Bandariba (also: Banda'riba) is a district of the island of

Curaçao Curaçao ( ; ; pap, Kòrsou, ), officially the Country of Curaçao ( nl, Land Curaçao; pap, Pais Kòrsou), is a Lesser Antilles island country in the southern Caribbean Sea and the Dutch Caribbean region, about north of the Venezuela coast ...

. It is one of the three districts, and encompasses the south-eastern part of the island. The name is Papiamentu and translates to "up side". The district contains the towns and villages of

Santa Rosa Santa Rosa is the Italian, Portuguese and Spanish name for Saint Rose. Santa Rosa may also refer to: Places Argentina *Santa Rosa, Mendoza, a city * Santa Rosa, Tinogasta, Catamarca * Santa Rosa, Valle Viejo, Catamarca * Santa Rosa, La Pampa * S ...

Spaanse Water Spaanse Water is a town on the island of Curaçao. It contains the tourist resort ''Nieuwpoort'', the village of ''Santa Barbara'', and the Tafelberg. Spaanse Water is a natural harbour and lagoon located to the east of Willemstad. The lagoon co ...

, Montaña, Seru Grandi, and Oostpunt.

History

In 1634, Curaçao was conquered by the

Dutch West Indies Company The Dutch West India Company ( nl, Geoctrooieerde Westindische Compagnie, ''WIC'' or ''GWC''; ; en, Chartered West India Company) was a chartered company of Dutch merchants as well as foreign investors. Among its founders was Willem Usselincx ...

and the city of

Punda Willemstad ( , ; ; en, William Town, italic=yes) is the capital city of Curaçao, an island in the southern Caribbean Sea that forms a constituent country of the Kingdom of the Netherlands. It was the capital of the Netherlands Antilles pri ...

was founded. In order to feed the population,

plantation A plantation is an agricultural estate, generally centered on a plantation house, meant for farming that specializes in cash crops, usually mainly planted with a single crop, with perhaps ancillary areas for vegetables for eating and so on. The ...

s were established on the island. The plantations were small scale due to the infertile ground, and produced yams, mangos, oranges, or raised

livestock Livestock are the domesticated animals raised in an agricultural setting to provide labor and produce diversified products for consumption such as meat, eggs, milk, fur, leather, and wool. The term is sometimes used to refer solely to animals ...

. Bandariba later attracted free and

freed slaves A freedman or freedwoman is a formerly enslaved person who has been released from slavery, usually by legal means. Historically, enslaved people were freed by manumission (granted freedom by their captor-owners), emancipation (granted freedom a ...

who settled in the vacant land. In the 19th century, the Roman Catholic church founded the villages of Santa Rose and Montaña in order to educate and convert the former slave population. In 1875, a large scale

phosphate mine In chemistry, a phosphate is an anion, salt, functional group or ester derived from a phosphoric acid. It most commonly means orthophosphate, a derivative of orthophosphoric acid . The phosphate or orthophosphate ion is derived from phospho ...

was opened near the Tafelberg, In 1927,

Royal Dutch Shell Shell plc is a British multinational oil and gas company headquartered in London, England. Shell is a public limited company with a primary listing on the London Stock Exchange (LSE) and secondary listings on Euronext Amsterdam and the New Yo ...

built an oil terminal at Spaanse Water. The current division of the island dates from 1930 when

Willemstad Willemstad ( , ; ; en, William I of the Netherlands, William Town, italic=yes) is the capital city of Curaçao, an island in the southern Caribbean Sea that forms a Countries of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, constituent country of the Kingdo ...

was extended to include most of the suburbs. During the late 20th century, tourism became important and Bandariba saw the development of tourist resorts. The village of Oostpunt, the most eastern point of the island, is private property of the Maal family, and most of the area surrounding the villages of Oostpunt, Sint Joris, and Santa Catharina is off limits. The village of Oostpunt is only inhabited by Willy Maal and his mother. Oostpunt covers about 10% of the island.

Villages

* Montaña Abou * Montaña Rey * Nieuwpoort * Oostpunt * Santa Barbara *

* Seru Grandi *

References

Bibliography

* {{commons category, position=left Districts of Curaçao