African prisoners of slavery, Dutch and German prisoners of war, and convicted prisoners of the Spanish and Portuguese governments all called the island of Bonaire home at one time. Here, on an island where the land is filled with salt flats, pink flamingos, and large populations of sea birds, and where its water is brimming with beautiful sea life and world renowned dive sites, most of its inhabitants between 1499 and the middle of the 19th century were prisoners of paradise. Here in this tropical paradise, the clear beauty of this magical place was blurred through the eyes of Bonaire's many prisoners.
Slavery first came to Bonaire in 1499 as Alonso de Ojeda and Amerigo Vespucci landed on the island and claimed it for Spain. At the time, the island's population consisted of the Caiquetios, a notably tall branch of Arawak Indians. Soon the Spanish captured these native people and sold them as slaves to the plantation owners of Hispaniola. The long arm of slavery dealt a mighty blow to the population of Caiquetios, and European diseases wiped out the remaining population. As a result, Bonaire's first prisoners were its native people, and Bonaire was virtually swept clean of human inhabitants by 1515.
Bonaire's second wave of prisoners started arriving in the 1600s. These convicted prisoners of the Spanish and Portuguese, however, were left primarily to their own devices, and they founded Artriol. The success of this penal colony and the Dutch and Spanish need to rid themselves of "undesirables" allowed Bonaire to remain a thriving penal colony for nearly 300 years.
During this time, slavery reared its ugly head again, and African prisoners were brought to the island to work on the plantations and in the huge salt flats that dot the entire island. Living in 3-foot-high stone slave quarters that still stand today, these innocent prisoners led a far more oppressive life than the convicted "prisoners" of the Spanish and Portuguese.
This oppression seemingly ended with the abolition of slavery in 1862 and the discovery of oil in Venezuela. This oil resulted in a trickle-down prosperity caused by the booming refineries in nearby Curacao and Aruba. Slaves were granted their freedom, and electricity, telephones, and air travel came to the island by 1936. However, this prisoner-free time of prosperity didn't last long.
With the eruption of WWII, Bonaire soon became an internment camp for German and Dutch Nazi prisoners. Between 1940 and 1947, nearly 500 prisoners were held in wooden shacks, and captivity once again returned to the island.
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