Source: Wikipedia
De eerste bewoners van Bonaire waren de Caiquetio indianen die het eiland vanaf Venezuela bereikten rond 1000 n. Chr. Restanten van deze indianen zijn onder andere te vinden in de vorm van rotstekeningen in de buurt van Onima aan de oostkust van Bonaire.
In 1499 landden Alonso de Ojeda en Amerigo Vespucci als een van de eerste Europeanen op Bonaire. Zij namen het eiland voor Spanje in bezit. Omdat Bonaire geen goud had en niet geschikt was voor de landbouw zagen de Spanjaarden geen noodzaak een kolonie te stichten. De lokale indianen werden afgevoerd om als slaven te dienen in plantages in Zuid-Amerika. In 1526 introduceerden de Spanjaarden vee op Bonaire. Als gevolg hiervan komen ezels (of buriku) en geiten (of kabritu) er in het wild voor.
Ondertussen ontstond een kleine gemeenschap op het eiland in het plaatsje Rincon, dat in een vallei tussen de heuvels veilig was voor piraten. De mensen uit deze gemeenschap waren vooral veroordeelden en krijgsgevangenen.
In 1633 veroverde Nederland Bonaire op de Spanjaarden. Het kwam onder het gezag van Wouter van Twiller, gouverneur van de nieuwe Nederlanden, en kwam onder bestuur van de West-Indische Compagnie. Deze importeerde een kleine hoeveelheid slaven voor landbouw (voornamelijk hout en maïs) en zoutwinning. Slaven die in de zoutwinning werkten, verbleven in slavenhutjes bij de zoutpannen, nauwelijks hoger dan 2 meter. Deze hutjes zijn nog steeds te zien op Bonaire. De slavernij is in 1863 afgeschaft op Bonaire.
In het begin van de negentiende eeuw verloor Nederland de heerschappij over de Antillen twee maal aan Groot-Brittannië. Toen de eilanden in 1816 definitief aan Nederland werden toegewezen, bouwde de Nederlandse overheid Fort Oranje in Kralendijk om het eiland te beschermen. De kenmerkende vuurtoren in het fort is gebouwd in 1868. Zout was inmiddels de grootste bron van inkomsten voor het eiland. De productie was zo groot geworden dat er vier obelisken gebouwd werden om de schepen naar de zoutpannen te leiden.
In de twintigste eeuw werd tenslotte de haven vernieuwd en werd een vliegveld, Flamingo Airport, aangelegd. In 1936 kregen mannen stemrecht. Gedurende de Tweede Wereldoorlog diende Bonaire als concentratiekamp voor gevangen Duitsers en Nederlandse nazi's. Onder koningin Juliana werden de Antillen in 1954 een autonoom deel van het Koninkrijk der Nederlanden.
Bonaire's earliest known inhabitants were the Caquetios Indians, a branch of the Arawak who came by canoe from Venezuela in about AD 1000. Archeological remains of Caquetio culture have been found at sites northeast of Kralendijk and near Lac Bay. Caquieto rock paintings and petroglyphs have been preserved in caves at Spelonk, Onima, Ceru Pungi, and Ceru Crita-Cabai. The Caquetios were apparently a very tall people, for the Spanish name for the ABC Islands was 'las Islas de los Gigantes' or 'the islands of the giants. In 1499, Alonso de Ojeda discovered Curaçao and a neighboring island that was almost certainly Bonaire. Ojeda was accompanied by Amerigo Vespucci and Juan de la Cosa. De La Cosa's Mappa Mundi of 1500 shows Bonaire and calls it Isla do Palo Brasil or "Island of Brazilwood." The Spanish conquerors decided that the three ABC Islands were useless, and in 1515 the natives were forcibly deported to work as slaves in the copper mines of Santo Domingo on the island of Hispaniola.
In 1526, Juan de Ampies was appointed Spanish commander of the ABC Islands. He brought back some of the original Caquetios Indian inhabitants to Bonaire and Curaçao. Ampies also imported domesticated animals from Spain, including cows, donkeys, goats, horses, pigs, and sheep. The Spaniards thought that Bonaire could be used as a cattle plantation worked by natives. The cattle were raised for hides rather than meat. The Spanish inhabitants lived mostly in the inland town of Rincon which was safe from pirate attack..The Dutch West India Company was founded in 1621. Starting in 1623, ships of the West India Company called at Bonaire to obtain meat, water, and wood. The Dutch also abandoned some Spanish and Portugese prisoners there, and these people founded the town of Antriol which is a contraction of "al interior" or "inside." The Dutch and the Spanish fought from 1568 to 1648 in what is now known as the Eighty Years War. In 1633, the Dutch, having lost the island of St. Maarten to the Spanish, retaliated by attacking Curaçao, Bonaire, and Aruba. Bonaire was conquered in March 1636. The Dutch built Fort Oranje in 1639. While Curaçao emerged as a center of the slave trade, Bonaire became a plantation of the Dutch West India Company. A small number of African slaves were put to work alongside Indians and convicts, cultivating dyewood and maize and harvesting solar salt around Blue Pan. Slave quarters, built entirely of stone and too short for a man to stand upright in, still stand in the area around Rincon and along the saltpans as a grim reminder of Bonaire's repressive past. From 1816 until 1868, Bonaire remained a government plantation. In 1825, there were about 300 government-owned slaves on the island. Gradually many of the slaves were freed, and became freemen with an obligation to render some services to the government. The remaining slaves were freed on September 30, 1862 under the Emancipation Regulation. A total of 607 government slaves and 151 private slaves were freed at that time.
During the German occupation of the Netherlands during World War II, Bonaire was a protectorate of Britain and the United States. The American army built the Flamingo Airport as an air force base. After Germany invaded the Netherlands on May 10, 1940, many Dutch and German citizens were interned in a camp on Bonaire for the duration of war. After the war, the economy of Bonaire continued to develop. The airport was converted to civilian use, and the former internment camp was converted to become the first hotel on Bonaire.
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