| The northern part of the
"Waaigat" had become more accessible after the completion of the
demolition of the city wall in 1866 and even more so when the ‘van de
Brandhof ‘bridge was built (1883). This bridge was replaced in 1928 by the
present one and was then named after Queen Wilhelmina. |
|
Flatbottom boats called
"Ponchi"
|
|
Before that the connections, not only with Scharloo, but between all parts
of the city were along the waterways, "Waaigat", St. Ana Bay, "Rifwater"
and if necessary the "Schottegat". This was done in flat-bottomed boats
called "ponchi". The funeral of a Sephardic Jew at Beth Haim cemetery, for
example, took place by "ponchi", crossing the Schottegat to the cemetery.
Even after the Queen Emma bridge was built over St. Ana Bay in 1888,
people kept on using the "ponchi’s". Only in 1930 came an end to this
romantic way of crossing the harbor due to the increase in the number of
ships entering and leaving the harbor as a |
| consequence of the oil
industry and trade. Not only in "Scharloo" but also in "Otrobanda" some
important extensions took place. As I mentioned before the so-called
"berg" or "seru" (hill), north of "Breedestraat" until then was sparsely
populated. |
"Hoogstraat"
In that period "Hoogstraat" and "Witteweg" arose, once again with neo-classical
type of houses. A beautiful example of the architecture from that period is the
Belvedere mansion, which was built in 1864.
Like many cities in the world the growth of the different parts of the city can
be related to the economic history and the preference for certain architectural
styles in the different periods of its development.
This can be seen in Havana too, with its fortifications and the
16th/17th
century old center, "La Habana Vieja", which grew during the time when Spanish
ships loaded with gold and silver from Colombia, Peru and Mexico passed through
on their way to Spain. The houses on the seashore, on the Avenida Maceo, the
so-called "Malecon", were built in the nineteenth century, after the sugar
production expanded and Cuba became the most important provider of sugar for the
American and European markets.
|
Pietermaai |
|
The demolition of the city wall of "old Willemstad" in 1866 finally opened the
possibility to start building on Pietermaai, on the space, where until then it
had been forbidden to build. in view of the line of fire in the eastern
direction. The houses on Pietermaai again were predominantly built in the
neo-classical style. The
question can be asked whether the so called "Antillean rights" that were
proclaimed in 1880 by Guzman Blanco, then president of Venezuela, did not
affect the trade. These Antillean rights comprised some |
| 30% extra import duty on
goods coming in from Curaçao and Trinidad. They were imposed on these two
islands because the Dutch and British governments had permitted his
adversaries to establish on the islands. Statistics, however, show that
from 1880 to 1910 the numbers of ships calling on the port of Curaçao grew
by 25%, from 1271 to 1588. The volume of the goods that was traded grew by
216%, from 751,589 m3 to 2,376,650 m3. A very fundamental question,
however, is how the wealth that this trade undoubtedly produced, was
distributed. The answer is not difficult: according to modern ideas very
poorly. But that is judging history by present day norms. An interesting
fact in this context is, however, that at the beginning of the 20th
century a member of the Dutch parliament, H. van Kol, who visited Curaçao,
called the colony "a distressed colony". As a true socialist van Kol had
the workers, descendants of slaves, in mind and not merchants. |
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