Kas Chikitu
Kas Chikitu, also called Kaas Chikitoe, Gerustheid or Villa Italia, was a small plantation of 9.5 hectares. From 1800 to 1805 it was owned by Mathias E. van der Dijs, who later bought a larger plantation, Wechi, alias Klein Malpais, and later still Savonet, which under his management became one of the largest and best-producing plantations in the West division.
The name Kas Chikitu (Little House) refers to the small plantation house that was probably built around 1850. The house has a traditional form, with strikingly wide galleries. Plantation houses used to be built on hills in such a way that one could see the other plantation houses in the neighbourhood. In this way one could warn the neighbours of danger such as unrest among enslaved people and the landing of pirates or enemy troops. Thus the plantation house of Kas Chikitu lies in a straight line with the location where plantation house Marchena was formerly built. (see the attached Werbata enlargement).
Agricultural centre
Between 1840 and 1870 mainly aloe was grown on the plantaadje. Because of its location near the city it was often bought as a country house, and at the end of the 19th century it was owned by the Curaçaose Hypotheekbank (Curaçao Mortgage Bank), which had taken it over a few months earlier from the heirs of Gaerste.
Kas Chikitu fell into disrepair in 1907, was bought by the government, renovated and fitted out as an experimental centre for agriculture on Curaçao. The little plantation house was fitted out as a dwelling with library and workshop for an agronomist. Experiments were carried out with traditional crops such as aloe, varieties of maize, beans, fruits and divi-divi, but also new cultivated crops such as caoutchouc (rubber) yielding plants. Sisal plants, peanuts, cotton, sugar cane, improved oranges, mangoes and palm trees were planted, the latter for straw for hat plaiting. There were also crops that could serve as cheap fencing or as cattle feed.
From Kas Chikí to Kwartí Grandi
An orangery was also laid out in order to be able to study the laraha under various conditions. But since it takes 8 years before the plant bears fruit, the price of the peels on the world market fell and the experiment failed. In the sheds stood agricultural machines such as hay presses and ploughs that were rented out to interested parties. There was also a herd of livestock.
When Kas Chikitu became too small, the government also laid out experimental fields at Veeris, Heintje Kool, Siberie, Brakkeput Abou and Mundu Nobo, but in 1913 the agricultural centre moved to the much larger Groot Kwartier, or Kwartí Grandi. Of the livestock only the goats remained. An overseer was still appointed at the agricultural centre, but from 1926 Kas Chikitu was rented out to private individuals.
In 1942 the price of aloe rose so much on the world market that the government banned the export of aloe plants and even used prisoners to revive the badly neglected aloe fields at Kas Chikitu, Plantersrust and Kas Kòrá. But in 1943 the prices had fallen again.
Polis na pia (Police on foot)
There was a time when police posts were scattered around the island. Police posts were located, among other places, in the Penstraat, on Ser'i Pietermaai, at Scharloo, opposite the cemetery on the Roodeweg, at Rio Canario and also at Kas Chikitu. A wooden building of the Polis di Warda di Kas Chikitu (Kas Chikitu Guard Police) stood here, from which the police patrolled on foot and later by bicycle through neighbourhoods such as Marchena. At the foot of the little hill with the plantation house there are still 2 former — now renovated — police houses, where formerly the fathers of the well-known singer Romeo Heije and of Harvey Koning, among others, lived with their families.
In 1979 Kas Chikitu was fitted out as a medical centre for the government doctors. The centre was closed in 2000 and now serves as a private doctor's practice.
Hanchi kas Chikitu is the road south of landhuis Kas Chikitu. It runs from the Schottegatweg to the Faradayweg at the bario Sucasa. The neighbourhood behind — west of the little plantation house — is Kas Chikitu, but a part is also called Den Kobá: a very large pit that can still be seen as such, even though it has been almost completely built over.
Sources
- van Soest, Olie als water
- W.E. Renkema, Het Curaçaose plantagebedrijf in de 19e eeuw
- Brenneker, Sambumbu, various editions
With thanks to Kenneth Valpoort, Stella Pietersz-Kwiers, Etzel Payá-Rosenda, Frensel Mercelina, Jeroen Heuvel and Frank Hanze
