OVERLAND ROUTE The island of Aruba has an area of 180 square kilometres. It is approximately 30 kilometres long and nine kilometres wide at its broadest point. Despite its modest dimensions, the variations in landscape, soil and rock, as well as the wide range of building styles, make it a pocket-sized continent. Papiamento is most Arubans’ mother tongue, while the official language is Dutch. Spanish and English are also widely spoken. Geologically, Aruba belongs to that extensive island group known as the Antilles. It was formed many millions of years ago by subterranean volcanic activity and other tectonic forces. The islands form an arc between the north coast of Venezuela and the east coast of Florida. The Spanish conquered the Leeward Antilles – Aruba, Bonaire and Curacao – in or around 1499. Caquetio people still lived on Aruba at the time. They originated from continental Venezuela and Colombia. The colonists brought the Catholic faith and slavery. They forced the original inhabitants to work on the sugar cane plantations and in the gold and silver mines on Hispaniola. The last reminders of this Spanish period are the goats and donkeys they imported. These animals now roam freely on the island. The Dutch (or Chartered) West India Company (WIC) occupied Curacao in 1634. This island was to become a strategic base for privateers and traders in slaves, salt, sugar, lime and dyewood. Two years later Bonaire and Aruba were ‘subordinated’ to the main island of Curacao. Aruba’s savannah meant the island was important to supporting the WIC’s livestock. From the age of 16, local men were expected to herd cattle and keep their watering places clean. The WIC set up an outstation with a commander at Savaneta to supervise these activities. It was only in 1754 that colonists were permitted to settle on the island. They led a simple existence, surviving – like the original inhabitants – as fisher folk and farmers (cunuceros; conuco is Caquetio for ‘agricultural land’). Their dwellings were also fairly basic, rarely more than a straw or wattle and daub hut. The only person to live in a stone-built house was the commander. Leafy, shade-providing trees, fruit trees and (medicinal) herbs grew on the land surrounding each hut. The occupant also had a plot some distance from the hut, where he grew crops for his own consumption. Cooking was done in the open air, in the yard around the hut. The human population was entirely dependent on the rainy season for water. They collected rainwater in cisterns, and dammed up rainwater rivers (rooien) to form reservoirs (tankis).
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monuments guide aruba