Elisabeth brought this wheel to a workshop. “In the past wheelbarrows were flat and their wheels were made of iron. They were used on the plantations to transport wood that was burned to make charcoal for cooking. In our family we needed wood to heat the oven of my father’s bakery. We also transported grass from the mondi in wheelbarrows to feed the goats.”

Since their arrival in 1634 the Dutch colonizers have had a huge impact on the landscape and nature of Curaçao. The division of the island into plantations, mining and later the refinery were the reasons for large-scale deforestation for the creation of farmland, cutting down trees such as the wayacá, the kapok, the brasia (which was processed in Amsterdam to obtain red dye) and mangroves, the salinization of groundwater and pollution of ground and inland water.

The large numbers of non-native cattle such as goats and sheep eliminated the underlayer of vegetation which made regeneration of the felled trees practically impossible. Burning wood to make charcoal also had a strong negative effect on the vegetation.