The White Fist

Curaçao is an island in the Caribbean. Today it attracts many visitors from all over the world, who love its climate, beautiful bays, warm waters and beaches. But the island has also seen very different times: once, it was an island of slaves.

People from Africa were brought here by force, especially in the 17th and 18th centuries. Slave traders captured them in their villages, forcibly took them to the coast, then shipped them across the Atlantic to the island of Curacao. Some were sold directly to landowners on Curacao. Most, however, were simply given enough food and care to recover from the long voyage. They were then sold on to other Caribbean islands, to South America or to North America. This trade was controlled by British and Dutch merchants who dealt in slaves. It was highly profitable, especially because it was conducted as part of the “triangular trade.” The voyages began in Europe, where sailing ships were loaded with weapons, tools, cloth, glass beads and other goods. They first called at a port on the west coast of Africa. There, the cargo was sold and the proceeds used to buy enslaved people, who were forcibly taken aboard and chained up. The ships were overcrowded, and the people suffered from seasickness, poor air, inadequate hygiene and insufficient food. The slave ship “Henrietta Marie,” for example, carried up to 400 enslaved people on two decks. Each person had only about half a square metre of space. The crossing took several weeks. Many did not survive the voyage. Their bodies were thrown into the sea. If a ship sank in a storm, there was no hope of rescue for anyone. Ships sailed from Africa to Curacao or other ports in the Caribbean. There, the enslaved people were sold to local traders. The ships then loaded sugar, rum or cotton and returned to Europe. Companies from Portugal, the Netherlands and Great Britain controlled this trade. Slavery has existed throughout human history. Enslaved people worked on the pyramids in ancient Egypt; in antiquity, they served wealthy families in Athens and Rome, both in their homes and in the fields. They fought one another as gladiators in Roman arenas or taught children. In modern times, enslaved people were found mainly in North and South America, North Africa and Arab countries. Slaveholders believed they had the right to buy and sell these people, make them work for them, force them to marry, punish them or set them free. It is estimated that from the year 1500 onwards, around 30 to 40 million people in Africa were captured and sold into slavery, about 12 million of them to America. They worked on cotton and tobacco plantations or in mines. When the United States of America declared independence in 1776, about 20 percent of the population were enslaved. Only white people, however, had civil rights; Indigenous people and Black people from Africa were often considered inferior. Most white people at the time believed slavery was entirely justified. Enslaved people were treated cruelly. Even the smallest offences were punished with lashes. They were not allowed to leave the plantations, and only had a few days off each year. The children of an enslaved mother were enslaved too. Enslaved people rarely resisted. In August 1795, an uprising broke out on Curacao. The enslaved people on the Kanepa plantation refused to work. Led by Tula, they marched to the nearest town. The uprising was eventually crushed, and Tula was arrested and executed. Today, a small museum commemorates these events and life under slavery. A record of punishments has also survived: in May 1860, 14-year-old Evelina received 20 lashes for stealing fruit, while 25-year-old Lucas was sentenced to six months of forced labour two months later for stealing an oxhide. In front of the country house stands a clenched fist holding a piece of broken chain, a symbol of liberation. But actual emancipation would take longer. Slavery was not abolished in the Dutch colonies until 1863.