CaribSeek Books | The Post War Years | Roots of our Future by Linda M. Rupert

VI - The Post War Years (1940-Present)[1]

"It is not fair, after the fact, to blame Shell for everything that happened in later years, as is often done. If blame must be found, the blame should be shared by us all, by the Government, by the private sector, by the trade unions, by the community. Because we took no precautions at all for the consequences of the inevitable end of the 'boom.' The 'morning after' had to come, but none of us planned for it. This also is a lesson that we can learn from history."[2]

In the second half of the twentieth century, most shipping-related activity moved away from Punda and Otrobanda and into the inner harbor (CTDB).

If the first decades of the twentieth century had brought unprecedented social and economic changes to the island, disrupting local patterns that had been firmly ensconced for hundreds of years, the second half of the century was to bring the consolidation of the new society that had been ushered in. So complete were the changes brought by the refinery, so totally was the old economic order supplanted, that, in just a generation, the Curaçao of old seemed to be a far distant memory. By the second half of the twentieth century many had all but forgotten the island's centuries-long position as a major regional trade center.

The great prosperity brought by the refinery, combined with the safety net provided by Curaçao's continued status as a Dutch colony, gave the island an economic security and a modern infrastructure that were both unusual for the region. Unlike the affluence brought in former times by trade, the oil wealth benefitted virtually all sectors of society. But this did not come without a price. Throughout the middle decades of the century, the local population, elite and workers alike, was lulled into a false sense of security. It seemed that Shell would be around forever. No one was prepared for its eventual departure.

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