Our mission

Presenting information about the origins, location, the origin of the names, characteristic features and special events related to the neighbourhoods (barios) of Curaçao. In short: shedding light on the roots of our neighbourhoods.

Why?

• Because the location, history and origin of the neighbourhood names on Curaçao are virtually unknown;
  Behind the various neighbourhood names lie interesting and often funny stories!

• To shed light on the hidden history of the coloured population and its role in the formation of the neighbourhoods. Many neighbourhoods were small settlements (knoekjes) of free people or formerly enslaved people. Their stories do not appear in our history books, but their names live on in the neighbourhoods named after them.
• Because original names are disappearing: new housing developments are given new, marketing-oriented names that push out old names, which often have a history attached to them.
• And furthermore for creating a historical reference work, protecting our cultural heritage, stimulating togetherness in the barios, nation building, creating a common identity and promoting patriotism.
• And last but not least:

To motivate readers to complement the information presented with facts about their bario, obtained through oral transmission from generation to generation.

What is a bario?

The former DROV, the Department of Spatial Planning, once stated that Curaçao has as many as 270 barios! There was also a discussion for years about the definition of the Curaçao bario.

And in the 1980s came the Geocode, which divided Curaçao into 65 zones. The zone Westpunt, for example, consists of the bario Westpunt with a few surrounding neighbourhoods.

On this site we describe the history of all known and lesser-known barios, as well as the small settlements and place names in between, insofar as information about them is available.

The information on this site is based on literature research and interviews with (older) residents of the neighbourhoods.