explore new sources of prosperity. His main goal with agricultural experiments was to provide the colony with trade goods and create job opportunities for both the free population and the slaves. To achieve this he established plantations on Aruba, specifically focusing on growing aloe and cochineal in Canashito and Socotoro. However, the contribution of slaves was minimal, with 60 free workers employed at Canashito during Van Radars' tenure. After Van Radars' promotion to Governor of the unified colony of Suriname/Antilles in 1845, his successor Esser showed little enthusiasm for the optimistic yet financially demanding plans, choosing instead a more cautios approach to exploiting crops.

Immigration and natural population growth led to an increase in population from 1,732 in 1816 to 3,438 in 1862. Slavery also grew in size after 1816, with Aruba having 336 slaves in that year, and the number of slaves ranged from 400 to 600 slaves between 1848 and 1863. In 1849, slaves accounted for 21.7 percent of the Aruban population. The relatively low percentage was due to the unsuitability of the climate ans soil for plantation economies. The contrast between slavery in Aruba and the Caribbean sugar islands was significant. In the Caribbean plantation colonies, slaves generally outnumbered the white population, with ratio as high as approximately 25:1 in 18th-century Suriname. In 1857, over half, or 56 percent, of the population on Sint Eustatius and Sint Maarten were slaves, while on Curaçao, Bonaire, and Saba, the percentages ranged from 30 to 38 percent. In contrast, Aruba had a much lower percentage of slaves at only 17.3 percent. The largest population segment on the island consisted of free individuals, while this second class of free people was much smaller in other places.

https://www.rijksoverheid.nl/documenten/toespraken/2022/12/19/toespraak-staatssecretaris-van-der-burg-op-aruba-19-december-2022

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/0/07/De_vrouw_in_Nederlandsch_Westindië_%281898%29_%28IA_BNADIGKOSTBARE179%29.pdf

http://hdl.handle.net/1887.1/item:53141

Goud

http://hdl.handle.net/1887.1/item:1290261

Before 1900 explorer's accounts of Papiamento
Explore the world of Papiamento through the eyes of pre-1900 travelers. These accounts offer unique perspectives and personal experiences of individuals who journeyed to the Dutch Caribbean islands.

The name "Papiamento"
The name "Papiamento" was first mentioned in a stenograph report dating back to 1747 in Newport. This documented a court hearing that took place near the conclusion of the War of the Austrian Succession, which lasted from 1739 to 1748. The court hearing was held in order to shed light on the seizure in the same year of the Dutch ship the Jonge Johannes by an English privateer. The English, allied with the Dutch at the time, had mistakenly assumed the ship to belong to Spain. A misunderstanding that appears to have been created by the fact that members of the ship's crew spoke a language resembling Spanish. At the court hearing, Torinio Lopes, a member of the ship's crew was able to convince the court that the ship was in fact sailing under the Dutch flag and the the language spoken on board the ship was not Spanish but Papiamentu.

Language shift and identity extinction
Gerardus Balthazar Bosch, a Dutch pastor, served in Curaçao from 1825 to 1836. Upon his return to the Netherlands, he published a book titled, Reizen in West-indië en door een gedeelte van Zuid-en Noord-Amerika. In this book, he describes the linguistic influences among the indigenous people of Aruba. "The indigenous population lived in relative seclusion, on the northern side of the island, while the White settlers and their enslaved Africans resided in the south and southeast. Despite the separation, they maintained amicable relationships and occasionally engaged in intermarriage. However, these unions were typically of a temporary nature, lasting for a month or a year. However, some lifelong marriages among them. As a result, they gradually lost their original language and adopted the language spoken by the White inhabitants, who used the local Curaçaoan language. On rare occasions, the present-day White inhabitants would hear the Indians speaking their old language, but this usually happened when they were intoxicated. The Indians of Aruba, like other parts of America, had a common inclination towards alcoholic beverages."

Papiamento is influenced by various cultural and ethnic groups in the Dutch Caribbean. It consists of three distinct dialects: 1. the dialect spoken by those who know Spanish, which is similar to Spanish in pronunciation and spelling; 2. the dialect spoken by the Dutch, which is closer to Dutch in pronunciation and spelling; 3. the dialect spoken by those who fall between the first two categories, occassionally altering, omitting, or merging certain letters. The presence of the Dutch and Spanish influences in the language leads to variations in vocabulary, grammar, and pronunciation among these different varieties of Papiamento.

Example sentences:

"Si bo let op bon, lo bo merke ku e dos jongelei-nan-ei ta ferlief riba otro. Si bo buta atenshon bon, lo bo ripara ku e dos hoben-nan-ei ta namora di otro. If you pay attention well, you will see that those two young people are in love with each other."

The distinct character of Papiamento
On a geological survey of Aruba in 1884, a geologist Karl Martin describes in his book, Westindische Skizzen: Reise-Erinnerungen, that the language spoken in Aruba is Papiamento. However, he noted that the Papiamento spoken on the island is mixed with a significant number of Indian words compared to Curaçao, which gives the population a distinct character. Only the most respected individuals, who have connection with Curaçao, are fluent in the Papiamento of Aruba. For most people, it is considered a rarity if they also have a strong command of Dutch or can speak it fluently. Martin also mentioned that the ancient Aruba language has been extinct around 1800.

In Aruba and Bonaire Indigenous people maintained their identity as a separate group somewhat longer, e.g. when A.J. van Koolwijk and Pinart published their lists of Indigenous words in use in Aruba in the late 19th century. Several of the surviving Caquetío words in Papiamentu come from these islands.

Caquetío influences in Papiamento
The influence of Amerindian culture on the Papiamento language is evident through the presence of numerous Amerindian-derived words and toponyms. Over 150 topnonyms in Papiamento can be traced backed to Amerindian origins. These names provide valuable insight into the indigenous heritage of the region. (Table A-3). One interesting aspect is that many of these Amerindians words in Papiamento are related to the local flora and fauna. These terms would have been unfamiliar to the European colonists and African slaves who arrived in the area.

These indigenous names are particularly concentrated in specific regions of Aruba. For example, Northwestern Aruba, which saw significant habitation beginning around 1968, has a high number of Amerindian-derived toponyms. Additionally, the hilly areas of east Aruba, spanning from Cashiunti, Huliba, Kiwarcu and Coashiati/Jamanota, as well as the stretch along the north coast between Andicuri and Oranjestad, also features many Amerindian toponyms. In contrast, locations that were centers of European activities on Aruba have names of European origin. This includes the church sites from the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, colonial roadsteads, and places where the Dutch or Curacao representatives resided, all have names of European origin.

https://www.researchgate.net/publication/275519244_Caquetio_Indians_on_Curacao_during_colonial_times_and_Caquetio_words_in_the_Papiamentu_Language?channel=doi&linkId=553e236b0cf294deef6fba51&showFulltext=true