The earliest pieces of evidence of humans in Curaçao is from around 2400 to around 3400 BCE. "Rooi Rincon" is the oldest evidence, it being shells and parts of food. It has rock drawings on the walls of a cave.
The oldest burials are from around 1600 - 2600 BCE. The most well known burials are at the "St.Michielsberg" site, this site has remains and burials from around 1600 - 2000 BCE.
Lastly the Ceramic era in Curaçao shows pottery made from 450 untill when the spanish got there. Like the people of Curaçao at the time it started in South America then moved it's way up
The people who were inhabiting the main island were the Arawak, they were ther for a while but after about a thousand - several hundred years of being there the spanish colonized it(1499). The person in charge was Alonso de Ojeda, he had been with Christopher Columbus on Christopher's second trip to the "New World". By the year 1515(16 years later) basicaly all the Arawak had been killed(by disease or the spanish) or sent to Hispaniola as slaves. The Spanish weren't succesful with the island, calling it "isla inutil"(useless island), the island had no precious resources. They used the island as ranch, because of these reasons most of the spanish left or got sent to another island.
The West India Company (WIC) tookover was in 1634, the spanish who were still on the island moved to South America, they also took their slaves. The Dutch then built Fort Amsterdam. Like all colonization, the dutch also brought their religion which was Protestantism. Also jewish people who left Dutch controled Brazil came to Curaçao, starting one of the oldest Jewish communities in all of the Americas. Curaçao was a big part of the Transatlantic slave trade because of their proximity to the other Caribbean islands, South America, Central America, and North America. Curaçao shifted it's economy from ranch and agriculture to trading, this especially since they had great harbors. With the fall of the WIC (by bankruptcy) Curaçao became a Dutch colony.
Curaçao had a slave rebellion that lasted a month with the Dutch being the victors. A couple of years later the governor of Curaçao asked the British for protection from the french who were trying to expand their territories to the Caribbean. The British had control for only a couple of years (1800-1803) and then took control again from 1807-1815. During the fights for independence in Venezuela and Colombia many leaders and civilians came to Curaçao seeking refuge. One of the leaders who came to Curaçao was Simon Bolivar, you can still see the house that his sisters stayed at during their time in Curaçao
Where Simon Bolivar's sisters livedGovernor-General Albert Kikkert decreed that the houses were no longer white-washed in 1817,because back then it was belived that the shine of the tropical sun reflecting off the white houses and buildings caused damage to your eyes, this gave way to the colorful buildings and art of Curaçao. During the 1860's they started to tear down the old city walls. Then in 1863 the Dutch followed in the footsteps of the British and French, and abolished slavery. This lead to the Dutch government compensating the former slave owners. Many slaves left Curaçao to go to other islands like Cuba, the former slaves who stayed mostly did sharecropping. The first electrical light in Curaçao was in 1897 thanks to Leonard B. Smith. Then the first car in Curaçao was a Ford imported by Monti and Charles Maduro. In 1914 a petrol reserve had been found in Venezuela, so in 1918 Shell decided to build an oil refinery in Curaçao. This made the Curaçaoan economy go from agriculture, trade, and fishing to be a large part petrol. In 1922 there was a strike that Phelippi Benito Chacuto had a big part in, this strike made the first collective labor agreements in Curaçao. During WWII the allied forces used Curaçao as a place to refuel. Mrs. Angela Altagracia de Lannoy-Willems became the first female politian in Curaçao this was in 1951. In 1960 the first television broadcasting license was given, in other words, the first TV channel in Curaçao. From May 30th to June 1st there were a bunch of protest over pay. The protest burnt down 60 buildings. The following year the first black governor got appointed, his name was Ben Leito. In 1979 the first University in Curaçao it's called "The University of the Netherlands Antilles". Shell decided to end their opperations in Curaçao during 1985 but then leased it to PDVSA in the same year, the lease lasted five years. In 2001 the Curaçaoan government started "Foundation Based Education". Emily de Jongh-Elhage was the last Prime Minister of the Netherlands Antilles, this is because the Netherlands Antilles dissolved in 2010.
Curaçao got hit with hurricane Tomas in 2010 and experienced it's worst flooding in it's history, and the most amount of rainfall in 40 years, the rain got as bad as 10.4 inches. All the damage was $115 million. In the summer of 2013 the leader of Curaçao's biggest poitical party(Helmin Wiels) got murdered, he got shot in the back five times.
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