![Slavernij monument oosterpark](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/5/56/Slavernij_monument_oosterpark.jpg)
The History of Dutch slavery involves
slavery
Slavery and enslavement are both the state and the condition of being a slave—someone forbidden to quit one's service for an enslaver, and who is treated by the enslaver as property. Slavery typically involves slaves being made to perf ...
in
the Netherlands
)
, anthem = ( en, "William of Nassau")
, image_map =
, map_caption =
, subdivision_type = Sovereign state
, subdivision_name = Kingdom of the Netherlands
, established_title = Before independence
, established_date = Spanish Netherl ...
itself, as well as the establishment of slavery outside the Netherlands in which it played a role. The Netherlands banned the slave trade in 1814 after being
compelled
''Compelled'' is a 1960 British neo noir black and white crime film, one of two films directed by Ramsey Herrington. It stars Ronald Howard and Beth Rogan.
Plot
Ex-con Paul Adams is an engineer blackmailed into assisting with a jewel theft ...
by Britain.
Slavery in the Low Countries
Before the Netherlands became a country, various
ethnic group
An ethnic group or an ethnicity is a grouping of people who identify with each other on the basis of shared attributes that distinguish them from other groups. Those attributes can include common sets of traditions, ancestry, language, history, ...
s lived in the area. Examples of these are the
Celts
The Celts (, see pronunciation for different usages) or Celtic peoples () are. "CELTS location: Greater Europe time period: Second millennium B.C.E. to present ancestry: Celtic a collection of Indo-European peoples. "The Celts, an ancien ...
and the
Germanic peoples
The Germanic peoples were historical groups of people that once occupied Central Europe and Scandinavia during antiquity and into the early Middle Ages. Since the 19th century, they have traditionally been defined by the use of ancient and ear ...
. Both ethnic groups had societies that consisted of nobles, freemen and slaves. During the
Roman era
In modern historiography, ancient Rome refers to Roman civilisation from the founding of the city of Rome in the 8th century BC to the collapse of the Western Roman Empire in the 5th century AD. It encompasses the Roman Kingdom (753–509 BC ...
, slaves were also fairly common. Also, the
Frisians
The Frisians are a Germanic ethnic group native to the coastal regions of the Netherlands and northwestern Germany. They inhabit an area known as Frisia and are concentrated in the Dutch provinces of Friesland and Groningen and, in Germany, ...
traded in slaves, which were mainly intended for slave markets in Spain and
Cairo
Cairo ( ; ar, القاهرة, al-Qāhirah, ) is the capital of Egypt and its largest city, home to 10 million people. It is also part of the largest urban agglomeration in Africa, the Arab world and the Middle East: The Greater Cairo metro ...
. Slavery as an institution was mainly grounded in common law at first. When feudal lords granted
Town privileges
Town privileges or borough rights were important features of European towns during most of the second millennium. The city law customary in Central Europe probably dates back to Italian models, which in turn were oriented towards the tradition ...
to cities these often encompassed the principle of "City air makes free", i.e. slavery and serfdom were outlawed within the borders of the city and escaped slaves could enjoy asylum there. In the
Late Middle Ages
The Late Middle Ages or Late Medieval Period was the Periodization, period of European history lasting from AD 1300 to 1500. The Late Middle Ages followed the High Middle Ages and preceded the onset of the early modern period (and in much of Eur ...
, the
Pope Eugene IV
Pope Eugene IV ( la, Eugenius IV; it, Eugenio IV; 1383 – 23 February 1447), born Gabriele Condulmer, was head of the Catholic Church and ruler of the Papal States from 3 March 1431 to his death in February 1447. Condulmer was a Venetian, and ...
banned enslaving Christians by a decree. Though not officially "abolished" everywhere slavery as an institution had for all practical purposes fallen in disuse in the
Habsburg Netherlands
Habsburg Netherlands was the Renaissance period fiefs in the Low Countries held by the Holy Roman Empire's House of Habsburg. The rule began in 1482, when the last House of Valois-Burgundy, Valois-Burgundy ruler of the Netherlands, Mary of Burgu ...
for these reasons. But the reception of
Roman Law
Roman law is the law, legal system of ancient Rome, including the legal developments spanning over a thousand years of jurisprudence, from the Twelve Tables (c. 449 BC), to the ''Corpus Juris Civilis'' (AD 529) ordered by Eastern Roman emperor J ...
at the end of the 15th-century and its integration into what became known as
Roman-Dutch law
Roman-Dutch law (Dutch: ''Rooms-Hollands recht'', Afrikaans: ''Romeins-Hollandse reg'') is an uncodified, scholarship-driven, and judge-made legal system based on Roman law as applied in the Netherlands in the 17th and 18th centuries. As such, it ...
provided a new legal framework that would make the introduction and regulation of
chattel slavery
Slavery and enslavement are both the state and the condition of being a slave—someone forbidden to quit one's service for an enslaver, and who is treated by the enslaver as property. Slavery typically involves slaves being made to perf ...
outside Dutch territory easier in later years.
Officially slavery did not exist in the European area of The
Dutch Republic
The United Provinces of the Netherlands, also known as the (Seven) United Provinces, officially as the Republic of the Seven United Netherlands (Dutch: ''Republiek der Zeven Verenigde Nederlanden''), and commonly referred to in historiography ...
, however, in reality, the status of slavery in the Low Countries was a grey area.
According to Leuven professor
Petrus Gudelinus Petrus Gudelinus, born Pierre Goudelin (8 August 1550 – 18 October 1619) was a Dutch jurist.
Goudelin was born in Ath. After studies of philosophy and law in Leuven, he practiced law before the '' Grote Raad van Mechelen'', the appeals court fo ...
In the 16th century in Mechelen, an escaped slave was freed, because it was argued that slavery did not exist in the Low Countries.
["Some remarks on slavery and legal history", Hans-Jan van Kralingen, ''Leiden Law Blog''] In practice, this statement was often ignored; especially, Spanish and
Portuguese
Portuguese may refer to:
* anything of, from, or related to the country and nation of Portugal
** Portuguese cuisine, traditional foods
** Portuguese language, a Romance language
*** Portuguese dialects, variants of the Portuguese language
** Portu ...
merchants often took slaves with them to the Netherlands as servants. Later, mainly since the 18th century, slaves would come over with plantation owners, however, this affected relatively few people. On average between 1729 and 1775, 10 people of African descent (not necessarily slaves) would travel from
Suriname
Suriname (; srn, Sranankondre or ), officially the Republic of Suriname ( nl, Republiek Suriname , srn, Ripolik fu Sranan), is a country on the northeastern Atlantic coast of South America. It is bordered by the Atlantic Ocean to the north ...
to the Netherlands, of which most would return after a short stay. Although they could go to court to claim their right to freedom, this happened seldom. In cases where slaves did try to claim their freedom, they would often not succeed. In 1736 a
slave named Claes escaped from
Curaçao
Curaçao ( ; ; pap, Kòrsou, ), officially the Country of Curaçao ( nl, Land Curaçao; pap, Pais Kòrsou), is a Lesser Antilles island country in the southern Caribbean Sea and the Dutch Caribbean region, about north of the Venezuela coast ...
to the Netherlands as a stowaway on a ship. However, the
Hoge Raad van Holland en Zeeland
The Hoge Raad van Holland, Zeeland en West-Friesland (; usually translated in the literature as "High Court of Holland and Zeeland," though "Supreme Court" may better designate its function, and the literal translation is: "High ''Council'' of Hol ...
(regional supreme court) stated that he would remain a property belonging to Paulina Meyer, because he was a thief of himself and stolen property (''res furtiva'').
In 1776 the ''
States General of the Netherlands
The States General of the Netherlands ( nl, Staten-Generaal ) is the supreme bicameral legislature of the Netherlands consisting of the Senate () and the House of Representatives (). Both chambers meet at the Binnenhof in The Hague.
The States ...
'' published a resolution on the status of the 'unfree people' in the free Netherlands. In which it was emphasized that all people should in principle be recognized and regarded as free people. Slaves that travelled to the Netherlands have obtained their freedom legally and will be regarded as free people. There was an exception, because otherwise "the owners of slaves would often be deprived of their legal property against their will." This meant that if slave owners did not intend to free their property and their stay in the Netherlands was shorter than 6 months, or with special court permission up to 12 months, the slaves were not freed. If slaves were not sent back within this time window, they would have to be freed. It is unclear how consistently this rule was enforced.
Atlantic slave trade
The share of the Dutch Republic in the Atlantic slave trade was on average around five per cent, at least 500,000 people. The slave trade by the
Dutch West India Company
The Dutch West India Company ( nl, Geoctrooieerde Westindische Compagnie, ''WIC'' or ''GWC''; ; en, Chartered West India Company) was a chartered company of Dutch merchants as well as foreign investors. Among its founders was Willem Usselincx ( ...
(WIC) has in their starting years contributed to the status of the Netherlands as an economic world power.
Already in 1528, an
asiento
The () was a monopoly contract between the Spanish Crown and various merchants for the right to provide African slaves to colonies in the Spanish Americas. The Spanish Empire rarely engaged in the trans-Atlantic slave trade directly from Afri ...
or contract was made between the rulers of Spain and assumingly the
Southern Netherlandish merchants Willem Sailler and Hendrink Eynger, to transfer during the next four years 4000 slaves from Africa to the
Caribbean
The Caribbean (, ) ( es, El Caribe; french: la Caraïbe; ht, Karayib; nl, De Caraïben) is a region of the Americas that consists of the Caribbean Sea, its islands (some surrounded by the Caribbean Sea and some bordering both the Caribbean Se ...
. However, the slave trade was originally seen as immoral in the Netherlands. It went against Christian norms and values, therefore people initially refrained from engaging in the slave trade.
During the fight against the Spanish and the Portuguese,
privateer
A privateer is a private person or ship that engages in maritime warfare under a commission of war. Since robbery under arms was a common aspect of seaborne trade, until the early 19th century all merchant ships carried arms. A sovereign or deleg ...
ing was legal. This has been the main goal and source of income for the Dutch West India Company since their establishment in 1621. Between 1623 and 1636, 547 Spanish and Portuguese ships were hijacked. After this, the
Groot Desseyn
The ''Groot Desseyn'' (Dutch for "Grand Design") was a plan devised in 1623 by the Dutch West India Company to seize the Portuguese/Spanish possessions of the Iberian Union in Africa and the Americas, in order that the Spanish would not collect eno ...
was developed, the big plan. By taking over the slave trade the Portuguese sugar cane trade from Brazil could be undermined. With the capture of a
Spanish treasure fleet
The Spanish treasure fleet, or West Indies Fleet ( es, Flota de Indias, also called silver fleet or plate fleet; from the es, label=Spanish, plata meaning "silver"), was a convoy system of sea routes organized by the Spanish Empire from 1566 to ...
during the
Battle in the Bay of Matanzas in 1628, sufficient money was available to carry out the Groot Desseyn. Between 1630 and 1634,
Recife
That it may shine on all ( Matthew 5:15)
, image_map = Brazil Pernambuco Recife location map.svg
, mapsize = 250px
, map_caption = Location in the state of Pernambuco
, pushpin_map = Brazil#South A ...
and a large part of the Brazilian coast was conquered, this became
Dutch Brazil
Dutch Brazil ( nl, Nederlands-Brazilië), also known as New Holland ( nl, Nieuw-Holland), was a colony of the Dutch Republic in the northeastern portion of modern-day Brazil, controlled from 1630 to 1654 during Dutch colonization of the Americas ...
. In 1637,
Fort St. George
Fort St. George (or historically, White Town) is a fortress in the coastal city of Chennai, India. Founded in 1639, it was the first English (later British) fortress in India. The construction of the fort provided the impetus for further ...
in
Elmina
Elmina, also known as Edina by the local Fante people, Fante, is a town and the capital of the Komenda/Edina/Eguafo/Abirem Municipal District, Komenda/Edina/Eguafo/Abirem District on the south coast of Ghana in the Central Region, Ghana, Centra ...
on the African
Gold Coast
Gold Coast may refer to:
Places Africa
* Gold Coast (region), in West Africa, which was made up of the following colonies, before being established as the independent nation of Ghana:
** Portuguese Gold Coast (Portuguese, 1482–1642)
** Dutch G ...
(in the
Gulf of Benin) was captured. this was till then the greatest Portuguese slave trade stronghold. In the centuries that followed, this fortress would become one of the centres of the WIC's slave trade. In 1641,
Luanda
Luanda () is the capital and largest city in Angola. It is Angola's primary port, and its major industrial, cultural and urban centre. Located on Angola's northern Atlantic coast, Luanda is Angola's administrative centre, its chief seaport ...
(located in what is now
Angola
, national_anthem = " Angola Avante"()
, image_map =
, map_caption =
, capital = Luanda
, religion =
, religion_year = 2020
, religion_ref =
, coordina ...
) was conquered from the Portuguese. Around 1700, the WIC owned a dozen trading fortresses on the West African coast.
The Dutch slave trade grew to sizable proportions. To alleviate ethical concerns about slavery raised by Christians, it was argued that in
Genesis
Genesis may refer to:
Bible
* Book of Genesis, the first book of the biblical scriptures of both Judaism and Christianity, describing the creation of the Earth and of mankind
* Genesis creation narrative, the first several chapters of the Book of ...
9 it states that descendants of
Ham are cursed into slavery, since
Ham's
Ham's Restaurant was a restaurant chain based in North Carolina and Virginia.
History
Ham's was started in Greensboro, North Carolina in 1935. In 1984, Charlie Erwin acquired the original property. The business was expanded into the North Carolin ...
descendants are interpreted by some as having populated Africa. To maintain the sugar production, many Portuguese plantation owners in the conquered part of Brazil were able to keep their plantation. Private
slaves
Slavery and enslavement are both the state and the condition of being a slave—someone forbidden to quit one's service for an enslaver, and who is treated by the enslaver as property. Slavery typically involves slaves being made to perf ...
were required for this. This signalled a change in the stands about the slave trade; non-Christians could be sold as slaves.
From 1640, the slave trade with Brazil began to decline, and the trade was shifted to the
Spanish colonies
The Spanish Empire ( es, link=no, Imperio español), also known as the Hispanic Monarchy ( es, link=no, Monarquía Hispánica) or the Catholic Monarchy ( es, link=no, Monarquía Católica) was a colonial empire governed by Spain and its prede ...
in America. Initially, Dutch traders transported slaves to
Buenos Aires
Buenos Aires ( or ; ), officially the Autonomous City of Buenos Aires ( es, link=no, Ciudad Autónoma de Buenos Aires), is the capital and primate city of Argentina. The city is located on the western shore of the Río de la Plata, on South ...
and
Rio de la Plata
Rio or Río is the Portuguese, Spanish, Italian, and Maltese word for "river". When spoken on its own, the word often means Rio de Janeiro, a major city in Brazil.
Rio or Río may also refer to:
Geography Brazil
* Rio de Janeiro
* Rio do Sul, a ...
in present-day
Argentina
Argentina (), officially the Argentine Republic ( es, link=no, República Argentina), is a country in the southern half of South America. Argentina covers an area of , making it the second-largest country in South America after Brazil, th ...
, later the Caribbean also became the target of the slave trade.
When Brazil was recaptured in 1654, there were already some 25,000 slaves brought over. After this reconquest, the sugar cane cultivation was transferred to the Caribbean and the in 1634 conquered
Curaçao
Curaçao ( ; ; pap, Kòrsou, ), officially the Country of Curaçao ( nl, Land Curaçao; pap, Pais Kòrsou), is a Lesser Antilles island country in the southern Caribbean Sea and the Dutch Caribbean region, about north of the Venezuela coast ...
, which then became the Dutch collection point for slaves. After the British conquest of
Jamaica
Jamaica (; ) is an island country situated in the Caribbean Sea. Spanning in area, it is the third-largest island of the Greater Antilles and the Caribbean (after Cuba and Hispaniola). Jamaica lies about south of Cuba, and west of His ...
in 1655, it became an important transfer market for slaves to the Spanish colonies. New slave buyers were also found among the English and French who grew tobacco on the islands they conquered in the Caribbean and Virginia, though most slaves went to
Suriname
Suriname (; srn, Sranankondre or ), officially the Republic of Suriname ( nl, Republiek Suriname , srn, Ripolik fu Sranan), is a country on the northeastern Atlantic coast of South America. It is bordered by the Atlantic Ocean to the north ...
, which from 1668 was permanently owned by the Netherlands until its independence in 1975.
Slavery on Curaçao
![Slave shackles (30379413924)](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/1/15/Slave_shackles_%2830379413924%29.jpg)
In 1662 Spain made an ''
asiento
The () was a monopoly contract between the Spanish Crown and various merchants for the right to provide African slaves to colonies in the Spanish Americas. The Spanish Empire rarely engaged in the trans-Atlantic slave trade directly from Afri ...
with''
Domingo Grillo and
Ambrosio Lomelino to trade slaves from Africa. Grillo and Lomelino hired the WIC to transport slaves from the African coast to South America. In the contract with WIC, it was stipulated that the Dutch would deliver 24,000 slaves in 7 years, approximately 3,500 slaves per year, in which, Curaçao would function as transfer port. In reality, these amounts were not feasible, with an average of only 700 slaves delivered annually.
On Curaçao, the slaves were subjected to a quality control. Slaves were assessed according to a so-called ''
pieza de Indias'', an evaluation of a slave's labour capacity. Then the slaves were sold to Spanish traders and transported to the Spanish colonies. Due to the asiento trade, the Dutch Republic had between 1660 and 1690 roughly 30% of the total slave trade. In the period of 1658 to 1674, an estimated 45,700 slaves were transported to the Americas, however, this was relatively little compared to the total number of slaves transported.
The Coymans asiento became an important factor in the Dutch slave trade.
Balthasar Coymans (1652–1686) led a branch of the Dutch trade house Coymans in
Cádiz
Cádiz (, , ) is a city and port in southwestern Spain. It is the capital of the Province of Cádiz, one of eight that make up the autonomous community of Andalusia.
Cádiz, one of the oldest continuously inhabited cities in Western Europe, ...
. He started a smear campaign against
Venetian
Venetian often means from or related to:
* Venice, a city in Italy
* Veneto, a region of Italy
* Republic of Venice (697–1797), a historical nation in that area
Venetian and the like may also refer to:
* Venetian language, a Romance language s ...
Nicolas Porcio who was at the time owner of the asiento. Coymans smear campaign was successful and in 1685 he obtained the monopoly to trade slaves to the Spanish colonies. He also enlisted the WIC to ship the slaves from Africa. This meant that the Spanish slave trade was entirely operated by the Dutch. Coymans was required to deliver 3000 ''piezas'' annually, however, in the first 3 years, only 4896 ''piezas'' instead of 9000 were delivered. Coymans died in 1686 and the Spanish lost faith in his successor and in granted the asiento back to Nicolas Porcio in 1688.
In 1689 the WIC declared Curaçao an open market. Merchants from all nationalities were now welcome, however now that trade could only take place on the free market, there was no trade possible with the Spanish colonies. In 1689 and 1691 the WIC did have a few contracts with Porcio; however, the numbers were less than before. In 1697 there was a contract with ''Real Compañía de Cacheu,'' the successor of Porcio, for the delivery of 2500 to 3000 slaves per year, but Curaçao did no longer serve as a transfer port. In 1699 this contract was extended for another 2 years.
In the eighteenth century, the slave trade grew enormously. There were years in which more than 100,000 slaves were transported. However, the French and the British had taken over the position of the Dutch Republic. The Dutch Republic also found the slave trade to be very not profitable. This was partly due to the high mortality rate among the slaves when crossing the ocean; 30% of the slaves died on board the ships.
End of Curaçao's central position as slave market
It was not until 1708 that a supply contract was again offered to the WIC. During the
War of the Spanish Succession
The War of the Spanish Succession was a European great power conflict that took place from 1701 to 1714. The death of childless Charles II of Spain in November 1700 led to a struggle for control of the Spanish Empire between his heirs, Phil ...
, when the Netherlands again went to war with Spain and France, the French allies obtained the ''asiento'' from Spain. They approached the WIC, but the assignment did not go through because the WIC was afraid that Curaçao would be overrun by the French. When the ''asiento'' was granted to England in 1713, it meant the decline for trade via Curaçao; England had its own marketplace. Initially, the WIC had the monopoly on the slave trade. However, in 1730 the WIC gave up the monopoly on the transport of slaves from Africa to South America, and in 1738 also the monopoly on the slave trade. However, other slave traders had to pay recognition fees to the WIC. The Zeelanders in particular then took over the slave trade, in which the
Middelburgsche Commercie Compagnie
The Middelburgsche Commercie Compagnie (MCC) was a Dutch trading company established in 1720 in the Zeeland capital of Middelburg, Netherlands. It was initially called the Commercial Company of the city of Middelburg. However, after the archive i ...
played an important role.
In 1713, immediately after the War of the Spanish Succession, Curaçao's central position as a regional slave market came to an abrupt end. Slave ships continued to arrive during the following years, but sales stagnated. In 1716 the number of unsold trade slaves (slaves supplemented under the WIC contract) rose to over 800. At the end of that year, a revolt broke out among trade slaves on the WIC plantation Santa Maria. This was quickly suppressed and the insurgents were captured and executed.
After the
Seven Years' War
The Seven Years' War (1756–1763) was a global conflict that involved most of the European Great Powers, and was fought primarily in Europe, the Americas, and Asia-Pacific. Other concurrent conflicts include the French and Indian War (1754 ...
of 1763, the slave trade with the Spaniards on Curaçao largely dried up. The slave trade continued despite the low profit margins, partly because many traders also had interests in plantations in Suriname. They needed the slaves for this, and the trade was therefore viable if a profit was made from the plantation.
Slave revolt in Curaçao
On August 17, 1795, several dozen slaves led by
Tula
Tula may refer to:
Geography
Antarctica
*Tula Mountains
*Tula Point
India
*Tulā, a solar month in the traditional Indian calendar
Iran
* Tula, Iran, a village in Hormozgan Province
Italy
* Tula, Sardinia, municipality (''comune'') in the pr ...
refused to work on the Knip plantation. Slaves from neighboring plantations joined the uprising. A first armed encounter with colonial troops, including units of the Free Maroons and the Free Slaves, was won by the insurgents. In negotiations, the slaves demanded their freedom. The ensuing confrontations were settled to the detriment of the slaves. After a final battle on August 31, the uprising was crushed. The two leaders Tula and Carpata, as well as 29 other insurgents, were executed by the local authorities. It is not impossible that the uprising in Curaçao was inspired by the uprising in Saint-Domingue (
Haiti
Haiti (; ht, Ayiti ; French: ), officially the Republic of Haiti (); ) and formerly known as Hayti, is a country located on the island of Hispaniola in the Greater Antilles archipelago of the Caribbean Sea, east of Cuba and Jamaica, and ...
) or the uprising that took place shortly before in
Coro, Venezuela
Coro, historically known as Neu-Augsburg, is the capital of Falcón State and the second oldest city of Venezuela (after Cumaná). It was founded on July 26, 1527, by Juan de Ampíes as Santa Ana de Coro. It is established at the south of the Para ...
. After the uprising, protective slave legislation was enacted in Curaçao, which regulated, among other things, the provision of food rations and clothing, as well as working and rest times.
Slavery in Suriname
John Gabriël Stedman, a
Scotsman
The Scots ( sco, Scots Fowk; gd, Albannaich) are an ethnic group and nation native to Scotland. Historically, they emerged in the early Middle Ages from an amalgamation of two Celtic-speaking peoples, the Picts and Gaels, who founded t ...
in Dutch service, described the Dutch slaveholders in Suriname as cruel, in the book ''Narrative of a five years' expedition against the revolted Negroes of Surinam'' in 1797. Descriptions of mistreatment by Dutch slaveholders and the images by
William Blake
William Blake (28 November 1757 – 12 August 1827) was an English poet, painter, and printmaker. Largely unrecognised during his life, Blake is now considered a seminal figure in the history of the poetry and visual art of the Romantic Age. ...
were an important weapon for the mainly British advocates of the abolition of slavery.
The
Society of Suriname
The Society of Suriname (Dutch: ''Sociëteit van Suriname'') was a Dutch private company, modelled on the ideas of Jean-Baptiste Colbert and set up on 21 May 1683 to profit from the management and defense of the Dutch Republic's colony of Surinam ...
collected a percentage of the income obtained from the domestic slave market. To avoid this, it was not uncommon to secretly bring slaves ashore.
''Marrons'' in Suriname
From the arrival of the first slaves from Africa in Suriname, some of them fled inland. These
''Marrons'' ('Maroons') got to know the jungle and the swamps, and founded mini-states there. From there they raided plantations, looted them and freed slaves; the Dutch could not do much about this. Finally, from 1760, the colonial administration concluded peace treaties with groups of ''Marrons''. Notable captains of the ''Marrons'' were Adyáko Benti Basiton (known as Boston Bendt), Adoe,
Alabi,
Boni and Broos.
Slavery in Dutch Guiana
In the seventeenth century, Zeelanders had founded a colony on the banks of the River Berbice in present-day
Guyana
Guyana ( or ), officially the Cooperative Republic of Guyana, is a country on the northern mainland of South America. Guyana is an indigenous word which means "Land of Many Waters". The capital city is Georgetown. Guyana is bordered by the ...
with plantations that were worked by African slaves. In 1763, the slaves of the Berbice colony led by Cuffy (Kofi, Coffy) revolted, which was eventually brutally suppressed with the help of six naval ships carrying 600 soldiers. This slave revolt was the first major revolt on the American continent.
Slavery under the VOC
Within the context of Dutch history, the WIC is usually thought of when it comes to slavery. However, in
Dutch East India Company
The United East India Company ( nl, Verenigde Oostindische Compagnie, the VOC) was a chartered company established on the 20th March 1602 by the States General of the Netherlands amalgamating existing companies into the first joint-stock ...
(VOC) areas slaves were traded earlier than in WIC areas, and until the end of the eighteenth century more slaves were traded and held in VOC areas than in WIC areas. Around 1750 there were an estimated 75,500 slaves in settlements under VOC rule, compared to 64,000 slaves in areas under WIC rule.
Slavery in the Cape Colony
![Emancipation_commemoration_plaque,_Saron_Mission_Church](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/7/79/Emancipation_commemoration_plaque%2C_Saron_Mission_Church.jpg)
Between 1652 and 1807, more than 60,000 slaves were transported to the
Cape Colony
The Cape Colony ( nl, Kaapkolonie), also known as the Cape of Good Hope, was a British Empire, British colony in present-day South Africa named after the Cape of Good Hope, which existed from 1795 to 1802, and again from 1806 to 1910, when i ...
. Half of these slaves came from present-day
Madagascar
Madagascar (; mg, Madagasikara, ), officially the Republic of Madagascar ( mg, Repoblikan'i Madagasikara, links=no, ; french: République de Madagascar), is an island country in the Indian Ocean, approximately off the coast of East Africa ...
and a third from Asia, mainly from present-day
India
India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the so ...
and
Indonesia
Indonesia, officially the Republic of Indonesia, is a country in Southeast Asia and Oceania between the Indian and Pacific oceans. It consists of over 17,000 islands, including Sumatra, Java, Sulawesi, and parts of Borneo and New Guine ...
. Many
colored people in South Africa are descended from the slave population, but white families also often have freed slaves among their ancestors.
Slavery in the Dutch East Indies
During the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, the VOC was the hub of an extensive trade in slaves in Southeast Asia. Over a period of two centuries, the VOC obtained, traded and used 600,000 to 1 million slaves, mainly from present-day India, later also from
Celebes
Sulawesi (), also known as Celebes (), is an island in Indonesia. One of the four Greater Sunda Islands, and the world's eleventh-largest island, it is situated east of Borneo, west of the Maluku Islands, and south of Mindanao and the Sulu A ...
and
Bali
Bali () is a province of Indonesia and the westernmost of the Lesser Sunda Islands. East of Java and west of Lombok, the province includes the island of Bali and a few smaller neighbouring islands, notably Nusa Penida, Nusa Lembongan, and Nu ...
in the
Dutch East Indies
The Dutch East Indies, also known as the Netherlands East Indies ( nl, Nederlands(ch)-Indië; ), was a Dutch colony consisting of what is now Indonesia. It was formed from the nationalised trading posts of the Dutch East India Company, which ...
(present-day Indonesia). Slaves were mainly used for infrastructure, building fortifications and in households. In Batavia, for example, slaves were deployed at the shipyard on the island of
Onrust
The ''Onrust'' (; en, Restless) was a Dutch ship built by Adriaen Block and the crew of the '' Tyger'', which had been destroyed by fire in the winter of 1613. The ''Onrust'' was the first ship to be built in what is now New York State, and the ...
.
According to the traditional image, slaves in the East were mainly a status symbol. In fact this was not the case: In the East, too, slaves had mainly economic value and were used as labor force.
End of the slave trade
The economic recession of 1773 caused a decline in the entire Dutch merchant shipping industry, including the slave trade. When the Dutch Republic delivered weapons and ammunition to the rebels in the
American Revolutionary War
The American Revolutionary War (April 19, 1775 – September 3, 1783), also known as the Revolutionary War or American War of Independence, was a major war of the American Revolution. Widely considered as the war that secured the independence of t ...
via the colony of
St. Eustatius
Sint Eustatius (, ), also known locally as Statia (), is an island in the Caribbean. It is a special municipality (officially " public body") of the Netherlands.
The island lies in the northern Leeward Islands portion of the West Indies, s ...
, this aroused the British anger. When the latter arrested the newly appointed American ambassador
Henry Laurens
Henry Laurens (December 8, 1792) was an American Founding Father, merchant, slave trader, and rice planter from South Carolina who became a political leader during the Revolutionary War. A delegate to the Second Continental Congress, Laure ...
in 1780 on his way to the Dutch Republic, they seized a secret treaty between the city of Amsterdam and the rebels in his luggage. In addition, Britain feared that the Dutch Republic would join the
First League of Armed Neutrality
The first League of Armed Neutrality was an military alliance, alliance of European naval powers between 1780 and 1783 which was intended to protect Neutral country, neutral shipping against the Royal Navy's wartime policy of unlimited search of ...
, which would further protect trade with the Americans. The subsequent
Fourth Anglo-Dutch War
The Fourth Anglo-Dutch War ( nl, Vierde Engels-Nederlandse Oorlog; 1780–1784) was a conflict between the Kingdom of Great Britain and the Dutch Republic. The war, contemporary with the War of American Independence (1775-1783), broke out over ...
resulted in a defeat for the Dutch Republic and had major consequences for the Dutch merchant navy and thus the slave trade. The British hijacked many Dutch ships, causing the slave trade to fall sharply. In 1784, after the war, the slave trade was resumed. This was short-lived, however, as the French invaded the Netherlands in 1795. The British again went to war with the
Batavian Republic
The Batavian Republic ( nl, Bataafse Republiek; french: République Batave) was the successor state to the Republic of the Seven United Netherlands. It was proclaimed on 19 January 1795 and ended on 5 June 1806, with the accession of Louis Bona ...
, which was now an ally of the French. In 1802, the
Treaty of Amiens
The Treaty of Amiens (french: la paix d'Amiens, ) temporarily ended hostilities between France and the United Kingdom at the end of the War of the Second Coalition
The War of the Second Coalition (1798/9 – 1801/2, depending on perio ...
made the resumption of trade possible, but when the British again declared war on the French in 1803, the Dutch slave trade came to an end. As in the period from 1799 to 1802, the Dutch plantations came under British
protectorate
A protectorate, in the context of international relations, is a State (polity), state that is under protection by another state for defence against aggression and other violations of law. It is a dependent territory that enjoys autonomy over m ...
; these were also supplied with slaves by British slave traders.
Arguments
Towards the end of the eighteenth century, protests against slavery began to grow. The long sea voyages under bad conditions caused many casualties. Shipwrecks occurred regularly. Christian groups in particular drew attention to the poor living conditions of the slaves. But there was also protest about the hardships suffered by the soldiers who had to supervise the slaves. Both in Africa and Central America, soldiers were struck down by tropical diseases.
In economic terms, the slave trade became less important with the emergence of the European
sugar beet
A sugar beet is a plant whose root contains a high concentration of sucrose and which is grown commercially for sugar production. In plant breeding, it is known as the Altissima cultivar group of the common beet (''Beta vulgaris''). Together wi ...
cultivation. Africa changed from an area where 'raw materials' (slaves) were extracted into a potential market for Europe. The development of agricultural machinery provided an additional reason to abolish slavery; the use of machines made slaves obsolete.
Abolition
![Shackles-Sint Eustatius](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/1/18/Shackles-Sint_Eustatius.jpg)
Meanwhile, the United Kingdom had banned the slave trade. When
William I
William I; ang, WillelmI (Bates ''William the Conqueror'' p. 33– 9 September 1087), usually known as William the Conqueror and sometimes William the Bastard, was the first Norman king of England, reigning from 1066 until his death in 1087 ...
returned from exile, he placated the British by not allowing a continuation of the Transatlantic slave trade. This made them willing to give back the Dutch territories that had come under British protectorate during the wars, although the British retained the Cape Colony. Finally, the Dutch Trans-Atlantic slave trade was abolished in June 1814 by Royal Decree from William I. In May 1818, the United Kingdom and the Netherlands concluded an
Anglo-Dutch Slave Trade Treaty
The Anglo-Dutch Slave Trade Treaty (Dutch: ''Brits-Nederlands verdrag ter wering van de slavenhandel'') was a treaty signed between the United Kingdom and the Kingdom of the Netherlands signed on 4 May 1818, aimed at preventing slave trade carrie ...
, which, among other things, provided for the establishment of two Joint Courts of Justice to convict slavers who tried to evade the ban. However, the legal slave trade within the Caribbean continued as usual. The United Kingdom abolished slavery in 1833, resulting in slaves fleeing from
St. Eustatius
Sint Eustatius (, ), also known locally as Statia (), is an island in the Caribbean. It is a special municipality (officially " public body") of the Netherlands.
The island lies in the northern Leeward Islands portion of the West Indies, s ...
to the nearby British island of
St. Kitts
Saint Kitts, officially the Saint Christopher Island, is an island in the West Indies. The west side of the island borders the Caribbean Sea, and the eastern coast faces the Atlantic Ocean. Saint Kitts and the neighbouring island of Nevis cons ...
.
Abolition of slavery
The Netherlands abolished slavery in stages, first in the directly governed parts of the
Dutch East Indies
The Dutch East Indies, also known as the Netherlands East Indies ( nl, Nederlands(ch)-Indië; ), was a Dutch colony consisting of what is now Indonesia. It was formed from the nationalised trading posts of the Dutch East India Company, which ...
with effect from 1 January 1860 (Law establishing the Regulations on the Policy of the Government of the Netherlands Indies), then in
Suriname
Suriname (; srn, Sranankondre or ), officially the Republic of Suriname ( nl, Republiek Suriname , srn, Ripolik fu Sranan), is a country on the northeastern Atlantic coast of South America. It is bordered by the Atlantic Ocean to the north ...
and the
Netherlands Antilles
nl, In vrijheid verenigd"Unified by freedom"
, national_anthem =
, common_languages = Dutch English Papiamento
, demonym = Netherlands Antillean
, capital = Willemstad
, year_start = 1954
, year_end = 2010
, date_start = 15 December
, ...
on July 1, 1863 (Emancipation Act). On that day, about 35,000 slaves in Suriname and 12,000 slaves on the Dutch islands in the Caribbean were given their freedom.
Slavery continued to exist in some parts of the Dutch East Indies under indirect rule. On the island of
Sumbawa
Sumbawa is an Indonesian island, located in the middle of the Lesser Sunda Islands chain, with Lombok to the west, Flores to the east, and Sumba further to the southeast. Along with Lombok, it forms the province of West Nusa Tenggara, but there ...
this lasted until March 31, 1910, on
Samosir
Samosir, or Samosir Island, is a large volcanic island in Lake Toba, located in the north of the island of Sumatra in Indonesia. Administratively, Samosir Island is governed as six of the nine districts within Samosir Regency. The lake and is ...
even longer.
Ketikoti is an annual holiday in Suriname, and also among
Afro-Surinamese
Afro-Surinamese are the inhabitants of Suriname of Sub-Saharan African ancestry. They are descended from enslaved Africans brought to work on sugar plantations. Many of them escaped the plantations and formed independent settlements together, bec ...
and
Afro-Antilleans in the Netherlands, to commemorate the abolition of slavery. In 1963, the
statue of Kwakoe was unveiled in Paramaribo, Suriname's capital city to commemorate the abolition of slavery. Since 2002 there is an official monument for remembrance of slavery in the Kingdom of the Netherlands in Amsterdam, the ''National Slavery History Monument''.
Compensation for the slave owners
![Slave compensation Sint Eustatius](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/6/62/Slave_compensation_Sint_Eustatius.jpg)
The abolition of slavery was referred to as 'emancipation'. Parties were organized in which King William III was presented as a key figure and benefactor of the freed slaves. The Dutch government paid compensation of 300 guilders per slave to the owner as compensation for the lost property (In the Dutch East Indies 50 to 350 guilders depending on the age of the slave). In total, the allowance amounted to almost 12 million guilders, about 10% of the government expenditure in 1863.
As an alternative to the use of slaves, contract workers were recruited from the Dutch East Indies (
Javanese Surinamese
Javanese Surinamese people are an ethnic group of Javanese descent in Suriname. They have been present since the late 19th century, when their first members were selected as indentured laborers by the Dutch colonizers from the former Dutch ...
), India (
Indo-Surinamese
Indo-Surinamese, Indian-Surinamese or Hindustani Surinamese are people of Indian origin who are nationals of Suriname with ancestry from India and the wider subcontinent. Their ancestors were Indian indentured workers brought by the Dutch and th ...
) and China (
Chinese Surinamese
Chinese Surinamese people are Surinamese residents of ethnic Chinese origin. The earliest migrants came in the 19th century as indentured laborers; there was another wave of migration in the 1950s and 1960s. There were 7,885 Chinese in Suriname a ...
).
In Suriname the former slaves were placed under state supervision for a period of ten years and so they often continued to work on the same plantations. During this period, released plantation workers between the ages of 15 and 60 were obliged to conclude an employment contract. This measure was mainly intended to prevent the former slaves from leaving the plantations en masse, which presumably would have caused the collapse of the plantation economy.
Time line of the abolition of slavery in the Netherlands and its colonial empire
*1814 – Transatlantic slave trade abolished.
*1860 – Dutch East Indies – only in the directly administered areas.
*1863 – Dutch West Indies – Emancipation Act abolishes slavery in the Dutch West Indies. Slave owners receive compensation; freedmen in Suriname come under state supervision for ten years with a mandatory employment contract on the plantations.
*1872 –
Dutch Gold Coast
The Dutch Gold Coast or Dutch Guinea, officially Dutch possessions on the Coast of Guinea (Dutch: ''Nederlandse Bezittingen ter Kuste van Guinea'') was a portion of contemporary Ghana that was gradually colonized by the Dutch, beginning in 1612. ...
– colony sold to Great Britain, in which slavery had already been abolished.
*1873 – Dutch West Indies – state supervision and compulsory employment contract abolished.
*1877 – Dutch East Indies – Island of
Bali
Bali () is a province of Indonesia and the westernmost of the Lesser Sunda Islands. East of Java and west of Lombok, the province includes the island of Bali and a few smaller neighbouring islands, notably Nusa Penida, Nusa Lembongan, and Nu ...
*1910 – Dutch East Indies – Island of
Sumbawa
Sumbawa is an Indonesian island, located in the middle of the Lesser Sunda Islands chain, with Lombok to the west, Flores to the east, and Sumba further to the southeast. Along with Lombok, it forms the province of West Nusa Tenggara, but there ...
– March 31
*1914 – Dutch East Indies – Island of
Samosir
Samosir, or Samosir Island, is a large volcanic island in Lake Toba, located in the north of the island of Sumatra in Indonesia. Administratively, Samosir Island is governed as six of the nine districts within Samosir Regency. The lake and is ...
– probably the last part of the Dutch colonial empire where slavery was abolished.
Numbers
In all Dutch traders shipped and sold between 550,000 and 850,000 slaves in the Atlantic area: first to Brazil, later mainly to Suriname and the Antilles. Historian Matthias van Rossum estimates that throughout history between 660,000 and 1,135,000 slaves were traded in order to provide labor to the Dutch settlement areas in Asia. In addition to the VOC itself, this also concerns slave ownership of the European, Eurasian and non-European inhabitants of these areas. When slavery was abolished in 1863, the registers speak of 32,911 persons in Suriname and approximately 11,800 in the Antilles.
National Slavery History Monument
The National Slavery History Monument was unveiled on 1 July 2002 in the
Oosterpark (Amsterdam)
The Oosterpark (English: Eastern Park) is the first large park laid out by the Government of Amsterdam, municipality of Amsterdam. Located near the Singelgracht of the Mauritskade to the north, it is the principal component of the Oosterpark neigh ...
in the presence of
Queen Beatrix
Beatrix (Beatrix Wilhelmina Armgard, ; born 31 January 1938) is a member of the Dutch royal house who reigned as Queen of the Netherlands from 1980 until her abdication in 2013.
Beatrix is the eldest daughter of Queen Juliana and her husband ...
and many other invited guests from both the Netherlands and abroad. In particular, the monument commemorates the slavery past in Suriname, the Netherlands Antilles, Aruba and the west coast of Africa, including Ghana.
Monuments have also been placed in various other places in the Netherlands, such as in Rotterdam in 2013.
Dutch in slavery
![Turkish use of slaves to row galleys](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/5/53/Turkish_use_of_slaves_to_row_galleys.jpg)
The Dutch were also enslaved after the Middle Ages. In particular, North African
privateer
A privateer is a private person or ship that engages in maritime warfare under a commission of war. Since robbery under arms was a common aspect of seaborne trade, until the early 19th century all merchant ships carried arms. A sovereign or deleg ...
s and merchants, also known as
Barbary pirates
The Barbary pirates, or Barbary corsairs or Ottoman corsairs, were Muslim pirates and privateers who operated from North Africa, based primarily in the ports of Salé, Rabat, Algiers, Tunis and Tripoli, Libya, Tripoli. This area was known i ...
, operating under the banner of the
Ottoman Empire
The Ottoman Empire, * ; is an archaic version. The definite article forms and were synonymous * and el, Оθωμανική Αυτοκρατορία, Othōmanikē Avtokratoria, label=none * info page on book at Martin Luther University) ...
, targeted Europeans for, among other things, construction projects and as
galley slaves
A galley slave was a slave rowing in a galley, either a convicted criminal sentenced to work at the oar ('' French'': galérien), or a kind of human chattel, often a prisoner of war, assigned to the duty of rowing.
In the ancient Mediterranea ...
. They were also not infrequently held captive with a view to obtaining
ransom money from relatives or fellow believers. These Christian slaves were captured while hijacking sea-going vessels, as well as looting from the European coasts, including the Dutch ones.
The problem of the robbery of European slaves was especially great in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. Among the estimated 1 to 1.25 million persons captured as slaves during that period, approximately 10,000-12,000 were Dutch.
Sources
Amsterdam en slavernij, Stadsarchief AmsterdamThema Slavernij Geschiedenis Zeeland‘Swart’ in Nederland – Afrikanen en Creolen in de Noordelijke NederlandenCanon of the Netherlands: ''Slavery''
References
{{Reflist
Literature
* Pepijn Brandon, Guno Jones,
Nancy Jouwe and Mathhias van Rossum (red.): ''De slavernij in Oost en West. Het Amsterdam-onderzoek''. Spectrum. 2020.
*
Emmer, P.C. (2000): ''The Dutch slave trade, 1500–1850'', Arbeiderspers,
*
Klein, H.S. (2010): ''The Atlantic Slave Trade. New approaches to the Americas'', Cambridge University Press,
* Klooster, W. (1998): ''Illicit riches'',
KITLV Press,
* Postma, J.M. (1990): ''The Dutch in the Atlantic slave trade, 1600–1815'', Cambridge University Press,
* Stipriaan, A. van; Heilbron, W.; Bijnaar, A.; Smeulders, V. (2007): ''Op zoek naar de stilte. Sporen van het slavernijverleden in Nederland'', KITLV Press.
*Den Heijer, H. (2013): ''Geschiedenis van de WIC'', Amsterdam University Press
Dutch
Dutch commonly refers to:
* Something of, from, or related to the Netherlands
* Dutch people ()
* Dutch language ()
Dutch may also refer to:
Places
* Dutch, West Virginia, a community in the United States
* Pennsylvania Dutch Country
People E ...
Slavery in the Netherlands
Social history of the Dutch Republic
Articles containing video clips