CaribSeek Books | Economic Stagnation and Decline | Roots of our Future by Linda M. Rupert

1790-1863
III - Economic Stagnation and Decline[1]

"Recently the number of paupers has increased enormously... the means of subsistence of many of the needy residents has fallen into decay, whole families were reduced to beggary. Swarms of beggars, white as well as colored and black, are seen today, molesting passers-by in and along the streets."[2]

The waters at the entrance to Waaigat Bay bustled with small watercraft, although the town walls limited wharf space (CHA).

As the 1817 colonial report quoted above makes clear, the 1800s did not open on a positive note for Curaçao. Already by the closing years of the eighteenth century prosperity had given way to widespread poverty and decline, a malaise that would haunt the island for over a hundred years. For a century, Willemstad was on a merry-go-round of economic turmoil; its changing fortunes depended not only on the political and economic climate of its major trade partners, but also on actions of the rising

European powers, France and Great Britain, that struggled to dominate the region.

The changing alliance of European powers dealt a serious blow to Curaçao's status as a trade center. The nineteenth century saw the consolidation of British colonial dominance in the Caribbean and with it, the final demise of Dutch commercial superiority. Curaçao finally began to feel the effects of the Netherlands' decline as a world power. Several wars were fought in distant Europe that cemented this new situation; these wars affected the political and economic situation in the Caribbean to a greater or lesser degree. At times, the struggles between colonial powers seemed almost irrelevant to the lives of the island's inhabitants. Occasionally, they had a major impact on local life by disrupting trade routes and creating or breaking important political alliances that affected commerce.

Regional changes were also felt on Curaçao. The newly independent United States of America was becoming a major economic force; its many bustling ports along the Atlantic seaboard emerged as important trade and shipping centers, in direct competition with Curaçao. In 1799 Venezuela's La Guaira harbor was opened to European vessels, eliminating the need for transshipment of goods in Curaçao. Exports from Curaçao to Europe and the United States fell significantly. Spurred by revolutions in France and the United States, independence was also afoot in the region, beginning with the emergence of Haiti as the world's first black republic in 1804, and continuing with the independence of Spain's Latin American colonies in the 1820s. Although the resulting social and political upheaval frequently disrupted Curaçao's trade, local merchants managed to find lucrative business opportunities wherever there was armed struggle.

Political changes were also afoot locally. After the final demise of the WIC in 1791, the Netherlands directly appointed a Governor for the Colony of Curaçao, who continued to live and work at Ft. Amsterdam. He administered the island along with the Colonial Council, which was primarily made up of prominent merchants. For the first time since the arrival of the Dutch, Curaçao's Governor exclusively represented the island and did not also owe allegiance to the WIC. In 1815 Dutch government regulations established the Administrative Council to serve the entire colony, made up of the six islands of the Netherlands Antilles, with Curaçao at the helm. In 1833 the Colonial Council was established. In 1845 the territory of the Netherlands Antilles was formally brought together under a single administration, with Curaçao the seat of government for the other islands: neighboring Aruba and Bonaire, and St. Maarten, Saba and St. Eustatius in the northeastern Caribbean.

With the WIC out of the picture, Curaçao's independent Dutch and Jewish merchants consolidated their position as the island's uncontested economic aristocracy; usually they were able to ensure that their commercial interests were also represented politically. But while international trade remained a mainstay of the economy and an entire new generation of wealthy merchants rose to challenge the established elite, their prosperity was not accompanied by general economic affluence. The great majority of the population had little to show for the merchants' successes, living in dire poverty. Curaçao was only a shadow of its former glory and those who were not at the very top of the economic pyramid suffered enormously.

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Curaçao Chamber of Commerce & Industry