Buriari

Buriari is associated with Bonaire, a dry island off the northern coast of South America. Its low hills, salt ponds and reefs formed the setting for Caquetío communities whose connections reached the mainland. The Spanish arrived at the end of the fifteenth century and later forced Indigenous islanders to Hispaniola as laborers.

The Dutch took Bonaire in the seventeenth century, after capturing nearby Curaçao. Salt and valuable dyewood drew their attention to an island with very little fresh water. Under Dutch rule enslaved people were made to work in the salt pans, producing a valuable commodity for the growing Atlantic trade. Bonaire changed hands during the long wars of the revolutionary and Napoleonic era before returning to Dutch control in 1816.

The later city of Kralendijk lies here.