Behind the Mask of Curaçao

 One of the islands that stood out to me the most out of my top three in the Caribbean would have to be Curaçao and the history behind their culture. I already told you why you should visit and stay for a week or two, but what if I tell you the history you would be walking over if you were to visit. What caught my eye was the dark history behind such colorful and beautiful colors throughout the island. Knowing the story of something or some place would make the experience better. With Arawak paintings found in the national park its told that the Arawak indians were the first to settle (History and Culture) then came the Spanish in the late 1400s looking for gold but later then realized the island was ''useless'', to them at least since they didn't find any gold or value there.

Around the 1600s the dutch started settling after conquering the island from the spanish and brought commerce, slavery, and trading(History and Culture). From there later on the Dutch had constructed a famous fort known to this day as Fort Amsterdam because of its cultural and historic significance it still stands, also the bright yellow color and building structure shows how the style and culture of the island hasn't changed its Dutch style buildings(“Fort Amsterdam”). Same with the first picture above also known as Willemstad follows the structure and colors, Willemstad was originally a local place they used known as the center of trading fruits of slave labor (“Curaçao” ).     

 Tula, A national hero known in Curacao was slave that started a revolt rebellion with nearly 2000 other slaves (Nebhrajani). Although Curacao handled slavery differently than the other islands doesnt mean it was any less worse. It was Tula who was then captured with two other leaders then continued to be tortured and executed after being a part of 12,000 slaves, 2000 of them joined Tula and the revolt ((Nebhrajani). Even though freedom didn't arrive up until 70 years later that statue is still up in honor of Tula. With this Research project I plan on going more in depth on the history of their Religion, Language, and Social Conventions.

Sources

“Curaçao.” The Virtual Caribbean Library, 2020, ggccaribbean.wpengine.com/listing/curacao.

Nebhrajani, Roshan. “History of Curaçao.” The New Tropic, 1 Apr. 2017, thenewtropic.com/curacao-history/#:%7E:text=In%201863%2C%20slavery%20was%20abolished,the%20center%20of%20the%20island.

“Fort Amsterdam.” AFAR Media, 18 June 2020, www.afar.com/places/fort-amsterdam.

 History and Culture.” Iexplore, 2020, www.iexplore.com/articles/travel-guides/caribbean/curacao/history-andculture#:%7E:text=The%20culture%20of%20Cura%C3%A7ao%20lends,is%20Creole%20of%20Portuguese%20descent.