Tula (died 3 October 1795), also known as Tula Rigaud, was an African man enslaved on the island of
Curaçao
Curaçao, officially the Country of Curaçao, is a constituent island country within the Kingdom of the Netherlands, located in the southern Caribbean Sea (specifically the Dutch Caribbean region), about north of Venezuela.
Curaçao includ ...
, in the
Dutch West Indies, who liberated himself and led the
Curaçao Slave Revolt of 1795. The revolt, which began on 17 August 1795, lasted for more than a month. He was executed on 3 October 1795. He is revered on Curaçao today as a fighter for human rights and independence.
The
Tula Museum is a museum dedicated to Tula and his revolt, and is located in the Knip Plantation where the revolt started.
The film ''
Tula: The Revolt'' (2013) is based on Tula's life story.
The revolt and reporting on Tula
On August 17, 1795, Tula refused to go to work, and along with about forty to fifty fellow slaves, he went to his owner Caspar Lodewijk Van Uytrecht to plead for their freedom, to which they believed they were entitled. Out of force majeure, Van Uytrecht referred him to the governor in Willemstad to tell his story to him; the group under Tula's leadership left.
The group moved across the island past various plantations, such as
Lagún,
Santa Cruz,
Porto Marie, San Nicolas, Santa Martha and San Juan, with more and more slaves joining them. They freed slaves who were imprisoned, so the group under Tula's leadership expanded to two thousand slaves.
The Colonial Council tried to counter the rebellion and return the slaves to their plantations by negotiating. Several envoys were sent to speak with Tula as leader of the rebellion and reported on this.
These sources make up most of what is known about Tula. One of the envoys was
Franciscan
The Franciscans are a group of related organizations in the Catholic Church, founded or inspired by the Italian saint Francis of Assisi. They include three independent Religious institute, religious orders for men (the Order of Friars Minor bei ...
Father Jacobus Schinck. These documents are at the
National Archives
National archives are the archives of a country. The concept evolved in various nations at the dawn of modernity based on the impact of nationalism upon bureaucratic processes of paperwork retention.
Conceptual development
From the Middle Ages i ...
of the Netherlands including the record of the capture, interrogation and torture and sentencing (execution).
See also
*
Maria (rebel leader)
References
External links
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Tula
1795 deaths
18th-century births
Curaçao slaves
18th-century executions by the Netherlands
Torture victims
Rebel slaves
18th-century people from the Dutch Empire
18th-century slaves
18th-century rebels