The ABC Islands — Aruba, Bonaire, and Curaçao — sit just off the coast of Venezuela and share a deeply connected colonial history. For those conducting ABC Islands genealogy research, understanding Dutch rule, slavery abolition, and regional migration patterns is essential.
Spain first claimed the islands in the 16th century. However, in 1634 the Dutch captured Curaçao, and the islands later became part of the Dutch Caribbean under the administration of the Netherlands.
Curaçao developed into a major trading hub, including involvement in the transatlantic slave trade. Aruba and Bonaire remained smaller but strategically important territories.
Today, Aruba and Curaçao operate as constituent countries within the Kingdom of the Netherlands, while Bonaire functions as a special municipality of the Netherlands.
The Dutch introduced enslaved Africans to the ABC Islands in the 17th century. Curaçao became a key redistribution center in the Atlantic slave trade, supplying enslaved labor to other colonies in the Caribbean and South America.
The Netherlands abolished slavery in its Caribbean colonies in 1863. However, formerly enslaved individuals were required to complete a ten-year state-supervised labor period before full freedom took effect in 1873. These dates are critical when tracing Afro-Caribbean ancestry in the Dutch Caribbean.
Ancestry in the ABC Islands commonly reflects:
African heritage
Dutch colonial families
Sephardic Jewish communities (especially in Curaçao)
Migration from Venezuela and other Caribbean islands
Later European and Latin American migration
Because of trade networks, families may appear in records from Venezuela, Suriname, the Netherlands, and other Caribbean islands.
When researching family history in Aruba, Bonaire, or Curaçao, prioritize:
Dutch Reformed and Catholic parish registers
Civil registration records (began in the 19th century)
Slave registers and emancipation records (1863)
Notarial and trade records
Migration and maritime records
Because the islands fall under Dutch administration, many records are written in Dutch, Spanish, or Papiamentu. Understanding these linguistic influences can greatly improve your ABC Islands genealogy research results.
Curaçao, the largest of the ABC islands, is famous for its neon-colored architecture and crystal-clear coves. However, for the family historian, beneath its tropical exterior lies a deep, complex history of migration, colonial shifts, and a resilient struggle for freedom. To understand your Curaçaoan lineage, one must journey through the eras of indigenous survival and…
One of the best resources in finding ancestry information on a family member has always been church records. Within a few lines, you can easily discover more about an ancestor than many times in public records. Church records are a great source to find out when an individual was born, the name of parents, the…
Like many regions throughout the Caribbean and South America, slavery existed on the ABC Islands — Aruba, Bonaire, and Curaçao. In this post, we will focus specifically on Curaçao slave records. This is not the only set of records available for the island. However, I will publish additional collections separately based on accessibility and format….