CaribSeek Kaleidoscope | Punda Curacao | The Development of Willemstad from a Settlement to a City by Prof. René Römer

Fort Amsterdam, 1855 (Drawing)

Punda
It started with present day Punda, originally "de Willemstad". Shortly after the Dutch conquered the island, they started to build "Fort Amsterdam", which was completed in 1639. In that year Jacob Pietersz Tolck, who had succeeded Johan van Walbeeck and was in charge at the time, wrote a letter to the

Board of Trustees of the West Indian Company, signing this letter with the remark that it was written from "the fort in Curacao". At that time the fort was called "het Kasteel", the Castle. Originally it had been the intention to construct this fort according to the traditional pattern that is as a pentagon. In his letter, however, Tolck wrote that he had decided to eliminate one of the bastions with the result that the fort acquired the quadrangular form it still has.

The first step in the planning of a settlement at the border of the St. Ana Bay was the building of a wall from the northeastern bastion of the fort to what was called the "river", actually the water that preceded our present "Waaigat". This water was much bigger than our "Waaigat" today and reached much more to the south. So in fact the wall was built in a northeastern direction. Later on the wall was extended to the north into the "Waaigat".

The boundaries of this settlement in the northern and northeastern direction and in the west were thus, in the beginning, determined by water: the Waaigat and St. Ana Bay. Later on (the exact date is not known) a third wall was built in the "Waaigat" in a western direction towards the harbor. The city was thus closed-in by walls on three sides and by St. Ana Bay on the fourth.

With the arrival of more colonists who settled in the walled city, under the protection of the fort, Willemstad gradually grew. The pattern of the urban development consisted of narrow streets that met at right angles. This is still very visible, notwithstanding the many changes that took place in that part of Willemstad in the course of time.

A much-debated question until very recently was when and after whom the city had been named. According to Hartog it was named after Stadhouder (Regent) William II. But Buddingh', who made a very fundamental study of Punda (old Willemstad) thinks that the naming was after Stadhouder William III, who occupied this position on 1672 and who later on, being married to Mary Stuart, became King of England in 1688.

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The first time the name Willemstad is mentioned in the archives is 1680.This William seems to have been very much sought after. Buddingh' further mentions the possibility that the naming of Willemstad in that decade could have been related to the fact that in 1674 the new West Indian Company was instituted and in 1675 Willemstad was declared a free port in the hope that this would stimulate the economy. The free port needed a suitable name that would call people's attention. Although all this might sound quite speculative, which in fact it is, I tend to accept Buddingh's point of view as the correct one. An interesting point that is worth mentioning is that in 1673, Albany, the capital of the State of New York, the former Dutch colony New Netherlands, for a short time after the Dutch re-conquered the city, was named "Willemstadt" too, probably after William III. This can be seen on a stone in the façade of the 18th century town hall.

The Bay of St. Ana, 1905-1910

How Did Willemstad Fare?
According to a report by Jacob Beck in 1705 the city was so crowded and densely built that there was no space for the people that continued to arrive in Curaçao. He argues that space should be looked for to build more houses. Two years later he proposed to start building on the "other side", or as we say in Papiamento "Otrobanda", of St Ana Bay. This started developments in that part of Willemstad.

How can the growth of Punda be explained? The fall of Pernambuco, the Dutch colony in Brazil which was re-conquered by the Portuguese in 1654, has been mentioned as one of possible causes. The theory behind this assumption is that quite some colonists left Brazil to settle in Curaçao. Recent research by Buddingh' however didn't confirm this theory. Although some of the new settlers in Curaçao did come from Brazil, their number must have been very limited. New Amsterdam was much more attractive to them. The best known among the settlers from Brazil is Matthias Beck, who was Vice-Governor from 1655-1668. At that time Peter Stuyvesant was Governor-General of New Amsterdam. The colony of Curaçao (Bonaire and Aruba) fell under the jurisdiction of New Amsterdam. Matthias Beck arrived in Curaçao in 1654, in company of Peter Stuyvesant, whom he had met in Barbados on his way from Brazil to "the West Indies". When in1655 Stuyvesant left for his new post in New Amsterdam, he appointed Beck, Vice-Governor. Beck died in Curaçao in 1668. According to Carel de Haseth, Pieter de Mey, after whom Pietermaai was named, also came from Brazil. He was baptized in Pernambuco in 1651. From Brazil he came to Curaçao, where he died at the beginning of the 18th century. The exact year is not known.

The main reason for the growth of the original walled city most probably should be sought in the fact that in 1675 Curaçao was declared a free port. By comparing two maps, one from the end of the 17th century and the other one from the beginning of the 18th century, the map by Robijn of 1676 and the one by Gebgardt of 1707, Buddingh' came to the conclusion that the growth of the population of Willemstad has taken place in that period. On the map of Gebgardt new streets (Kerkstraat, Kuiperstraat en Prinsestraat) were added to the city plan.

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