Editing Aruba (section)

=== Spanish period ===

==== Early explorations ====
It is known that [[Christopher Columbus]] was not searching for a new continent but for the shortest route to India. India had been the spearhead of [[Europe]]an trade expansion and the foreign policy of the [[Monarchy of Spain|Spanish Crown]] since the travels of [[Marco Polo]] a century earlier. India, China, and Japan formed the focal point of [[Middle Ages|medieval]] ideas about boundless riches, cities with houses covered in gold, and islands with inexhaustible amounts of spices, pearls, and [[silk]]. The suspicion arose that India could be reached via the relatively short route to the [[west]], across the [[Atlantic Ocean|ocean of Atlantis]].

During his third voyage to the [[New World]], Columbus was searching for the southern route to India and explored the [[Paria Peninsula]] (eastern Venezuela) and the [[Orinoco]] region, where he discovered the fresh river water of the [[Orinoco Delta]]. The suspicion arose that he had not found islands off the coast of India but a much more extensive land mass; an extension of Asia. Columbus did not realize that this was an unknown continent. Characteristic of his [[Christians|Christian]] medieval perspective, Columbus solved the puzzle by assuming that he had discovered the [[Garden of Eden|earthly paradise]]. The earthly paradise was inaccessible to humans without God's permission. Columbus experienced the geographical discovery of the New World in Christian terms and assigned himself a special role assigned by a divine power. With the discovery of the [[Americas]] the myths of the [[Golden Age]], [[Atlantis]], and the earthly paradise moved from Asia to the New World. He died on May 20, 1506, believing that he had found new islands of the coast of or possibly a peninsula of India—pre-islands: ''Ant-ilha.'' These Ant-ilhas were inhabited by peoples whom he called "Indians".<ref name=":03">{{Cite book |last=Alofs |first=Luc |url=http://archive.org/details/BNA-DIG-9789088906022 |title=Koloniale mythen en Benedenwindse feiten : Curaçao, Aruba en Bonaire in inheems Atlantisch perspectief, ca. 1499-1636 |date=2018 |publisher=Leiden : Sidestone Press |isbn=978-90-8890-602-2 |pages=29–50}}</ref>

In 1500, [[Juan de la Cosa]] drew the first map of the New World, which depicted the two Leeward Antilles known at the time. This was followed by the more accurate [[Cantino planisphere|Cantino map]], created anonymously in 1502, which also showed an extensive landmass and mentioned the ''Isla do gigante'' (Island of Giants) and ''Isla'' ''do brasil'' (Island of Brasil)''.'' The location of the Isla do gigante southwest of the Isla do brasil suggest that it refers to Bonaire and Curaçao since Aruba is located more to the northwest.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Khan Academy |url=https://www.khanacademy.org/humanities/renaissance-reformation/xa6688040:spain-portugal-15th-16th-century/xa6688040:16th-century-spain/a/the-cantino-planisphere |access-date=2025-05-08 |website=www.khanacademy.org |language=en}}</ref>[[File:Mapa-de-las-Antillas-(1500).jpg|thumb|Map of the Antilles, from a portion of the [[map of Juan de la Cosa]] (''1500'')]]

In 1493, the year in which the [[West Indies|West Indian islands]] became known in Europe, the division between the secular (civil) and religious authorities in the New World had to be arranged. The newly appointed Spanish [[Pope Alexander VI]] issued the ''[[Inter caetera|Inter Caetera]]'' bull, granting the Spanish Crown sovereignty over the newly discovered territories and the responsibility of the holy task: ''to send good, God-fearing men, who are earned and capable, to those islands and continents to teach the natives living there about the Catholic faith and instill in them good habits''. In exchange for the papal approval of the treaty, Spain promised to vigorously carry out missionary work in the discovered territories. This gave Spain the right to evangelize the Americas and appoint and dismiss priests, blurring the separation between church and state in the region. In other words, the Spanish Crown was granted significant religious authority in the Americas, which was not strictly separate from the state and weakened the distinction between the religious and secular spheres—a key aspect of separation between church and state.<ref name=":03" />

==== Conquistadors ====
[[Conquistador|''Conquistadors'']] were fascinated by legends of inexhaustible gold reserves of [[El Dorado]]. The conquest was characterized by bloodshed, destruction, and forced assimilation of the native peoples into European society, such as the initiation of Indian slavery by Columbus in 1492. Europeans had an advantage because they had superior weapons, such as firearms, steel swords, armor, ships, horses, and targeted military strategies. While expedition leaders mostly came from the higher echelons of late medieval society, their foot soldiers were usually from the lower middle class of southern Europe. These soldiers formed the basis of the future group of ''encomenderos.'' The [[encomienda]] system granted Spanish colonizers right by the Spanish Crown to extract tribute and labor from indigenous peoples. For example, indigenous communities had to give up a portion of the yields from their agricultural or farm land, known as ''conucos'' in [[Taíno|Taino]],{{Efn|The Papiamento word for agricultural land or farm land, "kunuku" (Aruba: cunucu), may have a Taino origin.<ref>{{Cite web |last1=Sijs |first1=N. van der |last2=Joubert |first2=S. |date=2020 |title=Antilliaans-Nederlandse woorden en hun herkomst |url=https://repository.ubn.ru.nl/handle/2066/227327 |journal=}}</ref>}} as a form of taxation and to provide for the food supply of the colonists. The defeated were often kidnapped and forced to participate in expeditions elsewhere in the New World as slave laborers.<ref name=":03" />

{{Multiple image
| direction         = vertical
| image1            = Vespucci first voyage.jpg
| image2            = Vespucci second voyage.jpg
| footer            = Reconstruction of the first and second voyage of Amerigo Vespucci by Luciano Formisano<ref>{{Cite book |last=Vespucci |first=Amerigo |url=http://archive.org/details/lettersfromnewwo0000vesp |title=Letters from a new world : Amerigo Vespucci's Discovery of America |date=1992 |publisher=New York : Marsilio |others=Internet Archive |isbn=978-0-941419-62-8}}</ref>
}}

The Caquetío population of the Leeward Antilles was incorporated into the Spanish colonial empire {{Circa|1500}}. On June 8 and 10, 1501, [[Alonso de Ojeda|Alonso De Ojeda]] acquired the exclusive right to exploit the current Venezuelan coastal area, known as [[Coquivacoa]], and the islands of the coast Curaçao, Aruba, and Bonaire, and probably also the Mongues and Aves Islands. De Ojeda had to form an administration as far west as possible on the ''[[Province of Tierra Firme|Tierra Firme]]'' to secure the Spanish presence. It is believed that de Ojeda and [[Amerigo Vespucci]] visited Bonaire and Curaçao, but neither Vespucci nor de Ojeda are thought to have set foot on Aruban soil. He was explicitly forbidden to enslave natives. However, de Ojeda lacked administrative skills and intentions, and he became a controversial figure. De Ojeda established a base named Santa Cruz at the tip of [[Guajira Peninsula|Guajira]], from whence he conducted trade and, probably even more importantly, carried out his raids, including slave hunts. During his third voyage to the New World in 1502, de Ojeda visited Curaçao, but his attempt to exploit the region failed. Instead, [[Bartolomé de las Casas|Bartolomé de Las Casas]] documented de Ojeda's raids, slave hunts, and atrocities in the rural areas of present-day [[Cartagena, Colombia|Cartagena]] in his book, {{lang|es|Historia General de las Indias}}. These raids were disastrous, even for the Spaniards, and marked the end of the first attempt to control the region.<ref name=":022">{{Cite book |last=Alofs |first=L. |title=Koloniale mythen en Benedenwindse feiten : Curaçao, Aruba en Bonaire in inheems Atlantisch perspectief, ca. 1499-1636 |year=2018 |pages=51–79 |trans-title=Colonial Myths and Leeward Realities: Curaçao, Aruba, and Bonaire from an Indigenous Atlantic Perspective, ca. 1499-1636 |chapter=Inheemse eilanden: een korte kennismaking |publisher=Sidestone Press |isbn=978-90-8890-602-2 |trans-chapter=Indigenous islands: a brief introduction |chapter-url=https://archive.org/details/BNA-DIG-9789088906022/page/19/mode/2up}}</ref>

Between 1513 and 1515, the Leeward Antilles, including Curaçao, Aruba, and Bonaire, were depopulated. Captain Diego Salazar led this effort, which affected an estimated 2,000 indigenous inhabitants from these islands, and likely more from Tierra Firme.<ref name=":4" /> Most of the Caquetío were taken to [[Hispaniola]] as forced laborers. Many of them likely died on the way or later in the gold mines by the Spanish colonizers or during the devastating smallpox epidemic of 1518. Later on, new Indians migrated from the mainland to Aruba, while Indians were brought to Curaçao by [[Juan Martínez de Ampiés|Juan de Ampiés]]. The indigenous population was under encomienda, which ended the autonomy of Caquetío community in the islands. Their relatives on the mainland did not fare any better. After an unsuccessful attempt by Bartolomé de Las Casas to convert the local population to Christianity, the coastal region of the mainland was leased to the banking firm of the [[Welser family|Welsers]] in 1528.<ref>{{Citation |last=Montenegro |first=Giovanna |title=Germans in the Habsburg Empire in South America (Colonial Venezuela) |date=2022-03-23 |work=Oxford Research Encyclopedia of Latin American History |url=https://oxfordre.com/latinamericanhistory/display/10.1093/acrefore/9780199366439.001.0001/acrefore-9780199366439-e-1039?d=/10.1093/acrefore/9780199366439.001.0001/acrefore-9780199366439-e-1039&p=emailAsrcM7BiANrYE |access-date=2025-05-08 |language=en |doi=10.1093/acrefore/9780199366439.001.0001/acrefore-9780199366439-e-1039?d=/10.1093/acrefore/9780199366439.001.0001/acrefore-9780199366439-e-1039&p=emailasrcm7bianrye |isbn=978-0-19-936643-9}}</ref> This led to the violent conquest of the Caquetío kingdom.<ref name=":022" /> Before 1634, Curaçao, along with its neighboring islands Bonaire and Aruba, were considered part of the province of Venezuela. They had been separated from Venezuela only during the period of the Welser grant.<ref name=":4">{{Cite book |last=Alofs |first=Luc |url=http://archive.org/details/BNA-DIG-9789088906022 |title=Koloniale mythen en Benedenwindse feiten : Curaçao, Aruba en Bonaire in inheems Atlantisch perspectief, ca. 1499-1636 |date=2018 |publisher=Leiden : Sidestone Press |isbn=978-90-8890-602-2 |pages=81–110}}</ref>

The appropriation of the Caribbean region turned out to be a failure for the Spaniards. The exploitation of the West Indian islands proved unprofitable, and gold mining on Hispaniola and [[Puerto Rico]] declined. Spanish settlers moved elsewhere, and In 1569, the Spanish Crown banned settlement on the Caribbean islands by royal decree. This measure that did not apply to the leased islands of Curaçao, Aruba, and Bonaire. The colonization of the large Caribbean islands, such as [[Cuba]], was encouraged while the small islands were abandoned. Most of the islands remained largely uncontrolled and undefended, making them a potential opportunity for northwestern European countries that wanted to break Spain's monopoly on colonizing the New World. England, France, the Netherlands, and Denmark explored the possibilities of piracy and trade on the Caribbean islands.<ref name=":03" />

On the continent, the great empires declined, but indigenous societies continued to exist and were exposed to a long process of [[miscegenation]]. In the Falcón-Zulia province, among other places, Caquetío societies survived on Tierra Firme, although their cultures and social structures were largely destroyed by the Spaniards. On the (former) Caquetío coastal islands of Aruba, Curaçao, and [[Trinidad]], indigenous people lived well into the colonial period. The indigenous history of the Guajira peninsula extends to the present day. The [[Wayuu people|Wayú]] are increasingly being recognized on the Leeward Antilles as possible contemporary ancestors or lost relatives from prehistoric times.<ref name=":03" />

==== Spanish ranch ====
[[File:Arikok National Park - Aruba.jpg|thumb|Goats in Arikok National Park]]
The conquistadors brought European cattle to Aruba. Over time, they also introduced goats, sheep, dogs, donkeys, cows, pigs, and possibly even cats. It is believed that rabbits, brought by the Dutch, later became wild on the island. Aruba essentially became a Spanish ranch, with cattle roaming freely in search of food. Despite more trees in the past, the overall vegetation was similar to today. The horses introduced were lighter than Dutch ones, and their hooves became so hard from roaming freely that they did not need horseshoes. To avoid stallions injuring each other during mating battles, horseshoes were impractical. After three weeks of service, particularly in the dry season, the horses were released to recover. Occasionally, a small group of Spaniards would disembark on the island, but typically Aruba was left to fend for itself. According to Dutch geographer [[Joannes de Laet|Joannes De Laet]], by 1630 there were few Indians and some Spaniards on Aruba.<ref name=":0" />