Kenepa

In Memory of Anita de Moulin

This page about Kenepa is dedicated to Anita de Moulin (1957–2021). Most of the photographs of Landhuis Kenepa were taken by Anita, who had a genuine passion for Curaçao's country houses. For years, she collected information and old photographs of these historic estates and produced extensive photographic reports, often supplemented by interviews with residents.

Unfortunately, the latter documentation can no longer be traced, but her photographic reports can still be viewed on Rob Schatborn's website, www.nosdushitera.nl.

Anita first joined the Archaeology Working Group in 2010 and, despite her fragile health, still participated shortly before the group's final expedition in 2020.

To ensure that her efforts are not forgotten, her photographs will also appear on various pages of this website.

Thank you, Anita, for your contribution to documenting this part of Curaçao's history: its historic country houses.

Kenepa, also known as Knip, was once the island's most important producer of dividivi (also known as watapana or wind trees). At that time, dried dividivi pods were an important export product for the tanning industry, which processed animal hides to prevent them from rotting.

In the late nineteenth century, the plantation was filled with some of the most luxuriant dividivi trees on the island, despite the primitive cultivation methods: the pods were sown using goat manure. Thanks in part to dividivi, Kenepa was one of the largest and most productive plantations in Curaçao.

History

The origin of the name Knip is not entirely clear. A map from 1754 shows the names “Groot- en Klein Knibbe” for the two bays near Knip: Grote Knip Bay (Playa Abou) and the smaller Knip Bay. In the past, people also referred to the area simply as “de Knip.”

Locally, the former plantation is called Kenepa, after an evergreen tree with round green fruits containing a large, hard seed. Less well known is the Kenepa Spiritu, or Guyaba baster, whose fruits resemble kenepa fruits but are not edible.

Historians estimate that the plantation was established around 1693 and give 1696 as the year the country house was built. An appraisal from 1857 indicates that the plantation covered 850 hectares and was valued at 16,000 guilders.

Around 1875, approximately 400 people lived there. The plantation had 175 huts and five stone houses, as well as animal enclosures (koralen) and storage buildings (mangasina's).

It is also known that the plantation was surrounded by small rural houses belonging to free people. According to local tradition, a burial ground for enslaved people lay behind the outbuildings of the country house, in the direction of Kleine Knip.

Besides dividivi, Knip was also a major supplier of wool (1,000 kg in 1893, from Merino sheep), goat skins, beans, indigo, maize, aloe and probably also brazilwood (brasiel), which was used as a dye.

The country house was sold to the government in the 1960s. It was restored in 1985 and now houses Museo Tula.

Who Was Tula?

Tula was the leader of the major struggle for freedom launched by enslaved people against the colonial authorities. The uprising began in August 1795 at Landhuis Knip.

Charles do Rego, who studied the documentation of the freedom struggle and the subsequent judicial proceedings, believes that the leaders were not ordinary field workers but held positions of responsibility within their respective plantation communities.

For example, Bazjan Karpata (a name derived from Bastiaan) was an overseer for plantation owner and later Governor Kikkert. He had access to the keys to the armory.

Enslaved people in Haiti had freed themselves from slavery shortly before these events, and Haitians were also among the freedom fighters in Curaçao. Louis Mercier was responsible for strategic planning. It was his idea to use Fontein as the main base because it offered a view of both roads leading from the city toward Banda Bou, the western part of Curaçao.

It is established that Tula understood at least some French, was born in Curaçao and may have been a trusted person of the shon (plantation owner), perhaps serving as an overseer. He is estimated to have been around 40 years old at the time of the uprising.

Documents relating to the transportation of enslaved people in 1806 mention his mother's name as Esperansa or Spransa. His father is unknown. Children were registered under their mother's names, and fathers were not recorded.

Nicolas, one of Tula's brothers, also participated in the struggle. However, he was executed much later than Tula because the authorities tried to interrogate him as extensively as possible.

The Struggle for Freedom

On the morning of August 17, 1795, approximately 40 to 50 enslaved people gathered under Tula's leadership in the courtyard in front of the country house after the slave bell was rung.

They announced that they would not work that day because they had not received their full weekly ration. Casper van Uytrecht Sr., the plantation owner at the time, told them to take their complaint to the governor.

The group followed this advice and set off for Santa Cruz, where they joined a group of enslaved people led by Bazjan Karpata. Fellow sufferers from the surrounding plantations of Zorgvlied, Savonet, Wakawa and San Hironimo also joined them.

On their way toward the city, they broke into storage buildings and slaughtered livestock to obtain food.

To prevent an attack from behind, a small group led by Louis Mercier returned to the forts at Santa Cruz and Knip. There, they captured prisoners of war and seized rifles and cannons.

Confrontation

The forts at Knip and Santa Cruz therefore played an important role in the 1795 uprising. The attacks on these forts were the first actions against armed soldiers. The captured rifles and cannons later enabled the freedom fighters to defend themselves more effectively at Fontein against the superior military force sent from Willemstad.

The colonial government responded by ordering all wells near Mount Christoffel to be poisoned, destroying the maize supplies, and offering pardons and monetary rewards to anyone who handed over the leaders to the authorities.

When the uprising broke out, most plantation owners fled to the city. A few remained behind and tried to keep their workers calm with promises.

For two weeks, several confrontations with the colonial army took place. However, isolated in small groups, in an environment without dense forests in which to hide, and weakened by hunger, exhaustion and betrayal by members of their own community, the freedom fighters were eventually defeated by the superior colonial forces.

Among the brutal punishments inflicted on the leaders were breaking them on the wheel, beheading and hanging. These punishments were disproportionate to the acts they had committed.

In Haiti, the freedom fighters had massacred white families, but this did not happen in Curaçao, partly because Tula maintained that their only objective was to be free.

Their struggle is regarded as one of the most important milestones in the emancipation of the people of Curaçao.

The Curse of Knip

In her book Verhalen uit het verleden (Stories from the Past), Els Langenfeld recounts the story of the curse of Knip:

“One form of resistance used by enslaved people was allegedly to poison their masters, although this did not automatically mean they would be found guilty.

Caspar Lodewijk van Uytrecht Jr. reported the suspicious death of his aunt, Jannetje Martha van Uytrecht, widow of Carel van der Meulen. According to him, she died after eating poisoned fish.

The widow had eaten fatty fish at her plantation in Knip and then walked to plantation Zevenbergen, where her daughter, Dorothea Elizabeth, was staying with relatives by marriage, the Robertson family.

Mother and daughter drank coffee together there. Both became ill and began vomiting. Dorothea took some oil to stop the vomiting and recovered, but her mother refused the remedy and died twelve days later as a result of persistent vomiting and dehydration.

All the enslaved domestic workers at Zevenbergen had access to the rat poison kept there, but the police commissioner considered this insufficient reason to suspect them. This was particularly so because two of the widow's servants had also become ill after eating the same fish, even though they had not accompanied her to Zevenbergen.

The Council concluded that the widow's death was caused by the fatty fish she had eaten that afternoon, and the case was closed.”

Luxurious Furnishings

The widow of Van der Meulen was the daughter of Caspar Lodewijk van Uytrecht Sr., the owner of Knip at the time of the 1795 slave uprising.

The plantation had belonged to the family since 1760. After his death in 1806, his son-in-law Carel van der Meulen purchased it at a public auction for 26,000 pesos.

Van der Meulen died three years later, leaving his widow Knip, plantation Paradijs (now known as Hel), shares in shipbuilding yards in Scharloo, and houses in Scharloo, Berg Altena and Otrobanda.

By the year of her death, however, she owned only Knip and Zevenbergen. She had been forced to sell much of her property.

An inventory of her possessions, drawn up after her death in 1832, revealed that the country house was furnished very luxuriously for its time, with mahogany furniture, paintings and mirrors.

At that time, 128 enslaved people lived on the plantation, including 14 livestock herders.

The plantation also had 1,784 sheep, 219 cattle, 41 donkeys, 13 horses, 560 goats, two mules, 10 turkeys, 177 chickens and 75 ducks.

There were also two large warehouses for storing maize and a smaller one containing maize seed for the next planting season, peanuts, beans, gardening tools, and containers for carrying and milking.

Three ox carts were used to transport plantation products to the city.

Unfortunate Owners

After the widow's death, the plantation and its inventory were purchased by the Scottish-born George Robertson, who was married to her daughter, Poulina van der Meulen.

The plantation was registered in her name, but she herself lived in the United States.

One striking detail is that Robertson also died three years after purchasing Knip.

The deceased owner lived in Otrobanda and visited the plantation only occasionally. After his death, the inventory and livestock were found to have dwindled considerably.

After Robertson, all subsequent owners chose to live far away from the plantation. Robertson's widow soon left for Scotland, where she died in 1853.

In 1864, Knip was purchased from his mother's estate by Charles van der Meulen Robertson. He lived in Liverpool and left the management of the plantation to Abraham de Veer, who also owned plantation Groot Kwartier.

Knip remained in foreign hands until the end of the nineteenth century, which was unusual in Curaçao. Plantation owners generally lived on their estates; Knip and Savonet were the only exceptions. Even the last owner of Knip visited his estate only on weekends.

The Slave Bell

In the parapet of the country house, the place where the slave bell, so hated by Tula, is said to have hung can still be seen.

The last owners of Knip donated the bell to the owners of Landhuis Girouette, where it was hung at the rear of the country house. It was later returned to the museum at Landhuis Knip.

Even after slavery was officially abolished, the slave bell remained a hated object.

Whenever the bell at the country house rang, the inhabitants of Knip were required to work for the plantation owner, the shon.

Even fish caught with nets they had made themselves in the waters near Knip had to be shared with the country house. The same applied to turtles caught in the bays of Knip.

After the abolition of slavery, many formerly enslaved people continued to live at Knip. They were allowed to cultivate a piece of the shon's land in exchange for a portion of their agricultural produce. This was known as the paga tera system.

The system also operated in most of Lagun and part of Westpunt, keeping people economically dependent on the plantation owner.

The name Kòrta p’e, referring to the area between Westpunt and Knip, relates to the paga tera system and literally means “cut for him,” because a portion of the harvested maize was intended for the shon.

To be continued: Read also Kenepa – Part 2.