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The Discovery
Columbus was the first to cross the Atlantic in 1492 with 3
sailing vessels , in search of a faster sea route to Indie.
He discovered land after 3 weeks sailing , that he called West-Indie,
assuming ( believing) that he had arrived in India.
 The
original inhabitants of America were therefore called INDIANS.
Alonso de Ojeda discovered Aruba, Bonaire and Curacao in 1499,
during an expedition to South America. The navigator of this
expedition was Amerigo Malteo Vespucci, America is called after
him.
Vespucci left a travelstory, through which we find out (rediscovered)
the route. Ojeda and Vespucci lost sight of each other during
the crossing to south America.
Vespucci ended up in Curacao via Trinidad,Venezuela and Bonaire.
The discoverers saw big footprints on the island. They followed
the tracks and finally met with five women, who had a robust
posture. Vespucci called the island at first (originally) “the
island of the giants”. Curacao is mentioned ( registered)
like that on the first map of the west.
There are different theories how Curacao got her name. It is
possible that the indiantribe was called “curacaoen”.
Curacao means “heart” in portugees. This is also
a known explanation.
The Spanish Period
 The
Spanish settled down permanently in Curacao and built the
first forts (tresses). The natural inlandbay “Annabaai”
was an excellent harbour for the Spanish fleet. The ships
could moor safely and were protected to attacks and tropical
storms.
Alonso de Ojeda became governor of the Venezuelan coastal
strip and also of the A-B-C- islands. ( Aruba,Bonaire and
Curacao ). The Spanish called the islands “Islas Inutiles”(useless
islands), because there were no natural resources found. The
islands were also too dry for agriculture and cattle-breeding
on a large scale.
They took away the about 2000 indians of the islands to Santo
Domingo to work as slaves in the coppermines. The spaniards
were in control of Curacao for more than a century from 1499
till 1634.
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Curacao has over 10 forts dating back from
past centuries. Most forts are located in
Willemstad center. |
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