ABC Islands (Lesser Antilles) - History

History

Some think that the ABC islands were first discovered by one of Christopher Columbus' captains, Alonso de Ojeda, who landed on Curaçao in May of 1499. He is said to have called the islands Las islas de los Gigantes or Islands of the Giants due to the native inhabitants, the Caiquetio Indians. Officially they were discovered by Amerigo Vespucci, whose cartographer Juan de la Cosa first described the islands. The first Spanish colonists, unable to find any gold or silver, kidnapped most of the natives to work on plantation on Hispaniola. By 1527 the Spanish had formed a government and established Catholicism on the islands.

In 1634, the Netherlands fought Spain over control of the islands. They won, and the islands were then administered by the Netherlands. The Dutch West India Company developed the areas, establishing a major port on Curaçao. The abolition of the slave trade in 1863 had a devastating impact on their economies, although the economy revived when oil was discovered in Venezuela during the early 20th century, and the islands became major oil refineries.

The islands became part of the Netherlands Antilles in 1954, granting them political autonomy within the Kingdom of the Netherlands. In 1986 Aruba withdrew from the Netherlands Antilles, becoming a separate country within the kingdom. Upon the dissolution of the Netherlands Antilles on 10 October 2010, Curaçao gained a similar status to Aruba. Bonaire became a special municipality of the Netherlands proper, although it currently maintains its status of an overseas territory of the European Union.