GENEALOGY
Spanish language and Papiamento used by functionally-literates
in 99% of PR and 99% of Curacao 1493-1950
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Landhuis Knip, once a plantation home, was the site of a major slave revolt in 1795. The signal for the rebellion came from plantation Kenepa (Knip), situated in Band abou, the property of Shon Caspar Lodewijk van Uytrecht. Tula, the leader of the rebellion, belonged to this plantation. Together with Bastiaan Carpata and others, Tula prepared the decisive strategy for a battle that lasted almost two months. A battle in which the most oppressed and humiliated group of people, the slaves, had decided to unite and fight for freedom. They were conscious of the disgust the government showed towards blacks and the slave population and they were aware of the punishment they would receive if their battle were to fail. But they were absolutely convinced that their cause was just. Was it not true that white people fought each other over the right of ownership of this island - and were not free black men and mulattos among them?
The slaves could not leave written accounts of what happened between mid-august and the beginning of October of 1795. What exists in the archives are the reports and court decisions recorded by the dominant white administrators of the time.
August
17, 1795
Early in the morning, after the bell had sounded to announce the beginning of the working day, 40 to 50 slaves of the plantation on Kenepa got together on the square in front of the plantation house and told their owner, van Uytrecht, that they were not willing to work for him anymore. He told them to deposit their complaints with the Lieutenant Governor at Fort Amsterdam.
At that point, the rebellious slaves freed those who had been punished and locked up in a cage on the plantation. Afterwards they marched towards plantation Sta. Cruz where they joined forces with slaves coming from other plantations.
In the mean time, van Uytrecht had sent his son on horseback to Governor de Veer in town with a handwritten note. At seven o’clock that night the colonial council held an urgent meeting and decided to:
1. Call upon all free black and mulatto captains to patrol all night and report immediately how many men were ready to leave for Band abou, if that should be necessary.
2. Alert Commander Wierts of the navy ship Medea, moored at the harbor, to defend Fort Amsterdam.
August
18, 1795
The slaves started marching in the direction of Porto Mari - on their way they crossed the plantations San Nicholas, Santa Martha and San Juan. Their strategy was to advance towards town but also keeping an eye open for hiding places and block advances of reinforcements arriving from town. The plantation owners had left their houses and fled towards town, leaving the food and water supplies in the hands of the slaves. Around that time, Louis Mercier, one of the leaders, went back to plantation Kenepa to motivate those who stayed behind, and to get weapons and powder at the fortifications. At Fontein, Pedro Wacaaw captured and killed the Dutch owner Sabel, who was the first white victim of the rebels.
Mercier got weapons and a canon from plantation Fontein and made preparations to occupy the hill close to the country house from which they could also control the movements to and from Band abou. From this moment on, Tula and his comrades could count on the help of the majority of the slaves and free blacks of Band abou.
According to statistics, Band abou had between 4 and 5000 inhabitants in 1795 - the majority were slaves. Even though the grounds were called plantations, they did not grow staples such as sugar or tobacco, which were common on the other Caribbean islands. Lacking rain, only essentials to feed the population such as corn, yams or fruit trees could be grown here. The highest amount of slaves owned by one master was 400. These bigger slave populations were needed to harvest salt from the saltpans.
In town meanwhile, the colonial council had decided to guard Rodeweg with a group of 80 free blacks and 8 white marines, in order to defend the city against any attack of the rebels. Furthermore, they decided to send an army of 60 black and white soldiers under the command of Lieutenant Pleeger de Band abou.
They underestimated the offensive power of the rebels, but were also cautious to leave town with sufficient military defense. In those turbulent days, many enemy ships were cruising the Caribbean Sea, and pirates were also active.
August
19, 1795
Lieutenant Pleeger suffered a defeat at the plantation of Old St. Marie. Plantation owners had formed an army of volunteers on horseback. The rebel slaves were now considered a threat to the dominant white society.
The colonial council sent a bigger army under the command of Captain van Westerholt to Band abou. Van Westerhold had orders to offer clemency to the rebels in order to save lives.
Father Schinck, a priest of the Franciscan order, had tried to convince the rebels to give up the battle. Tula told him: “they have treated us very badly. We don’t want to harm anybody but we want freedom. Is not everyone on earth descendant of Adam and Eve? Did I do wrong to free 22 brothers from prison where they were unjustly put? Ai, father, even an animal gets better treatment.”
One has to know, as background information, that the protestant Dutch considered their religion to be exclusively for white people. They never baptized slaves, contrary to the Catholic Church.
Tula demanded freedom like his brothers in Haiti, even after van Westerholt had offered a pardon. A decisive battle took place at Ser’i Fontein (a small hill) and was lost by the rebels who had to mourn many deaths. Finally they lost the battle and the leaders were captured and “brought to justice”.
Louis Mercier was caught in the vicinity of Landhuis Kenepa. Tula was captured on September 18th by a slave of the same plantation. Carpata and Pedro Wacaaw fell into a trap set-up by slaves on plantation San Juan, one day later. Those slaves stayed loyal to their white owners, not knowing that it would take until 1863 to gain freedom.
Tula’s body was cut open, his face burned. Finally he was
beheaded. Carpata had to watch first and then received the same punishment. The
hands of Pedro Wacaaw were cut off, he was dragged by a horse and his head was
smashed with a big hammer. The executions took place on October 3rd,
1795. Louis Mercier and others were hanged. In all, 26 rebels received the
death penalty. Free blacks who had helped the
rebellious slaves were banned from the island.
In memory of Tula and his comrades, a statue has been erected on Rif, the very spot where their heads were put on stakes as a warning to the whole population.
Extracted from text by Tony Monsanto, Christel Monsanto’s husband.
www.artnexus.com/servlet/releaseDocument?document=8195
www.cca7.org/workshopspages/watamula.html
Juan Pedro QUIRINDONGO and family were lucky to have left Curacao and have arrived in PR in 1794 one (1) yr BEFORE the slave revolt and the bloodletting. Pedro who arrived in PR at 17 y.o in 1780 may have known most of the people involved on the small island of Curacao.
Click below
1. THE CASE FOR SPANISH ORIGIN…
2. THE CASE FOR INDIGENOUS CURACAO ORIGIN…
4. THE CASE AGAINST AFRICAN ORIGIN (whole or in part)…
Any combination of all 4 origins of KIRINDONGO in Spanish, Indigenous Amerindian, Dutch. (or African ?)