On this day in 1795, revolutionaries Tula and Karpata, who had been engaging in guerilla warfare with colonizers in Curaçao, were betrayed and captured, effectively ending their campaign of liberation.

The Curaçao Slave Revolt had begun in August of 1795 and was led by Tula, an enslaved man. On the morning of August 17th, at the Knip plantation of slave master Caspar Lodewijk van Utrecht at Bandabou, Curaçao, the revolt began when Tula and the others slaves gathered and informed van Utrecht they would no longer be his slaves.

The rebels then left for Lagun, where they freed 22 slaves from jail and went from farm to farm, liberating people as they went. After being defeated in open battle, rebels began a guerrilla campaign, poisoning wells and stealing food.

On September 19th, 1795, Tula and Karpata were betrayed by a fellow slave. They were taken prisoner, and the war was effectively over. After Tula was captured, he was publicly tortured to death on October 3rd that year.

The enslaved population was granted more freedom on the island as a result of the uprising, although the system of slavery was not formally abolished until 1863.

Today, August 17th is celebrated in Curaçao to commemorate the beginning of the liberation struggle. The uprising was dramatized in the 2013 Dutch film "Tula: The Revolt".