Bonaire’s road infrastructure development as experienced through the lens of colonisation
How has the development of the island’s road infrastructure shaped the economic development and stability among different cultural & social groups throughout the Dutch colonisation period (1634-1954)?
E.M. van Barneveld (TU Delft - Architecture and the Built Environment)
S. Calitz – Mentor (TU Delft - Architecture and the Built Environment)
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Abstract
Throughout over 300 years of Dutch colonisation, there has not been one single time when the indigenous or (freed) slave people of Bonaire have benefited over the colonists or been aided by the colonists. This is especially clear when looking at the development of the infrastructure. Many colonies nowadays still suffer from past colonial interventions regarding their road development (Marein, 2022; Ng et al., 2019; Gardner and Roy, 2020; Dorosh et al., 2011). These past studies also discuss how the lack of mobility and accessibility decreases the chances for economic growth. This paper aims to extrapolate the conclusions drawn by past studies and, along with journals, images and maps, explore how the evolution of Bonaire’s road infrastructure has affected, especially, the non-Europeans living on the island. This paper focuses on the period in which Bonaire was colonised by the Dutch, so the effects of colonial interventions can be critically analysed. The paper aims to focus on the materiality & quality of the roads, who used them and how they were used. By analysing the colonisation period through the lens of the road infrastructure, recurring patterns of discrimination and segregation can be identified. This is especially between the Europeans and the indigenous and (freed) slave people on the island. This discrimination has, in turn, led the non-Europeans on the island to be constantly prevented from developing economically and, therefore, left them completely dependent on Dutch investment.