Bonaire: History

Pre-20th-Century History

The first known inhabitants of the island were the Caiquetios Indians, members of the Arawak group that came from Venezuela about 1000 AD. Remains of their settlements have been found near the capital and at Lac Bay, and their petroglyphs are visible in caves on the northern side of the island. Within 20 years of their first contact with Europeans in 1499, most of the Caiquetios had succumbed to disease or had been pressed into slavery on Hispaniola. Immigrants to the island tended to be convicts from South America, or cattle and goats for the governor's ranch. Most people lived in small settlements at Rincon in the north or Antriol just north of the present-day capital of Kralendijk.

In retaliation for losing St Martin to the Spanish, the Dutch took Bonaire in 1633. The island became a granary for the Dutch West India Company until 1791, when the Dutch government took over the island. Other than the African slaves brought in by the company to harvest corn, salt and lumber, most immigrants to the island for the next 200 years were white overseers. The abolition of slavery in 1864 sent the economy into a slump. The export market dribbled along with castor oil, aloe, charcoal and salted goat meat, but island economists didn't start smiling until the discovery of oil in Venezuela early in the 20th century.

Modern History

Bonaire made the most of the advent of the age of petroleum, and benefited from the oil refineries on neighbouring Aruba and Curaçao. The government undertook improvements of the harbour at Kralendijk and built an airport. The island's male population won the right to vote in 1936 and began agitating for greater independence from the Dutch Crown. Queen Juliana made Bonaire a Dutch protectorate in 1954, keeping the country on a long leash. Searching for new economic vigour (and something sexier than salt farming), the island found it in tourism. Thousands of American and Dutch soldiers stationed on the island during WWII fell under its charm, and internment camps for German prisoners were handily converted to hotels.

The country created the Washington-Slagbaai and Marine Parks in the 1970s, preserving sizable chunks of the island from development. Bonaire continued its conservationist tradition with the creation of a flamingo sanctuary at the salt ponds at the southern end of the island.

Recent History

Residents of Bonaire have started to cash in on Bonaire's diving fame and allow more development. As a result, the island is starting to shed its backwater feel and may gradually become more like other Caribbean islands.

In 2004, the Netherlands Antilles, consisting of Curaçao, Sint Maarten, Bonaire, Saba and St Eustatius, held a referendum to determine the fate of the loose confederation. The commission voted to dissolve the Netherlands Antilles and from 2007 Bonaire, Saba and St Eustatius will have a similar status to Dutch municipalities, including the right to vote in elections.

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