Rais.cw Fundashon Famia, Núkleo di Bario

Malpais (part 1)

The sisal factory became the milk factory of Malpais around 1920
The dry and barren lands of Malpais
Landhuis Papaya seen from Malpais photo Carel de Haseth
Mount Pleasant alias Malpais on Werbata y
Two graves next to the copper mine photo Francois
Sisal rope was made from agave Photo John Domen
The landfill photo Carel de Haseth
The old road to Westpunt Seru Jamanika in the background
The unique meters-long masonry dam only @ Malpais
A tanki, a natural water catchment
Flamingos in the Sint Michielbaai on the border between Sint Michiel and Malpais. Flanked by the hills Vlandan on the left and Spreit on the right photo Esther van Vliet
Landhuis Malpais from the south photo John Dohmen Seru Sami, Curaçao
Milk factory Lago Disparse vanished lake and plantation house photo Carel de Haseth
Water feature with Landhuis Malpais in the background. Photo Michele van Veldhoven
Landhuis Malpais at the rear photo Carel de Haseth
Landhuis Malpais 1
The vanished lake Lago Disparse photo Gerlof Jan Bouma
Remains of electric pumping installations of Shell in the Lago Disparse
At the copper mine
The copper mines of Malpais
Malachite or copper ore at the Salina opposite Malpais
Malpais Double indigo vats
Indigo vat photo Carel de Haseth

Malpais (part 1)

In the far west of the salt pans of Malpais lie beautiful round green rocks worn smooth by erosion. The green colour indicates the copper ore that lies in the ground here. In the 19th century an attempt was made to mine copper here, but exploitation proved unprofitable. The ruin of a one-room house that belonged to the mine does still stand here. Near the copper mine lies the Graf di Malpais (Grave of Malpais). Here once lay a mass grave of victims of an epidemic that raged at the beginning of the 20th century. Many older people long lit candles and prayed here. Part of the grave has meanwhile disappeared through neighbouring building.

Salt disputes

The fairly deep inner water behind the bay of Sint Michiel forms the border between Sint Michiel and Malpais. Both plantations had salt pans in the bay that were probably laid out in the late 19th century. After the many disputes over the salt pans in the inner bay, the government decided from then on to take the management into its own hands, and that the widow of Johan Herman Röomer of Malpais might "harvest" salt too in exceptional cases. Especially on the west side of the inner bay, several foundations of little walls can still be seen, which had to prevent rainwater from flowing into the saliña and washing the salt out of the pans.

Largest plantation of the Middle Division

Malpais was laid out by the West India Company, which governed the island after the conquest in 1634. It was originally 930 hectares, once the largest plantation in the middle division of Curaçao. It then also included the surrounding plantations Gatu, Suax, Weitje, Papaya, Meiberg, Grote and Kleine Berg, Klein Malpais, Daniël and Siberi. These were split off and sold to private persons at the end of the 18th century. The name Malpais (= bad soil type) was given by the Spaniards and, according to an expert in the field, François van der Hoeven, consists of three kinds of rock:

  1. Submarine extrusive rock (diabase),
  2. Sedimentary rock (Middle Curaçao Formation) and
  3. Limestone (fossil coral reefs).

Diabase is fertile but in many places too hard for farming, the Middle Curaçao Formation is much less fertile, and nothing can be grown on limestone. The three soil types are, however, suitable for extensive livestock farming with goats and sheep, and Malpais was accordingly known above all as a livestock plantation and dairy farm.

Livestock plantation

On the fertile parts of the plantation farming was practised intensively, and the salt pans in the Sint Michielsbaai also proved productive, certainly in the years 1821 to 1837: Norbert Hendrikse mentions in his book Hollandse Glorie in de colonie that Malpais produced 2,920 and 4,600 barrels in 1821 and 1832 respectively. In addition, the production of firewood and the sale of manure, indigo and livestock were sources of income for the owners of Malpais. As mentioned earlier, copper was also found at Malpais, but production proved unprofitable.

"The Battle of Malpays"

In 1713, during the "Bataille van Malpays", the estate was the battlefield against the French who, under the command of vice-admiral Cassard, had come ashore near Santa Cruz. Cassard marched to the city to demand surrender of the island, but at Malpais met the National Guard of 500 men and the battle broke out. The National Guard, however, consisted of untrained citizens and foreign sailors who certainly did not have the interests of the island in mind, and who moreover ran away, so that the battle was quickly decided in favour of the better-trained French troops. The Dutch commander then gathered his men and, reinforced with troops from the city, ventured a second attempt to stop Cassard. They were defeated again at Malpais, however, and Cassard advanced on the city after causing considerable destruction on the estate. He also besieged and bombarded the city for days on end, finally to retreat with a substantial haul of ransom money. The English too landed at Fort te Sint Michiel in 1803 and 1804 and left a trail of destruction on their way to Malpais.

Villages

The beginning of Malpais, on the side of the Weg naar Westpunt, close to the small transmitter hut, is called Cunucu Largu or also Daanchi Bon, after the good-natured man Daniël who once lived there. It lies east of Seru Jamanika, where there is a little hill with foundations of a few old little houses, one of which is larger than that of an average kunuku house. They were discovered by the Werkgroep Archeologie, which also found, on the road north of landhuis Malpais, foundations of little houses and the ruin of a small oven. Very many artefacts were also discovered which, after research, proved to date from the 19th and 20th centuries. In addition, many 18th-century cellar bottles were found, which may indicate that the village was already inhabited in colonial times. A third village on Malpais is said to have lain closer to the landhuis, exactly on the spot where the church building of the Bakhuis family has now been built.

Mount Pleasant

Malpais was formerly also called Terburgh a Texel and was sold in 1798 to Gerardus Duyckinck, who came from Nieuw Amsterdam, the present New York. Duyckinck wanted to be rid of the name Malpais. And he determined in a written official declaration that his plantation, then consisting of Groot and Klein Malpais (Weitje), would henceforth be called Mount Pleasant, after a town in the American state of South Carolina. That happened on 9 January 1810. The plantation was afterwards alternately called Malpais or Mount Pleasant, but in the end popular speech decided that it would remain Malpais.

Landhuis Malpais

The plantation house dates from the early 18th century. On the south side — also the front of the landhuis — the remains of an old battery stood until 1953. To the south there were also graves and a small cellar that was formerly used as a punishment pit for enslaved people. Brenneker tells that two wooden statues, a man and a woman, formerly stood in front of the landhuis: Tutui and Canina, both of whom wore an apron. Behind the landhuis the remains of a milk house can still be found, under which a prison was formerly built. It lies on a sand road that formerly joined the Weg naar Westpunt. Landhuis Malpais was inhabited from 1820 to 1910 by the Gorsira family. Shon Gorsira travelled a lot and brought back seeds of plants such as Korona di Hesus, which were planted at Malpais and also at Zuurzak — once owned by the family. The landhuis is nowadays private property and part of it is used as a home for the care of disadvantaged children.

Ramsar area

The extensive former plantation is one of the few nature areas on Curaçao. It is known for its unique flora and fauna, with various animals that are fairly rare or threatened with extinction, such as the Curaçao deer and the flamingo. The dam laid out here by Shell, together with the nearby inner water of Sint Michiel, has since 5 February 2013 been recognised as a Ramsar area, where international standards apply for the sustainable conservation of wetlands. This Ramsar Convention, or Wetlands Convention, was concluded in 1971 in Ramsar (Iran).

Sisal

In 1909 part of Malpais was used for a large-scale trial planting of sisal. Fibre was produced from sisal as a raw material for rope. The project was subsidised by the government, but only after a restart in 1916 and 1919 could the first fibres be processed and shipped to the Netherlands and the United States. Unfortunately the company, partly because of the persistent drought, lack of finances and the fact that the project was set up on too grand a scale, went bankrupt in 1922. The sisal factory was then converted into the milk house of the livestock plantation.

Shell

Shell, which was constantly looking for more groundwater for its business activities, bought the former plantation in 1929 for 119,000 guilders. J. van Soest writes in Olie als water that immediately afterwards it was realised that this was a bad buy, because Malpais could by far not yield the required quantity of water. In 1944 a Venezuelan water diviner was even engaged, which again fuelled the old story that a water-rich vein was supposed to lie here. He himself was able to point out the spot: the stream would cross the Weg naar Bullenbaai, a few metres before the entrance of Malpais. Although not enough to meet its needs, Shell built the large L-shaped dam of Malpais here. This was to catch the water and channel it through a large electric pump and a system of pipes to the refinery. The remains of the pumping installation can still be seen in the dry valley. At times of heavy rainfall the water rises to the level of the platform on which the pump stood, and only the crowns of the trees in the dam still stick out above the water. During those periods there are also many small fish and shrimps in the dam, and the water also attracts birds and other animals. During dry periods the lake disappears again, partly because of a leak at the bottom of the dam through which the rainwater quickly runs out again. That explains the name given to the place: Lago Disparsé, or "the vanished lake".

Limestone dam

Before the construction of the dam by Shell, the powerfully flowing rainwater from the surrounding hills was "tamed" by a limestone masonry dam many metres long. The rainwater was thus forced to penetrate the ground over a larger surface. The dam, which is still in good state of maintenance, also caught the fertile soil that would otherwise flow to the sea. With the construction of the Shell dam the large stream of rainwater is now caught in the Lago Disparsé. Close to the limestone dam lie a number of fairly intact indigo vats, which were formerly used in preparing the blue dye from the indigo plant. Many people moved away from Malpais when Shell bought up the terrain and determined that no stone houses and no wells might be built. Most residents on the present Kaminda Mgr. Dr. Amado Römer — the former Weg naar Bullenbaai — formerly lived in Malpais. Amado Romer was for years pastor of Jandoret and was known as a social activist.

See also part 2: The bays of Malpais. With thanks to: François van der Hoeven, the Werkgroep Archeologie and Frensel Mercelina.

Sources

  • E. Langenfeld: "Van Malpais tot Wechi", Antilliaans Dagblad 2009
  • J. van Soest: Olie als water
  • G. J. Simons: Beschryving van het eiland Curaçao
  • J. van Ditzhuizen: "Opkomst en ondergang van de Curaçaose sisalcultuur", Napa, 18 January 2020
  • J. Hartog: Van kolonie tot Emancipatie
  • Konosé bo isla, Extra, 21 June 2003
  • Werkgroep Archeologie: various reports on Malpais
  • Sambumbu: various editions
  • D. Huijgers and L. Ezechiëls: Landhuizen van Curaçao