The aloe vera has its origins in Africa and was introduced to the Caribbean during the slave trade era. The aloe vera was found on the island of Barbados, by botanist and explorer Philip Miller, who officially named the plant aloe barbadensis miller. He named the plant vera (the Latin word for true) because it is the most succulent among its species.

In the 18th and 19th century, the Dutch cultivated aloe vera on their plantations in Aruba, Bonaire and Curaçao. In those day, aloe was not being harvested for the gel, but rather for the resin that can be extracted from the outer layers of the leaf, which is also known as aloine and is famous for its bitter taste and strong laxative effect. This resin was boiled until it became a black solid substance, which was subsequently shipped (primarily from Curaçao) to Europe and the United States of America. This is why the aloe vera is nowadays also known as Curaçao aloe.

Throughout  history and in many cultures, the aloe vera has been revered because of its medicinal characteristics. It has been and still is used as a remedy for a variety of diseases and ailments. The Greek Dioscorides wrote about the medicinal effects of aloe in 100 BC in the first book about medicinal plants and herbs. The aloe vera was also used by the Mayas, who were famous for reaching old age while maintaining their youthful looks; they called it the forever young plant. The healing effects of the aloe vera were also well known to various important historical celebrities: Alexander the Great had his soldiers treated with aloe vera gel when they were sick or injured. Columbus brought aloe vera along on his expeditions, to cure his sailors from various diseases. Cleopatra used aloe vera as a beauty product and she even used drops of aloe vera gel in her eyes, because she insisted it enhanced their natural shine!

In December of 1999 Curaçao Ecocity Projects N.V. started the aloe vera plantation in Curaçao. The plantation covers an area of 10 acres, 5 of which are used to cultivate the more than 100,000 specimens that are growing at our plantation at this moment. It takes three to five months for an aloe vera plant to mature to the point at which it can be harvested. The average time span for harvesting is approximately 10 years, during which we will collect 3 to 4 leaves from the bottom of the plant per harvest.

In 2002, a joint venture between Ecocity Projects and the Dutch pharmaceutical company BioClin was established under the name of CurAloe. The objective of this merger was to build a production plant for the processing of aloe vera. BioClin is the largest consumer of our aloe vera gel and uses our gel as the basis for all her own products. We received financial support for the construction of the production plant through Senter, a Dutch governmental institution that subsidizes development projects that involve Dutch companies. In 2003, the construction was completed and we ran our first trial production sessions.  Since 2004 we have been producing commercially and our annual production level has increased steadily every  year; in 2006 we produced more than 70,000 liters of aloe vera gel. We use specially designed and patented machines which have been developed by us and do not damage the active substances in the aloe vera gel. We can therefore guarantee a constant and excellent quality for every batch we produce.

Initially we released a line of skincare products in cooperation with BioClin, and since 2006 we are developing and producing our own products under the name of CurAloe. Our main objective is to offer high-quality products which contain a high concentration of aloe vera and other biologically active and natural ingredients.