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An 1836 map of Curaçao with an insert
showing ST. Anna Bay and the Schottegat (CHA). |
Spanish depiction of the first contact with the island's Carib
Indians (CHA). |
An early Spanish map shows the coastline of
Venezuela and neighboring islands, including Curaçao, which were explored
by Alonso de Ojeda and Amerigo Vespucci in 1499 (CHA). |
Early Dutch map of St. Anna Bay
showinh the Waterfort and the pentagonal fortification surrounding
Ft. Amsterdam, the wllaed settlement of Punda, the Waaigat inlet,
and a few houses in Otrabanda (CHA). |
Rendition of early Willemstad by a
contemporary Dutch artist, who was probably unfamiliar with the island
(CHA). |
Peter Stuyvesant (FIB) |
Merchant houses along Punda's main streets
typically had shops and warehouses on the ground floor and the living
quarters upstairs. |
Attacks by pirates, buccaneers and
privateers were a constant treat to seaborne trade, espacially in the
seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. As a free port, Curaçao was not
immune to such attacks and island defense was a major concern (CHA). |
Ft. Amsterdam was the administrative seat
of the West India Company as well as the Director's residence. It has
remained the seat of givernment to the present (CHA). |
The Majority of slaves lived on rural
plantations like Kenepa, which was the site of the island's largest slave
uprising (CTDB). |
The waters at the entrance to Waaigat Bay
bustled with small watercraft, although the town walls limited wharf space
(CHA). |
Shipping and trade continued to thrive
throughout the eighteenth century, in spite of the overall economic
decline. Much of the trade involved transshipment of arms and other
contraband (CHA). |
Ferry pilots carried hundreds of passengers
between Punda, Otrabanda and Schaarloo every day (CHA). |
The market was primarily a women's world,
one of the few areas open to small scale female entrepreneurs (CHA). |
Ma Libertina (CHA) |
After emancipation many freedmen and women
moved to Otrabanda, which was already a center for small scale black-owned
business (CHA). |
For many rural residants, life did not
change much after emancipation (CHA). |
The Queen Emma Bridge finally allowed
people to walk between Punda and Otrabanda, making them less dependent on
the ferries (CHA). |
Scharloo developed as a major residential
area in the late nineteenth century, and was home to many of the island's
leading merchant families (CHA). |
Peddlers found a captive market in isolated
rural communities (CHA). |
Leinard B. Smith (CHA) |
The rfinery was built on the site of the
old Asiento Plantation, on the northern rim of Schottegat Bay (CHA). |
In just a few years, the refinery came to
dominate the harbor (CHA). |
The traditional commercial center of
Willemstad continued to prosper even with the changes brought by the
refinery. The established old merchant houses now also began to serve a
newly prosperous local clientele (CHA). |
Shipping increased significantly following
the arrival of Shell (CHA). |
Because piped water was of dubious quality,
the town water vendor remained an important part of daily life until well
into the twentieth century (CHA). |
Manuel Ribeiro |
In the second half of the twentieth
century, most shipping-related activity moved away from Punda and
Otrobanda and into the inner harbor (CTDB). |
European and American warships protected
the island during the war; the Dutch maintained a presence therafter
(CHA). |
Immigrant merchants opened new stores which
prospered in the post war period. Some, like Spritzer & Fuhrmann, became
internationally famous (CHA). |
Otrobanda continued to grow as a
residential neighborhood and commercial center (CTDB). |
The drydock expanded in the 1970s and 80s,
increasing the importance of the inner harbor(CTDB). |
Secin Halabi |
The major streets of Punda have been at the
heart of the island's commerce for hundreds of years (CHA). |
Salt was traded by the island's first
inhabitants, and continued to be exported until the mid twentieth century
(CHA). |
Straw hats were exported to New Yrok, Paris
and other international markets (CHA). |
Small scale regional trade provided
employment to many sailors and dock workers (CHA). |
The wharves of Punda bustled with activity
whenever ships were in port. Curaçao served primarily as a transshipment
port for goods between the Americas and Europe (CHA). |
The majority of Curaçao's population is
descended from enslaved slaves. The majority of Africans who were brought
to the island, however, were sold to large plantations throughout the
Americas and the Caribbean (CHA). |
Small sailing ships were the best craft for
contraband trade with the neighboring mainland (CHA). |
Curaçao has always relied on a vigorous
shipping sector to support its international trade (CHA). |
The Wharves of Punda, St. Anna Bay and
Otrobanda across the bay as seen in the early 1800s (CHA). |
Development of Scharloo wharves temporarily
eased overcrowding along Handelskade (CHA). |
Many of the ships used in the island's
international trade were built right on St. Anna Bay (CHA). |
The"Cuaraçao"was the first steamship to
cross the Atlantic (CHA). |
Containerization completely changed the
character of shipping (CCCI). |
S.E.L. Maduro & Sons |
Local merchant houses issued paper notes
when money was scarce (BNA). |
The Central of the Netherlands Antilles is
the oldest of its kind in the Americas and had a major role in the
development of the island's early financial system. Local merchants,
however, pressed for the development of an autonomous commercial banking
sector (KR). |
The Curaçao Mortgage Bank (Hypotheekbank)
was created out of the Orphan's Chamber. In spite of its roots, it was a
purely commercial enterprise (CHA). |
Many poor black Curaçaons remained outside
the formal economy and developed their own financial networks (CHA). |
Some offshore banks have renovated historic
old Willemstad buildings to use as offices (KR). |
Abraham Jesurun DZ (CCCI) |
Straw hats were the island's only major
export made by women (CHA). |
Laraha oranges were cultivated in small
orhards. Though too bitter to eat, their peels were used to make a
pleasant aperitif that quickly gained international fame (CHA). |
Salt was hauled directly to the coast to be
shipped out in small boats (CHA). |
Phosphate was a major export at the turn of
the century (CHA). |
Minutes of the first official meeting of
the Curaçao Chamber of Commerce & Industry, dated Wednesday, October 15,
1884. In its 150-year history, the Chamber has taken a leading role in
promoting the island's development (CCCI). |
Throughout the nineteenth and early
twentieth centuries, the Roman Catholic Church sponsored several small
scale cooperatives, aimed at helping the lower classes develop a source of
livelihood (CHA). |
Juan Florencio Walter "Dodo"
(G.
Nije-Statius van Eps) |
Punda's picturesque waterfort is one of the
island's signature tourism images (CTDB). |
Curaçao was a popular port of call for
luxury ships from Grace Line and other well known cruise companies (CHA). |
KLM has provided regular air connections to
Europe since 1930s. After World War Two its Curaçao branch developed into
an autonomous national airline (CURINTA). |
The Hotel Americano was one of the first
large hotels built on the island. Originally serving transits visitors
from South America, it became more commercial after World War Two (CCCI). |
Habitat Curaçao, one of the several new
properties that opened in 1990s (LR). |
Charles Fuhrmann (CHA). |
