Editing Bonaire (section)

==History==

[[File:RINCON OPEN AIR MUSEUM, BONAIRE.jpg|thumb|Traditional old houses with [[Cactus fence|cactus fences]], preserved in the outdoor museum of [[Rincon, Bonaire]]]]

===Original inhabitants===
The earliest evidence of human habitation on the islands is from the [[Archaic period (North America)|Archaic period]]; archaeological evidence suggests the people lived in family-based groups of approximately 100 and were [[semi-nomadic]] [[hunter-gatherer]]s and [[fishing|fisher]]s. Of the islands, Curaçao appears to have been settled first, approximately 4500&nbsp;[[Before Present|BP]] (2550&nbsp;BC). The earliest evidence of human habitation in Bonaire is at Lagun and dates to approximately 3400&nbsp;BP (1450&nbsp;BC); Curaçao appears to have become temporarily uninhabited in the same period, around 3500&nbsp;BP (1560&nbsp;BC).<ref>{{Cite journal |first=Jay B. |last=Haviser |title=Prehistoric Cultural Developments on Bonaire, Netherlands Antilles |journal=Proceedings of the 14th Congress |publisher=International Association for Caribbean Archaeology|year=1993 |url=https://ufdcimages.uflib.ufl.edu/AA/00/06/19/61/00495/14-20.pdf |pages=237–38}}</ref> The [[Caquetío]] Indians, speakers of an [[Arawakan languages|Arawakan]] language, arrived in the islands from South America around 500&nbsp;AD.<ref>{{cite book |doi=10.1163/ej.9789004183957.i-228.49 |chapter=Conservation of Amphibians and Reptiles in Aruba, Curaçao and Bonaire |title=Conservation of Caribbean Island Herpetofaunas Volume 1: Conservation Biology and the Wider Caribbean |date=2011 |pages=145–59 |isbn=978-90-04-19407-6 |first1=Gerard |last1=Van Buurt |editor1-first=Adrian |editor1-last=Hailey |editor2-first=Byron S. |editor2-last=Wilson |editor3-first=Julia A. |editor3-last=Horrocks }}</ref> Archaeological remains of the Caquetío culture have been found at sites northeast of Kralendijk and near [[Lac Bay]].<ref>{{Cite web |date=2014-05-05 |title=Dutch Caribbean Island Paradise on the ABC Islands- Bonaire |url=https://getfamilyholidays.wordpress.com/2014/05/05/dutch-caribbean-island-paradise-on-the-abc-islands-bonaire/ |access-date=2025-05-09 |website=Family Holidays |language=es}}</ref> Caquetío rock paintings and [[petroglyph]]s are preserved in caves at Spelonk, Onima, Ceru Pungi and Ceru Crita-Cabai.{{Citation needed|date=August 2020|reason= primary or secondary source needed}} The Caquetíos apparently appeared very tall to the first Spaniards encountering them, for the Spanish name for the [[ABC islands (Lesser Antilles)|ABC islands]] was ''las Islas de los Gigantes'', 'the islands of the giants'.<ref name="Helm" />

=== Spanish period ===
{{Main|Spanish West Indies}}
In 1499, [[Alonso de Ojeda]] arrived in [[Curaçao]] and a neighbouring island that was almost certainly Bonaire.{{citation needed|date=August 2020}} Ojeda was accompanied by [[Amerigo Vespucci]] and [[Juan de la Cosa]].{{citation needed|date=August 2020}} De La Cosa's [[Mappa Mundi]] of 1500 shows Bonaire and calls it ''Isla do Palo Brasil'' or "Island of [[Brazilwood]]".{{citation needed|date=August 2020}} The Spanish decided that the three [[ABC islands (Lesser Antilles)|ABC Islands]] were useless because they did not have known metal deposits, and in 1515 the Caquetío were enslaved to work in the copper mines of [[Santo Domingo]] on the island of [[Hispaniola]]; the total number may have been between 500 and 2,000.<ref name="Lopez 1996">{{cite journal |last1=Lopez |first1=Barry |title=Searching for Depth in Bonaire |journal=The Georgia Review |date=1996 |volume=50 |issue=3 |pages=545–558 |jstor=41401267 }}</ref><ref name="Helm" /><ref>{{cite book |last1=Anderson-Córdova |first1=Karen F. |title=Surviving Spanish Conquest: Indian Fight, Flight, and Cultural Transformation in Hispaniola and Puerto Rico |date=2017 |publisher=The University of Alabama Press |isbn=978-0-8173-9090-7 |chapter=The Voluntary and Forced Movement of Indians among the Islands and the Mainland |pages=120–149 [137] |id={{Project MUSE|1950702|type=chapter}} }}</ref>

Spain colonized Bonaire since 1499 for a period of approximately one century. Likewise, one of the oldest references to the name of the island is found in the archive of the Main Public Registry of the city of Caracas (Venezuela). A document dated December 9, 1595, specifies that Don Francisco Montesinos, Curate and Vicar of "las Yslas de Curasao, Aruba y Bonaire" conferred a power of attorney to Pedro Gutiérrez de Lugo, resident in Caracas, to collect from the Royal Treasury of His Catholic Majesty Don Felipe II, the salary that corresponded to him for his office as priest and vicar of the islands.

[[File:OLD FORT ORANJE, KRALENDIJK.jpg|thumb|upright|Fort Oranje in Kralendijk, built in 1639]]
Remnants of Bonaire's indigenous population can be seen in some of the island's current inhabitants. In fact, the majority of the population is of mixed black and white descent, with minorities of Europeans (descendants of the Dutch) and Africans (descendants of slaves)

In 1526, [[Juan Martínez de Ampiés]] was appointed Spanish commander of the [[ABC islands (Lesser Antilles)|ABC Islands]].{{citation needed|date=August 2020}} He brought back some of the original Caquetio Indian inhabitants to Bonaire and Curaçao. Ampies also imported domesticated animals from [[Spain]], including cows, donkeys, goats, horses, pigs and sheep. The Spaniards thought that Bonaire could be used as a cattle plantation worked by natives. The cattle were raised for hides rather than meat. The Spanish inhabitants lived mostly in the inland town of [[Rincon, Bonaire|Rincon]] as its geography made it relatively safe from pirate attacks .<ref name="Helm" />

===Dutch period===
{{Main|Dutch Caribbean}}

The [[Dutch West India Company]] was founded in 1602. Starting in 1623, ships of the West India Company called at Bonaire to obtain meat, water and wood. The Dutch also abandoned some Spanish and Portuguese prisoners there, and these people founded the town of [[Antriol]], which is a contraction of Spanish ''al interior'' (English: ''inside''). The Dutch and the Spanish fought from 1568 to 1648 in what is now known as the [[Eighty Years War]]. In 1633, the Dutch{{Snd}} having lost the island of [[St. Maarten]] to the Spanish{{Snd}} retaliated by attacking Curaçao, Bonaire and Aruba. Bonaire was conquered in March 1636. The Dutch built Fort Oranje in 1639.<ref>[[:nl:Fort Oranje (Bonaire)]]{{Circular reference|date=March 2019}}</ref>

While Curaçao emerged as a centre of the [[History of slavery|slave trade]], Bonaire became a plantation of the Dutch West India Company. [[edible salt|Salt]] became a major export product of the island; a small number of African slaves were put to work alongside Indians and convicts, cultivating dyewood and maize and harvesting solar salt around Blue Pan.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Kennedy |first1=Cynthia M. |title=The Other White Gold: Salt, Slaves, the Turks and Caicos Islands, and British Colonialism |journal=The Historian |date=2007 |volume=69 |issue=2 |pages=218 |doi=10.1111/j.1540-6563.2007.00178.x |jstor=24453659 |s2cid=144807834 |doi-access=free }}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last1=Misevich |first1=Phil |last2=Mann |first2=Kristin |last3=Silva |first3=Daniel B. Domingues da |last4=Richardson |first4=David |last5=Vos |first5=Jelmer |last6=Mann |first6=Kristin |title=The Rise and Demise of Slavery and the Slave Trade in the Atlantic World |date=2016 |publisher=University of Rochester Press |isbn=978-1-78204-656-1 |page=76 |id={{Project MUSE|83663|type=book}} }}</ref> Slave quarters, built entirely of stone and too short for a man to stand upright in, still stand in the area around Rincon and along the salt pans. The slave population grew in the 1710s when a famine and social unrest on Curaçao caused the Dutch to relocate a large number of slaves to Bonaire.<ref name="van Welie 2008">{{cite journal |last1=van Welie |first1=Rik |title=Slave trading and slavery in the Dutch colonial empire: A global comparison |journal=New West Indian Guide / Nieuwe West-Indische Gids |date=2008 |volume=82 |issue=1–2 |pages=47–96 |doi=10.1163/13822373-90002465 |jstor=43390702 |s2cid=128869753 |doi-access=free }}</ref> Historically, Dutch was not widely spoken on the island outside of colonial administration; its use increased in the late 19th and early 20th centuries.<ref>''Dede pikiña ku su bisiña: Papiamentu-Nederlands en de onverwerkt verleden tijd''. van Putte, Florimon., 1999. Zutphen: de Walburg Pers</ref> Students on Curaçao, Aruba and Bonaire were taught predominantly in Spanish until the late 18th century when the British took Curaçao, Aruba and Bonaire; the teaching of Spanish was restored when Dutch rule resumed in 1815.

During the [[Napoleonic Wars]], the Netherlands lost control of Bonaire twice, once from 1800 to 1803, and again from 1807 to 1816.<ref name="van Welie 2008" /><ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.britishempire.co.uk/maproom/bonaire.htm |title=The Map Room: Caribbean: Bonaire |publisher=British Empire |access-date=10 October 2010 |archive-date=6 October 2010 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101006075743/http://britishempire.co.uk/maproom/bonaire.htm |url-status=live }}</ref> During these intervals, the British had control of the neighbouring island of [[Curaçao]] and of Bonaire. The [[ABC islands (Lesser Antilles)|ABC islands]] were returned to the Netherlands under the [[Anglo-Dutch Treaty of 1814]]. During the period of British rule, a large number of white traders settled on Bonaire, and built the settlement of Playa ([[Kralendijk]]) in 1810.

==== Emancipation ====

From 1816 until 1868, Bonaire remained a government plantation. In 1825, there were about 300 government-owned slaves on the island. Gradually many of the slaves were freed and became freemen with an obligation to render some services to the government. The remaining slaves were freed on 30 September 1862 under the Emancipation Regulation. A total of 607 government slaves and 151 private slaves were freed at that time.<ref name="Helm" />
[[File:Bonaire Red Slave Huts.jpg|thumb|Slave huts]]

====World War II====
During the [[German occupation of the Netherlands]] during World War II, Bonaire was a protectorate of Britain and the United States. The American army built the [[Flamingo International Airport|Flamingo Airport]] as an air force base. After Germany invaded the Netherlands on May 10, 1940, authorities declared [[martial law]], and many German and Austrian citizens, as well as Dutch thought to be German sympathizers, were interned in a camp on Bonaire.<ref>{{cite book |last1=van der Horst |first1=Liesbeth |title=Wereldoorlog in de West : Suriname, de Nederlandse Antillen en Aruba, 1940-1945 |date=2004 |publisher=Verloren |location=Hilversum |isbn=9789065507945 |pages=69–74 |language=nl}}</ref> Some of these remained in this camp for the war's duration, and others were transferred to new camps built on the mainland in the first year of the war.<ref>{{Cite news | author = Anonymous | title = Imprisoned Innocents | url = http://bonairereporter.com/news/007PDFs/06-15-07.pdf | publisher = Bonaire Reporter | page = 7 | date = 15 June 2007 | access-date = 19 February 2009 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20110708082341/http://bonairereporter.com/news/007PDFs/06-15-07.pdf | archive-date = 8 July 2011 | url-status = dead}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last=Sint Jago |first=Junnes E. |title=Wuiven vanaf de waranda |year=2007 |publisher=Gopher |location=Utrecht |language=nl |isbn=9789051794960 |oclc=150262823}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last1=Captain |first1=Esther |title=Oorlogserfgoed overzee : de erfenis van de Tweede Wereldoorlog in Aruba, Curaçao, Indonesië en Suriname |date=2010 |publisher=Bakker |location=Amsterdam |isbn=9789035135840 |language=nl |chapter=De interneringen in Suriname en de Nederlandse Antillen}}</ref> In 1944, [[Princess Juliana of the Netherlands|Princess Juliana]] and [[Eleanor Roosevelt]] visited the troops on Bonaire.<ref name="Helm" />

Bonairean sailors made an above-average contribution during World War II. German U-boats tried to eliminate shipping around the Aruba and Curaçao refineries and thus eliminate the island's considerable fuel production for the Allies. Bonairean-crewed ships also took part in these battles. Among the many missing after the war, were the 34 Bonaireans who died on these ships (more than on the other islands of the then Dutch West Indies). During hostilities, the site where the Divi Flamingo Beach Resort & Casino now stands served as an internment camp for Germans and Austrians living in the Antilles, mainly because they were distrusted. There were fears they could have sabotaged the giant oil refineries on Aruba and Curaçao that were supplying paraffin to the Allied air fleet.{{citation needed|date=October 2023}}

The camp was in operation from 1940 to 1947. In total, 461 people were interned during this period without trial, most of them completely innocent. Among them were Medardo de Marchena and also the photographer Fred Fischer, then still an Austrian citizen. Many German internees had just fled Nazi violence. But there were also German prisoners of war, some of whom remained after the war. In September 1943, the father of [[George Maduro]], after whom Madurodam is named, asked Queen Wilhelmina to exchange his son for the German internees on Bonaire. The government did not grant the request. After the war, the empty barracks became Bonaire's first hotel: Zeebad.
[[File:Aankomst van het koninklijk paar op het vliegveld van Bonaire, Bestanddeelnr 252-3827.jpg|thumb|Royal visit of [[Queen Juliana]] and [[Prince Bernhard]] in 1955]]

====Post-war====
After the war, the economy of Bonaire continued to develop. The airport was converted to civilian use and the former internment camp was converted to become the first hotel on Bonaire.<ref>{{cite web | url = http://www.divibonaire.com/ | title = Divi Flamingo Beach Resort Bonaire | access-date = 19 February 2009 | archive-date = 1 June 2020 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20200601090944/https://divibonaire.com/ | url-status = live }}</ref> The Dutchman [[Pierre Schunck]] started a clothing factory known as [[Schunck's Kledingindustrie Bonaire]], a partial solution for the large female surplus on the island. In 1964, [[Trans World Radio]] began broadcasting from Bonaire. [[Radio Netherlands Worldwide]] built two shortwave transmitters on Bonaire in 1969. The second major hotel (Bonaire Beach Hotel)<ref>{{cite web | url = http://www.geographia.com/bonaire/sunset/sunhot.htm | title = Bonaire Beach Hotel | access-date = 19 February 2009 | archive-date = 4 March 2016 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20160304052216/http://www.geographia.com/bonaire/sunset/sunhot.htm | url-status = live }}</ref> was completed in 1962. Salt production resumed in 1966 when the salt pans were expanded and modernized by the Antilles International Salt Company, a subsidiary of the International Salt Company. Part of the facilities extend into the Caribbean Sea and form the popular dive site known as Salt Pier.<ref>{{cite web | url = http://www.cargillsalt.com/ | title = Cargill Salt Company | access-date = 19 February 2009 | archive-date = 21 February 2009 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20090221043625/http://www.cargillsalt.com/ | url-status = live }}</ref> The Bonaire Petroleum Corporation (BOPEC) oil terminal was opened in 1975 for trans-shipping oil.<ref>{{cite web | url = http://www.rocargo.com/Bopec.html | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20070301191150/http://www.rocargo.com/Bopec.html | archive-date = 2007-03-01 | title = Bonaire Petroleum Company | access-date = 19 February 2009}}</ref>
Politically Bonaire formed part of the [[Netherlands Antilles]] from 1954 to 2010; it is now a special municipality within the Netherlands.<ref name="WOLBES" /> In 2011 the island officially adopted the US dollar as its currency.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.government.nl/latest/news/2010/05/18/introduction-of-the-dollar-on-bonaire-saint-eustace-saba |title=Introduction of the dollar on Bonaire, Saint Eustace, Saba |date=18 May 2010 |access-date=26 June 2019 |archive-date=26 June 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190626202050/https://www.government.nl/latest/news/2010/05/18/introduction-of-the-dollar-on-bonaire-saint-eustace-saba |url-status=live }}</ref>

===Dissolution of the Netherlands Antilles===

On 10 October 2010, the [[Netherlands Antilles]] was [[Dissolution of the Netherlands Antilles|dissolved]]. As a result, the government of the Netherlands assumed the task of public administration of the [[Caribbean Netherlands]] or BES Islands comprising Bonaire, St Eustatius and Saba. The three islands acquired new status as "special municipalities" (''bijzondere gemeenten''), making them part of the Netherlands itself, a form of "public body" (''openbaar lichaam'') as outlined in article 134 of the Dutch Constitution. Special municipalities do not constitute part of a province.

As a special municipality, Bonaire is very much like ordinary Dutch municipalities in that it has a mayor, [[aldermen]] and a [[municipal council]], and is governed according to most Dutch laws. Antillean legislation remained in force after 10 October 2010, with the exception of those cases where Antillean law was replaced by Bonaire's municipal law. It was believed best for the island to not introduce the entire body of Dutch legislation at one time as it would cause confusion. Therefore, Dutch legislation is being introduced in stages. Bonaire retained its own unique culture while residents enjoy the same rights as Dutch citizens, including the right to vote in Dutch parliamentary elections in the Netherlands. Residents also have access to new or improved facilities and government benefits including, but not limited to, [[universal health care]]; improved health care facilities; better educational facilities with additional training for teachers, new teaching methods and new school buildings; social housing for low-income individuals and families; a centrally dispatched single police force, fire department and ambulance service.<ref name="GovernmentNL" /> While the three islands are considered to be land of the Netherlands, they are not a part of the [[European Union]], therefore not subject to European Union Law. They are considered to be an [[Overseas Countries and Territories|overseas country and territory]].<ref>{{cite web|title=Bonaire, Saint Eustatius and Saba|url=http://ds-lands.com/bonaire-saint-eustatius-and-saba/|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130228104614/http://ds-lands.com/bonaire-saint-eustatius-and-saba/|url-status=usurped|archive-date=February 28, 2013|access-date=December 7, 2014|publisher=DS World's Lands}}</ref>

Bonaire's non-governmental organization, ''Nos Ke Boneiru Bèk'' ("We Want Bonaire Back"), is against the current constitutional relationship with the Netherlands. With reference to Bonaire's 2004 referendum, the organization is of the opinion that such an arrangement was never the choice of the people. The Dutch Minister of Home Affairs and Kingdom Relations, [[Ronald Plasterk]], replied to the organization confirming that only the "Island Councils in the Caribbean Netherlands have the authority to decide on holding a constitutional referendum, not the Dutch government." In response, the organization gathered more than 3,500 signatures in 2013 favouring a new referendum. In a letter to minister Plasterk, James Finies, chairman of Nos Ke Boneiru Bèk, requested a "new referendum under the right of self-determination". Plasterk responded by advising Finies that preparations for the evaluation of the public entity structure had begun for 2015, but a "possible change of the constitutional relations is not part of that evaluation".<ref>{{cite web|date=August 18, 2014|title=Dutch Minister Plasterk: Constitutional Referendum BES is Island Affair|url=http://www.bearingpointcaribbean.com/dutch-minister-plasterk-consitutional-referendum-bes-island-affair/|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141211024150/http://www.bearingpointcaribbean.com/dutch-minister-plasterk-consitutional-referendum-bes-island-affair/|archive-date=2014-12-11|access-date=December 7, 2014|work=Government News|publisher=Bearing Point Caribbean}}</ref> The [[Bonaire status referendum, 2015|new referendum]] took place on 18 December 2015.<ref>[http://www.bonairegov.nl/sites/default/files/uploads/2015010717.pdf Referendum bill] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151223042333/http://www.bonairegov.nl/sites/default/files/uploads/2015010717.pdf |date=2015-12-23 }}, government of Bonaire, 9 October 2015</ref> 65% of the turnout voted that they were not happy with the current relationship between Bonaire and the Netherlands.<ref>{{cite news|last1=Posthumus|first1=Niels|date=19 December 2015|title=Bonaire stemt tegen huidige band met Nederland|url=http://www.nrc.nl/nieuws/2015/12/19/bonaire-stemt-tegen-huidige-band-met-nederland|access-date=13 March 2016|newspaper=NRC|archive-date=22 December 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151222091329/http://www.nrc.nl/nieuws/2015/12/19/bonaire-stemt-tegen-huidige-band-met-nederland|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>[https://www.smn-news.com/st-maarten-st-martin-news/24458-the-conference-on-the-political-future-of-the-dutch-administered-caribbean-having-met-at-bonaire-west-indies-on-1st-december-2016.html The Conference on the Political Future of the Dutch-Administered Caribbean, Having met at Bonaire, West Indies on 1st December 2016] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190326062936/https://www.smn-news.com/st-maarten-st-martin-news/24458-the-conference-on-the-political-future-of-the-dutch-administered-caribbean-having-met-at-bonaire-west-indies-on-1st-december-2016.html |date=2019-03-26 }}, St. Martin News Network, 15 December 2016</ref>