Fudging Caramel, Blackman…erh..Batman. Haaaa I’m still funny 😛
It’s been a LONG while. But I’m back for a short while before I fade away in the darkness again. Soooooooooooooo… 
It has become somewhat of a mainstream knowledge that of the linguistic and historical bloodties between the caribbean island, Curacao and the Atlantic island, Santiago of the Cabo verde archelipago. (And if not shareee it, homie!)
Today I’ll be making a soft sequel to my old blog ”Two brothers, Curacao and Santiago and the atlantic ocean divide”. This will be more like Home Alone 2 than home Alone 1!!!
Disclaimer: I will not use the term slaves to dimish the humanity of my grandmothers and fathers, ya bish! ! Also I’m a Pan-Africanist and this is a Pan-African page if you don’t like it…#GetOUT #DUH
Let’s head to Dushi Korsou!!! Dja bo sabi ami N ka ta paga nada. 😛
A few sources on the controversial birth of Papiamentu:
In 1704 a German priest, Father Alexius Schabel mentioned that ”the slaves of Curacao speak broken Spanish”.
In 1737 there’s a mention of the use of a ”creeolse taal”.
There’s also a source found in the USA, of an English sailor who seized a Dutch ship. The English were at peace with the Dutch at that time.
The sailor thought it was a Spanish ship cause he heard spanish words.
In other words the language now known as Papiamentu was pretty much stabilized before or around the 1704.
I know this is a HARD pill to swallow… but guys. We are Africans!
Ohhh nooo you didn’t …. uhu. Se. Si. Sim. Jawohl 😀 I did. I did tell you you’re an African.
Let’s continue and ask ourselves a few questions.
1. Question:
Much of the info I get on Curacao talks about Angola, Loango and Ghana.
Why aren’t there many documents talking about the shipments of enslaved Africans between Curacao and the Upper Guinea region? (Cabo verde, Guinea-Bissau & the Casamance province.)
Answer:
The simple answer is the first WIC went bankrupt in 1674. It contained 5 chambers that had stakes in the company.
Amsterdam, Zeeland, Maze, Stad & Lande and Noorderkwartier.
With the Chamber of Amsterdam being the biggest, this chamber destroyed a lot of documents leaving us with many blanks of the late 1600’s containing info on the Upper Guinea region.
2. Question:
Curaçao, being a transit kidnappee’s why did the Proto-Caboverdeans and Proto-Bissau Guineans become the founderpopulation of that island?
Answer:
The European kidnappers and freedomtakers, more specifically the Sephardic Jews and the Dutch had a preference for euro-accostumed lightskinned, more intelligible (familiar language) and well-behaved enslaved Africans.
Here’s a DEEP rundown which is pretty exhaustive:
As a keeper
of enslaved Africans you will think in terms of profits, low-risk and easy communication.
Thinking in low-risk, you will think of easy controlable people. In other words, broken people.
Here are the options of that time:
Owing to their alleged “inflammable nature and rebellious moods” slaves from Calabar (on the coast of what is now Nigeria) had become unpopular among (Dutch) slavers.”
“One can speculate that Calabary slaves originated from the predominantly stateless societies of that region, people who were accustomed to a great amount of individual freedom and were thus less able to adjust to the degradation and regimentation of enslavement”.
The same reasoning can be applied to account for the
“reputed laziness and rebelliousness” of slaves from Angola, who consequently were similarly unpopular on Curaçao in the period between 1658 and 1729.
On the other hand
The island of Santiago was discovered by the Portuguese in 1456, and they turned the island into a thriving
enslavement centre almost immediately thereafter. Enslaved Africans taken to Cabo Verde and their children who arrived on Curaçao in the 1650s thus may have come from a society with four or five generations of experience with European style chattel slavery.
Coming from a (abusive) businessmindset you’d pick the latter.
Rememeber that the sephardim spoke Portuguese, the dutch were a possesion of Spain for a long while. Thus they too were accostumed with a romance language.
4. Question:
What was the reason that an enslaver in Cabo Verde region would sell his African captives who spoke proto-kriolu?
Answer:
The 17th century was one of a permanent crisis for Cape Verde, famine was common, forcing many owners to sell their captives in order not to be obliged to feed them, to third parties such as the Dutch WIC.
5. Question:
Was the attitude towards lightskin people during that time?
Answer:
Here’s another deep look into the past
The WIC claimed an island just across the city of Dakar. It’s called Goree island.
Named after the South-Holland island Goeree.
(a few streets in R’dam carry this name, go figure!)
This island went from Dutch hands to English, Dutch, French, English and then French again.
This is important because
Searing (1993:108) describes how Gorée
(the pivotal harbor, fortress and factory belonging to the Dutch WIC from 1621 to 1677
and to the French afterwards) was characterized by a racial hierarchy in which “Color was more important than religion”.
On Curacao there’s a term called Hende di Kolo. Which translates to people of color.
Within this context, the lighter the better and the more upwards steps you can takes in society.
Afro-Curaçaoan women especially could reach certain positions on account of their
lighter complexion. They were more likely to be chosen to work within the household
of the enslaved people’s owner; they would work, for example, as yayas (nannies) and domestic servants.
If you’re hungry for more … well…Stay tuned.
Shon-nan,
Hasi mi un fabor, parti e artikulo aki ku tur bo amigu I famia-nan.
😛 I’m already smilling! My Cabo cousins
If y’all didn’t quite understand that. Drop a comment and we shall have a lil discourse. 😉
Geboren in 17-08-1887 te Saint Ann Parish, Jamaica. Zoon van Marcus Mosiah Garvey Sr. en Sarah Jane Richards. Hij kwam uit een gezin van 11 kinderen waarvan alleen hij en zijn zus Indiana volwassenheid hadden bereikt. Marcus was een lezer in hart en nieren doordat zijn nieuwsgierigheid op een jonge leeftijd werd getriggerd door zijn peetvader.
Voice of ANNL. 
