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The History of the Dutch Slave Trade, A Bibliographical Survey

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  11 May 2010

Pieter C. Emmer
Pieter C. Emmer
Affiliation:
University of Amsterdam
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Type
Review Article
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The Journal of Economic History , Volume 32 , Issue 3 , September 1972 , pp. 728 - 747
Copyright
Copyright © The Economic History Association 1972

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References

1 Curtin, Philip D., The Atlantic Slave Trade: A Census (Madison: University of Wisconsin Press, 1969), pp. 55Google Scholar, 85, 117, complains several times that part of the overall picture of the history of the Atlantic slave trade is blurred, because detailed studies on the Dutch slave trade are lacking. However, according to the list of books and articles which were used to compose Curtin's study, no effort at all had been made to look more carefully into this matter. Only outdated publications on Dutch slave trade history are incorporated, while more up-to-date material would have been available at that time.

2 Vrijman, L. C., Slavenhalers en slavenhandel (Amsterdam: Van Kampen, 1937).Google Scholar

3 Unger, W. S., “Bijdragen tot de geschiedenis van de Nederlandse slavenhandel, I,” Economisch-Historisch Jaarboek, XXVI (1956), 133–174 (hereafter, Unger, “I”).Google Scholar

4 Dantzig, A. Van, Het Nederlandse aandeel in de slavenhandel (Bussum: Van Dishoeck, 1968).Google Scholar

5 The case of the Middelburg slaves forced the municipal authorities of that town to state clearly that slavery was not permitted. The same occurred in Amsterdam, where some of the Sefardim, who had fled from Portugal, had brought their house slave(s) along.

6 Donnan, Elisabeth (ed.), Documents Illustrative of the History of the Slave Trade to America, I (Washington, D.C.: Carnegie Institution of Washington, 1930), pp. 16 and 17.Google Scholar

7 Harlow, Vincent (ed.), Colonizing Expeditions to the West Indies and Guiana, 1623–1667 (London: Hakluyt Society, Series II, Vol. LVI, 1925).Google Scholar

8 Unger, “I,” p. 137.

9 Scelle, Georges, Histoire Politique de la Traite Négrière aux Indes de Castille (2 vols., Paris: Larose & Tenin, 1906).Google Scholar

10 Dillen, J. G. Van, Van Riikdom en Regenten; handboek tot de economische en sociale geschiedenis van Nederland tijdens de Republiek (‘s-Gravenhage (The Hague): Martinus Nijhoff, 1970)Google Scholar. This textbook is the most recently published summary of Dutch social and economic history between 1500 and 1800. This text provides the social-economic background against which the Dutch slave trade took place.

11 For a description of the two institutions of the Dutch colonial trade see: Van Dillen, Van Rijkaom en Regenten. A survey of the Dutch expansion overseas is given by Boxer, Charles Ralph, The Dutch Seaborne Empire, 1600–1800 (London and New York: A. Knopf, 1965).Google Scholar Some aspects of the Dutch East India Company Ltd. (the famous V.O.C.) are traced by M. A. P. Meilink-Roelofsz, “Aspects of Dutch Colonial Developments in Asia in the Seventeenth Century” in Bromley, J. S. and Kossmann, E. H. (eds.), Britain and the Netherlands in Africa and Asia, III (London, New York: MacMillan and Co., Ltd., 1968), pp. 56–83.Google Scholar The Dutch West India Company is discussed by Hoboken, W. J. Van, “The Dutch West India Company, the Political Background of Its Rise and Decline,” in Bromley, J. S. and Kossmann, E. H. (eds.), Britain and the Netherlands, I (London: Chatto & Windus Ltd., 1960), pp. 41–61Google Scholar. A comparison between the chartered companies of the colonizing European nations is made by Coornaert, E. L. J., “European Economic Institutions and the New World: the Chartered Companies,” in Rich, E. E. and Wilson, C. H. (eds.), Cambridge Economic History of Europe, Vol. IV (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1967), pp. 220–74.Google Scholar This last mentioned article makes it clear that the Dutch V.O.C. and W.I.C. were both unique examples of early limited companies.

12 Goslinga, Cornelis Ch., The Dutch in the Caribbean and on the Wild Coast, 1580–1680 (Assen: Van Gorcum and Comp., 1971).Google Scholar

13 For a complete story of the Dutch in Brazil: Boxer, Charles Ralph, The Dutch in Brazil, 1624–1654 (London: Oxford University Press, 1957)Google Scholar; Schulten, C. M., Nederlandse expansie in Latijns Amerika (Bussum: Van Dishoeck, 1968)Google Scholar. for their supply of slaves to Brazil the Portuguese used Angola as a main source for their Negroes. Therefore the “moradores” in New-Holland were used to slaves from that part of Africa. The middle-passage between Angola and Brazil was short. Fot the strange differences in appreciation of Negro tribes see: Mannix, Daniel P. and Cowley, Malcolm, Black Cargoes; A History of the Atlantic Slave Trade, 1585–1865 (New York: Viking Press, 1962)Google Scholar. The selling value and slaving techniques of several African tribes are evaluated by a contemporary W.I.C. servant on the coast of Africa around 1700, translated in English: Bosman, Willem, “A New and Accurate Description of the Coast of Guinea, Divided into the Gold, the Slave and the Ivory Coasts,” in A General Collection of the Best and Most Interesting Voyages and Travels, Vol. XVI (London, 1814), pp. 357–547.Google Scholar

14 de Laet, Joannes, Historie ofte Jaerlijck Verhael van de Verrichtingen der Geoctrooieerde West-Indische Compagnie Reprint ed. Naber, S.P.L'Honoré, Vol. I, (‘s-Gravenhage: Werken Linschoten Vereniging, 1931).Google Scholar

15 Wätjen, Hermann, “Der Negerhandel in West-Indien und Süd-Amerika bis zur Sklavenemanzipitation,” Hänsische Geschichtsblätter, XIX (1913), 417–43.Google Scholar

16 Menkman, W. R., “Nederlandsche en vreemde slavenvaart,” West-Indische Gids, XXVI (1944–1945), 97–110.Google ScholarMenkman, W. R., De West-Indische Compagnie (Amsterdam: Van Kampen, 1947).Google ScholarNaber, S.P.L. 'Honoré, “Nota van Pieter Moorthamer over het gewest Angola,” Bijdragen en mededelingen van het Historisch Genootschap, Vol LIV (1933).Google Scholar

17 The history of the asiento is studied in the “classic” on the history of Atlantic slave trade: Scelle.

18 Unger, “I,” pp. 140–42.

19 S., I. and Emmanuel, S. A., History of the Jews of the Netherland Antilles (Cincinnati: American Jewish Archives, 1970).Google Scholar Because of rather extensive periods of drought, not only the cultivation of sugar was problematic on Curaçao, but also that of foodstuffs. The legal and social position of the slaves on the Netherland Antilles is studied by Goslinga, C. Ch., Emancipatie en Emancipator (Assen: Van Gorcum and Comp., 1956)Google Scholar (with summary in English). More sources for the study of the history of Curaçao are mentioned in Meilink-Roelofsz, M. A. P., “A Survey of Archives in the Netherlands Pertaining to the History of the Netherlands Antilles,” West-Indische Gids, XXXV (1954–1955), 1–37.Google Scholar

20 Van Dantzig, Het Nederlandse …, pp. 44–45.

21 The small trickle of Negroes to New Netherland has been the object of study by several American scholars. In 1865 E. B. O'Callaghan edited a survey of the existing records of the Dutch colonial period of New York State, kept in the Capitol at Albany, N.Y.: O'Callaghan, E. B., Calendar of Historical Manuscripts, 1630–1664 (Albany, 1865).Google Scholar Those documents relative to the slave trade under the Dutch were edited in: O'Callaghan, E. B. (ed.), Voyages of the Slavers St. John and Arms of Amsterdam (Albany, 1867).Google Scholar Some of these documents edited by O'Callaghan were incorporated in the extensive source edition by Donnan, Vol. I and Vol. III. The institution of slavery in New Netherland is examined by McManus, Edgar J., A History of Negro Slavery in New York (Syracuse: University of Syracuse Press, 1966), pp. 1–22.Google Scholar

22 See O'Callaghan, Voyages of the Slavers and Donnan, Documents…, Vol. I. Vice-governor Beck was very anxious to increase slave trade to Spanish America. Sometimes he couldn't even spare some Negroes to send up to his boss, Stuyvesant.

23 Unger, “I,” p. 146 and van Brakel, S. (ed.), “Bescheiden over den slavenhandel der West-Indische Compagnie omstreeks 1670,” Bijdragen en mededelingen van het Historisch Genootschap, Vol. XXXV (1914), pp. 87–104Google Scholar. van Brakel, S. (ed.), “Bescheiden over den slavenhandel der W.I.C,” Economisch-Historisch Jaarboek, IV (1918), 47–83.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

24 Unger, “I,” p. 151; Van Dantzig, Het Nederlandse … p. 84; Scelle, Histoire PolMque … I, p. 637.

25 For the Dutch slave trade outside the asiento: Donnan, Documents …, Vol. I, pp. 73–121; Davies, K. G., The Royal African Company (London: Longmans, Green & Co., 1957), p. 14Google Scholar; Menkman, W. R., “Nederland in Amerika en West-Afrika,” in de Graaf, H. J. (ed.), Nederhnders over de zeën (2nd ed; Utrecht: W. de Haan, 1955), pp. 30–31Google Scholar; and Goslinga, The Dutch in the Caribbean, p. 319

26 In contrast to the Dutch relations with the asiento between 1662 and 1711, less information is available about the English slave trade to Spanish America via Barbados and Jamaica during the same period. Davies, The Royal African Company, pp. 326–35; Donnan, Documents…, Vol. I, pp. 110–20; and Unger, “I,” p. 152. Already in 1924, Wright, I. A., “The Coymans Asiento, 1685–1689,” Bijdragen voor vaderlandse geschiedenis en oudheidkunde, VI (1924), pp. 23–62Google Scholar called attention to the rising influence of the English slave trade on Madrid. “Chauvinism” was Unger's reply, but after Curtin's book it looks like this qualification can be very well used against Unger's own opinion on that issue.

27 Menkman, Geschiedenis van de West-lndische Compagnie, p. 143.

28 Unger, “I,” pp. 152–53 and Davies The Royal African Company, p. 333.

29 Van Dantzig, Het Nederlandse…, pp. 51–53; Curtin, The Atlantic Slave Trade… p. 85; Donnan, Documents …, Vol. I, pp. 77–78; and Kernkamp, G. W., “Een contract der slavenhandel van 1657,” Bijaragen en mededelingen van het Historisch Genootschap, XXII (1901), 444–59.Google Scholar

30 Curtin, The Atlantic Slave Trade… p. 125 based on Davies, The Royal African Company, p. 225.

31 Johannes Postma, “The Dutch Participation in the African Slave Trade; Slaving on the Guinea Coast, 1675–1795,” (unpublished doctoral dissertation, Michigan State University, 1970). This valuable study surveys the Dutch slave trade during its last century. The author is also inclined to question the Scelle/Unger/Van Dantzig division of the history of the Dutch slave trade. Unlike this present survey, Postma's book does not offer another division scheme. Further, Postma, p. 74–75, rejects the theory that one-half to one-third of the Dutch slavers were interlopers. In general Postma sees limited possibilities for these unrecognized slave traders, because participation in the triangular slaving voyages involved a lot of money and only chartered companies were able to provide this. Not slaves, but ivory and gold were, according to Postma, the aim of most interlopers. Especially for the Netherlands, Postma is most unwilling to attribute any significance to the illicit trade, without a sufficient explanation. His opinion would affect the calculations of the Atlantic slave trade as a whole, because Curtin sometimes uses interlopers to explain discrepancies between import quotas of slave-receiving areas and transportation figures of chartered companies. Unger doesn't support Postma's opinion: he refers to the equipment of a special W.I.C. fleet in order to fight the Dutch interlopers (Unger, “I,” p. 159).

32 Unger, “I,” pp. 156, 158.

33 Unger, “I,” pp. 160–71.

34 Postma, “The Dutch Participation…,” pp. 144–74.

35 Unger, W. S., Het archief van de Middelburgsche Commercie Compagnie (‘s-Gravenhage: Ministerie van Onderwijs en Wetenschappen 1951).Google ScholarUnger, W. S., “Bijdragen tot de geschiedenis van de Nederlandse slavenhandel, II,” Economisch-Historisch Jaarboek, XXVIII (1958–1960), 3–133.Google Scholar Unger, II, has completely outdated the dissertation by A. Wisse, De Commercie Compagnie te Middelburg van het Jaar van Haar Oprichting tot het Jaar 1754 (Utrecht: 1933). For a comparison with Nantes: Gaston Martin, Nantes au XVIII siecle, Vol. II. (Paris: Felix Alcan, 1931).

36 For a rather limited description of another private slaving firm, see Hudig, J., De scheepvaart op West-Afrika en West-Indië in de achtttiende eeuw (Amsterdam: DeBussy. and Co., 1926). It immediately becomes clear that the material left over from this firm, Coopstad & Rochussen at Rotterdam, does not compare with that of the M.C.C.Google Scholar

37 Postma “The Dutch Participation…,” pp. 57–93 and for a comparison with the English slave trade: Mannix and Cowley.

38 Unger, '%” p. 166, 167, and Emmer, P. C., “De laatste reis van de Middelburgsche Commerde Compagnie,” Economisch- en Societal Historisch Jaarboek, XXXIV (1971), 72–123.Google Scholar

39 Van Dantzig, Het Nederlandse… pp. 114–16 based on: A. Eekhof, “De Negerpredikant Jacobus Eliza Capiteyn, 1717–1747,” Nederlandsch Archief voor Kerkgeschiedenis, niewe serie, nr. 13, 1917.

40 See McManus, A History of Negro Slavery…, pp. 12–22, and as a comparison with the surrounding English attitudes: Winthrop Jordan, D., White over Black: American Attitudes Towards the Negro, 1550–1812 (3rd ed.; Baltimore: Pelican Books, 1969), pp. 3–91Google Scholar. For the situation in Brazil: Schulten, Nederlandse expansie…, pp. 72–82. For South-Africa: Boxer, The Dutch Seaborne Empire…, pp. 259–60. Surinam is discussed by R. van Lier, A. J., Samenleving in een Grensgebied (‘s-Gravenhage: 1949).Google Scholar This book does not completely replace the outdated study by Wolbers, J., Geschiedenis van Suriname (Amsterdam, 1861).Google Scholar For accounts on the institution of slavery in Surinam: Benoit, P. J., Voyage à Surinam (Bruxelles, 1839),Google Scholar and Stedman, J. G., Narrative of a Five Years’ Expedition Against the Revolted Negroes of Surinam (London, 1796).Google Scholar

41 The non-Atlantic Dutch slave trade has been left out of this survey. However, there existed some slavery in the Dutch East Indies, but to a very limited extent. Boxer, The Dutch Seaborne Empire …, p. 239 remarks that there were slaves on the Banda islands, because the rebellious natives on those islands had been killed by the Dutch. Unger, ‘1, “pp. 133, 134 mentions that slaves for the East Indies were originaly purchased from the Portuguese in Angola.. Because of the high death rate among those slaves during their transport, the Dutch East India Company discontinued that practice and bought slaves from East African areas like Mauritius and Madagascar.

Another topic that has been left out is the enslavement of Dutch sailors by Turkish pirates in the Mediterranean during the seventeenth century (W. E. Van Dam van Isselt, “Slavenhandel tijdens de tweede helft der zeventiende eeuw,” De Navorscher, LXXXIX (1940), 14–21)..