The Dutch in the Atlantic Slave Trade 1600-1815
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The Dutch in the Atlantic Slave Trade 1600-1815
The Dutch in the Atlantic Slave Trade 1600-1815 JOHANNES MENNE POSTMA Mankato State University
CAMBRIDGE UNIVERSITY PRESS
Published by the Press Syndicate of the University of Cambridge The Pitt Building, Trumpington Street, Cambridge CB2 IRP 40 West 20th Street, New York, NY 10011-4211, USA 10 Stamford Road, Oakleigh, Victoria 3166, Australia © Cambridge University Press 1990 First published 1990 Reprinted 1992 Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Postma, Johannes Menne. The Dutch in the Atlantic Slave Trade, 1600-1815 /Johannes Menne Postma. p. cm. Bibliography: p. Includes index. ISBN 0-521-36585-6
1. Slave-trade - Netherlands - History. 2. West-Indische Compagnie (Netherlands) - History. 3. Slave-trade - Africa, West - History. 4. Slavery - Latin America - History. I. Title. HT1203.P67 1990 382'. 44/0943-
Postma, Johannes Menne The Dutch in the Atlantic slave trade, 1600-1815 1. Netherlands, Slave trade, history I. Tide ISBN 0-521-36585-6 hardback
Transferred to digital printing 2004
To Laurel Menne Postma
Contents
List of tables, figures, and maps Preface 1. Foundations of the slave traffic, 1600-61
page viii xi 1
2. Curasao and the asiento trade, 1650-1730
26
3. The Dutch on the West African coast
56
4. Trade and politics on the African coast
84
5. Volume of African exports and origins of slaves
106
6. Organization and mechanics of the trade
126
7. The triangular trade
149
8. The Dutch plantation colonies under WIC monopoly, 1618-1738
174
9. The era of the free trade, 1730-80
201
10. The slaves: their treatment and mortality
227
11. Finances, marketing, and profitability
259
12. The end of the Dutch slave trade, 1781-1815
284
Appendixes Bibliography Index
304 412 420
Tables, figures, and maps
Tables 1.1 1.2 2.1 2.2 2.3 2.4 2.5 2.6 3.1 3.2 5.1 5.2 5.3 5.4 5.5 5.6 5.7 5.8 5.9 5.10 6.1 6.2 6.3
Slave imports in Dutch Brazil, 1630-1651 The chambers of the WIC Asiento contracts, 1662-1713 Estimated traffic and destination of slaves, 1658-1674 WIC traffic to Curasao and Spanish colonies, 1675-1699 WIC traffic to Curagao and Spanish colonies, 1700-1732 Slave ship assignments and arrivals The Dutch asiento slave trade, 1658-1729 Slaves sold to Brazilians in Africa by the WIC establishment Documented interloper slaving activity Dutch slave exports from Africa, 1675-1738 Slave origins under the old WIC, 1658-1674 Slave origins in the WIC trade, 1675-1699 Slave origins in the WIC trade, 1700-1738 Fluctuations of WIC slave origins, 1658-1738 Slaves from Africa by Dutch free traders, 1730-1803 Slave origins in the free trade, 1730-1803 Specified slave origins from the Guinea coast, 1741-1782 Gold Coast slave origins, 1705-1716 Fragmented Gold Coast slave origins, 1725-1754 Recorded slave-ship assignments and regional WIC affiliation Home ports of the WIC, 1675-1738 Home ports in the free trade, 1730-1803
21 23 34 35 45 48 54 54 78 82 no 112 113 114 115 118 121 122 123 124 129 131 132
Tables, figures, and maps 6.4 6.5 6.6 7.1 7.2 7.3 7.4 7.5 8.1 8.2 8.3 8.4 8.5 9.1 9.2 9.3 9.4 9.5 9.6 9.7 9.8 9.9 10.1 10.2 10.3 10.4 10.5 10.6 10.7 10.8 10.9 10.10 10.11 10.12 10.13 11.1 11.2 11.3 11.4 11.5
Daily loading rates on the African coast Ship carrying capacity and mortality Utilization of slave ships Time dimensions of triangular slaving missions Dutch slave ship crew members and their monthly salaries Documented voyages by Dutch slave captains Seasonal factors in the Dutch slave trade Documented slave uprisings on Dutch slave ships Population of Surinam, 1684-1754 Slave landings at Surinam by WIC ships, 1668-1738 Slave imports at Essequibo, 1618-1738 Slave imports at Berbice, 1627-1737 Documented slave landings at St. Eustatius, 1689-1729 WIC slave sales to free traders, 1737-1777 The free trade to Surinam, 1732-1803 Free trade to Berbice, 1731-1795 Free trade to Essequibo, 1731-1795 Free trade to Demerara, 1746-1795 Free trade to Curasao, 1731-1795 Free trade to St. Eustatius, 1731-1795 Free-trade slave ships without verified destination Estimates for unknown slave destinations Slave gender and age ratios Gender and age groups in sample slave population Provisions for a consignment of 400 slaves Postdisembarkation mortality, 1700-1739 Causes of death among the slaves Coasting and ocean crossing mortality compared Mortality in the WIC slave trade Mortality in the Dutch free trade Categories of true mortality Consignments with catastrophic mortality rates Distribution of slave mortality Crowding/mortality comparison Gender/age mortality ratios Comparative measures and currencies and money of account WIC slave prices, 1675-1738 Slave prices and profits, 1740-1795 Partial WIC price table of the year 1676 Slave prices in Africa for the ship Delft in 1736
ix 142 146 147 152 154 156 159 166 185 186 191 195 199 206 212 218 220 221 223 224 225 225 230 231 234 240 244 249 250 251 252 254 255 256 257 262 264 265 265 266
x
Tables, figures, and maps
11.6 11.7 11.8 11.9 12.1 12.2 12.3
Prices and profits by African region, 1740-1795 Comparative consumer retail prices, 1650-1795 Profit ranges per slave consignment, 1740-1795 Profits in the MCC slave trade, 1740-1795 Slave allocations, 1780-1803 Aggregate Dutch slave exports from Africa Aggregate slave destinations in the Dutch slave trade
268 269 279 280 285 295 300
Figures 3.1 6.1 10.1 11.1 12.1 12.2 12.3 12.4
WIC ranks and functions in Africa Generic diagram of the interior of a slave ship Middle passage mortality cycle Prices of slaves in the Dutch slave trade The Dutch slave trade and the combined Atlantic traffic African origins of the slaves Regional Dutch participation in the slave trade American destinations in the Dutch slave trade
62 143 247 269 296 298 299 301
Maps 1.1 2.1 3.1 3.2 4.1 5.1 6.1 8.1 8.2
New Holland in Brazil, ca. 1640 The Caribbean region Coastal regions of West and Central Africa: 17th and 18th Centuries Dutch trading factories in West Africa Political developments on Gold and Slave coasts: ca. 1650-1750 The Windward coast: 18th century West Africa The Dutch Republic: ca. 1700 The Guiana region The Lesser Antilles
20 28 58 64 93 117 130 176 196
Preface
Since 1958, when as a student I crossed the Atlantic from Rotterdam to New York on a passenger ship, I have been intrigued by the massive movement of people across that ocean. As a graduate student during the 1960s I developed an interest in African history. Coupled with my Dutch background and my decision to stay in America, it is no surprise that all of this converged into a strong interest in transatlantic migrations. The Dutch involvement in the Atlantic slave trade had received only scant attention up to then, and I decided to fill this gap by writing a doctoral dissertation on the Dutch participation in that forced migration from Africa. After completing a dissertation for Michigan State University in 1970, and publishing a number of articles in scholarly journals, this book is the culmination of many years of research that should place the Dutch role in the Atlantic slave trade in proper perspective. The Dutch involvement in the Atlantic slave trade is a subject of enormous complexity. Not only does it cover about two centuries of history, but it has wide-ranging geographical dimensions, including Europe, Africa, North America, South America, and the Caribbean. In addition, the subject involves complicated economic, demographic, medical, and statistical dimensions. Organizing this rather complex subject into a readable book has not been an easy task, and it has necessitated a number of revisions. Chronological, geographic, and thematic developments have all been employed to provide a structure for this book. The first chapter sets the stage of the beginnings of the Atlantic slave trade and the initial Dutch participation in it. It deals with the financial and institutional prerequisites for the traffic, such as the Dutch West India Company (WIC). The establishment of a Dutch colony in northern Brazil, "New Holland," is discussed as the catalyst for the Dutch entry into the slave trade. Chapter 2 continues the emphasis on the New World markets for slaves, because without such a demand for cheap labor there would not have been forced migration from Africa. Here, the significance of the so-
xii
Preface
called asiento trade with the Spanish colonies and the role of Curasao as a slave trade depot are examined. In the next three chapters the focus shifts to Africa. Chapter 3 explores the Dutch presence on the West African coast; the Afro-European commercial and political relations are examined in the following chapter. Chapter 5 makes an assessment of the aggregate Dutch slave exports from Africa and also focuses on the question of African origins of the slaves. The organization and mechanics of the Atlantic slave trade are discussed in Chapters 6 and 7. This involves the institutions and tools of the trade, such as commercial companies and ships, as well as the various techniques employed in acquiring and disposing of slaves. The nature of the triangularity of the slave trade is examined focusing on two specific slave ships in action. Chapters 8 and 9 return to the chronological account, with an emphasis on the Western slave markets. But whereas the first two chapters deal essentially with the seventeenth century, these chapters deal with the eighteenth century. First, the establishment and supply of the Dutch plantation colonies on the Guiana coast are explored, especially the sizable settlement of Surinam. The Antillean island of St. Eustatius and its role in the slave trade are also discussed. The early part of the eighteenth century, with continued WIC monopoly over the Dutch slave trade, is discussed in Chapter 8. After the termination of that monopoly in 1738, the so-called free-trade slaving period is examined in Chapter 9. Chapters 10 and 11 deal with special themes in the slave trade. In the first, the attention is on the slaves themselves, how they were housed, fed, and treated, and how they reacted to their fate. Much emphasis is placed on death and dying on the so-called middle passage. Chapter 11 explores the financial and economic intricacies of the slave trade and the question of profitability. The final chapter discusses the declining decades of the Dutch slave trade, 1780 to 1803. It also deals with the moral implications, the question of the abolition of the traffic, and the absence of an abolitionist movement in the Dutch Republic. In a subject such as the Atlantic slave trade, the forced migration of approximately ten million human beings, one cannot escape the issue of morality. This phenomenon will always remain one of the dark pages in human history. The focus of this study is not on the moral dimensions of the slave traffic, but it is meant to clarify what in fact happened and when and why the traffic existed. I have tried to be as objective as possible and not to let moral considerations of human suffering and injustice be central, so that the subject could be therefore tolerable for lengthy examination. In a study such as this, one also develops a certain distancing to human suffering; in time slaves become mere statistics and commercial items, as they
Preface
xiii
must have been to the slave traders. However, periodically one has to confront the enormous injustice and suffering that the slave trade brought about. I clearly remember one day in the archives in The Hague, when I discovered a batch of letters and reports that brought to light the tragic sinking of the slave ship, Leusden, on January i, 1738. Nearly 700 slaves drowned in this incident off the Surinam coast; of the 716 slaves who had left the African coast on November 19, 1737, only 14 survived (see Chapter 10). As I read the various reports written by surviving crew members, I realized that I had rediscovered one of the great maritime tragedies which had been completely erased from human memory, primarily because the victims were mere slaves. I felt a mixture of emotions: stunned by the tragedy and human suffering, but at the same time excited professionally about the rediscovery of a significant historic event. This is one example of the mixture of emotions that can be experienced in the research on the squalid aspects of human history. Many people have assisted in making this book a reality. Scholars from all coasts of the Atlantic have offered advice and encouragement as this project unfolded through the years. It would be impossible to remember or mention all of them, but I wish to mention at least a few. Professors J. R. Bruyn and Robert Ross, of Leiden University, and Dr. G. W. van der Meiden, archivist at the Rijksarchief in The Hague, have read the manuscript and offered suggestions for content improvements. Similarly, the readers of Cambridge University Press, Dr. P. C. Emmer of Leiden University, and Dr. David Eltis of Algonquin College of Ontario, Canada, have offered valuable advice. All of the above are historians by training, and their suggestions have been extremely valuable in getting the manuscript into its present form, although I accept ultimate responsibility for the contents of the book. Professor G. W. Bruyn of the Leiden Medical Faculty read and critiqued Chapter 10, which deals with tropical and maritime diseases. Dr. C. J. T. Talar and Dr. Fred O. Doty have read and critiqued the manuscript primarily for style and grammar, and I greatly appreciate their contributions. There are many quotations in this book that are translated from the Dutch language. All of the translations from archival and printed materials are mine, unless they are quoted from a published work already translated into English. Professor J. R. Bruyn also helped with the translations of some of the appendices. Several people have given me assistance and advice in learning to master computer skills and applying them to this study. Three friends and colleagues at Mankato State University need to be singled out for their particular assistance and encouragement in this area. Professor Richard Weisgerber
xiv
Preface
helped me to understand the basic principles of computer technology and he introduced me to various programs. Dr. Ronald Yezzi and Dr. Dennis Braun gave valuable assistance with the tables and graphics. I also want to thank Mr. Frank Smith, editor at Cambridge University Press, for guiding the manuscript through the publication process. Special thanks are due to Mr. Herbert A. Gilbert for the final editing of the manuscript. While on sabbatical leave during the 1986-7 academic year, I taught a graduate seminar at Leiden University on the subject of the Dutch and the Atlantic Slave Trade. My research and writing on this project were nearly completed by that time, but the research projects of the students and the discussions in the seminar contributed significantly to the final manuscript. Several students have been credited for their specific contributions in the footnotes, but to give adequate recognition to that valuable and enjoyable experience, I list all the students of the Leiden Seminar: M. van Bellen, J. de Boer, R. Chander, V. Enthoven, M. Eygenraam, J. Gewald, H. den Heyer, A. Neeser, E. Neuman, H. Nooitgedagt, W. Reiger, R. SewnarainSoerdjbalie, P. Veder, and J. Verhoog. Without special financial assistance, this lengthy research project could not have been completed. The following institutions and agencies have contributed over the years to make the many research trips to Europe and Africa possible: The National Defense Education Assistance (1967-8), African Studies Center at Michigan State University (1968), The American Council of Learned Societies (1972-3), Zuiver Wetenschappelijk Onderzoek in the Netherlands (1986-7), and several small research grants from Mankato State University. Last but not least, major credit is due to my wife, Laurel Menne Postma, for her patience and steady encouragement in this academic project. Not only did she read the entire manuscript at least twice and make several suggestions for improvements, but she is also responsible for completing all the maps and diagrams, and she designed the jacket of the book. I dedicate this book to her.
1 Foundations of the slave traffic 1600-61
The slave trade from Africa to the Western Hemisphere was undoubtedly one of the major migrations in human history, a precursor to the even larger subsequent migration from Europe to the West. The migration from Africa was unique in that the emigrants were all forcibly transferred and, as slaves, were looked upon as social and racial inferiors by their European counterparts. As a consequence, the Atlantic slave trade made a significant and in many ways a lasting impact on the history of Africa and the Americas and to a lesser extent on Europe as well. Africa supplied the labor force, Europe the means of transportation and the necessary capital and commercial institutions, and the Americas the market for cheap labor for its plantations and mines. Thus, the slave trade provided a significant link between continents that surround the Atlantic. It contributed to the massive increase of world trade and the resulting accumulation of wealth, expanded the racial and cultural mosaic of Western societies, and became a major cause of racial conflicts in American societies. The slave trade itself produced one of the most embarrassing chapters in human history, which has haunted historians, moralists, and economists ever since. For Africa, the Atlantic slave trade had major consequences, mostly negative. Although some scholars have suggested that its demographic impact was minimal and the economic results positive, others have stressed a wide range of negative consequences. Not only were many of its sons and daughters carried off, generally in the prime of life, but slave raids and increased warfare had an impact on the social and political fabric of African societies that will continue to be debated for many years. One scholar referred to the slave trade as "one of the greatest crimes committed against Africa, and one of the most disastrous episodes of its history."1 The Atlantic slave trade was also an important component in the global i. J. D. Fage, A History of West Africa (Cambridge: University Press, 1969), pp. 84-92; Adu Boahen, Topics in West African History (London: Longman Group, 1966), pp. 108-13.
2
The Dutch in the Atlantic Slave Trade
economy that was evolving under European technological and administrative leadership. The trade provided Europe with a market for its manufactured goods with which slaves were purchased from African merchants. After the Atlantic crossing, the slaves were exchanged for precious metals or agricultural staples such as sugar, tobacco, coffee, and cotton, which were produced principally by slave labor. These products added to Europe's purchasing power and standard of living, at least in certain areas and for certain segments of the population. The wealth generated by this intricate process was invested in the expanding commercial network as well as in technological innovation. It is therefore with some justification, although unquestionably exaggerated, that the West Indian scholar and statesman, Eric Williams, a descendent of African slaves, asserted that the industrial revolution was based on the Atlantic system of slavery and the slave trade. 2 Although many Europeans were enriched by the slave trade, there were negative effects for others, in particular the sailors on the slave ships who experienced heavy death tolls. The moral predicament implicit in this trade in human beings became an issue among Europeans at the end of the eighteenth century, and this led to the gradual abolition of the traffic during the next century. The American continents undoubtedly reaped the greatest benefits from the Atlantic slave trade. Millions of workers were brought in who with their descendents contributed their labor to the development of American societies and the accumulation of riches, receiving as their remuneration only the barest sustenance. Even if the cultural contributions of the Afro-Americans are ignored, their labor in exploiting and developing the resources of the New World was essential, and their economic contribution was recognized as early as 1663 as "the strength and sinews of the Western World." 3
Measuring the Atlantic slave trade The years 1441 and 1444 have each been cited as the beginning of the Atlantic slave trade. During 1441 a Portuguese raiding party captured ten blacks on the African west coast, in what is perhaps present-day Mauritania or southern Morocco, and sold them on the Lisbon slave market. Black and white slaves were bought and sold regularly on several southern European slave markets at this time. Earlier, blacks were generally purchased in northern Africa and brought into Europe across the Mediterranean. In 1444 the 2. 3.
Eric Williams, Capitalism and Slavery (Richmond: University of North Carolina Press, 1944), p. vii. The so-called "William's Thesis" will be examined further in Chapter 11. David Brion Davis, The Problem of Slavery in Western Culture (Ithaca N.Y.: Cornell University Press, 1966), p. 10.
Foundations of the slave traffic
3
Portuguese started sending regular trading expeditions to the northwestern coast of Africa, and before the end of that year they had carried 235 slaves from Africa to Portugal. This commerce was apparently so important that Prince Henry, who was in charge of Portuguese maritime activities, decreed the slave trade a state monopoly.4 At that time slavery and the trade in slaves was not novel to either African or European societies. Various forms of human bondage, including chattel slavery by which a slave is considered as an item of property that can be sold by the owner at will, have been practiced almost everywhere at one time or another since ancient times. The "great Mediterranean slave trade," as David Brion Davis calls it, reached its peak during the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries, and slave markets were held regularly in many of the southern European capitals such as Venice, Seville, and Lisbon, and even as far north as Antwerp. In Venice alone, approximately 1,000 slaves were sold during the years 1414 to 1423. Several of the slaves sold on these markets had been brought from across the Sahara desert, and this may account for the eagerness of the Portuguese to acquire African slaves directly from Africa now that a direct route by sea was open to them. 5 Thus, the Atlantic slave trade was initiated with African slaves being shipped to Europe rather than to America. Philip Curtin calculated that by the early seventeenth century as many as 50,000 Africans were involuntarily shipped to Europe. During this same period the Europeans transported 25,000 African slaves to the Atlantic islands of Cape Verde, Madeira, and the Canaries, and another 100,000 were taken to the European sugar plantations of the African island of Sao Thome. Collectively, this pattern has been called the Old World Atlantic slave trade. 6 The trade to the Old World was only a prelude to what was to follow in the transatlantic slave trade. Although some of the slaves shipped to Europe were subsequently reexported to the New World, the year 1518 is generally thought to be the opening of the "real" Atlantic slave trade, directly from Africa to the American colonies. In that year the Spanish monarch, Charles V, granted the first of the well-known royal licenses, or asientos, allowing the holder to take African slaves to the Spanish-American colonies. Some writers have pointed to the year 1510 as the beginning of the trade, because 4. 5.
6.
Basil Davidson, The African Slave Trade (Boston: Little, Brown, 1961), p. 33; Elisabeth Donnan, Documents Illustrative of the Slave Trade to America, 4 vols. (Washington, D.C.: Carnegie Institution, 1931), vol. 1, p. 1. Davis, pp. 42-4; For an assessment ot the trans-Saharan slave trade see: Ralph A. Austin, "The Trans-Saharan Slave Trade: A Tentative Census," in Henry A. Gemery and Jan S. Hogendorn, eds., The Uncommon Market (New York: Academic Press, 1979), pp. 23-76. Philip D. Curtin, The Atlantic Slave Trade; A Census (Madison: University of Wisconsin Press, 1969), pp. 17-28 and 268.
4
T h e Dutch in the Atlantic Slave Trade
during that year King Ferdinand of Spain approved the transport of 250 slaves from Lisbon to the New World.7 By the 1520s the transatlantic slave trade had developed into an accepted and lucrative business, which was managed exclusively by the Portuguese, who at that time controlled the African bases of supply. Only sporadic intrusions by rival Europeans interrupted this pattern during the sixteenth century. By the middle of that century a few thousand black slaves were shipped annually across the Atlantic and these numbers increased steadily; one source even suggests that there were as many as 10,000 per year, but the evidence for such a high claim is lacking.8 A significant expansion of the Atlantic slave trade occurred in the seventeenth century, particularly during the 1640s. One author describes the phenomenon as an "explosion of the slave trade," and another states that a "trickle became a flood." This may well have been an exaggeration because the increase was limited to specific regions; nevertheless, a significant increase in the flood of forced emigrants was evident. The spread of sugar cultivation from Brazil to the Caribbean islands seems to have been the crucial factor in this upward trend in the slave trade, or the sugar revolution, as it was called. Sugar cultivation required large supplies of cheap labor, and the profits were adequate at that time to secure the needed workers in the form of African slaves. Developments on the island of Barbados clearly illustrate this trend. In 1641 the island counted only a few hundred slaves among its population, but four years later their number had increased to approximately 6,ooo.9 With the growing volume of the slave trade came an increase in participants. By the end of the seventeenth century the Portuguese had been joined by the Dutch, English, French, Danish, and even the Brandenburgers in the traffic in slaves. In fact at times during the century the Dutch may well have replaced the Portuguese as the leading slave traders. The volume of the Atlantic slave trade continued to expand until a peak was reached in the 1780s, when annually as many as 100,000 slaves may have been taken across the Atlantic. The outbreak of the American Revolution and the international crisis that grew out of this conflict caused a decline in the trade. By 1815, when this long period of intermittent warfare ended, a number of countries had responded positively to the crusade to end the slave trade, and others were to follow suit in the decades that followed. However, through the illicit 7. 8. 9.
Donnan, vol. 1, p. 15; James A. Rawley, The Transatlantic Slave Trade (New York: Norton, 1981), pp. 10 and 26. See Chapter 2 for a more detailed examination of the asiento trade. Davidson, p. 49; Curtin, pp. 115-16. K. Polanyi and A. Rotstein, Dahomey and the Slave Trade (Seattle: University of Washington Press, 1966), p. 17; Curtin, p. 126; Donnan, vol. I, p. 97; K. G. Davies, The Royal African Company (London: Longman Group, 1957), p. 14.
Foundations of the slave traffic
5
trade and the persistent legal trade of a few southern European countries, the transatlantic slave trade continued to flourish until the 1850s. The grand total of slaves transported from Africa to the New World has long been a matter of conjecture. Estimates have ranged from under ten million to as many as fifty million, with fifteen million long accepted as the most reasonable count. Curtin's pioneering and comprehensive evaluation of the volume of the Atlantic slave trade, published in 1969, has stimulated a great amount of research on this subject. Curtin calculated that nearly 9.6 million African slaves were landed in the New World, with approximately eleven million forcibly exported from Africa. Subsequent archival research has prompted some regional and chronological revisions, but Curtin's overall estimate has been raised only slightly. According to Lovejoy's synthesis of the figures, the total number of slaves landed in the West comes to nearly 9.8 million and, accounting for the losses on the middle passage, between eleven and twelve million must have been exported from Africa.10
Africa and slavery With an increasing demand for workers on the plantations in the Western Hemisphere, and indigenous Americans and European immigrants being either inadequate to the task or unobtainable in sufficient numbers, Africa became a logical source for inexpensive labor for the most arduous work on the plantations. When the Atlantic slave trade got under way, slavery as an institution had been declining in Europe and had virtually disappeared in agriculture. Initially European indentured servants were taken to the New World, but the limitation of their time of service and the element of choice prevented them from becoming a reliable work force. On various occasions, native Americans had been enslaved by Europeans, but with devastating results. They could not or would not adjust to the harsh regimentation of slavery, and they were also decimated by diseases brought by the Europeans. As a result the Spanish authorities were persuaded to allow the importation of African slaves on a regulated basis through the so-called asiento trade.11 For centuries slaves had been exported from Africa across the Sahara desert and the Red Sea. Various forms of human bondage had been practiced by many African societies, including the right to transfer ownership or to sell slaves. Thus it was possible for the Portuguese to purchase slaves from Africans during their early explorations along the African coast. Because the 10. 11.
See Curtin, pp. 3-13 and 265-73 on the various estimates and the major trends. For a revision of Curtin's figures see Paul E. Lovejoy, "The Volume of the Atlantic Slave Trade: A Synthesis," Journal ofAfrican History, vol. 23 (1982), pp. 496-7. Williams, pp. 3—11.
6
The Dutch in the Atlantic Slave Trade
transatlantic slave trade grew slowly in intensity, it was possible for Africans to adjust the limited demand of the internal slave trade to the growing demand of the external trade. 12 One of the crucial questions in the debate over the moral responsibility for the Atlantic slave trade is the difference between slavery as practiced in Africa and the system of slavery that was developed in the Western Hemisphere. One unfortunate African who experienced enslavement in the West reflected on the system in Africa as follows: but how different was their condition from that of the slaves in the West Indies! With us they do no more work than other members of the community, even masters; their food, clothing and lodging were nearly the same as theirs (except that they were not permitted to eat with those who were free born), and there was scarce any other difference between them than a superior degree of importance which the head of a family possesses in our state, and that authority which, as such, he exercises over every part of his household. Some of these slaves have even slaves under them as their own property and for their own use.13 Outsiders have long been ignorant about slavery in Africa, as they have been about Africa in general. Recently, a groundbreaking study on the subject concluded that human bondage was widespread in Africa during the time of the Atlantic slave trade but that it should be seen as "one part of a continuum of human relations, which at one end are part of the realm of kinship and at the other involve using persons as chattels." Slavery in the Western Hemisphere, perhaps one of the less humane forms of human bondage in modern times, has become our frame of reference for the term slavery. It has influenced our thinking about that institution everywhere, including Africa, where there was great variation in the forms of human bondage. One major contrast between slavery in Africa and the Americas was that in the former slaves were quite readily incorporated into the society where they resided, whereas in the Americas slavery was identified with race and with perpetual servitude.14 Whether or not African slave traders were aware of the differences between these systems is hard to determine. Europeans who purchased African slaves 12.
This adjustment is illustrated in the specific case of the Vili of Loango by Phyllis Martin, "The Trade of Loango in the Seventeenth and Eighteenth Centuries," in Richard Gray and David Birmingham, eds., Pre-Colonial African Trade (London: Oxford University Press, 1970), pp. 139-48. 13. Olaudah Equiano, Equiano's Travels (New York: Praeger, 1967, p. 10; this autobiography is abridged and edited by Paul Edwards, and was first published in 1789. 14. Susanne Miers and Igor Kopytoff, eds., Slavery in Africa (Madison: University of Wisconsin Press, 1977, pp. 6, 11, 16 and 66; Walter Rodney, "African slavery and other forms of social oppression on the upper Guinea Coast in the context of the Atlantic slave trade . . . " Journal ofAfrican History, vol 7 (1966), pp. 431-43.
Foundations of the slave traffic
7
were almost certainly ignorant of conditions in the interior of Africa because the European penetration of Africa did not take place until the nineteenth century. European apologists for the slave trade, on the other hand, were readily prone to justify the enslavement of Africans on the ground that the slaves' benefits of "civilization" and Christianity easily outweighed the "curse of savage Africa." The cruelties involved in the slave trade were by the standards of its age perhaps not all that unusual, until the humanitarian impulses of the eighteenth century began to introduce more humane standards, which in time also began to challenge the slave trade itself. It is undoubtedly safe to assume that African and European merchants alike were motivated chiefly by economic profit. Willem Bosman, a Dutch trader stationed on the African coast about 1700, describing the treatment and the branding of the slaves after they were sold by Africans to the Dutch, defended the institution merely by stating: "I doubt not but this Trade seems very barbarous to you, but since it is followed by mere necessity it must go on; but we yet take all possible care that they are not burned too hard, especially the Women, who are more tender than the Men. 15
The base of operation in Holland Why was it that the small Dutch nation with a population of no more than 1.5 million people during the seventeenth century played such a prominent role in the transatlantic slave trade? The United Provinces, as the republic was known until it became the Kingdom of the Netherlands in 1814, was going through its birth struggle in a war of independence against Spain when it became involved in the slave trade. Participation in the slave trade was only a by-product of the enormous economic expansion of the nation that during the seventeenth century became a world-wide maritime empire. The Low Countries, particularly the maritime provinces of Holland and Zeeland, already controlled a large share of the seaborne trade of Europe before the Eighty Year War with Spain broke out in 1568. This war, however, greatly intensified the economic activities and power of the Dutch as they discovered that their best defense was an aggressive offense. Along with their periodic allies, the French and English, the Dutch made serious inroads into the maritime empires of Spain and Portugal, which were temporarily united through their monarchs during the period 1580 to 1640. The northwestern European powers virtually robbed the Iberian states of their longtime mastery of the seas. For a time it appeared as if Holland had succeeded 15. Willem Bosman, A New and Accurate Description of the Coast of Guinea (New York: Barnes & Noble, 1967), first published in Dutch in 1704, pp. 364-5.
8
The Dutch in the Atlantic Slave Trade
Portugal in controlling the trade with the East Indies, the West African coast, and the slave trade to the New World. The Dutch, however, were forced to allow other European powers a share in these activities.16 The Dutch economic and cultural resurgence during the seventeenth century, a period characterized as the Golden Age, cannot be explained by one simple factor. The war of independence against Spanish rule tended to fuse many of these forces for growth into a unified policy. As a result of the war, the loosely federated provinces were forced to establish a common foreign policy, which gave force and direction to the military struggle and led to the formation of one of the most powerful naval forces of that time. The States General, the representatives of the various regions of the United Provinces, was given control over foreign policy, while the grand pensionary foreshadowed the role of a modern prime minister. The Orange family, which held the hereditary title of stadholder, became even more closely affiliated with the Dutch through this struggle; as stadholders they were empowered with military leadership and the power of certain appointments and various other forms of influence. Contrary to the rather advanced maritime and commercial institutions of the Republic, this governmental edifice was essentially a modified relic of medieval balance of power. One important difference in this situation, however, was that the commercial oligarchy rather than the hereditary aristocracy was the dominant social and economic class. 17 Religious beliefs also played a role in the economic development of the young republic. An influential minority of the population, many of them merchants, were zealous Calvinists who saw the Catholicism of their Spanish overlords as the greatest danger to their religious convictions as well as to their economic interests. Periodic invasions by Spanish armies drove many Calvinist merchants and craftsmen from the southern provinces (now Belgium) to the north, where they contributed vitally to the religious and economic fervor of the new nation. This does not mean that Calvinism created the Dutch economic miracle in the seventeenth century; it is more likely that the Dutch were attracted to Calvinism because of its tolerance of capitalistic practices. As Schama puts it: "That lesson had been drunk with Dutch capitalism's mother's milk, in the earliest accounting between northern trade and the Christian gospel."18 One religious group that contributed to the economic growth of the Dutch Republic during much of the seventeenth century were the Sephardic Jews. 16.
Charles R. Boxer, The Portuguese Seaborne Empire, 1415-1825 (New York: Knopf, 1969), pp. io6ff. 17. Jan De Vries, "On the Modernity of the Dutch Republic," Journal of Economic History (1973), vol. 33, pp. 191-202. 18. Charles R. Boxer, The Dutch Seaborne Empire, 1600-1800 (New York: Knopf, 1965), pp. 8-13; Simon Schama, The Embarrassment of Riches (New York: Knopf, 1987), p. 371.
Foundations of the slave traffic
9
Many of these refugees from the Inquisition in Spain and Portugal found a haven in Amsterdam and Rotterdam and contributed significantly to the Dutch trade with their original Iberian homeland and its overseas colonies. The Sephardim also became a factor in the spread of sugar cultivation from Brazil to the West Indies and in the development of Dutch overseas plantation colonies. Similarly, at the end of the seventeenth century many Huguenots from France found refuge in Holland, after King Louis XIV revoked the Edict of Nantes in 1685, and they made their contribution to the economic development of the Dutch Republic.19 The Dutch Republic soon developed the largest merchant marine in the world and Amsterdam, its capital and principal seaport, became the world's center of insurance and financial institutions. Fernand Braudel summarizes the situation as follows: The Amsterdam entrepot trade verged on a monopoly. And if the Dutch really were 'the Carryers of the World, the middle persons in Trade, the Factors and Brokers of Europe', as Defoe wrote in 1728, this was not... thought because 'all the other nations were willing to suffer it to be so', but because they were unable to prevent it. The Dutch system was built on a network of commercial relations of interdependence which combined to produce a series of virtually obligatory channels for the circulation and redistribution of goods. It was a system that could only be maintained by constant vigilance, by a policy designed to thwart all competition, and by subordinating the whole of the Dutch economy to this essential objective.20
One of the cornerstones of Dutch maritime and commercial organization was their shipping firm, the partenrederij, or literally "shared outfitting." Initially, shipping was a family venture, but as the size of the ships, the voyage distances, and the volume of trade grew, additional capital was attracted by allowing various individuals to purchase shares in a single shipping venture. Such shares could be bought and sold but were limited to investment in a single ship making a specific voyage. The individual shareholder, or reder, lost or profited only to the degree of the investment, and financial accounts were settled at the conclusion of each shipping venture. One of the investors was appointed as the manager (boekhouder), who supervised the outfitting of the ship. This system of operation attracted the necessary capital for the rapidly expanding Dutch merchant marine. Captains of ships were 19. Jonathan Israel, "Spain and the Dutch Sephardim, 1609-1660," Studio. Rosenthaliana, vol. 12 (1978), pp. 6, 9, 26, 55-6; Cornelius Ch. Goslinga, The Dutch in the Caribbean and the Wild Coast, 1580—1680 (Gainesville: University of Florida Press, 1971), pp. 103, 338, 421, and 424-5; J. G. van Dillen, Van Rijkdom en Regenten (The Hague: Nijhoff, 1970), pp. 396-8, 409, and 503. 20. Fernand Braudel, The Perspective of the World (New York: Harper and Row, 1984); first published in French in 1979, p. 239.
io
The Dutch in the Atlantic Slave Trade
frequently part owners, which increased their level of motivation and thereby the potential success of the undertaking. The rederij could also be broadened into a shipping firm, such as the the great joint-stock companies. During the early sixteenth century, the Dutch created two of these, the East India Company and the West India Company. Both existed for nearly two centuries and gained considerable success and renown. The West India Company was to play a formidable role in the Atlantic slave trade. 21 During the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, the Dutch Republic held a prominent position in the world and attained a controversial reputation. To the Spanish and many other Catholic peoples, Holland was a land of money-hungry heretics. For many political and religious dissenters, such as John Locke, Rene Descartes, and Pierre Bailie, Holland became a haven of freedom, although many Dutch Catholics had their own civil rights curtailed. The Dutch Republic was a country of new economic and professional opportunity for many exiled Spanish Jews, French Huguenots, and other Protestant dissenters. Its growing wealth contributed to the flourishing of the arts, scientific experimentation, and technological and organizational advancement in such areas as shipbuilding, maritime insurance, commercial organization, and financial institutions. But for some half a million unfortunate Africans who were transported across the Atlantic, the Dutch must have been remembered in a more negative way.
The Dutch enter the slave trade The Dutch entry into the Atlantic slave trade was more by accident than by design, and their participation in it did not start in earnest until the 1630s. As early as 1528, Dutch names crop up in connection with the importation of slaves into the Spanish colonies, but these may well have been either Germans or Flemings from the Belgian provinces. One of the earliest direct Dutch connections with the African slave trade occurred in 1596, when a Rotterdam skipper, Pieter van der Haagen, brought 130 African slaves into the harbor of Middelburg, capital of the province of Zeeland. After lengthy debates, the city council decided that no slave market would be allowed there and that the slaves should be released and allowed to find jobs as free laborers. Similar incidents had taken place in Amsterdam in connection with the Portuguese Jews residing in that city, which suggests that the Dutch themselves were not favorably disposed to enter the trade in human beings, which was widely practiced in southern European cities at that time. 22 21.
Boxer, Dutch Empire, pp. 8 and 18-19; FJ.A. Broeze, "Bedrijfsorganisatie," in Maritieme Geschiedenis der Nederlanden (Bussum: Uniboek, 1977), vol. 3, pp. 99-114. 22. E. van den Boogaart and P. C. Emmer, "The Dutch Participation in the Atlantic Slave
Foundations of the slave traffic
11
This attitude prevailed until 1621, when the Dutch West India Company (West-Indische Compagnie, hereafter referred to as WIC), came into being. Some of the shareholders suggested participation in the slave trade; however, after consultations with theologians the directors agreed that the trade in human beings was morally not justified and should therefore not be practiced by the company. In general, Calvinist theologians accepted slavery as a legitimate human institution, justifying it on the so-called curse of Ham theory, which held that blacks were the offspring of Ham (and his son Canaan), the son of the biblical Noah, who had dishonored his father and thereby drew the curse of God that condemned his offspring to perpetual servitude. Calvinists who spoke out against slavery in the preeighteenth-century Enlightenment days were the exception to the rule. It is therefore quite likely that the majority of the WIC directors were economically motivated in selecting particular Calvinist advisers who would give them the advice they wished to hear.23 For nearly a decade the WIC avoided the trade in slaves. This does not mean, however, that individual Dutch skippers may not have engaged in the traffic on an extralegal basis, especially before the WIC gained a monopoly over the Atlantic trade. A few cases have in fact been documented, and others may come to light when the extensive notarial archives of Amsterdam are thoroughly examined. As early as 1615 the Dutch poet, G. A. Brederoo, in his play, Moortje ("Little Moor"), made reference to the slave trade practiced by merchants from Amsterdam. But the reference is clearly a condemnation of the slave trade: "Inhumane custom! Godless rascality! That people are being sold, to horselike slavery. In this city there are also those, who engage in that trade. In Farnabock, but God will know."24 The poet was most likely referring to some Sephardic Portuguese Jews who had found refuge in Amsterdam a few centuries earlier but who were still trading with the Portuguese in Pernambuco, Brazil. Prominent among these Jewish merchants was Diego Nunes Belmonte, a family name that will crop up again a century later in connection with the Dutch slave trade.25 An early case of Dutch involvement in the Old World slave trade has been documented for the year 1596, the same year that Middelburg rejected Trade, 1596-1650," in Henry A. Gemery and Jan S. Hogendorn, eds., The Uncommon Market (New York: Academic Press, 1979), pp. 354-7; Donnan, vol. 1, pp. 16-17. 23. Van den Boogaart and Emmer, p. 356; Davis, p. 63; L. R. Priester, u De Nederlandse houding ten aanzien van de slavenhandel en slavernij, 1596-1863," M.A. thesis, Erasmus University, Rotterdam, 1986, pp. 38-47. The last cited work covers the Dutch attitude towards slavery quite thoroughly. 24. W. S. Unger, "Bijdragen tot de geschiedenis van de Nederlandse slavenhandel," Economisch-Historisch Jaarboek, vol. 26 (The Hague: Nijhoff 1956) (cited hereafter as Unger, I), pp. 136-7; G. A. Brederoo, Moortje (Amsterdam: Van Raven, 1617), lines 233-6. 25. Unger I, p. 137; Van den Boogaart and Emmer, p. 354.
12
The Dutch in the Atlantic Slave Trade
the establishment of a slave market. The case involved an Amsterdam captain who took fifty-eight African slaves from Sao Thome to Lisbon. The first clearly identified effort by Dutchmen to participate in the transatlantic slave trade took place in 1597. That year a certain captain, Melchior van Kerkhove, sailed two ships to Angola for the purpose of obtaining slaves there. The venture failed, however, because the ships were captured by the Portuguese. 26 The first successful Dutch slaving expedition was recorded for the year 1606, when Isaac Duverne delivered 470 slaves to the island of Trinidad. Undoubtedly, there were other such ventures of which the records have either been lost or remain undiscovered. Documentation for this early period is obviously sparse and far from complete. In general, Dutch merchants had not yet come to appreciate the commercial value of the slave trade. This is confirmed by the fact that in the year 1606 Captain Pieter van den Broecke captured a ship with ninety slaves. Because he saw little commercial value in this human cargo, he quickly traded them for "victuals" to an English captain.27 Textbooks in the United States have perpetuated the notion of an early role of the Dutch in the Atlantic slave trade by citing a passage from Captain John Smith's old history of Virginia, which includes the following reference to the first African slaves arriving in the North American mainland. "About the last of August (1619) came a Dutch man of Warre that sold us twenty negars."28 A closer examination of the circumstances confirms that the ship must have been a Dutch privateer, not a slave ship, that had been on a plundering expedition against the Spanish in the West Indies. It had captured the slaves, apparently from an enemy ship, and sold them for needed supplies at or in the vicinity of the Jamestown settlement. The identity of the particular Dutch ship has unfortunately never been established. As was stated, the WIC did not immediately get involved in the Atlantic slave trade at its founding in 1621. The sporadic Dutch slaving incidents just mentioned were mostly prior to this date, and they seem to have diminished as a result of the WIC monopoly during the 1620s. Before long, however, WIC captains also got involved in the traffic; their intensive activities in the Atlantic could hardly prevent them from doing so. Surprisingly, in 1626, the WIC captain, Cornelis Jol, let a captured ship go free without taking an interest in its cargo of 600 slaves. There may have been special 26. Van den Boogaart and Emmer, p. 354; Unger I, p. 136. 27. Vincent Harlow, ed., Colonizing Expeditions to the West Indies and Guiana, 1623-1667 (London: Hakluyt Society, 1925), series II, vol. 56, p. 125; Unger I, p. 136. 28. Edward Arber and A. G. Bradley, eds., The Travels and Works of Captain John Smith (Edinburgh: Burt Franklin, 1910), vol. II, p. 541; W. F. Craven, White, Red, and Black: The Seventeenth Century Virginian (Charlottesville: University Press of Virginia, 1971), pp. 77-81.
Foundations of the slave traffic
13
reasons for JoPs action, because other WIC captains are reported to have confiscated slaves from captured enemy ships at this time. At any rate, it was not long after this incident that the company made a regular practice of capturing enemy slavers and confiscating their human cargo. One of the WIC directors, Joannes de Laet, reported in his description of the company's activities that between the years 1623 and 1637 a total of 2,336 slaves had been acquired by the company in this manner and that they were sold at various locations in the New World at an average price of 250 guilders.29 In the meantime the WIC had also begun to participate in the regular slave trade from Africa. The Zeeland chamber of the WIC sent a company yacht, a small ship, to Angola in 1626 for the purpose of purchasing a cargo of slaves to be transported to the "Amazones," one of the small settlements in that river valley, presumably or at the nearby Guiana coast. The following year Zeeland granted the pioneer colonist Abraham van der Pere permission to take six slaves with him in his effort to establish a plantation colony on the Berbice river, in present-day Guyana, A similar request was granted for the island Tobago. In 1629 the Zeeland chamber accepted the responsibility of supplying the colony in northern Brazil, which the WIC was intending to capture from the Portuguese.30 The beginnings of the Dutch involvement in the Atlantic slave trade was thus rather haphazard and incongruous. The much cited Description of the Guinea Coast, published in 1602 by Pieter de Marees, lacks any reference to Dutch slaving activities, although the author discusses the Slave Coast and the Portuguese participation in the traffic. We may assume that prior to their acquisition of firm bases on the African coast, the Dutch slave trade had to remain a relatively insignificant business. In 1612 the Dutch had acquired a small trading station at Mori on the Gold Coast, modern-day Ghana, but it was not until they captured the chief Portuguese stronghold at Elmina in 1637 that they could engage in the slave trade in earnest.31 As a result of the marginal participation in the slave trade and the lack of a foothold on the African coast, the Dutch could not have carried a large number of slaves from Africa before the middle of the 1630s. The majority of the slaves landed in the New World by the Dutch must have been captured from foreign vessels while on the middle passage. With de Laet's figures of 29.
30. 31.
B. B. van Overeem, "De reizen naar de West van Cornells Cornelisz. Jol, alias Kapitein Houtebeen, 1626-1640," De West-Indische Gids, (1942), vol. 24, p. 3; Joannes de Laet, in S. P. l'Honore Naber, ed., Iaerlyck Verhael... (The Hague: Nijhoff, 1937); first published in 1644, vol. IV, p. 287. De Laet gives an account of the WIC's activities for the 1623—37 period. Unger I, pp. 137-8. P. de Marees, Beschrijvinghe van de Goudkust van Guinea (The Hague: Nijhoff, 1912), first published in 1602.
14
T h e Dutch in the Atlantic Slave Trade
2,336 captured and the 470 taken to Trinidad as the only substantively documented landings, the total number of slaves taken to the New World by the Dutch prior to 1636 may not have exceeded 5,000. Brazil and the WIC The factor that drew the Dutch into the transatlantic slave trade on a regular basis and on a grand scale was their conquest of northern Brazil in 1630. Large portions of the coastal regions of Brazil had been developed into a sugar plantation colony by the Portuguese during the previous century. But the weakening of the far-flung Portuguese empire during the late sixteenth and early seventeenth centuries provided the Dutch with an opportunity to take over much of the Portuguese maritime empire, including the valuable Brazilian areas north of Bahia.32 With the acquisition of their first sizable plantation colony, the Dutch found themselves in need of slave labor. As was mentioned above, Portugal had also pioneered the transatlantic slave trade, first to Europe and the Atlantic islands, and subsequently to Brazil and the Spanish colonies. In fact their unchallenged monopoly of this trade had been responsible for bringing perhaps as many as 400,000 African slaves to the New World.33 The Dutch now also had a motive to challenge the Portuguese monopoly of the transatlantic slave trade, because their plantation colony in northern Brazil demanded a steady supply of forced laborers. Actually the Dutch had been indirectly involved in the Brazil sugar production since the end of the sixteenth century. Dutch capital was invested in the Brazilian economy and their merchant ships had carried substantial amounts of unprocessed sugar products from Brazil to the refineries in the United Provinces. By 1622 there were twenty-nine sugar refineries in Holland and the Dutch shipyards were constructing fifteen ships annually for the Brazil trade alone. The formal capture of part of Portuguese Brazil could therefore be seen as a logical extension of existing Dutch economic interests.34 The expansion of Holland and the creation of its far-flung overseas empire during the early seventeenth century were part of a broader international development that involved the weakening of the Spanish and Portuguese empires and the growth of the Dutch, French, and English maritime empires 32. 33. 34.
Boxer, Portuguese Empire, Chapter IV. Curtin, p. 116; Rawley, p. 428. Herbert Klein, The Middle Passage (Princeton, N.J.: Princeton University Press, 1978), p. 10; Charles R. Boxer, The Dutch in Brazil, (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1957), pp. 20-1.
Foundations of the slave traffic
15
at the expense of the Iberian empires. Spain had been involved in several wars during the previous century, including the Eighty Year War (15681648) with the Dutch Republic and the Thirty Years War (1618-48) in Central Europe. Portugal was drawn into some of these bitter conflicts when in 1580 the Spanish king became the ruler of both countries. The royal merger of the two Iberian states greatly weakened the Portuguese empire, which seemed to be getting secondary attention from the royal bureaucracy, making it therefore vulnerable to serious encroachments by the aspiring colonial powers of England, France, and Holland. The Dutch Republic was the major beneficiary of this turn of events and took over much of the Portuguese overseas empire, including most of the East Indies, or Indonesia, and several other commercial strongholds in southern and eastern Asia. In the Atlantic the Dutch came to control much of the western coast of Africa as well as northeastern Brazil. In addition they were also making inroads in the Spanish empire in the Americas by conquering a number of Caribbean islands and establishing settlements on the Wild Coast, or Guiana. As Boxer puts it: "By 1648 the Dutch were indisputably the greatest trading nation in the world, with commercial outposts and fortified 'factories' scattered from Archangel to Recife and from New Amsterdam to Nagasaki."35 The management of these widely scattered colonial possessions was administered by the two famous Dutch joint-stock companies, the United East India Company (Vereenigde Oost-Indische Compagnie), or VOC, and the West India Company, or WIC. The VOC was chartered in 1602 and was placed in charge of the expansion and management of the Dutch possessions in the Indian Ocean littoral, which came to include the southern tip of Africa, and east and southeast Asia. The Dutch East Indies (Indonesia) became the most valued of these colonies but it also included at one time or another trading stations in India, Japan, Formosa (Taiwan), and Ceylon (Sri Lanka). The WIC, chartered in 1621, had initially a trading monopoly in Atlantic waters except along the European coast. Both companies survived for nearly two centuries. Due to its tremendous financial success, however, the VOC always enjoyed a dominant position in the historiography of Dutch colonial expansion over the less successful WIC. Nevertheless, the WIC played a significant role, albeit a continually declining one, in the commercial and political history of the Atlantic. It played a crucial role in the Atlantic slave trade.36 Dutch aspirations in the Atlantic during the early seventeenth century included the following: Inflict damage on the Spanish adversary through 35. 36.
Boxer, Portuguese Empire, Chapter V; Boxer, Dutch Empire, p. 27. P. C. Emmer, "The West India Company, 1621-1791," in L. Blusse and F. Gaastra, eds., Companies and Trade (Leiden University Press, 2401), pp. 71-2; Boxer, Dutch Empire, pp. 22-7.
16
The Dutch in the Atlantic Slave Trade
privateering, control the trade with Africa, establish settlements colonies in the New World, control the salt trade from the Caribbean, and maintain naval and commercial bases in the Caribbean. In order to accomplish these goals, the Dutch States General chartered the WIC in 1621. The company had been in the planning stage for several years but its organization had been delayed for some time for a number of reasons, of which the most important no doubt was the Twelve Year Truce (1609-21) with the Spanish enemy. Perhaps this shows that the political authorities saw the WIC's principal function as military or naval, an objective that would end with the cessation of the war. The man who most actively campaigned for the establishment of the WIC, Willem Usselinx, had stressed settlement as the primary role of the company. The fact that it took three years to collect the necessary investment capital and that the States General waited until the resumption of war may be taken as an indication that settlement did not enjoy a priority with the government authorities. Private investors may also have been alarmed by the military responsibilities of the company. Given these tenuous circumstances surrounding the establishment of the WIC, it should be no surprise that the company always remained in the shadow of its counterpart, the VOC. During the first few decades, however, the WIC seemed to meet its intended objectives well. Among its most dramatic feats were the capture of a complete Spanish silver fleet in 1628, the conquest of northeastern Brazil in 1630, the virtual domination of the African trade, and the establishment of several commercial and settlement centers in the Caribbean and the Guiana coast. After a peace treaty was signed between Holland and Spain in 1648, the WIC lost the essential income from its privateering and the company soon began to rely on government subsidies in order to continue its operations. During the Dutch war with England and France in the early 1670s, the WIC was faced with bankruptcy, and only through government support was it reorganized in 1674. That date remains a watershed in WIC history, and the company was subsequently often referred to as the "second" or "new" WIC in comparison with the pre-1674 "old" WIC. During the eighteenth century, the company's territorial boundaries were slowly reduced, and finally it also lost its monopoly over the Dutch slave trade during the 1730s.37 The WIC, however, did play a very crucial role in the slave trade. Not only did the company have a monopoly over the traffic until 1730 but in a variety of ways it continued to participate in the trade after that date. The company continued to manage the Dutch trading stations on the African coast and in the Caribbean, and as such it accumulated an extensive statistical 37.
Emmer, "The WIC," pp. 71-95; see also W. R. Menkman, De West-Indische Compagnie (Amsterdam: Van Kampen, 1947), for a short history of the WIC.
Foundations of the slave traffic
17
record on the slave trade. For this reason the history of the Dutch participation in the slave trade is intricately interwoven with that of the WIC. As already stated, the WIC directors initially had little interest in the slave trade. But this attitude changed drastically after the WIC had acquired a plantation colony in northern Brazil in 1630, only nine years after the foundation of the company. No contemporary record is found concerning consultations with theologians; apparently economic incentives were sufficient to brush aside whatever moral scruples might initially have precluded the company from participating in the slave trade. In 1638 the governor of New Holland, as the Dutch colony in northern Brazil was called, stated in his report to his WIC superiors: "It is not possible to accomplish anything in Brazil without slaves."38 It was therefore with the acquisition of the settlement in Brazil that the Dutch got involved in the Atlantic slave trade on a systematic basis. And in order to be effective in this they needed to acquire bases on the African coast, where they could purchase slaves on a reliable basis.
The Dutch on the African coast In defiance of the Portuguese monopoly, Dutch merchants had actually frequented the West African coast since the 1590s. A Dutch captain from Medemblik in northern Holland, Barent Ericzoon, had been trading with Brazil and on his voyage in 1591 was diverted by a storm to the African island of Principe. Here, he was imprisoned by the Portuguese and learned of the commercial opportunities on the West African coast. Upon his return to Holland in 1593, he organized a small company for trade with Africa. As a result, a small-scale commercial pattern between Holland and Africa developed. An occasional Dutch ship may have sailed to Africa before this time, and others certainly did during this decade, but 1593 is the year that a regular trade link was established. In 1599 a larger company was organized, the Vereenigde Compagnie, or United Company. Eleven years later the United Company was enlarged again and renamed the Guinea Company. In 1612 the Dutch established their first African trading station (also known as "factory" in those days) at Mori on the Gold Coast, in present-day Ghana. Hereafter, the Dutch presence on the African coast increased steadily, and Boxer claims that by 1621 the Dutch were the principal traders on the Gold Coast. Four years later they made an abortive attempt to capture the Portuguese castle Sao Jorga at Elmina, the headquarters of the Portuguese in West Africa.39 38. 39.
Boxer, Dutch in Brazil, p. 83. Van Dillen, pp. 139-41; Boxer, Dutch in Brazil, p. 5; S. P. l'Honore Naber, "De Ko-
18
The Dutch in the Atlantic Slave Trade
Up to that time, however, African gold rather than slaves had been the primary interest of the Dutch traders. The acquisition of a plantation colony in Brazil changed this; slaves were then not only in demand but they became a necessity for New Holland to thrive. But the small trading station at Mori was overshadowed by nearby Elmina and was unable to supply slaves in large enough numbers to satisfy the demand. Also, the Gold Coast was not primarily a slave exporting area at this time. The Portuguese castle at Elmina dominated the West African coast and stood in the way of the expansion of Dutch trade in Africa. For these reasons the Dutch made a second attempt to capture the Portuguese headquarters, and they succeeded. The Africans of the local area had become dissatisfied with the Portuguese as trading partners, and they actively aided the Dutch in dislodging the Portuguese. This was the only time the strongly defended castle was taken by force. Interestingly, the fleet that forced the Portuguese to surrender the Elmina castle sailed from Dutch Brazil and was commissioned by the WIC authorities in that colony. There was therefore a firm link between the slave trade, New Holland, and the WIC expansion in Africa.40 Many of the planters in New Holland were accustomed to getting Bantuspeaking slaves through the Angola ports of West-Central Africa and this prompted the WIC to extend their African holdings to this area as well. In 1641 the Dutch drove the Portuguese from the islands of Sao Thome and Annabon, and from the coastal trading stations at Sao Paula and Benguela. The WIC sweep of the African Atlantic coastline was complete with the capture of the last remaining Portuguese coastal station at Axim the following year. Except for the fact that they had to tolerate the presence of rivaling northern Europeans, such as the English, French, Danes, Germans, and Swedes, the Dutch Republic had become the dominant nation on the West African coast. The WIC had reached the zenith of its power during the 1640s.41
New Holland and the slave trade The Dutch expansion in Africa and Brazil were clearly linked. From its very foundation in 1621, the directors of the WIC had intended to dislodge the Portuguese from Brazil. In 1624 the company captured and briefly held Bahia, the capital of the Brazilian colony. They were driven out again by a combined
40. 41.
lonien," Geschiedkundige Atlas van Nederland (The Hague: Nijhoff, 1937), pp. 8-12; Goslinga, p. 51. Van Dillen, p. 161; K. Ratelband, ed., Vijf Dagregisters van het Kasteel Sao Jorga da Mina aan de Goudkust (The Hague: Nijhoff, 1953), pp. lxiv-lxx. Boxer, Dutch in Brazil, pp. 106-8; Van Dillen, p. 161.
Foundations of the slave traffic
19
Spanish-Portuguese fleet during the following year. It was during that same year that the WIC also tried to capture Elmina. The WIC persisted in its dual objective and in 1629 it dispatched a large fleet consisting of 77 ships to establish a firm foothold in northern Brazil. This time they succeeded in their aim and captured the valuable sugar-producing captaincies of Pernambuco, Itamaraca, and Paraiba. Recife became the capital of the New Holland colony. The Portuguese maintained a tenuous control over the southern half of the colony, with their capital at Bahfa, but even this town was briefly besieged by the Dutch in 1638.42 Notwithstanding these Dutch successes, the WIC's hold on Brazil was always tenuous. The vast majority of the colonists were and remained Portuguese by origin and culture. The WIC was never able to induce adequate numbers of Dutchmen to settle in the faraway colony to influence the ethnic makeup of the settlement. Several hundred Sephardim Jews from Amsterdam settled in New Holland, but they were originally from Portugal and had retained an Iberian cultural flavor. During the sixteenth century they were persecuted in Portugal and, as so many others, found freedom in Holland. The WIC directors sought to overcome these disadvantages by appointing as colonial governor the well-known and able Prince Johan Maurits, a scion of the Dutch Orange family. Maurits, also referred to as the Humanist Prince, governed the colony from 1637 to 1644, during which time New Holland functioned with a fair degree of stability and efficiency.43 In 1640 the union of Spain and Portugal came to an end, which led to establishment of an uneasy peace between Portugal and the Dutch Republic in the following year. For the distant colonies, the hostilities continued into 1642, and the two countries did not settle their differences firmly until 1661. These developments prevented the WIC from consolidating their colony in Brazil. As long as the Portuguese retained a foothold in Brazil the Dutch settlement would never be secure. Imbued with a new sense of patriotism after the revolt against Spain, the Portuguese settlers, or Moradores, became increasingly dissatisfied with Dutch rule and, in 1645, th e v r o s e m open rebellion against the WIC administration. Deprived of the able leadership of Johan Maurits, the WIC rapidly lost control over the colony. In time only Recife remained in Dutch hands, and it continued as a beleaguered stronghold in a Portuguese world until 1654, when it was forced to surrender. 44 Given the tenuous hold over their colony in northern Brazil and their lack of experience in the slave trade, the Dutch importation of slaves into New Holland was relatively small, especially during the first few years. Many of 42. 43.
Boxer, Portuguese Empire, p. 112; Boxer, Dutch in Brazil, pp. 14, 26, 37 and 85. Van Dillen, p. 156; Boxer, Dutch Empire, pp. 129-31; Boxer, Dutch in Brazil, p. 133, and Chapter IV. 44. Boxer, Dutch in Brazil, Chapter V.
20
The Dutch in the Atlantic Slave Trade
35L
MAP 1.1
NEW HOLLAND IN BRAZIL
the Portuguese settlers had fled to Bahia when the Dutch invaded, and many slaves had used the confusion of the flight to escape inland to join already existing maroon societies. Shortly after the Dutch captured Recife, a WIC ship delivered a cargo of 280 slaves, but there was still so much confusion in the colony that they hardly knew what to do with the slaves, because the plantations had not started functioning. It was only in 1635 that the WIC
Foundations of the slave traffic
21
Table 1 .1 Slave imports in Dutch Brazil, 1630-1651 Year 1630 1636 1637 1638 1639 1640 1641 1642 1643 1644 1645 1646 1649 1651 Totals
From Guinea
1,211 1,267 1,393 1,316 1,062 1,616 1,553 1,111 594 24
From Angola 280 1,046 346 66 326
Other
419 77
297 762 2,461 4,354 3,179 251
290
200 785
11,437
14,353
496
Imported total
Deaths3
Left Africa
280
49
329
1,046 1,557 1,752 1,796 1,316 1,359 2,378 4,014 5,465 3,773
183 109 210 359 184 258 579 682
1,229 1,666 1,962 2,155 1,500 1,617 2,957 4,696 6,885 4,716
1,420
275
943 48
490 785
86 137
576 922
26,286
5,247
31,533
323
Source: Van den Boogaart and Emmer, pp. 367-69. Note: aMortality during the middle passage.
chartered two company ships for the purpose of obtaining slaves in Africa and taking them to New Holland, and they did not arrive there until about two years later. In the meantime the WIC found a quicker method of obtaining slaves, that was by capturing them at sea from enemy ships. Through this method 1,046 slaves were landed in the colony in 1636. Apparently this feeble start was also due to their lack of experience in slaving, because in 1637 the WIC employed Portuguese merchants in the traffic. The other reason for the slow start of the slave trade is that the WIC simply did not possess adequate African bases until the capture of Elmina in 1637.45 As Table 1.1 illustrates, the importation of slaves into Dutch Brazil did not become a serious business until 1636, and for the next five years it averaged around 1,500 annually. During the four years that followed, 16425, the traffic reached its peak with over 5,000 slaves imported in 1644 alone. With the onset of the Moradores' revolt the following year, the WIC slave trade to Brazil quickly came to a halt. Of the grand total of 26,286 documented slave imports into New Holland, 94 percent were brought in during the ten-year period of 1636 to 1645. And this is essentially the limit of the 45. Van den Boogaart and Emmer, pp. 357-8.
22
T h e Dutch in the Atlantic Slave Trade
Dutch contribution to the African migration to Brazil. The yearly average for this period comes to about 2,500, which is significantly lower than the 3,000 to 4,000 slaves the Portuguese were said to have brought to Brazil annually in the time prior to the Dutch attack. However, if one considers that the Dutch were not supplying the southern Brazilian captaincies, which may not have required as many slaves, the Dutch seem to have adapted themselves rapidly to this new enterprise. In terms of the vast numbers of victims involved in the transatlantic slave trade this initial Dutch participation was quite insignificant. But when the limited scale of the traffic at that point in time is taken in perspective, the Dutch may well have dominated the Atlantic slave trade for a few years, particularly from 1642-5. Portugal, the traditional supplier of slaves to the Western Hemisphere, was at that time not very active in the slave trade and the northwestern European competitors of the Dutch had not yet entered the traffic on a significant scale. In spite of this advantage, the WIC was unable to retain its control over New Holland and thereby lost the principal reason for its participation in the Atlantic slave trade.
The WIC and its failures Why was the Dutch Republic, at the height of its power in the midseventeenth century, unable to hold on to its principal plantation colony in Brazil? There are undoubtedly a number of reasons for its failure to do so, and one of the best ways to get at the solution of the problem is to examine the structure and function of the WIC, the principal agent of the Dutch Republic in the Atlantic and responsible for the colony. The WIC, in essence a commercial institution, was governed by a board of nineteen directors, the Heren XIX, which was reduced to the Heren X (also known as The X) after the reorganization of the company in 1674. As illustrated in Table 1.2, the WIC was divided into five regional chambers, or kamerSy each with its own board of directors and with a considerable degree of autonomy. The structure of the company had thus the same separatist tendencies that characterized the Dutch Republic, where regional autonomy was guaranteed by tradition and law and supervised by the Dutch States General. The board of directors of the WIC was responsible for making major policy decisions, but they usually met only once or twice a year, and the daily affairs of the company were managed by the governing boards of the two largest chambers, Amsterdam and Zeeland, in alternate terms of six and two years respectively. Only major shareholders with investments in excess of 4,000 guilders (6,000 in Amsterdam) had voting rights
Foundations of the slave traffic
23
Table 1.2 The chambers of the WIC Delegates2*
Chambers Amsterdam Zeeland (southwest province) Maze (Rotterdam region) Noorder Kwartier (north of Amsterdam) Stad en Lande (Groningen region)
8 4 2 2 2
4 2 1 1 1
/ 2,846,582 1,379,775 1,039,202 505,625 836,975
States-General
1
1
500,00(1
19
10
/ 7,108,159
Total
Source: Van Dillen, pp. 146-49. Notes: a Delegates before and after the WIC reorganization of 1674. In guilders.
in the company and could be members of the various governing boards, unless they were representing major shareholders.46 In addition to commercial activities, the WIC was authorized by its charter to administer and legislate the areas under its monopoly, its trading stations, and colonies. In time of war it could authorize privateering missions. The company could make treaties with other states, organize naval units, and maintain military units in its territories.47 The company was often lacking in unity of purpose and policy, however. Internal strife and bickering, particularly between the two major chambers, was a chronic problem in the administration of the WIC. One of the major issues of contention was the company's monopoly over all the trade in its chartered territories. Because of its relative isolation in the southwestern corner of the Republic, the Zeeland chamber persistently defended this monopoly. Amsterdam, on the other hand, generally favored the more competitive free trade and often advocated curtailment of the WIC monopoly.48 In addition to this persistent conflict over authority and commercial policy, the WIC was constantly in financial difficulties, quite unlike its prosperous sister company, the VOC. Only for a brief period following the conquest of a Spanish silver fleet by the famous Dutch admiral, Piet Heyn, in 1628, was the WIC solvent and dispensed generous dividends to its shareholders. But for most of its history the company was chronically short of capital and often precariously close to bankruptcy. The privateering function of the WIC turned out to be less profitable than had been anticipated, particularly after 46. 47. 48.
Menkman, pp. 42-8. Menkman, p. 43; Van Dillen, pp. 146-9. Emmer, "The WIC," pp. 78-9.
24
The Dutch in the Atlantic Slave Trade
1641, when that activity was turned over to a separate organization administered from the province of Zeeland. A company report of 1633 indicated that only the trade with the Guinea coast was profitable for the WIC. Three years later the company was eighteen million guilders in debt and had great difficulty getting credit advanced at the financial markets in Amsterdam. And this was at a time when the Dutch Republic was experiencing economic prosperity. By 1650 the value of the WIC's shares had dropped to about fifteen percent of their original worth. In order to cope with the WIC's financial dilemmas, efforts were made as early as 1634 to merge the WIC with the VOC, but the directors of the VOC rejected this. 49 In the meantime Amsterdam was winning the battle over commercial policy; the original trading monopoly of the WIC was gradually diminished. In 1638 the Brazil sugar trade was opened to Dutch free traders. Ten years later several other products were surrendered to the free trade in Brazil as well as the Caribbean and North America. These changes struck at the very core of the company's existence, because it remained obligated to maintain military and commercial stations while it had to trade in a competitive market. One commercial branch that remained a company monopoly in most of the WIC's sphere of operation for more than a century was the Atlantic slave trade. Thus a strange situation had developed for the Dutch in the Atlantic. While the nation with its enormous merchant marine was powerful at sea, it lacked the unity of purpose and the determination to carry through with the original intent that had led to the creation of the WIC. The Dutch colony in Brazil was one of the first victims of this predicament, particularly when the First Anglo-Dutch War of 1652-4 demanded the Republic's attention. 50 Added to the WIC's financial problems and the conflicts over policy was the inability of the company to attract a sufficient number of Dutch colonists to make settlement successful. As noted above, the colonists in Brazil remained overwhelmingly Portuguese in culture and loyalty. Even New Netherland on the Hudson River remained small, and eventually fell to the English in 1664. Only in the eighteenth century were the Dutch successful, with colonies on the Guiana coast, but these were made up predominantly of slaves from Africa with only a small superstructure of Dutch settlers. The Dutch may have had great success in commerce and the establishment of trading posts but as one scholar expressed it the Dutch failed at colonization.51 49. 50. 51.
Van Dillen, pp. 167-8 and 173; Franz Binder, "Die Zeelandische Kaperfahrt, 16541662," Archief, Middelburg, KZGW (1976), pp. 40-92. Emmer, "The WIC," pp. 79-80; Boxer, Dutch in Brazil, Chapter VI. K. G. Davies, The North Atlantic World in the Seventeenth Century (Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press, 1974), pp. 88-9.
Foundations of the slave traffic
25
New Netherland and the slave trade In respect to colonization, the Dutch attempt on Manhattan island and vicinity, known as New Netherland, turned out to be a failure, like Brazil, even though it lasted a few years longer (1625-64). As Davies pointed out, the Dutch were leading exponents of "trading post" expansion, which they practiced widely, but they were not very effective with settlement. Usselinx, the driving force behind the Brazilian experiment, was an exception in championing Dutch colonization. Thus the main reason for the failure in Brazil also proved to be the undoing of the New Netherland colony. In the end, here too the colonists of Dutch descent were far outnumbered by other Europeans, particularly by English-speaking settlers who had gradually infiltrated the colony.52 As far as the importation of slaves was concerned, however, the two Dutch colonies of New Holland and New Nederlands differed greatly; Brazil was essentially a slave society, New Nederlands was not. In the latter, as late as 1645, black slaves were treated as if they were indentured servants. The Dutch brought few slaves into their North American colony, because the demand was small compared to the large number needed in Brazil. Only two complete slave cargoes sailed into the New Amsterdam (New York) harbor under the Dutch flag. In 1654 the WIC ship Witte Paert landed an unspecified number of slaves there. Ten years later, just prior to the English capture of the colony, the WIC ship Gideon delivered 290 slaves. There may have been another small consignment of slaves brought in from Recife in 1648, but this has not been verified. For the rest, the Dutch brought in small groups of slaves from the island of Curasao, in the Caribbean. In 1659 five such slaves were delivered, in the following year thirty-nine, and in 1661 forty arrivals were documented. All in all, New Netherland was insignificant in the total picture of the Dutch slave trade. This is also evidenced by the fact that the WIC surrendered its slave trade monopoly to the colony as early as 1652, a monopoly that the company in general defended vigorously.53 52. 53.
Van Dillen, pp. 31, 36, 142, 157, and 162-83. P. C. Emmer, "De Slavenhandel van en naar Nieuw Nederland," Economisch en SoriaalHistorisch Jaarboek, vol. 35 (The Hague: Nijhoff, 1972), pp. 105-6, 111-16 and 126.
Curaqao and the asiento trade 1650-1730
The loss of Brazil might have ended the Dutch participation in the slave trade had the WIC not been able to find new markets for its human merchandise. This was not an easy task, however. New Netherland, as discussed, offered little promise as a slave market; besides, the colony was taken over by the English in 1664. The profits in the traffic, however, were apparently sufficient to urge the company to search for new outlets, although the market reorientation was characterized by a short period of stagnation and experimentation. Finding new markets was not the only problem for the WIC. The second half of the seventeenth century also saw several new competitors enter the Atlantic slave trade. English subjects took an active interest in the traffic shortly after the middle of the century and France became involved toward the end of the century. In addition, Danes, Swedes, and Germans from Hamburg and Courland entered the slave trade, albeit on a small scale. These minor participants, however, were supplied with capital and ships by Dutch investors and may therefore be counted as an extension of the Dutch slave trade.1 Portugal also reentered the slave trade by recapturing her old trading centers on the Angola coast in 1648. Only after peace was made between Holland and Portugal in 1661, ending many years of hostility, did the Dutch again become regular participants in the slave trade. Notwithstanding all this competition, the Dutch maintained a foothold in the traffic. The Portuguese-held island of Sao Thome briefly became a market for WIC slavers; from 1646 to 1648 the WIC sold 2,300 slaves to the planters of the island, because the Portuguese were unable to supply their subjects.2 More significant, however, was the Dutch capture of the traditional Portuguese markets in the Spanish-American colonies, with slaves channeled via the Dutch-held island of Curasao. 1. Van den Boogaart and Emmer, pp. 371-2. 2. Ibid., p. 372. 26
Curasao and the asiento trade
27
Curasao as a slave-trade depot The small island of Curagao, forty miles off the Caracas coast of Venezuela, was captured by the WIC in 1634. The Spanish had found little use for it after they failed to discover gold or other significant economic resources to exploit. The peace-loving indigenous population was decimated by disease and maltreatment, and a remnant of them was exported as slaves to Hispaniola in 1515. Later ranching and dyewood cutting became the principal occupation of the sparse immigrant population. The island was left virtually undefended, making it an easy prey for the small six-vessel WIC fleet to capture in 1634.3 Unsuitable for a plantation economy because of its aridity, the WIC utilized Curasao primarily as a naval refurbishing station, for which its natural harbors were ideal. In 1641 the WIC directors established Curasao as a collecting point for slaves captured from foreign vessels. The slaves were then sold on the island, and this may well have been the beginning of the practice of smuggling slaves to the Caracas mainland. The small Dutch colonies on the Guiana coast, which will be discussed in the next chapter, may also have received slaves via Curasao.4 A WIC report of 1642 mentioned Curasao as an ideal depot for the slave trade, but the company directors were not immediately persuaded by this suggestion. After all, the Dutch colony of Brazil was still flourishing at this time and needed all the slaves it could obtain. It was therefore not until the late 1650s that Curasao became a significant center for the Atlantic slave trade. In 1657 a contract was signed in Amsterdam providing for the delivery of 500 to 600 slaves at Curasao. Ironically, this transaction was initiated by the Swedish-African Company in competition with the WIC, to be financed by Dutch capital and carried by Dutch ships.5 It is not known if the above mentioned contract was carried out, but its occurrence may well have stimulated the WIC to value seriously Curasao's potential. The WIC director of the island, Matthias Beck, also reported in 1657 that a Spanish merchant visited him and wanted to establish commercial links with Curasao on a regular basis. Two years later Beck reported to his superior in New Netherland, Peter Stuyvesant, that the trade with "our nearest neighbors" (the Spanish) was beginning to look very promising. At the same time Beck reported on individual shipments of slaves. The WIC 3.
H. Hoetinck, ed., Encyclopedic van de Nederlandse Antillen (Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1969), pp. 139-42 and 223-8. 4. Van den Boogaart and Emmer, pp. 372-3. 5. W. R. Menkman, "Nederlandse en Vreemde Slavenvaart," West-Indische Gids, vol. 26 (1943), pp. 97-8; G. W. Kernkamp, "Een Contract tot de Slaafhandel van 1657," Bijdragen en Mededelingen van het Historisch Genootschap, vol. 22 (1901), pp. 4 4 4 - 5 9 .
MAP 2.1
THE CARIBBEAN REGION EJ
0
-21°
-18°
Curasao and the asiento trade
29
ship, KoninckSolomon, had delivered 331 slaves to Curasao in 1658, an event mentioned again in subsequent correspondence as a great success. The early slave trade to Curasao was not without its misfortunes. The WIC slaver, St. Jan, was shipwrecked in 1659, and the surviving eighty-four slaves were captured by pirates. The following year the slave ship, Gideon, landed a disappointing cargo of only twenty-eight slaves. Nevertheless, Beck reported in 1660 that additional slave shipments had been initiated for the island, and he continued to be optimistic about prospects for the Curasao slave trade: "I have witnessed with pleasure your honours' diligence in providing us here from time to time with negroes. That will be the only bait to allure hither the Spanish nation, from the Main as well as from other parts, to carry on trade of any importance."6 The significance of Curasao in the Atlantic slave trade was always predicated on the need for slaves in the Spanish mainland colonies. When later the Dutch dominated the slave trade to this area, Curasao flourished, but it rapidly declined when this traffic came to a halt.
The asiento slave-trade system Because Spain had no commercial bases on the African coast due to the 1496 Treaty of Tordessilas with Portugal, its American colonies were dependent on other nations for the shipment of slave labor from Africa. Initially, the colonists tried to force native Americans into slavery, but the results were discouraging and contributed to the decimation of the indigenous population. The Spanish friar, Las Casas, along with other Spanish settlers on the island of Hispaniola, persuaded the Spanish monarch, Charles V, to allow African slaves to be brought into the Spanish colonies on a regular basis. The outcome of this was a series of contracts, the asiento de negroes, which started the shipment of slaves directly from Africa to the Americas in 1518. Prior to this, black slaves had been brought to the colonies by way of Europe.7 According to Georges Scelle, a diligent student of the asiento slave trade, asiento is a "term in Spanish public law which designates every contract made for the purpose of public utility... between the Spanish government and private individuals." Of these various government contracts the asiento de negroes (hereafter referred to as asiento) is the best remembered because it frequently assumed crucial importance in issues of international trade and 6. 7.
Donnan, vol. 2, pp. 138-51. Leslie B. Rout, The African Experience in Spanish America (London: Cambridge University Press, 1976), pp. 23-4 and 37.
30
The Dutch in the Atlantic Slave Trade
diplomacy, and the term asiento became a well-known historical expression connected with the slave trade. Asiento contracts meant that in return for a substantial fee the royal government appointed a prominent person, generally a Spanish nobleman, who would then sell licenses entitling the holder to bring slaves into the Spanish colonies according to specific contract.8 The asiento thus generated revenues for the royal treasury, in addition to supplying the colonists with servile labor and, at the same time, protecting the closed economic system of the Spanish colonial empire. In this iast objective the asiento did not succeed, because contraband goods were smuggled into the colonies by the very ships that brought the slaves. In fact, as Scelle claims, it was often the opportunity for illicit trade rather than the profits made on the slave trade that made the asiento contracts such a coveted prize.9 Asiento contracts were not the only method by which slaves were legally brought into the Spanish colonies. On a number of occasions, most conspicuously during the years 1540 to 1586 and 1640 to 1662, the asiento was suspended and was replaced with the sale of individual licenses. The business community of the port city of Seville, generally referred to as the chamber of commerce (although this should not be confused with its modern American namesake), was in charge of selling such licenses. Compared with these licenses, the asiento system appears to have been more effective, and it also left the historians with a better record of the flow of the slave trade. Barring the just mentioned interruptions, the asiento system functioned until 1805, and several European nations participated in its activities.10 Another method by which the Spanish colonists obtained slaves was through illicit imports. This smuggle trade was operated primarily from the Caribbean islands off the Caracas coast, and the Dutch were undoubtedly very active participants in this trade. For obvious reasons, not many documents pertaining to such illegal activities have survived, and it is therefore difficult if not impossible to estimate the volume of this trade. One rare piece of evidence, a report from the Spanish ambassador in Holland to his superiors in Spain, alludes to the signing of a smuggling contract during the 1650s involving the shipment of 800 slaves.11 Although this illegal trade may be the biggest question mark in determining the volume of the asiento trade, the licenses and the various asiento contracts by themselves do not provide us a clear picture. For one thing, it is not 8. 9. 10. 11.
Georges Scelle, "The Slave Trade in the Spanish Colonies of America: the Asiento," The American Journal of International Law, vol. 4 (1910), pp. 614, 622, and 626. Ibid., pp. 618 and 622. Rout, pp. 44-53. Goslinga, p. 355.
Curasao and the asiento trade
31
always certain that asiento contracts were actually carried out in their entirety, as the Dutch asiento trade clearly demonstrates. Philip Curtin used asiento contract figures as a basis for estimating the overall importation of slaves to the Spanish colonies. He reasoned that the import figures of the contracts reflected the labor needs of the colonies, as they were determined by officials who were best aware of these needs. As a result of this method, Curtin estimates a total of 700,000 slaves imported before 1773, when the asientos were discontinued. Curtin's figure would come to nearly one million if later importations up to 1810 were added. Leslie Rout, another student of this subject, projects about the same number for this period, but then adds another 600,000 for the problematic smuggle and license trade, which were already included in Curtin's combined estimate of one million.12 These varying estimates show the lack of agreement and the speculative nature of the volume of the asiento trade. In terms of slave suppliers, the history of the asiento trade can be divided into three periods. The period before 1640 was dominated by the Portuguese, and the years after 1713 were monopolized by the English. The interim period, which is the main concern here, was characterized by intense competition for control over the asiento; subjects from several nations participated alternately in supplying the Spanish colonies with slaves. The Portuguese initially monopolized the slave trade to the Spanish colonies because they were the only Europeans who had African trading bases that could obtain large numbers of slaves. The cooperation between Spain and Portugal was particularly easy when they shared a common ruler during the period 1580 to 1640. When the Portuguese revolted and regained their independence from the Spanish in 1640, they also lost the privilege of the asiento contracts. This created a real dilemma for the Spanish because of the other European maritime powers that had acquired African bases; England, Holland, and France were at this time at war with Spain. In addition, the Spanish viewed the Dutch and the English as religious heretics, with whom they preferred not to do business. As a result, the asiento was suspended and the Spanish authorities tried to satisfy their colonists' demand for slaves through individual licenses, at great financial losses to the treasury.13 Illicit trade with the Spanish Main Due to the ineffective license system, the Spanish colonists were acquiring most of their slaves illegally, through smuggling. From their Curasao base, 12. 13.
Curtin, pp. 21-5, 35 and 40; Rout, pp. 62-6. Scelle, pp. 626-9; Rout, p. 44.
32
T h e Dutch in the Atlantic Slave Trade
the Dutch became actively involved in this illicit trade, even though they were still at war with Spain. After peace was made between these two powers in 1648, the Dutch became even more active in the smuggle trade with the Spanish Main, and it seems to have been "considered legitimate from its necessity" by the Spanish colonial authorities. Ships operating between Curasao and the mainland often flew the Spanish flag, although they were financed and operated by the Dutch. Initially, the slaves transacted in this trade were captured by the Dutch, mostly from Portuguese vessels, as these two powers continued to be hostile with each other until 1661. But after the loss of Brazil the Dutch began to ship their slaves directly from Africa to the Caribbean.14 Because most of the records of the old WIC have been destroyed, it is almost impossible to determine the level of slaving activity during these early years. It is certain that after the slave deliveries to Brazil dropped off after 1645 th e Dutch slave trade was greatly reduced. As has been demonstrated in the case of Curasao, the Dutch slave trade revived again in the late 1650s. Surviving correspondence from the WIC director-general in Africa, Jan Valkenburg, testifies to a renewed urgency about the slave trade at this time and a concomitant increase in slaving activity. This coincided with an intense increase of the English involvement in the trade.15 The Dutch slave trade of the years 1650-75 has been researched thoroughly by the Austrian scholar Franz Binder, using the Notarial Archives of Amsterdam as his chief source. Unfortunately, his efforts on this subject have not been published. His preliminary findings were made available to this author and are incorporated in this study. Binder's research shows a sudden revival of the WIC slave trade in 1657-8. During that last year, as many as seven WIC ships were reported to have landed an estimated 1,700 slaves at various destinations in the Caribbean region. It is interesting to note that in addition to Curasao, the Guiana coastal settlements and the French and English Caribbean islands were the destinations of these Dutch slavers. This sudden revival of the trade was not sustained at that initial level, however, and such a large number of ships and slaves was not attained again until the Dutch signed their own asiento contracts during the 1660s.16 14. 15. 16.
Goslinga, pp. 355-6; S. van Brakel, "Bescheiden over den slavenhandel der WIC," Economisch-Historisch jfaarboek, vol. 4 (1918), pp. 49-51; Scelle, p. 628. KITLV, vol. H. 65, pp. 386-411; see also Table 2.2. See Table 2.2 and Appendix 4. After several years of research in various archives in Holland, Portugal, and Spain, Binder went to Latin America in 1982 to continue his research of the Atlantic slave trade, but unfortunately this author has been unable to contact him again. His extensive research on the slave trade has thus far not resulted in any publications, but Binder was generous enough to share many of his findings with me.
Curasao and the asiento trade
33
The Dutch enter the asiento trade Fearful that the illicit importation of slaves might become standard practice, the Spanish government reinstated the asiento in 1662. The action was not prompted by a shortage of slaves or complaints by the colonists, who seemed to be quite content with the illicit imports, but rather by the loss of revenues to the crown and the undermining of the mercantile colonial system. This time the asiento was granted to two wealthy Genoese merchants, Domingo Grillo and Ambrosia Lomelin, who agreed to supply the Spanish colonies with 24,000 slaves during the next seven years. It was a stronger monopoly than previous asientos, and the Spanish colonists complained bitterly about rising prices and scarcity of slaves during the tenure of this contract. 17 Like their predecessors, Grillo and Lomelin had to rely on northern Europeans to ship the slaves to the West. Initially, they contracted with both the English Royal African Company and the Dutch WIC to obtain the needed slaves, but increasingly they began to rely on their Dutch suppliers. In time, this culminated in the appointment of the Dutch banker, Balthasar Coymans, as the administrator of the asiento. Table 2.1 lists the various asientists, as well as most of the WIC subcontracts, during the period of Dutch involvement in this trade. Not all of the relevant records have been preserved but the ones that have been located give us a picture of the asiento operation at that time.18 The initial WIC contract with Grillo and Lomelin called for the shipment of 700 to 1,400 slaves to be delivered to the asiento agents stationed at Curasao. During the years 1663-7 nearly 3,600 slaves were shipped from Curasao to the Spanish mainland colonies, slightly more than 700 per year. In 1667 the WIC signed a bigger asiento contract with the Spanish asientists which called for the delivery of 4,000 slaves annually, and a similar contract was signed the following year. A new pattern had been established in the Atlantic slave trade, and Curasao had suddenly become the busiest slave trade depot in the Caribbean.19 With the 1667 contract the Dutch gained a monopoly over the asiento slave trade and as a result the volume of the trade via Curasao increased significantly. At one point in 1668, due to conflicts over asiento arrangements more than 3,000 slaves were detained in the island's storage facilities. In 17. 18.
19.
Scelle, pp. 629-30. See Marisa Vega Franco, El Trdfico de Esclavos con America; asientos de Grillo y Lomelin, 1663-1674 (Seville: Escuela de estudios Hispano-Americanos, 1984). See also Enriqueta Villa Villar, "La sublevacion de Portugal y la trata de negros," Ibero-Amerikanisches Archiv, vol. 2 (1976), pp. 171-92. Goslinga, p. 361; Franco, pp. 194-202.
34
The Dutch in the Atlantic Slave Trade Table 2.1 Asiento contracts, 1662-1713
WIC Subcontract 1662 1667 1670 1672 Barroso & Porcio 1675 (1675-1692)b 1677 Seville Consulada 1679 (1676-1677) 1681 1682 1683 Coymans administration 1684 (1684-1688) 1685 1686 1687 1689 Porcio (alone) 1691 1697 Fluctuating contracts 1699 1700 French asiento 1711 (1702-1713) English asiento (1713-1748)
Asientists Grillo & Lomelin 1662-1669 Garcia (1670-1675)
Slaves to deliver annually 3,000-3,500 4,000 4,000 6,500a 3,000
Conditions and comments To run for 5 years Extension for 2 years Operated only briefly A small contract
To run for 6 years
l,000a 2,500-3,000a 400a
Source: Scelle, "Slave Trade;" S. Van Brakel, "Bescheiden; "WIC, vol. 34, pp. 18-21; vol. 833, pp. 339 and 783; ILTVK, H-66. Notes: aIndicates the total number of slaves involved in the contract. This contract experienced interruptions, as indicated.
the period 1668 to 1673, nearly 13,000 slaves were landed at the SpanishAmerican ports of Portobelo, Cartagena, and Veracruz by ships that obtained their cargoes at Curasao. This was an average of not quite 1,900 annually and was thus far less than the contracts had stipulated.20 But the Dutch were supplying other slave markets, such as the Dutch settlements on the Guiana coast and in the Antilles, and periodically French and English colonies. The incomplete study by Binder (see footnote 16 and Table 2.2) shows a significant increase in the Dutch slave traffic soon after the WIC signed the first asiento contract. Few of the recorded slaving voyages of this early period provide many statistical details, and it is therefore necessary to make estimates on the basis of data known from other slave consignments. Such estimates have been derived from the sizes of ships, verified 20.
S. van Brakel, pp. 61-77, published the contract of 1668. A translation of the contract of 1667 is printed in Appendix 3.
Curagao and the asiento trade
35
Table 2.2 Estimated traffic and destination of slaves, 1658-1674
Year
Ships
Slaves total
1658 1659 1660 1661 1662 1663 1664 1665 1666 1667 1668 1669 1670 1671 1672 1673 1674
7 2 4 1 2 6 2 2 1 3 19 16 15 16 17 6 13
1,741 514 708 450 650 2,400 810 925 120 1,400 6,059 5,502 5,658 4,800 6,054 2,466 4,231
Total
132
44,488
Curasao
Spanish America a
611
Caribbean: English Surinam French Guyana 1,030 84 170
28 450
440 360
900 2,970 3,640 4,138 2,945 4,944 2,026 1,903
674 1,603 166 168 967 722 1,997 1,500 1,698 2,011 3,438 1,340
24,555
16,284a
3,756
120
100
400 440 475
325 642
604 380
585
970 1,110
Dest. not known 430 510 250 1,520 450 450 500 2,160 840 1,520 300
485
440 1,843
4,964
11,213
Source: Binder (note 16 in Chapter 2), and Appendix 4; Vega Franco, pp. 194-202. Note: a The figures in the Spanish America column are borrowed from Vega Franco; they should not be added in the totals because they are already included in either the Curasao figures or in the unknown destinations.
cargo sizes of other slaving voyages by the same ship, qualitative comments about the cargo in the record, or an average based on verified data for the WIC slave trade in that period. The results of this method are shown in Table 2.2. The Dutch slave trade showed an initial surge in 1658 and for the next four years dropped to an annual average of 500 to 1,000 slaves landed in the West. After the signing of the first asiento contract in 1662, the WIC slave trade surged to a level of nearly 2,500 the following year, but that too proved to be only temporary. By 1670 the Genoese asiento partners were in serious financial trouble; their contract was not renewed but was transferred to the Portuguese merchant, Antonio Garcia. This shift implied that the Portuguese would now resume their traditional role in the slave trade. Several Spanish authorities had always opposed dealing with the Dutch "heretics," and when in 1668 their hostilities with the Portuguese were concluded they returned to their former commercial partnership with the Dutch. The change in commercial arrangements did not produce the change that the Spanish had anticipated, for Garcia signed another contract with the WIC that very same year, which
36
The Dutch in the Atlantic Slave Trade
resulted in the temporary suspension of his asiento contract. The maritime financial situation had changed significantly during the past half century, however, with the Dutch having achieved a position of dominance. In the end Garcia was allowed to resume his dealings with the Dutch, and it was during his asiento that the Dutch came to monopolize the delivery of slaves to the Spanish colonies.21
From the first to the second WIC The decade of the 1670s was a turbulent time for the WIC as well as for the Dutch Republic in general. In 1672 the nation was faced with an invasion by French troops and a war at sea with England, the Third Anglo-Dutch War (1672-4). The conflict with France lasted until 1678. For a while it seemed the Republic was doomed. French troops occupied large portions of its territory, but under the leadership of Stadholder William III, who later also became king of England, the French were driven back during the winter of 1672-3. At sea, under the leadership of the famed admiral Michiel de Ruyter, the Dutch held their own against the combined navies of England and France. Nevertheless, the war was an enormous drain on the resources of the Republic, and it also exacted its toll from the corporate and private maritime strength of the nation and its colonial possessions.22 In 1674 the WIC was faced with bankruptcy; in fact the company had been in serious financial difficulties since the early 1640s, when it lost a principal reason for existence - the practice of legalized piracy against the enemy. For a long time the company was kept solvent through government subsidies, which had been cut back as a result of the war in 1772-4. This was reflected in the enormous drop in the value of the company's stock; by 1655 it had declined to only 10 percent of its original value, and its depreciation continued after that.23 The slave trade had in fact become the mainstay of the company's activities, as WIC memoirs repeatedly affirmed beginning in the 1670s. As a prelude to an appointment of a special commissioner for the slave trade in 1702 stated: "And since the slave trade has always been considered, and always should be, one of the biggest and chief concerns of the company, we should time and time again pay good attention to it, continue it, and preserve it."24 Another WIC document declared: "The slave trade is one of the principal activities of the company... " 25 When the 21. Goslinga, pp. 361-62. 22. For a general overview see Goslinga, pp. 457-82. 23. Ibid., pp. 323-33. 24. WIC, vol. 54, doc. 12/18/1702. 25. WIC, vol. 56, p. 23.
Curasao and the asiento trade
37
WIC charter was due for renewal in 1671, its finances were in such disarray that a temporary reprieve was granted by the States General, and a committee was appointed to study the fate of the company. After the war with England came to an end in 1674, the States General decided to dissolve the WIC, but because it was agreed that the interests of the Republic in the African and Caribbean area were best served by a monopolistic organization, it was agreed to reorganize the old WIC into a new but similar organization.26 Wars and financial instability of the WIC did not stop the slave trade, although it may at times have been impaired. What was perhaps the greatest stumbling block to the delivery of slaves was the capricious operation of the asiento itself; it rarely functioned smoothly. In 1668, the year after the WIC had contracted to become the principal supplier of slaves for the Spanish colonies, there were such serious conflicts between the contracting parties in the asiento that Curasao had stockpiled 3,000 slaves without making deliveries. Generally the WIC refused to make deliveries without prompt payments, and that was a perennial problem in the asiento trade.27 Despite these problems, the early asiento contracts significantly increased the WIC's slaving activity, even though the deliveries called for in the contracts were rarely if ever fulfilled. According to Binder's tentative findings, more than 4,200 slaves were taken to Curagao annually between the years 1668 and 1674. Approximately half of these, accounting for attrition from the Atlantic crossing and the transfer from Curasao to the Spanish mainland, were absorbed by the asiento trade. Either the estimates based on Binder's findings are significantly inflated or the Dutch must have found a variety of other markets for their slaves that cannot be accounted for.28 A word on how slaves were counted is in order here because this also influences the appraisal of the asiento trade. Asiento transactions measured slaves in terms of piezas de India or leverbaar (deliverable slaves), which represented a healthy adult male or female slave in the age group 15 to 35. Strange as it may seem, children were calculated as fractions of such a unit. Older slaves or those with some physical or mental impairment were as a rule classified as rnanquerons, or macrons. According to asiento contracts, such slaves were not acceptable and as a rule they either remained at Curasao or were shipped elsewhere in the Caribbean or illegally to the Spanish Main. The percentage of macrons could vary significantly from one consignment of slaves to another. In five consignments during the years 1673-4, out of a total of 2,763 slaves 372 were rejected as macrons, which constitutes a 26. 27. 28.
See Menkman, "WIC," pp. 145-52 regarding the reorganization of the WIC. OWIC, vol. 16, res. 5/10/1674. See Table 2.2 and also NBKG, vol. 24, min. 8/20/1674.
38
T h e Dutch in the Atlantic Slave Trade
rejection rate of about 15 percent. In 1675 six WIC slave ships landed 1,790 slaves at Curasao, of which only 1,370 and one-sixth were acceptable piezas de India. This would seem to represent a rejection rate of 20 percent. A broader statistical analysis, as demonstrated in Chapter 10, places the discrepancy closer to 10 percent.29 When the Heren X of the new WIC held its first series of meetings in the fall of 1674, they found the asiento trade in such disarray that they considered discontinuing the asiento contracts and making Curasao a free port. This meant that anyone would be allowed to purchase slaves on the island, and it also implied the reopening of the smuggle trade with the Spanish Main. To add substance to their threat they proposed to dispatch 1,000 to 1,500 slaves to the island, even though the asiento trade had come to a standstill. The whole discussion may well have been a warning to the Spanish for the purpose of obtaining another asiento contract. And apparently it was successful, because during the first month in 1675 a representative of the asiento in Holland, the Dutch financier, Balthazar Coymans, appeared in a meeting of the Heren X to propose terms for a new asiento agreement.30 After several additional meetings and negotiations, involving the settlement of a previous debt and a security payment of 100,000 guilders by Coymans, a new five-year asiento contract was signed in March 1675. The new agreement called for the delivery of 4,000 slaves annually, as long as warlike conditions persisted, and 3,000 when peace returned. The five-year contract was short-lived, however. In September 1675 word came from Spain that the asientist, Garcia, was at odds with his royal authorities, and a few months later his position as asientist was terminated. 31
A vacillating asiento and the illicit trade Garcia's loss of the asiento was clearly related to his dealings with the Dutch and also because a significant amount of contraband was brought into the Spanish colonies along with the slaves. What the Spanish authorities really wanted was to get permission from the Dutch to fetch their own slaves directly from the African coast, which the WIC directors were unwilling to grant. For a while the chamber of commerce at Seville was empowered to complete Garcia's contract, but unable to secure an adequate supply of slaves the chamber transferred the asiento contract to 29. 30. 31.
WIC, vol. 831, p. 401. See Curtin pp. 22-3. The accounting practices in the slave trade will be examined in greater detail in Chapter 10. WIC, vol. 231, pp. 28, 57, and doc. 12/27/1674. WIC, vol. 330, pp. 79 and 138; vol. 331, p. 258; vol. 831, pp. 98-9, m , and 137.
Curasao and the asiento trade
39
the Genoese commercial partners, Juan Baroso and Nicolas Porcio. In the meantime the breach of contract with the WIC had developed into a very complicated affair, involving the ambassadors of Spain and Holland as well as the Dutch States General. The latter tried to intercede on behalf of both the WIC and the Coymans firm with the Spanish crown. For a few years the WIC actually lost the asiento slave trade, but the Spanish were apparently unable to get their slaves from other vendors and were forced to return to the WIC. 32 Before these conflicts surfaced, however, the WIC had acted on their contract of 1675 and initiated the shipment of several large consignments of slaves to Curasao. Because of the primitive communication facilities of the times, these shipments could not be halted in time to avoid another oversupply of slaves on the island. A note in the minutes of the WIC directors' meeting sums up the situation: Several changes have taken place of late in the affairs of the slave trade. The asiento of the Spanish Crown for the importation of slaves into her West Indian colonies, which was granted to Don Antonio Garcia, has been discontinued. As a result the terms as promised by the Crown will not be paid, since the contract has gone to the Chamber of Commerce of Seville, which will grant licenses to private persons. The (WIC) chambers are therefore advised to deliberate and resolve the problem of disposing the large supply of slaves already shipped to Curasao, as well as the ones that are on the way33 Early in 1676 Joseph Coymans was still making claims on the slaves at Curasao, understandable in light of the hefty guarantee payment he had made the previous year, but the WIC directors insisted that a broken contract empowered them to dispose of the slaves as they saw fit. Meanwhile, they were exploring other ways of marketing their slaves. Illicit trade with the Spanish mainland was openly discussed, and undoubtedly practiced. As a result of these problems, the WIC slave trade was significantly reduced during the next several years. In the years 1677 to 1679, only five company slaver ships were found recorded landing slaves at Curasao, involving a total of only about 1,800 slaves.34 In the absence of the legal trade through the asiento, the smuggle trade with the Spanish Main via Curasao must have been intensive. In April 1676 the Spanish protested against this smuggling and demanded that the WIC stop these activities. Similar protests were directed to the States General later that year, with the implicit promise that regular asiento trade would 32. Scelle, pp. 630-2. 33. WIC, vol. 131, p. 133. 34. WIC, vol. 331, p. 23; vol. 330, pp. 219 and 223; see also Table 2.3.
40
T h e Dutch in the Atlantic Slave Trade
resume if smuggling were halted. The Coymans firm also entreated the WIC to halt the illicit trade, as this prevented them from regaining their position as asiento agents.35 The minutes of the meetings of the WIC directors, as well as those of the Amsterdam chamber, acknowledged the smuggle trade; in fact, it was openly encouraged. The WIC policy on this issue was clearly outlined in the minutes of May 1677, which can be summarized as follows: Company agents at Curasao should stabilize the slave market there and sell to the highest bidder; the Spanish ambassador in Holland, Don Emanuel de Lira, should be admonished to see to it that Spanish colonial subjects were allowed to purchase slaves at Curasao; and meanwhile the Amsterdam chamber should make efforts through the Spanish commercial envoy in Holland, Don Manuel Belmonte, to renegotiate a new asiento contract. The first policy met with considerable success, for by the middle of 1677 the costly oversupply of slaves at Curasao had been disposed of, and additional slave consignments were dispatched again.36 During the summer of 1677 the WIC also started negotiating for a new asiento contract, this time with Belmonte, and an agreement was reached in September of that year. The terms of the agreement are not clear from the minutes; whatever they were the contract was never implemented because serious disagreements surfaced immediately. The Spanish authorities repeatedly demanded that they be allowed to fetch slaves directly from the WIC's stations in Africa. This was squarely against the WIC charter, and WIC authorities could never agree to such demands, although they avoided rejecting the idea outright in order to keep the negotiations alive. The issue was still being discussed as late as July 1678, when the WIC decisively rejected the Spanish demand.37 In the meantime the WIC directors were also searching for new or additional slave markets. After the Dutch signed a peace treaty with France in 1678, the French Caribbean islands were mentioned as potential markets. In addition, old scores had to be settled with Balthazar Coymans, who was summoned to appear before the WIC directors (his older brother Joseph had recently died, making Balthazar the responsible head of the family), to account for the losses suffered as a result of the recently aborted asiento 35. WIC, vol. 331, pp. 175, 190 and 244. 36. WIC, vol. 331, pp. 133 and 192; vol. 332, p. 40; vol. 831, pp.374, 398-402, and 407-8. 37. WIC, vol. 332, pp. 86, 166, 152-5, and 186-90; vol. 831, pp. 374, 431, and 446-8. A group of merchants from Cadiz, Spain, proposed a contract with the WIC which would allow them to fetch 880 slaves from the Cape Verde region (Senegambia) for shipment to the Spanish colonies: See WIC, vol. 746, cor. 9/12/1678.
Curagao and the asiento trade
41
contract. And when this produced no satisfaction to the company, Balthazar was summoned before the provincial court of Holland.38 From Barroso to the Coymans asiento In the fall of 1678 the Spanish crown had granted a new asiento to two Seville merchants, Juan Barroso de Pozo and his son-in-law Nicolas Porcia. They soon started negotiating with the WIC, the most reliable suppliers of slaves. The first of a series of contracts was signed in June 1679, four years after the last such contract had been signed and aborted. The new agreement called for the delivery of 6,500 slaves at Curasao, and six WIC slavers were immediately assigned for their transport and more ships were to follow. Additional contracts of a similar nature were signed without interruption during the next eight years. Like the period 1662 to 1673, the years of 1679 to 1687 were among the most active and stable asiento years for the WIC. The first two years of the Barroso contract went smoothly for the WIC. The first slave deliveries under this contract were made in April 1680, when 1,500 piezas de Indiay or nearly 2,000 slaves, were boarded on two vessels for shipment from Curasao to the Spanish colonies. WIC officials estimated that another 3,700 slaves would be ready for delivery by the end of that year, and another 4,300 during the year 1681.39 The issue of payments continued to be an irritant in asiento affairs, and the treatment of the asiento agents at Curasao also produced problems. There was also a conflict over whether or not Coymans should continue to function as liaison between the WIC and the asientist, or if the Frenchman, Jacobus Jubert, should replace him. During the summer of 1681 the WIC governor at Curasao threatened to stop the delivery of slaves unless old asiento debts were paid. Governor Van Liebergen expressed much general criticism over the conduct of Balthazar Beck, who functioned as factor of the asiento at Curasao. In spite of all these difficulties, Barroso agreed to a renewal of the contract with the WIC in November 1681, and additional contracts were signed in 1682 and 1683.40 The asiento business was so pleasing to the WIC directors that they sent an adulatory letter to Barroso in 1682, to which the latter responded with an offer of a six-year contract. In another gesture of goodwill, the company 38. W I C , vol. 831, pp. 439, 446, and 520; vol. 832, p. 520. 39. Scelle, p. 631; W I C , vol. 331, pp. 260, 289, and 294; vol. 832, pp. 20-2 and 180-4; v°l834, pp. 18-20; W I C , vol. 617, pp. 5, 25, 221, and 346; vol. 831, p. 185; vol. 832, p. 191. 40. W I C , vol. 617, pp. 112 and 133; vol. 832, pp.320, 358, 366, 424, 479, 511, 551, and 649.
42
The Dutch in the Atlantic Slave Trade
offered Barroso 600 slaves on credit as an advance on the new agreement, with the understanding that Barroso was not to negotiate with other potential slave vendors. In fact there were indications that the asientists had purchased slaves from other nations. While Barroso's relationship with the Spanish crown appeared to be strained for a while, by March 1683 he felt secure enough to negotiate another major agreement with the WIC. Through the intermediacy of Jean Coymans, Henrico Staets, Jacobus Jubert, and Manuel Belmonte (quite an international delegation), a six-year contract was negotiated in a two-month period, involving the delivery of 18,000 piezas de India.41
A few months earlier, in November of 1682, a serious confrontation had taken place at Curasao between WIC authorities and agents of the asiento, which threatened the continuation of the asiento trade and had serious longrange consequences. WIC authorities in Europe were so concerned about negotiating a new contract that they ignored the incident, which was the prelude to the downfall of co-asientist Porcio and the subsequent rise of Balthazar Coymans as chief administrator of the asiento. When Barroso died in 1683, leaving his son-in-law, Porcio, as sole asientist, the latter traveled to the Americas to straighten out some of the asiento problems there. Shortly after his arrival in Cartagena, Porcio was accused of mishandling asiento affairs and was imprisoned by the colonial governor.42 At this juncture, Balthazar Coymans, longtime resident at Cadiz and head of the Spanish branch of the Coymans' firm, began to play a leading role in the asiento. Coymans helped to discredit Porcio, who was not permitted to return to Spain for the next three years. Coymans then took over the actual administration of the asiento. While Coymans was continually berated by Porcio sympathizers for the fact that he was a foreigner and a Protestant, his position was saved because he had the capital and the connections to deliver slaves to the colonies on a reliable basis. When Coymans died in November 1686, his place at the asiento office was taken by his longtime assistant Jan Carc,au, who kept the asiento functioning according to contract until he was jailed in March 1688. While Coymans was still alive his religion and nationality had become such an important issue among Spanish authorities that his position would eventually have become untenable anyway. The arrest of Carc.au signaled the end of Dutch preponderance in the asiento. 41. 42.
WIC, vol. 832, pp. 607, 618 and 625; WIC, vol. 783, doc. 10; vol. 833, pp. 11-12, 24, and 37-38. WIC, vol. 832, pp. 53 and 137; vol. 833, p. 165. See also I. A. Wright, "The Coymans Asiento, 1685-1689," Bijdragen voor Vaderlandse Geschiedenis en Oudheidkunde, vol. 6
(1924), pp. 24ff. This article is based on Spanish documents and provides a detailed account of Coymans' problems with the Spanish authorities.
Curasao and the asiento trade
43
Not even the intercession of the Dutch ambassador to Spain, Francisco van Schonenberg, could save the asiento for the WIC.43 While Coymans was administrator of the asiento, the WIC was secure in its role as asiento slave supplier. The relationship between Coymans and the WIC dated to 1670, when Garcia had become the chief asientist. There had been conflicts between Porcio and the WIC, which might have led to an earlier break with the asiento had he remained at the helm, primarily because the asiento indebtedness to the WIC had reached nearly 72,000 pesos. These debts continued to be an irritant, but they did not prevent the WIC from negotiating another contract with Coymans in the spring of 1685. As the previous contracts, it called for the delivery of 3,000 slaves annually. One new element of this contract was that each year two WIC slavers were allowed to sail directly to the Spanish colonial ports of Veracruz, Portobelo, or Cartagena, instead of delivering their cargoes to the asientists at Curasao. The Portuguese had used that arrangement exclusively, and the Dutch had also employed this method in the past, although not on a regular basis. This change in method may have been an indication of greater trust between the WIC and the new asientist, and it certainly was more efficient than unloading and loading at Curasao. Going directly to the Spanish colonial ports, however, involved greater risk of contraband being shipped into the colonies.44 Old debts and tardy payments continued to plague the asiento trade, even when Coymans managed the asiento. A common excuse for belated disbursements was that "bandits" retarded the silver shipments from Peru, making the Spanish cash flow uncertain. Under Coymans the settlement of old debts did improve. Even so, the WIC continued to have some other complaints against Coymans, including two direct slave shipments from Africa, apparently by Dutch ships not under WIC auspices, and the purchase of 300 slaves from an English vendor. On the other hand, the asiento agents complained that WIC ships disembarking in Spanish ports were selling contraband goods to the Spanish colonists, as well as sending such goods on slave ships from Curasao to the mainland. These were perennial complaints against practices expressly forbidden in asiento contracts.43 After Balthazar Coymans' death in November 1686, the asiento trade deteriorated rapidly. Even though Car^au tried to keep the slave trade going, by June of the following year the WIC had to cancel four scheduled slave 43. 44.
45.
Ibid., pp. 23-62. WIC, vol. 833, pp. 231-2, 275, 297, 304-6, and 320. For the relative value of pieces of eight and other monetary units see Chapter 11; WIC, vol. 833, pp. 333-9, 353, and 368. The first WIC slavers found designated for Spanish colonial ports were the ships Alida and Propheet Daniel. WIC, vol. 833, pp. 304 and 377; vol. 834, pp. 59, 85, 101-6, 114, and 141.
44
The Dutch in the Atlantic Slave Trade
assignments, and the number of slaves in stock at Curasao had grown so large that a special ship had to be dispatched from Africa with food supplies for the waiting slaves. In the fall of 1687, the asiento agents at Curasao requested and obtained the services of a large WIC ship, the St. Jfago de la Victoria (the last part of the name may have been added for the special occasion), to carry slaves from Curasao to the Spanish Main. The Spanish had frequently rented Dutch ships for this purpose. Nine hundred slaves were embarked on the St. Jfago. WIC agents were hesitant to go ahead with the project because by October 1687 the asiento owed the WIC 459,740 guilders for slaves and their upkeep. WIC directors in Holland, meanwhile, sent the WIC-asiento financial conflicts to four impartial arbiters of the Dutch high court.46 In December 1687 Ambassador Van Schonenberg notified the WIC directors of their tenuous hold on the asiento. They responded by sending William Kerkrinck as a special envoy to Curasao to settle the confusing asiento situation there. Shortly thereafter word arrived from Spain that the 1685 asiento contract with Coymans had been discontinued and that the agreement with the WIC had thereby also been terminated. When in April 1688 Kerkrinck tried to confiscate the asiento possessions at Curasao he met with firm opposition from asiento agents. Just prior to Kerkrinck's arrival, the St. Jfago had been dispatched with 1,086 slaves, adding significantly to the already large asiento indebtedness to the WIC. 47 From Kerkrinck's subsequent correspondence with his superiors in Holland, a gloomy picture unfolds. He repeatedly expressed the hope that the asiento trade might be resumed, although the response from the Heren X was not encouraging. He was ordered to sell the remaining slaves at public auctions, at least those that had been at Curasao for more than three months. Asiento agents in the Spanish colonies also wanted to resume the trade, but their superiors in Spain firmly rejected the resumption of trade with the WIC. Because the situation did not improve during 1688 or the next year, Kerkrinck wrote to his superiors in Amsterdam in October 1689: To our regret it becomes now certain that a resumption of the asiento is beyond hope, and the company must be prepared tofindnew methods since the Spanish in the West Indies can not function without slaves, and other nations will not be able to supply them for the same price as the honorable company has always been able to do.48 Because nearly 5,000 trade slaves had accumulated at Curasao by October 1688, WIC authorities encouraged their sale to any potential buyer. Mortality 46. WIC, vol. 68, cor. 6/29/1688; vol. 834, pp. 152-3, 161-2, 238-9, and 279-280. 47. WIC, vol. 68, cor. 6/29/1688 and 5/23/168; vol. 617, pp. 13, 21, 28, 45-53, 138-40, 147, 153, and 156; vol. 834, pp. 304-5, 313 and 323; vol. 835, pp. 26 and 29. 48. WIC, vol. 617, p. 170.
Curagao and the asiento trade
45
Table 2.3 WIC traffic to Curasao and Spanish colonies, 1675-1699 Year 1675 1676 1677 1678 1679 1680 1681 1682 1683 1684 1685 1686 1687 1688 1689 1690 1691 1692 1693 1694 1695 1696-97 1698 1699 Total
Destinations Spanish Main Curasao 2,990 200 900 675 1,358 1,200 1,010 960 475 450 484 2,790 3,676 400 475 766 930 450 1,875 475
(8) (1) (2) (2) (3) (3) (2) (2) (1) (1) (1) (6) (10) (1) (1) (1) (2) (1) (4) (1)
475 2,385
(1) (6)
25,399
(60)
450
(1)
1,020 (2) 300 (1)
1,770 (4)
Unspecified destinations 1,315
(4)
510 910
(1) (2)
830 925 1,350 430 525 450 450 450
(2) (2) (3) (1) (1) (1) (1) (1)
850 450 460
(2) (1) (1)
9,905
(23)
Total 1,315 2,990 200 900 675 1,868 2,560 1,010 1,790 1,400 2,820 1,214 3,315 4,126 850 925 766 1,780 900 2,335 475 0 475 2,385 37,074
Source: Appendix 1. Note: Figures in parentheses list the number of shipments.
rates among the slaves were increasing and their maintenance posed a financial burden to the company. By the spring of 1689 Curasao had been declared an open market and slaves were sold for shipment to any destination in the Caribbean. Most of these slaves may well have ended up in the Spanish colonies illicitly, despite the opposition of Spanish authorities. The open market was a success, for within a year the surplus of slaves had virtually disappeared, and the WIC directors approved two new slave assignments for Curasao.49 The decade of the 1680s may seem like one of the high points of the WIC asiento trade, particularly when the prominence of Coymans is taken into consideration. Yet, the annual number of slaves taken to Curasao and 49.
Ibid., pp. 147 and 153.
46
T h e Dutch in the Atlantic Slave Trade
Spanish colonial ports during the years 1680 to 1688 averaged approximately 2,250. This figure was considerably lower than during the final years of the old WIC, and it was also much lower than called for by the asiento contracts. It is true that the documentation for this period is incomplete, and that a number of slave shipments directly to the Spanish colonial ports may have gone unnoticed; however, such ships would probably have been included in the category with unidentified destination, which has already been included in the total of the asiento trade. Furthermore, qualitative evidence seems to corroborate the identified ups and downs in the asiento trade. Table 2.3 gives this author's global estimates for the asiento trade during the last quarter of the seventeenth century. Only in the last two years of the Coymans asiento did the volume of the trade reach the level called for in the asiento contracts, ironically in the years after Coymans died and the asiento was slipping away from Dutch control.
Limited Dutch role in a fluctuating asiento While the termination of the Coymans asiento spelled the end of Dutch dominance in the asiento trade, they continued to participate in the traffic to Spanish America for several more decades. The Dutch, however, now clearly played a secondary role. During the decade of the 1690s the asiento was dominated by the Portuguese, who gave way in 1701 to the French. They in turn were replaced by the English in 1713. At first it seemed the Coymans affair was simply another crisis in asiento history that would blow over after a short interruption, for in December of 1689 the WIC negotiated another asiento contract with Manuel Belmonte, the Spanish commercial envoy in Holland. Meanwhile, Porcio had regained control over asiento affairs, but he still needed the Dutch to obtain an adequate supply of slaves. This contract helped eliminate the surplus of slaves of Curasao that had been left from the Coymans contract. It may well have been a matter of mere convenience to both parties, as the WIC disposed of its Curasao surpluses and Porcio got his slaves. Not until 1691 did the WIC assign slave ships to Curasao again, perhaps because in April of that year negotiations resumed with Belmonte. At their annual series of meetings, the Heren X had the minutes record " . . . it is of the greatest importance that the slave trade at Curasao be continued." But in the negotiations with Belmonte they appeared to be hesitant about a new contract because there was still a large asiento debt left from previous years.50 The limited recovery of the Curasao slave trade in 1691 was followed by 50.
WIC, vol. 68, cor. 11/3/1790; WIC, vol 835, pp. 113, 126, 233, 272, and 301.
Curagao and the asiento trade
47
two more lean years, but 1694 saw a slight increase again with perhaps more than 2,000 slaves landed at the island. This again was only a temporary recovery, followed by several years of inactivity. By this time it appeared as if the much coveted asiento trade had finally eluded the Dutch permanently. WIC directors admonished their subordinates in Curasao to change their lifestyle, to economize, and to reduce the number of company service slaves. They were to concentrate on producing salt, lumber, and agricultural products in order to reduce the company's expenses. A special tax was introduced for inhabitants not affiliated with the company, and WIC agents were urged to be more diligent in collecting duties on incoming and outgoing ships. There was even talk of reorganizing the whole WIC administration on the island in order to save money.51 The Royal Portuguese African Company, also known as the Company of Cacheu, had meanwhile obtained control over the asiento trade, and its agent Bernardo Marin de Guzman was responsible for locating slave suppliers. Guzman traded with the English and the French, as well as with the Portuguese, but he avoided the Dutch slave vendors. After Guzman's death in 1695, Simon and Louis de Souza became agents for the Portuguese company, and in 1697 they approached the WIC again for new slave deliveries. After several months of negotiations a subcontract for 2,500 to 3,000 slaves was signed, and in January of 1699 this contract was renewed for a twoyear period. The following year the same contract was slightly amended, which meant that it was still in operation. These contracts produced a significant revival of the Curasao slave trade. In 1699 al° n e, six ships with nearly 2,400 slaves were landed at the island, and a higher level of activity was achieved in the year 1701 (see Table 2.4).52 This revival of the Dutch participation in the asiento trade exhibited one characteristic that further undermined the position of Curasao, namely that several WIC slavers sailed straight to Spanish colonial ports instead of processing their slaves through the Curasao establishment. Nevertheless, the arrangement had the usual array of problems, including inadequate remittances. The administrator of the asiento at Cartagena was arrested on orders of the colonial governor, and by the end of 1701 the whole asiento was in disarray again. Back in Holland, Belmonte and the Souza brothers were ordered to appear at the meeting of the Heren X, and had their security deposit of 60,000 guilders confiscated in lieu of nonpayment for slaves delivered. In order to avoid further losses, four departed WIC slave ships were diverted to Curasao, which was greatly appreciated by the Curasao 51. 52.
WIC, vol. 69, pp. 42-3, 54-8, 82, 86, and 106-9. WIC, vol. 69, cor. 9/16/1698; Donnan, vol. 2, p. 107; WIC, vol. 836, p. 150; Scelle, pp. 632-4; WIC, vol. 200, pp. 53, 55-6, 67, 112-113, and 159-60; vol. 783, doc. 2 3 31; vol 836, pp. 81, 112, 121, 142, 150, 152, 208, and 261-2. See also Table 2.3.
48
The Dutch in the Atlantic Slave Trade Table 2.4 WIC traffic to Curasao and Spanish colonies, 1700-1732 Destinations Spanish Main Curasao
Year 1700 1701 1702 1703 1704 1705 1706 1707 1708 1709 1710 1711 1712 1714 1715 1716 1718 1720 1724 1726 1728 1729 1732
70 2,841 331 492 479 2,135 1,171 1,352 817 464 1,031 1,172 1,023 1,056 898 1,226 448 66 328 225 672 798 150
Total
19,245
(6)
1,435 1,086 400
(3) (2)
(2) (4) (3) (3) (3) (3) (2) (2) (2) (3) (5)
Unspecified destinations 450
640
(2)
610
(2)
1,700
(5)
(2) (50)
2,921
(6)
Total 1,505 4,377 731 492 479 2,135 1,171 1,352 1,457 464 1,641 1,172 1,023 1,056 898 1,226 448 66 328 225 672 798 150 23,866
Source: Appendix 1. Note: Figures in brackets signify shipments; single cargoes are not indicated.
establishment. The latter had been critical of the new arrangement because it deprived them of their traditional role in the slave trade. In the fall of 1700 they complained about a shortage of slaves at Curasao, insisting that they could have sold three full consignments in the past year.53
The asiento in international diplomacy These new difficulties with the recently revived asiento actually stemmed from a larger problem, namely a transfer of the whole asiento from Portuguese to French control in 1701. The last Spanish Habsburg king, Charles 53.
WIC, vol. 200, pp. 5, 43, 53, 66, 112, 159, and 180; vol. 836, pp. 222, 238, and 262.
Curacao and the asiento trade
49
II, died in 1700 and was followed by a Bourbon king, Philip V, grandson of the influential contemporary Louis XIV of France. Although this development was challenged by several states, including Holland and England, and led to the lengthy War of the Spanish Succession (1702-13), the French nevertheless initially acquired control over the asiento trade through this new found fraternity between Spain and France. The asiento had now become an important issue in international diplomacy. During the French tenure of the asiento (1701-13), the WIC was involved only sporadically and to a small degree. Although the company continued to participate in the illicit trade from Curasao to Caracas, even these activities were frequently curtailed by this war.54 The transfer of the asiento and the outbreak of war brought confusion to Curasao. Regular asiento deliveries had halted, but WIC agents continued to sell slaves to private merchants, especially to the Portuguese formerly associated with the asiento. French and Spanish merchants also visited Curasao, but they were supplied with slaves only if they paid in cash, an indication of the unreliability of these contacts. Most of the slaves in these transactions were left from the incomplete asiento contract with the Portuguese, and they were now almost certainly smuggled into the Spanish colonies. Adding to the uncertainty at Curasao were reports of a large French fleet assembling at Martinique and a severe drought that plagued the island until 1703. The WIC directors in Holland cautioned their subordinates in Curasao against dealings with the asiento agents still domiciled on the island, as they owed the company in excess of 12,000 pesos. They were, however, openly encouraged to engage in the illicit slave trade with the Spanish Main. Much of this smuggling was done by private traders who lived on Curasao, but WIC ships now also participated, often under the protection of the Danish flag.55 There appears to have been a great demand for slaves throughout the Caribbean in 1702. Curasao correspondence reveals that as many as 3,000 slaves could have been sold had they been available. Nevertheless, Curasao agents advised their superiors not to assign any large slavers to the island because of the war. With France and Spain pitted against Holland and England, there was a great deal of naval action in the Caribbean. Many ships were captured and confiscated on both sides. During the conflict at least four WIC slave ships, the Duynenburg, the Beschermer, the Amsterdam, and the St. Jago were captured by the French; the latter was taken in sight of the Curasao harbor of Willemstad, and the Amsterdam was captured and taken to Grenada 54. See Scelle, pp. 636ff. 55. WIC, vol. 69, p. 155; vol. 200, pp. 270-2, 336, 341, 346, 356, and 393-4; vol. 201, pp. 66 and 153; vol. 836, p. 270.
50
The Dutch in the Atlantic Slave Trade
with over 500 slaves aboard. Two additional WIC slave ships disappeared during the war, undoubtedly also captured by the French. 56 One curious twist in this war was the open hostility in the Caribbean between the alleged allies Holland and England. On the contention that the two were bound by treaty not to trade with their mutual Spanish enemy, England tried to halt the illicit trade operating from Curasao; strangely enough, it was tolerated by the mutual Spanish enemy. Several small WIC ships engaged in this illicit trade were captured and confiscated by English privateers, causing much loss to the company. By the spring of 1704 the English had confiscated twenty-one such WIC vessels and taken them to Jamaica. How many slaves were captured in this manner is impossible to determine, but it must be remembered that these were mostly small ships. After much negotiation the English stopped harassing this WIC trade, and began participating in the illicit trade themselves. 57 A few years after the conflict with the English had been resolved, the French began to threaten the WIC more seriously. In 1707 they captured the island of Nevis, thus strengthening their position in the Caribbean, and that same year a French fleet blockaded the Curasao harbor of Willemstad. For the next several years they seemed to dominate the Caribbean, and increased their toll on Dutch shipping. In 1708 a French fleet of eighteen ships bombarded Willemstad, and its citizens paid a heavy ransom to avoid capture. Another attack and ransom payment followed in 1713.58 Regardless of the French threat, the Curasao slave trade was not forced to a complete standstill. During the whole period of French control over the asiento, there was only one year, 1713, that not a single slaver arrived at Curasao. In fact, the year 1705 saw a significant revival of the trade with over 2,000 slaves delivered at the island. After that year, however, the Curasao trade dwindled to a few ships annually, with an average of about one thousand slaves landed each year.59 After the French gained control over the asiento in 1701, a conflict of interest seems to have developed between the WIC directors in Holland and the WIC establishment at Curasao; whereas the former lost interest in the asiento trade, the latter continued to cling to the hope of regaining at least 56.
57. 58. 59.
WIC, vol. 200, pp. 356, 390-1, cor. 4/24/1702; vol. 201, p. 163; vol. 203, p. 513; vol. 485, p. 29; Cornells Ch. Goslinga, "Curasao as a Slave Trading Center during the War of the Spanish Succession, 1702-1714," Nieuwe West-Indische Gids, vol. 77 (1977-1978), pp. 45-6. The ships lost were Axim and Africa, which were relatively small ships (see Appendix 1). WIC, vol. 201, pp. 66, 162-3, 246-9, and 286. Goslinga, "Curasao," provides an excellent analysis of the diplomatic aspects of the war in the Caribbean. WIC, vol. 202, pp. 200-8; vol. 205, pp. 2-3; vol. 248, p. 146; Goslinga, "Curasao," p. 33. WIC, vol. 201, p. 162; vol. 202, p. 120. See also Appendix 1.
Curasao and the asiento trade
51
a share of it. In 1703 the French asientist, Gaspar Martin, visited Curasao and proposed renewed WIC participation in the asiento trade. Nothing came of this proposal, and a similar effort five years later also failed. And, in 1708, Jean Chouria and Louis Chambert, two Frenchmen connected with the asiento, visited Curasao and convinced the WIC establishment there to sell them slaves. Subsequently, the Heren X disapproved of this action because they feared that such an arrangement could bring as many as 150 Frenchmen to the island, at a time when Holland and France were still at war. The Curasao council was quite disturbed about the reversal of their action, although they did obey their superiors and detained Chouria for a short time. Meanwhile, only a small number of slaves had been sold to the asiento agents.60 Apparently attitudes had changed by 1711, for that year Chouria returned to Curasao and negotiated a slave contract for 400 piezas d'India from the first WIC slaver to arrive, paying a security of 6,000 pesos for the transaction. The contract implied that these slaves were intended for the Caracas coast, and private Curasao slave traders objected to the Chouria deal as this represented competition for their illicit trade with the same area. Nonetheless, Chouria continued to frequent Curasao and purchase slaves from the WIC until 1715, even after the French had lost control over the asiento. The Chouria connection should not be seen as a major factor in the Curasao slave trade, however. He might simply be viewed as another slave smuggler, although a big one as he was indebted to the WIC for 33,000 pesos by 1715. At a price of 108 pesos per slave, not counting other expenses, Chouria must have purchased 50 percent or more of the approximately 4,000 slaves landed at Curasao during the 1711-15 period.61 Even after the English captured the asiento contract in 1713, Curagao continued to play a limited role in supplying the Spanish colonies with slaves. Two representatives of the English asiento visited the island in 1718 and again in 1723, and Curasao correspondence continued to refer to the asiento trade. No formal contracts connecting the WIC with the asiento have been discovered for this period, and the rapidly declining number of slave landings at Curasao confirms the enormous drop in the Curasao slave trade. Only during the first few years of the English asiento did Curasao import approximately 1,000 slaves per year, but after 1716 that trade became insig60. 61.
WIC, vol. 200, p. 394; vol. 201, pp. 66 and 163; vol. 202, pp. 372-3, 431-5, 461, 501, 553, 617-8 and 623; vol. 203, pp. 20-1, 36-40, and 50-1; vol. 384, correspondence 1/4/1710. WIC, vol. 202, pp. 577-81, 617-19, and 631-4; vol. 203, pp. 36-51 and 88; vol. 204, pp. 6-11, 20-8, 53-5, 464-6; vol. 205, pp. 15, 20, 28, 386, 425, and 502; vol. 206, pp. 19-27.
52
T h e Dutch in the Atlantic Slave Trade
nificant. Even during the free trade after 1730, Curasao never regained its former significance in the traffic.62 An evaluation of the sources A summary of the slave trade to Curasao, the chief conduit of slave importation to the Spanish mainland colonies, makes it evident that the years after 1700 are the best documented period. In fact, it appears that virtually every slave consignment to Curasao has been documented, most of them in considerable detail. There are several reasons for this excellent documentation. First, a far greater number of WIC documents of the post-1700 period have been preserved; much of the paperwork of the years prior to the date was simply discarded. Second, the previously cited study by Professor Goslinga, thoroughly covering the slave trade to Curasao for the 170015 period, corroborates and confirms this author's research.63 Only in a few cases did the independent research projects contradict or supplement each other. Third, the WIC commercial and bookkeeping practices, albeit at the painful expense of the unfortunate slaves, assured the thoroughness of the documentation in this study. An explanation of this last point is in order. It was the practice of the WIC to brand newly arrived slaves at Curasao with a red-hot iron, apparently in addition to the branding applied in Africa when the slaves were purchased by the Europeans. Later, slaves were identified at sales, criminal proceedings, and in death affidavits by the scars that were left from this experience. All slaves arriving on a particular ship were branded with the same iron, and these irons were used in a rational succession. Until 1703 the Curasao establishment had used branding irons featuring arabic numbers of up to one hundred. That number was used in the year 1703, and applied to the slaves arriving on the ship, De jfager. When this system was started has not been verified, and the inadequate documentation of the years prior to the eighteenth century makes it difficult if not impossible to ascertain this. After 1703 the company switched to branding irons with the letters of the alphabet, from A to Z, but excluding the letters U and J in order to avoid confusion with V and /. The alphabet sequence of twenty-four cases had been completed by 1715, and was then started again. The last documented use of the alphabet branding iron, letter T for the slaves on the ship, Phenix, was in 1729. Such a rational identification device, which was faithfully reflected in WIC bookkeeping as well, became a convenient method for monitoring the flow of slaves to Curasao. When this 62. 63.
WIC, vol. 206, pp. 25, 74, and 625; vol. 208, p. 506; vol. 619, p. 76, correspondence 4/19/1723 and 6/18/1723; vol. 1154, pp. 61-77. See also Table 2.4. See Goslinga, "Curasao."
Curasao and the asiento trade
53
author failed to find the use of letter 0 in the bookkeeping, a careful examination of the correspondence of the same time revealed that that iron had not been used because it was worn out. The absence of the letters / and R in the Curasao bookkeeping implied that the documentation of two slave ships was either lost or that the iron had been discarded, as was the case with letter 0. Aside from these two irregularities, these symbols provided a perfect check on the arrival and disembarkation of slave ships at Curaqao for the 1699 to 1729 period.64
The asiento summarized The cumulative results of these various research procedures show that the WIC directed at least forty-eight slave consignments to Curasao in the thirtyyear period 1700 to 1729. If one assumes that a few slave ships may have escaped the scrutiny of this research, approximately 19,000 slaves were shipped to the island during those years (see Table 2.4). In addition, at least six WIC slavers landed about 3,000 slaves at Spanish colonial ports. Because these ships sailed straight to the Spanish ports and were not observed and recorded at Curasao or other Dutch ports in the Caribbean, it is quite possible that a few of those ships have not been verified. However, when one compares slave ship arrivals with assignments made by the WIC during the period that this policy was practiced, the total number of arrivals actually exceeded the assignments, which would support the relative reliability of the recorded arrivals. For the period 1700 to 1716, the WIC was instrumental in shipping a total of about 21,000 slaves to Spanish America, nearly 1,250 per year, with another 2,500 for the inactive years after 1716. The vast majority of the slaves landed at Curagao ended up as Spanish subjects. There was obviously some attrition, as the macrons were usually not accepted by the asientists. But most of those macrons, as well as the healthy slaves sold on the free market at Curaqao, were usually smuggled to the Spanish mainland anyway. Determining the number of slaves brought to the Spanish colonies in the seventeenth century is more difficult because the documentation is less abundant. Nevertheless, there is enough evidence to venture a reasonable estimate. Two valuable comparative sets of data are available for the period 1675 to 1725: actual shipping statistics and a list of slaving assignments made by the WIC directors. Both have been painstakingly gleaned from various archival collections and they are included as Appendix 1 and 5, respectively. A total of 277 WIC slaving missions have been documented 64.
WIC, vols. 200-11.
Table 2.5 Slave ship assignments and arrivals Year
WIC assigned
1674 1675 1676 1677 1678 1679 1680 1681 1682 1683 1684 1685 1686 1687 1688 1689 1690 1691 1692 1693 1694 1695 1696 1697 1698 1699 Total
13 3 5 8 4 4 9 7 7 8 13 3 3 3 2
5 3 1 3
Estimate3
Known arrivals
8
1700 1701 1702 1703 1704 1705 1706 1707 1708 1709 1710 1711 1712 1713 1714 1715 1716 1717 1718 1719 1720 1721 1722 1723 1724 1725
126
Total
(?)
5 7 3 2 2 4 7 3 7
(2)
5 11 7 8 10 6 2 4 5 3
(2)
(1)
5
(1)
3 2 2
7
5
3
5 119
WIC
Year
( + 6)
assigned
Esti- Known mate8 arrivals
8 4 4 6 8
5 9 8 5 4 3 4 3 7 3 4 8 8 7 9
117
(1) (1) (2) (3)
(3)
(10)
4 10 5 3 3 7 3 6 5 3 6 2 2 1 4 5 3 4 4 4 2 5 8 10 9 7
125
Source: Appendixes 1 and 5. Notes: aEstimates for presumed assignments not verified. bThese slave ship arrivals exclude the small consignments authorized by the WIC authorities in Africa. Table 2.6 The Dutch asiento slave trade, 1658-1729 Period 1658-1662 1662-1674 1675-1688 1689-1699 1700-1716 1717-1729 Total
Spanish Main
1,770 2,921 4,691
Source: Tables 2.2, 2.3, and 2.4.
Curasao
Unverified destinations
1,089 23,466 17,168 8,231 16,708 2,537
1,190 10,023 7,245 2,660 1,700
Total 2,279 33,489 26,183 10,891 21,329 2,537
69,199
22,818
96,708
Curasao and the asiento trade
55
with varying degrees of detail, for the years 1675 to 1725. Twenty-six of these were small vessels that were commissioned by the WIC authorities in Africa and should therefore not be counted in this comparison. For this same period, 236 WIC slaving assignments have been documented, and 16 have been added where such information appears to be missing (see Table 2.5). This suggests that very few WIC slaving missions escaped detection in this research endeavor. Table 2.6 presents the global estimates for the asiento and WIC slave trade for the 1658 to 1729 period. Before 1730 the Dutch shipped a grand total of approximately 97,000 slaves to the Spanish colonies, either directly or by way of Curasao. To the extent that the Curasao trade can be used as a gauge for the importation of slaves into the Spanish colonies, one may conclude that the Dutch rarely supplied the number of slaves called for in the asiento contracts. Unless other nations contributed significantly to this traffic, or contraband imports were substantial, the Spanish colonies may never have received the numbers anticipated by these contracts.
The Dutch on the West African coast
It was on the African coast that so much of this tragic chapter in human history played itself out. Here the intricacies of the Afro-European trade bargained over the fate of the slaves. And here the slaves first saw their new white masters and the mighty ocean they were to cross, and faced what must have seemed to them a mysterious and frightening future. The next few chapters will focus on Africa, essential to the understanding of the slave trade, although the European initiators and facilitators of the trade will still remain in the limelight because they also created and preserved most of the pertinent historical records. The slaves themselves will receive more attention in Chapters 7 and 10, Commercial profit was undoubtedly the principal inducement for Europeans to live and work on the West African coast. Through commerce they might succeed in this, and the importance of trade was reflected in the European nomenclature for West Africa's coastal regions. Rather than adopting terms of African derivation, Europeans tended to name certain portions of the coast after the principal commercial items acquired in such areas. Hence, such names as Ivory Coast, Gold Coast, and Slave Coast were commonly applied to the various regions of the West African coast.1
The coastal regions and the slave trade Europeans tended to divide the western coastline of Africa into two general areas, the Guinea and the Angola coasts. The term Guinea was generally 1. Several descriptions of the African coastal regions made by Europeans during the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries have been published and have gained considerable prominence. Chief among these are the following by Dutch traders and writers: P. de Marees, Beschrijvinghe ende Historische Verhael van het Gout Koninkrijck van Guinea; Olfert Dapper, Naukeurige Beschrijvinge der Afrikaanse Gewesten (Amsterdam: Meurs 1668); Willem Bosman, Naukeurige Beschrijving van de Guinese Goud-en Slavekust... (Utrecht, 1704). De Marees and Bosman have been translated into English; see bibliography. 56
The Dutch on the West African coast
57
applied to the coastal region of West Africa between modern-day Senegal and the Cameroon. The name Angola, prior to the establishment of the Portuguese colony by that name, was long used by Europeans to denote the African coastline between Cameroon and Namibia, essentially the western coastline of Bantu-speaking Central Africa. The northernmost portion of this region, between the Cameroon and the Congo River, was generally referred to by the Dutch as Angola, although it has also been referred to as Loango after the seventeenth-century African state in that region. This mixup of historical and contemporary labels can be confusing, and where the hyphenated name Loango-Angola is used in this study it refers to the region north of the Congo (See Map 3.1). The Guinea coastal region is very large; Europeans invented several names for its subdivisions, often reflecting the principal item of export of the region in its label. Starting from west to east, the Senegambia region held little significance for the Dutch slave trade. For about three decades, the Dutch held the important island of Goree, but they were unable to carry out their plans of exporting large numbers of slaves from the region before they lost the stronghold to the French in 1677. Two years later WIC documents indicate that the Dutch had given up regaining the island and the adjacent Cape Verde coastline, and instead were satisfied with financial compensation from the French for its loss. But at that time they were still planning to reestablish lodges on the Gambia River, and they assigned thirty-four persons for service at these stations.2 In spite of these intentions, however, they never managed to establish a firm footing there and exploit the area commercially. The western portion of the Guinea coast, from the Gambia to modern Ghana, was also referred to as the Windward coast. Like Senegambia, this area was generally by-passed by the WIC ships. Early Dutch descriptions of the West African coast generally commence with the Ivory Coast. It was not until the early eighteenth century that the WIC began to trade in this area on a regular basis. And after 1730 Dutch free traders became very active in the regions of modern-day Liberia and the Ivory Coast.3 The coastal area of greatest interest to the Europeans was the Gold Coast, an area roughly coterminous with modern Ghana. Most of the European forts and trading lodges, including the St. George castle at Elmina, were located here. Archaeological remains of as many as fifty building sites have been identified in the region, although these were not in operation simultaneously. The Dutch maintained up to a dozen trading stations in this area between 1612 and 1872, when they sold their West African holdings to the 2. WIC, vol. 832, pp. 7 and u ; WIC, vol. 331, p. 221. 3. See Dapper, and GAR, folder 802. See also H. A. Wyndham, The Atlantic and Slavery (Oxford University Press, 1935), p. 45.
11°
1
L MAP 3.1 COASTAL REGIONS OF WEST A N D CENTRAL AFRICA 17th and 18th century
El
The Dutch on the West African coast
59
British. As suggested by its name, gold was originally the most important commodity of export in this region. A report from Africa in 1669 indicates that at that time the Gold Coast trading stations, also called factories, were offering very few slaves. With the passing of time, however, export from the region became more diversified. During the late-seventeenth and earlyeighteenth centuries as many as twenty-three different commodities were exported from West Africa by the Dutch, and several of these items originated from the Gold Coast. Early in the eighteenth century the gold trade declined, and slave exports from the region increased. In 1726 the WIC director in Africa reported that the "Gold Coast... [had] become a slave coast."4 The coastal regions of present-day Togo, Benin, and the region of western Nigeria had acquired the name Slave Coast. It is a narrow corridor of savannah territory that reaches all the way to the coast, which may have made the distant interior more accessible than most of the Guinea coast, where rain forest is prevalent. The area did not become significant in European commerce until the slave trade became formidable. A Dutch document apparently written during the 1660s does not yet use the term Slave Coast, but refers to the area as the Bocht, the Bight of Benin. After the rapid expansion of the Atlantic slave trade during the 1640s, European slavers increasingly frequented the Slave Coast. The document just cited reports that the WIC alone purchased between 2,500 and 3,000 slaves in the area annually during the 1660s. Hence, Slave Coast became an appropriate name for the region.5 The Portuguese had purchased slaves on the Slave Coast as early as the sixteenth century, and they were joined in this by the English, French, and the Dutch during the first half of the seventeenth century. In 1639 the WIC sent an agent to supervise the company's slaving activities in that area, signaling a deepening involvement on their part. The arrangement continued to be tentative, however, as local African authorities did not allow them to establish a permanent lodge there. Instead, they operated from dilapidated ships (leggers) anchored in a lagoon, although occasionally they were also allowed by Africans to store merchandise on the beach. During or shortly after 1647, the Dutch joined other Europeans and established permanent lodges on the Slave Coast.6 On the whole, the Dutch showed relatively little interest in the coastal area directly east of the Slave Coast, the Niger delta region, and the Bight of Biafra. Small WIC coastal vessels would occasionally trade in the bay, 4.
NAA, vol. 2231, p. 100; WIC, vol. 387, p. 63; VWIS, folder 928; Albert Van Dantzig, Forts and Castles of Ghana (Accra: Sedco, 1980), Introduction. See also Johannes Postma, "West African Exports and the Dutch West India Company," Economisch en Sociaal-Historisch Jaarboek, (1973), vol. 36, pp. 53-74. 5. GAR, folder 802. 6. Ratelband, pp. lxxx-lxxxi.
60
The Dutch in the Atlantic Slave Trade
but they never purchased many slaves there. During the period 1660 to 1740, the WIC periodically had a trading lodge at Benin, with rubber (gom) and sandalwood (roodhout) as the chief items of export. Once in a while WIC boats would fetch a few slaves from this area and ship them to Elmina. It does not appear that the Dutch ever had a permanent foothold in the Niger delta region, and the WIC frequently sent coastal yachts to this area to purchase a variety of goods at Calabary. Occasionally, small WIC vessels were dispatched to the area for the specific purpose of obtaining slaves to be employed as laborers for the company on the Gold Coast.7 The western coastline of Central Africa also played a significant role in the Dutch slave trade. Contemporary Dutch documents nearly always referred to this region as Angola, although after 1649 tne Y really meant the area north of the Congo River. This area would be more appropriately referred to as Loango, after the dominant state of the region during the seventeenth and early eighteenth centuries. The Dutch frequented the Loango area since the early seventeenth century, but until about 1670 they concentrated more on the ivory and copper trade, because slaves were not in abundant supply there. Trading lodges were maintained at various times at Loango-Boary, Malemba, Cabinda (Ngoyo), and Mpinda (Sonyo). For a few years after 1642, when the WIC also controlled the coast of what today is called Angola, the whole Loango-Angola region was separately administered as Africa-South from the port of Luanda, while the Guinea coast under Elmina was referred to as Africa-North. But with the loss of Angola in 1648, Elmina became again the administrative center of all WIC activities on the African coast.8 During the 1670s the WIC slave trade increased significantly in the Loango region, but so did the interest in the region of rival European nations. A report from the 1660s states that the company had three lodges there and was exporting 3,000 slaves annually from the region. This was undoubtedly an exaggeration, for in 1679 the WIC had only one lodge left at Malemba. A WIC document of 1682 also speaks of the "decay in the business on the coast of Angola," and two years later the company decided to discontinue the only remaining lodge at Loango. That decision was carried out in 1686, and from then on the WIC slave ships trading on the Loango coast would 7. 8.
GAR, folder 802; NBKG, vol. 1, min. 7/11/1704, 10/11 1716 and io--' 15/1738; NBKG, vol. 236, p. 61; WIC, vol. 102, p. 427; NBKG, vol. 5, min. 11 14 1710; WIC, vol. 485, P-327GAR, folder 802; WIC, vol. 832, p. 11; WIC, vol. 268; WIC, vol. 56, p. 192; Phyllis M. Martin, The External Trade of the Loango Coast, 1576-1870 (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1972), pp. 43-72 and 92; H. Herman, "Onze bezittingen op de kust van Guinea en dekrijgsverrichtingen aldaar, 1598-1872," vol. 2 (The Hague: typewritten manuscript at ARA, 1925), p. 30.
The Dutch on the West African coast
61
have to fend for themselves, without the benefit of WIC personnel stationed there.9 After many years without a lodge in Loango, the WIC directors decided in 1721 to reestablish a small lodge there with only four WIC employees. Five years later the local Africans overran the lodge, and that appears to have been the end of it, although as late as 1748 correspondence from Africa still made references to the lodge at Loango. Thus, the slave trade from that region was administered largely by the captains of the slave ships, which had the unfortunate result that far less historical data of this trade has been preserved. The activities of slavers on the Guinea coast had to be reported, either through the captain of the ship or the local WIC authority, to the director-general at Elmina, who in turn reported back to Holland. The directors were required to make at least three copies of all reports and correspondence, sending two by separate ships and keeping one for their own records. Slave ships destined for Angola sometimes stopped at Elmina for provisions but were on their own after they sailed from there. After they had acquired a cargo of slaves they sailed directly from Angola to the Americas without reporting to Elmina.10
The WIC organization in Africa As was shown in Chapter 1, the general administration of the WIC was in the hands of the Heren X, but these gentlemen met infrequently - only once a year after 1684 - to decide on extremely important issues. The dayto-day administration of the company was carried out on a rotating basis by the directors of the two major chambers of the WIC: Amsterdam for six years alternated by Zeeland for two years. The highest authority of the WIC in Africa was the director-general {directeur-generaat), who was stationed at the WIC castle at Elmina. Appointed by the WIC directors in Holland, the director-general had jurisdiction over all political, military, judicial, and commercial activities in WIC territories, its personnel stationed in Africa, and over WIC ships in African waters. He was assisted by a council, consisting of the director-general himself, the superintendent (fiscaal, who was in charge of judicial and revenue matters), and a small group of high-ranking WIC officers stationed on the coast. The council met at irregular intervals (after 1670 six times annually) to discuss and modify the implementation of 9.
Martin, Loango, pp. 73-4; Albert Van Dantzig, Het Nederlandse Aandeel in de Slavenhandel (Bussum: Fibula, 1968), p. 70. WIC, vol. 833, p. 213; WIC, vol. 834, p. 123. 10. WIC, vol. 55, cor. 3/14/1722; WIC, vol. 619, p. 341; MCC, vol. 488; NBKG, vol. 236, min. 3/16/1716; WIC, vol. 102, p. 350; WIC, vol. 99, p. 430.
The Dutch in the Atlantic Slave Trade
62
Figure 3.1 WIC ranks and functions in Africa Upper ranks of WIC employees 1 2-3 7-8 18-20
Director-General or President Chief Commissioner (Oppercommies) Commissioner (Commies) Assistant (Assistant)
Prominent functions in the WIC administration Director-General CouncilJ JI Chief Factor
Superintendent (Fiscaal)
Ichaplair
Equipage Master Clerical Staff, incl. Accountant General (Boekhouder) First Secretary
Factors (heads of the outposts)
Note: Dutch equivalents are in parentheses.
policies and orders of the Heren X and the presiding chamber. In theory, decisions were made by a plurality of votes, with the director-general possessing two votes. In practice, as Willem Bosman complained, the directorgeneral wielded absolute authority, with the other members of the council acting as uyes men," who had to cover up for their superior when he made mistakes. On a few occasions, however, the council actually placed restrictions on the director-general, and in one instance they expressed their opposition by simply boycotting the council meetings.11 According to the numerous surviving personnel rosters, the WIC had an average of between 200 to 400 persons on the payroll in Africa. About onefourth of these were considered civil servants, engaged in either or both administrative and commercial activities. The remainder consisted primarily 11.
Ratelband, p. lviii; WIC, vol. 109, pp. 52-3; WIC, vol. 57, p. 78; NBKG, vol. 4, min. 10/1/1708; NBKG, vol. 8, min. 8/12/1738. The minutes of the council meetings after 1700 have nearly all been preserved. Some of the council members were stationed on the outer forts and had to travel a long distance to Elmina.
The Dutch on the West African coast
63
of soldiers, sailors, and craftsmen. Figure 3.1 illustrates the ranking system used for the WIC personnel, and the accompanying diagram charts the prominent functions at the top of the organizational structure. With the exception of the factory masters, or factors as the English called the heads of the major fortified trading stations, all these functionaries listed were stationed at Elmina.12 The superintendent and all persons with the rank of chief commissioner, who as a rule also held the function of factor of their particular station, were members of the council. Promotions were made by the authorities in Holland on the recommendation of the director-general. The post of chief factor went as a rule to the most influential chief commissioner, a post held by Willem Bosman for a number of years. The chief factor was stationed at Elmina and was in charge of commercial transactions at the principal WIC trading station there, and also functioned as a kind of executive assistant and substitute for the director-general. The factors of the outposts had total responsibility for their specific trading station. When the director-general died and no arrangements for his succession had been made beforehand, the council named a temporary successor with the title of president. The WIC authorities in Holland eventually replaced or confirmed him as directorgeneral.13 The equipage master (equipage meester) supervised food supplies, building materials, and was also in charge of the service corps of the WIC establishment in Africa. The latter included the sailors on coastal vessels, craftsmen, and the "factory" slaves, which the company kept for menial jobs. The ensign (vaandrig) was the company's highest ranking military officer in Africa; he was in charge of the Elmina garrison as well as other military affairs of the WIC. Chief among the clerical staff were the accountant-general, or first accountant (boekhouder), and the first secretary, each of whom had several clerical assistants. The function of chaplain (predikant) was usually vacant and occupied by an unordained minister, a reader, or comforter (ziekentrooster), who preached in the chapel and officiated at funerals and other religious ceremonies in the European community at Elmina. 14 Approximately 50 percent of the Europeans in the service of the WIC 12. 13.
Bosman, pp. 4 and 94-9. WIC, vol. n o , p. 204; NBKG, vol. 1, min. 12/4/1704; NBKG, vol. 4, min. 3/31/1711; Bosman, p. 95; Ratelband, p. lxiii. It is often assumed that the superintendent was second in command in Africa, but the minutes of the Council clearly place the chief factor in that position. 14. WIC, vol. 113, 596; NBKG, vol. 278, nr. 4; WIC, vol. 488, pp. 190-1; Bosman, p. 97; Ratelband, pp. lv-lxi. In 1736 the WIC establishment in Africa listed 244 persons, of whom 142 were military personnel; 43 of the military were stationed at the outposts. Several rosters of WIC personnel in Africa can be located in WIC, vols. 101-15 and 487-91.
Ill
i
; p
MAP 3.2
DUTCH TRADING FACTORIES IN WEST AFRICA T
T h e Dutch on the West African coast
65
were stationed at Elmina; the other half lived at the outposts, or buitenforten, as the Dutch called them. Map 3.2 shows the locations of the Dutch factories along the coast. On two occasions, in 1678 and again in 1717, a number of the fortified factories were reduced to the status of lodges, or unfortified trading stations. The WIC factories on the Gold Coast were nearly all heavily fortified, but on the Slave Coast and the Loango coast the company had mere trading lodges that could operate only with the approval of the indigenous African authorities. By 1700 the Dutch had ten forts of varying sizes on the Gold Coast, and they strengthened them during the eighteenth century while gradually abandoning their lodges elsewhere.15
WIC personnel in Africa The majority of the Europeans serving in Africa were by and large a pitiful lot; the expression "dregs of the nation" would be quite appropriate. Drawn from various countries, they included convicts and beggars. Employment with the WIC was regarded as inferior to that of the Dutch East India Company, and the disease-ridden Guinea coast, also styled "the white man's grave," was among the least desirable of the WIC stations. The chance of rapid promotion for those who were fortunate to survive was one of the only attractions for service in Africa. The qualifications for a position of prominence were therefore minimal; apparently one had to be able to read and write, because factors often complained that some assistants could barely master those skills. Members of the governing council generally spoke no other languages than the native Dutch, although Bosman claimed that he and a few other Europeans could understand an African language, presumably Twi. On one occasion, the council had to postpone a decision because no one on the council or the WIC staff could read a report written in English, although this might also be indicative of the fact that at that time English lacked the universality it acquired in later years. 16 Most of the Europeans adjusted poorly to the tropical environment of West Africa. The tropical heat, the excessive humidity during much of the year made life in Africa extremely unpleasant for Europeans. Add to this the unfamiliar tropical disease environment, in which malaria and the parasitic worm were the worst, according to Bosman. To make matters even worse, Europeans were unwilling to adapt to African dietary practices. They continued to live primarily on salted and dried foods imported from Holland. 15. 16.
A. W. Lawrence, Trade Castles and Forts of West Africa (London: J. Cape, 1963), p. 51; Herman, p. 65; NBKG, vol. 6, min. 4/2/1717; Van Dantzig, Forts, Introduction and Chapter 5. Bosman, pp. 50-4; NBKG, vol. 12, min. 10/29/1769 and 1/19/1767.
66
The Dutch in the Atlantic Slave Trade
When food shipments were tardy, as was the case in 1730, the directorgeneral lamented to his superiors: "for to subsist on what grows here in this dry and forlorn land, without shipments from the fatherland, is one of the saddest conditions in the world, closely akin to famine." Perhaps as a result of these conditions and accompanying homesickness, Europeans tended to drink excessively. The rank and file, in addition, lived in miserable quarters, were treated by unskilled physicians, and received savage punishments for committing legal offenses.17 Life expectancy among Europeans living on the West-African coast was very low, especially during their first year. An analysis of mortality among English personnel in similar circumstances for the years 1683 to 1737 shows that nearly 60 percent died within eight months of their arrival in Africa. After that period of adjustment to the new situation, death rates dropped significantly. A recent statistical analysis shows that Dutch death rates were not as drastic as previously assumed, and perhaps not as serious as those of other Europeans, as Bosman suggested in the early eighteenth century. Nevertheless, death rates were still extremely high, as some random figures confirm. In 1729, 76 out of 335 (nearly 25 percent) persons who served the WIC in Africa died. In 1750 deaths numbered 49 out of a total of 212. As many as 72 persons died during the first nine months of the year 1774. An analysis of a list of directors-general for the years 1638 to 1852 shows that about 50 percent died while in office. On the average they served only two years and seven months. It should be kept in mind that these men lived more comfortable lives than the rank and file, and that they were often selected from WIC personnel who had already survived the critical period of adjustment to the new disease environment. Once Europeans had survived this initial period they could expect to serve several years in Africa. Thus, Bosman could spend ten years in Africa and return to Holland alive, while Pieter Woortman served as director-general for nearly thirteen years (176780). They were the exceptions, however.18 17.
J. A. de Maree, Reizen op en Beschrijving van de Goudkust van Guinea, 2 vols. (The Hague:
18.
Van Cleef, 1817-1818), vol. 2, pp. 5-8; Bosman, pp. 104-11; WIC, vol. 487, p. 359; A. W. Lawrence, Trade Castles and Forts of West Africa (London: J. Cape, 1963), p. 62. Bosman describes the symptoms of and remedies for the diseases on the African coast in considerable detail. After spending more than ten years there, Bosman said he could still not determine a predictable pattern to the seasons of the Guinea coast. K. G. Davies, "The Living and the Dead: White Mortality in West Africa, 1684-1732," in S. Engerman and E. Genovese, eds., Race and Slavery in the Western Hemisphere,
(Princeton, N J.: Princeton University Press, 1975), pp. 94-8; Brodie Cruickshank,^/tf*>« Jaren aan de Goudkust (Amsterdam, 1853), pp. 1-5; WIC, vol. 294, pp. 3-9; WIC, vol. 487, p. 361; WIC, vol. 490, p. 175; H. M. Feinberg, "New Data on European Mortality in West Africa: The Dutch on the Gold Coast, 1719-1760," Journal ofAfrican History, vol. 15 (1973), pp. 359-71- It is undoubtedly correct, as Feinberg seems to suggest, that death rates among Europeans in Africa were not unlike other new disease environments,
The Dutch on the West African coast
67
Under such adverse circumstances, one may assume that only high financial rewards could lure Europeans to service in Africa. Certainty of employment was one reward, and salaries may have been better than in Holland although inferior to those of the East India Company. High-ranking WIC servants received good salaries plus reasonable fringe benefits and special commissions. The director-general, with a monthly salary of 300 guilders, had three times as much as the chief factor (see Figure 3.1). Fringe benefits for the higher echelon included wages for servants, free room, and dining privileges with the director-general, and other benefits depending on one's position. Those involved in commerce received a special commission on transacted merchandise or a percentage of the WIC's African profits. As a rule, the higher the rank the better the opportunities for fringe benefits. Factors, for example, received special advances to be used as gifts or bribes for indigenous African leaders and merchants in order to advance trade in their region. They were often accused of keeping these advances for themselves. The superintendent received a percentage of all confiscated goods and the fines levied. The director-general was in a particularly good position to add to his earnings. For every slave transacted by the WIC in Africa, he received a special commission of one ackey, the equivalent of about two and one-half guilders. He also received 2.5 percent of the company's profits in Africa, as compared with less than 1 percent of the profits being divided among approximately twenty-four assistants. The others received portions of the profits between these two extremes, depending on their rank and position.19 Some of the high-ranking WIC officials were apparently quite successful in accumulating capital, as evidenced by their degree of financial independence. In 1706 Commissioner P. C. de Candele was permitted by the council to undertake a military expedition inland from Shama at his own expense. If successful, he would be appointed as factor at Shama as a reward. Similarly, Commissioner B. Coejmans was allowed to establish a new lodge east of Accra at his own expense. On the other hand, prominence could also bring costly responsibilities. Jan de Pauw, factor at Ouidah in 1712, complained that his food compensation was inadequate to cover feeding and entertaining captains and officers of visiting slave ships. English and French factors received more generous compensations from their companies, he argued. 20 All of the company employees not benefiting from the so-called free table but the impression among contemporaries still remained that Africa was an undesirable place to work. 19. WIC, vol. i n , p. 70; WIC, vol. 114, p. 37; NBKG, vol. 25, min. 12/6/1699; Bosman, pp. 94-8; Ratelband, pp. lx-lxii. These salaries and benefits may well have varied from time to time. 20. NBKG, vol. 2, min. 1/2/1706; NBKG, vol. 9, min. 7/1/1745; WIC, vol. 102, p. 43.
68
The Dutch in the Atlantic Slave Trade
with the director-general at Elmina received food compensation. This income was graduated according to rank and function, and as a rule was paid in kind. Low-ranking employees were therefore at a considerable disadvantage, particularly because their salaries were also very low (see Table 7.2). The income of soldiers and sailors was perhaps even lower than the nearstarvation income of weavers in Holland at that time. Skilled laborers working in Africa were earning about the same as their counterparts in Holland. WIC personnel in Africa had the advantage of their food compensation, which may have given them a financial edge. Also, the spending and social opportunities were limited in Africa, which may have contributed to the heavy drinking and rowdiness of the Europeans. As a result, heavy indebtedness among company employees was endemic. On occasion, such "unchristian" behavior would draw strong denunciation from the company chaplain. Director-General Pieter Nuyts (1706-9) tried to combat this by calling special days of prayer, during which "cursing, wrestling, drinking, and gambling" were prohibited. But usually the leadership would condone such behavior of their subordinates, claiming that life in Africa was different and could not be subject to the rules of morality operative in Holland. Chaplains were urged to preach sermons of encouragement and not to stress moral denunciations.21
The WIC and the Africans Although Europeans occupied the leadership in the WIC establishment in Africa, they constituted only a small minority of the total labor force of the company. Actually, the personnel of the WIC, and those whose lives were greatly influenced by the presence of the company, could be divided into three categories: Europeans, mulattoes, or tapoejers; and blacks, or zwarten, as the Dutch were prone to call the indigenous population of Africa. Occasionally, the term Negroes was also used in reference to indigenous Africans. The number of Europeans serving the WIC in Africa generally fluctuated between 200 and 400. With the passing of time, more and more mulattoes entered the service of the WIC to replace Europeans, particularly among the military personnel. Toward the end of the eighteenth century, people of mixed race were even allowed to be promoted to the ranks of the commercial service, but not above the rank of assistant; they were needed, but they were still seen as a threat by the Europeans. Mulattoes were generally fathered by Europeans, either legally or illicitly, and they tended to adopt 21.
NBKG, vol. 1, min. 4/25/1704; NBKG, vol. 2, min. 7/27/1706; WIC, vol. 57, p. 13; WIC, vol. 487, cor. 2/3/1729. For comparable wages paid in Holland, see Van Dillen, pp. 182-184 and 294-301.
T h e Dutch on the West African coast
69
European names, and could therefore not be distinguished from Europeans unless the term tapoejer was added to their name. On personnel rosters this was not the case, and it is therefore impossible to determine how many of them there were among the WIC employees. By the middle of the eighteenth century, most of the military as well as several other linguistic and commercial specialists were people of mixed race.22 People of mixed Afro-European descent had played a role in the coastal trade ever since the days of the Portuguese hegemony on the West African coast. Their descendents continued to function as independent traders and diplomatic liaisons between Africans and Europeans. The Dutch generally called these people Portuguese, because they helped perpetuate a derivation of the Portuguese as the lingua franca along the West African coast. They seem to have been particularly active on the Slave Coast. On the Gold Coast, however, where most of the north Europeans were stationed, mulattoes speaking Dutch or English were predominant, and their European names are perpetuated to this day in coastal communities like Elmina. The WIC council minutes of 1716 contain several references about a mulatto called Willem Bosman, apparently fathered by the author of the book frequently cited in these pages, who also appeared to be an influential independent merchant at Elmina. The record leaves the impression that the WIC merchants were resentful of the young Bosman. He was accused of trading with the competing Brandenburg African Company and forced to pay a hefty fine for this illegal act or face banishment from WIC territory.23 By the beginning of the nineteenth century, mulattoes, such as Jan Nieser and Jacob Ruhle, became quite wealthy and influential in the WIC establishment; at first they were regarded as threats, as the younger Bosman was, but in time became members of the WIC Council.24 Although people of mixed race were treated as inferiors and regarded with suspicion, in some instances they were treated as equals to Europeans and their position tended to improve with time. This was never the case with the indigenous Africans or blacks. WIC policy was that company personnel should always maintain distance from the blacks. They were not allowed to spend nights outside of the locked gates of the European trading castles, and African women were not allowed to spend the nights inside. Obviously, this policy was only selectively enforced as evidenced by the growing number of mulattoes and the common practice of regular liaisons between WIC officials and African women. WIC authorities condemned the 22.
Kwame Yeboa Daaku, Trade and Politics on the Gold Coast (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1970), pp. o,6ff. 23. W I C , vol. 100, p. 535; N B K G , vol. 5, min. 2/12/1716. 24. A M K , no. 4030, doc. 11/18/1815; N B K G , vol. 13, min. 3/2/1787.
70
The Dutch in the Atlantic Slave Trade
lending of money to blacks as "bad behavior," and in 1683 two WIC servants were reprimanded because they were drinking in the company of Negroes. Thus, every effort was made to maintain social distance between Europeans and Africans.25 In spite of this condescending attitude toward Africans, WIC officials were repeatedly admonished by their superiors in Holland to "live in good harmony with the natives." This was a necessity in order to have successful commercial relations with the Africans, not for humanitarian reasons. In 1722 the WIC directors had a placard posted at all company trading stations in West Africa stating, under the threat of severe penalty, that company personnel "treat all natives with gentleness and friendly words and deeds, in order that they bring their commerce to the company factories . . . so that the WIC might benefit." As a result of this attitude, an increasing number of African traders, workers, and their dependents were allowed to live just outside the walls of the Dutch trading castles, where they enjoyed a degree of protection against their African adversaries. Africans residing in these coastal redoubts, which were regarded as protectorates of the Dutch, were promised protection against arbitrary threats and maltreatment by servants of the company as well. WIC personnel who robbed Africans of merchandise or other property could be punished severely by the company. Free blacks under WIC protection were also guarded by the company against kidnapping and hostage-taking (panyaring). WIC records reveal many incidents of such Africans being released from enslavement through efforts of company officials. All of these measures, however, were motivated by the desire to further commerce with Africans and not by a genuine interest in their well-being.26 Compared with other Europeans, the Dutch may well have been the least interested in efforts to educate and Christianize the African population; only a few feeble efforts were made in that direction. In 1737 WIC officials, on orders of the Heren X, sent three or four black African boys to Holland to be taught a craft. Seven years later the Asante king requested that seventeen Asante children be sent to Holland to be educated in reading, writing, and music. WIC officials on the coast, however, refused to comply with this request, and their superiors in Holland later applauded that decision. Earlier, in 1722, the WIC directors in Holland had ordered a few young black slaves be taught a trade in order to work more efficiently for the company in Africa. The director-general responded that he would try to carry out the order but that he was convinced that Negroes could never become independent craftsmen, and would always need the supervision and direction of white crafts25. N B K G , vol. 8, min. 4/19/1741; N B K G , vol. 5, min. 1/21/1716 and 7/21 1716; N B K G , vol. 2, min. 1/31/1707; W I C , vol. 57, p. 226; W I C , vol. 1024, doc. 14. 26. N B K G , vol. 235, min. 11 12/1713, art. 21; N B K G , vol. 5, min. 3/6/1710; N B K G , vol. 9, min. 6/27/1746, 6/1/1751, 2/21/1747, 6/19/1758, and 11 1/1754; W I C , vol. 55, cor. 4/12/1722.
The Dutch on the West African coast
71
men. In general, the Dutch attitude toward blacks could thus openly be described as racist, arrogant, and condescending, although in this they were not much different from other northern Europeans. Ironically, in time the WIC's craftsmen in Africa became almost exclusively black. On the whole, the Dutch record in respect to education efforts for their African allies and subjects was very poor.27 One successful case of educating an African should be singled out, however. During the first half of the eighteenth century, a young black man, known to the Dutch as Jacobus Eliza Capiteyn, was successfully educated as a Protestant minister at the University of Leiden. During the 1740s he returned to Elmina as a preacher and teacher, starting a school for children there. But his educational and missionary efforts soon ended in failure, as WIC personnel ridiculed Capiteyn for his efforts to educate African children in the Christian religion. The directors in Holland supported Capiteyn's efforts, but they disapproved of his attempts to baptize African children (possibly children of company slaves), and encouraged him instead to set up an orphanage and school for teachers. In the end he became so discouraged that he took to drinking and died at the early age of thirty. The frequent references to Capiteyn in Dutch circles was partly due to the fact that he was a curiosity, but more important still was the fact that he wrote and spoke out in favor of the slave trade and slavery. Dutch slave traders constantly cited him to justify their occupation.28 When in 1769 WIC officials in Holland urged their subordinates in Africa to resume missionary activity, the council responded that the "natives are not inclined to accept Christianity," and that in any event "their heathen lives would bring shame to Christianity." Earlier, in 1745, the directorgeneral had written to his superiors: "the more time I spend here and the more I penetrate the nature of the natives, the more difficult, if not impossible, it appears to me that - unless a miracle occurred - the natives could be converted to Christianity."29
The company slaves Regardless of the negative attitudes the Dutch held towards the Africans, a large number of them were employed by the WIC. The group of Africans most intimately connected with the WIC establishment were the company27.
WIC, vol. 57, cor. 9/13/1737 and p. 63; WIC, vol. 489, p. 98; WIC, vol. 486, p. 252; WIC, vol. 55, doc. 9/21/1737. 28. WIC, vol. 55, cor. 10/2/1744 and 5/9/1746; L. C. Vrijman, Slavenhalers en Slavenhandel (Amsterdam: Van Kampen, 1937), pp. 51 and 58; For a detailed account of Capiteyn see: A Eekhof, De Negerpredikant Jacobus Eliza Capiteyn, 1717-1747 (The Hague: Nederlandsarchief van Kerkgeschiedenis, 1917), Nieuwe Serie 13. 29. WIC, vol. 113, p. 319.
72
T h e Dutch in the Atlantic Slave Trade
owned slaves. They were identified by various names by contemporaries, including service slaves (trainslaven), coast slaves, and castle slaves, with the Dutch employing the term trainslaven as a rule. The WIC generally kept around 300 of these slaves. These company slaves were exploited primarily as manual laborers at the various trading stations, the majority of them being stationed at Elmina. Their tasks included loading and unloading ships, quarry labor, rowing canoes, etc., and with the passing of time there were several craftsmen among them. Of the 348 company slaves in 1703, 34 were listed as craftsmen; a total of twenty-three different occupations were listed for these slaves. In rare cases they were employed at experimental indigo and cotton plantations, and in one situation, in Benin in 1729, six company slaves were employed to prospect for gold.30 Company slaves were, as a rule, brought to the Gold Coast from either the Slave Coast or the Niger delta region. Periodically, when the company needed more slaves for internal service, a small coastal vessel was dispatched eastward to purchase several dozen slaves for this specific purpose. The apparent reason for not selecting these slaves from the trade slaves on the Gold Coast was to avoid fraternizing with the free Africans in the area.31 Compared to the multitude of trade slaves, who were taken across the Atlantic, the company slaves were relatively fortunate. Not only were they permitted to remain in Africa, albeit far from their home, they often enjoyed a greater degree of freedom as well as a better chance for manumission. The WIC provided them with protection from being sold, with housing, and food allowances like employees of the company, and with the opportunity to learn a craft or make other advancements. The status of company slaves was attractive enough to one free African, named Ammo, who decided in 1723 to sell himself for three trade ounces and eight ackeys (about ten to twelve guilders) to the WIC as a company slave. The motive of Ammo was not found recorded; one may assume that he was deeply indebted. 32 The efficient operation of the WIC establishment depended a great deal on the work of the company slaves. Being aware of this, the slaves were sometimes bold enough to make certain demands. On at least two occasions, in 1785 and 1789, they refused to work and rebelled against the company authority on grounds of inadequate food allowances. Company slaves received one and a half ackeys (about five to six guilders) in food allowances, compared to four and a half for soldiers and ten for WIC civil servants. The outcome of the dispute was not found recorded.33 30. 31. 32. 33.
WIC, vol. 105, p. 318; WIC, vol. 107, p. 226; NBKG, vol. 1, min. 2/4/1705; WIC, vol. 485, PP- 373-4, 495 and 729NBKG, vol. 240, p. 53; WIC, vol. 1024, doc 17. WIC, vol. 107, pp. 494-5 NBKG, vol. 13, min. 10 13/1785; AAC, vol. 2419, cor. 9/15 1789, WIC, vol. 488, P> 153-
The Dutch on the West African coast
73
One of the advantages of being a company slave was the opportunity for manumission. Several so-called letters of release, granting freedom to slaves, have been located in the WIC archives. Freedom could be granted for a variety of reasons such as a ransom payment by the slave himself or another interested person, replacement by another slave, or a favor granted by the company for faithful service. The latter occurred frequently with older slaves, who were then either freed or retired with retention of food allowances.34 It appeared that the law was applied mildly to company slaves, but when they did commit serious crimes they were usually punished by death. As a rule, such punishments were commuted into selling the slave to a slaver who carried the victim across the ocean, which illustrates the privileged position of the company slave. This should not necessarily be seen as a humanitarian gesture but rather as a sound business practice, a gain of at least the proceeds of the sale in return.35 A large number of free Africans were also in the employ of the WIC. Many of them served as household servants or in capacities similar to those of company slaves, except they were wage earners and free to go when they pleased or their contract expired. Others served in more prestigious capacities, as interpreters, or even going on diplomatic missions for the WIC into the interior, such as the two so-called black boys who took letters to the Asantehene in 1702, or to African chiefs on the coast. Many of them received commissions as contracted beforehand. Because most of those functions were commercial in nature, they will be treated in greater detail in the following chapter.36
Rivalry and cooperation with other Europeans Unlike the Portuguese during their early contacts with the Africans, the Dutch were unable to monopolize the West African coastal waters. They had to tolerate other European nations to operate trading stations there and compete with them for the commerce with Africans. The most formidable competitors were the English, who had come to Africa at about the same time as the Dutch and who were, after them, the strongest European nation on the Gold Coast. During the years of the WIC's existence, the Dutch and the English fought four naval wars (1652-4, 1665-7, 1672-4, and 1780-4) which all had their reverberations in Africa. The Second Anglo-Dutch War had serious repercussions for the WIC in Africa. Under the English admiral, Robert Holmes, several company trading stations were captured by the En34. 35. 36.
NBKG, vol. 237, p. 33; NBKG, vol. 238, p. 73; NBKG, vol. 241, pp. 10, 38-9; WIC, vol. 56, p. 45; NBKG, vol. 1, min. 2/4/1705. Wyndham, p. 230; WIC, vol. 113, p. 711; WIC, vol. 501, pp. 57 and 120. WIC, vol. 99. p. 20; WIC, vol. 98, p. 3.
74
The Dutch in the Atlantic Slave Trade
glish in 1665, including Goree, Cape Verde, and Cape Coast. But during the next year the Dutch admiral, de Ruyter, took revenge by virtually driving the English from the Gold Coast; they only held on to their heavily fortified castle at Cape Coast.37 Apart from these short wars, these two Protestant nations were usually on friendly terms, although they were stern economic competitors. Consequently, there was nearly always tension between the two in one or the other region of their respective colonial empires. In Africa the WIC and the English RAC (Royal Africa Company), which was organized in 1672, represented the rival nations in negotiating their conflicts. It was during the late 1650s, after the English had issued the Navigation Acts, that WIC reports indicate a significant increase in English competition on the African coast. In 1701 there were again several WIC reports of greatly increased English competition in Africa, and from then on the English pressed on to become an even more threatening competitor.38 The economic rivalry between the Dutch and the English often found expression in maneuvering for friendship with African states, in order to improve their respective commercial advantage. In 1699 tensions between the WIC and the RAC rose to the brink of war, even though the two nations they represented were allies during most of the war period of 1674 to 1713. Their governments in Europe finally ordered the two companies to settle their differences through negotiations and strive for greater cooperation. An agreement between the two companies was reached in 1701, and two years later they negotiated a defensive pact, which was aimed at keeping the French from gaining a foothold on the Gold Coast. New conflicts arose in 1706-7, but the two able directors, Dalby Thomas and Willem Nuyts, were able to negotiate the so-called Convention of 1708, which for several years created greater harmony between the two rivals. But this did not preclude future conflicts. In 1721 the English captured the Dutch fort at Cormantin, and the Dutch threatened to retaliate by taking English ships. From 1728 to 1731 the two companies were virtually at war with each other and captured a number of each other's ships. By 1733, however, relations between the two sides had improved sufficiently to allow English subjects passage to Europe on WIC ships.39 Like the Dutch and the English, the French also benefited from the weakness of the Portuguese during the first half of the seventeenth century and established a number of trading stations on the African coast. They also 37. 38. 39.
Goslinga, The Dutch in the Caribbean and the Wild Coast, pp. 374-8. KITLV, vol. H-65, p. 411; WIC, vol. 200, pp. 157-8, 222 and 224. WIC, vol. 484, pp. 72-3; WIC, vol. 97, p. 377; WIC, vol. 54, cor. 10/19/1701; NBKG, vols. 2 and 3, minutes of 1706-1708; NBKG, vol. 9, min. 3/28/1747; RLLM, Radermacher, folders 589 and 590.
The Dutch on the West African coast
75
established plantation colonies in the Caribbean, and got involved in the slave trade from Africa. For most of the seventeenth century, however, they recognized their limitations and were hesitant to challenge the Dutch and the English. Thus, they tended to avoid the Gold Coast, and instead established footholds in Senegal, the Ivory Coast, the Slave Coast, and they were also active in the Loango trade. 40 Toward the end of the seventeenth century the French became bolder, however. They even tried to establish a trading station at Komenda on the Gold Coast, but the Dutch were able to prevent this. During the war-filled period of 1690 to 1713, French naval power was seen as a great threat by the Dutch. In 1693 a French fleet captured a large share of a combined Dutch-English convoy from the east, near the port of Lagos. Later that decade, the WIC director in Africa feared that the French might take exclusive control of the Slave Coast. In 1705 the Dutch tried to encourage the Ouidah king to drive the French from their fortified trading post there, although the king had persuaded all major European powers the previous year to sign a treaty that guaranteed the neutrality of that port. During the first decade of the eighteenth century at least three WIC slave ships were captured by the French, and several other ships were detained on the African coast because of the French threat.41 The WIC had to deal with three other European competitors on the West African coast, the Swedes, who were succeeded by the Danes, and also the Brandenburgers. All three of these rivals established trading stations on the Gold Coast, and they had all been able to do so with the assistance of Dutch capital and renegade WIC officials. WIC authorities tolerated these competitors, either because they were seen more as deterrents to the English, as was the case with the Scandinavians, or they represented valuable political allies, as was the case with the elector of Brandenburg. The Polish-born Henry Caerlof had served as fiscal officer for the WIC at Elmina. When in 1648 he left the company's service disgruntled, he offered his service to the Swedish African Company to get a foothold on the Gold Coast, in which he succeeded two years later. The Swedes also received financial backing from Amsterdam financiers who resented the trade monopoly of the WIC in Africa. By 1655, however, Caerlof returned once more 40. 41.
Robert Louis Stein, The French Slave Trade in the Eighteenth Century; An Old Regime Business (Madison: University of Wisconsin Press, 1979), pp. 3-12, and 92. Albert Van Dantzig, Les Hollandais sur la Cote de Guinee; A VEpoque de FEssor de VAshanti et du Dahomey, 1680-1740 (Paris: Societe Franchise d'Histoire d' Outre-Mer, 1980), pp. 56—66; Fritz Snapper, Oorlogsinvloeden op de overzeese handel, 1551—171Q (Amsterdam: E. Harms, 1959), pp. 194, 205, and 207; WIC, vol. 97, p. 7; WIC, vol. 98, p. 456; WIC, vol. 55, cor. 3/30/1705; WIC, vol. 484, pp. 30, 231, and 266; WIC, vol. 99, p. 14; WIC, vol. 485, p. 169; NBKG, vol. 1, min. 3/10/1702 and 3/10/1704; NBKG, vol. 5, min. 5/30/1710.
76
The Dutch in the Atlantic Slave Trade
to Europe and within two years offered to help the Danes to replace the Swedes on the Gold Coast. After several years of confusion and warfare between the two Scandinavian rivals, the Swedes were evicted from their last stronghold, Carolusburg, in 1663. The Danes kept their trading stations until the middle of the nineteenth century. From their heavily fortified trading castle, Fort Christiansborg, at Accra, they maintained a modest African trade, which was perhaps more damaging to the English than to the Dutch. They also participated in the slave trade from Africa to the Caribbean, but their volume seldom exceeded two consignments a year, and many a year not a single slave ship was dispatched.42 The Brandenburg presence on the Gold Coast was short-lived and was tolerated because of the political alliance between the United Provinces and elector of Brandenburg. The Brandenburg African Company was also organized by a Dutch subject, Benjamin Raule, who created essentially an anti-WIC interloper company under the Brandenburg flag. The company built a strong castle called Gross Friedrichsburg at Pokesu, or later Princes Town, at the western end of the Gold Coast, in 1682. From here a modest trade was carried on primarily with various European interlopers. The undertaking was no success for Brandenburg, and in 1717 the company sold its whole establishment to the WIC.43 In regard to foreign relations, it is interesting to note that the chief threat to the WIC coastal stations was not from Africans but from European rivals. This is evidenced in the fact that as a rule most of the cannons on castle walls were aimed toward the sea rather than inland. The WIC as middleman in the Brazil-Africa trade The Portuguese were officially banned from the Guinea coast by treaties between Holland and Portugal in 1641 and confirmed in 1661. Slowly they started returning to this area because the Brazilian colonists preferred slaves from this area, and also because Africans had come to prefer tobacco from Brazil, the so-called third grade variety that was sweetened with molasses. Recognizing this symbiotic relationship and the possibility of profiting from it, the Dutch allowed Brazilians to trade on the Guinea coast again in 1689, on the condition that they pay the WIC 10 percent of their merchandise. 42.
Van Dantzig, Forts, pp. 23-30; See also Georg Norregaard, Danish Settlements in West Africa, 1658-1850 (Boston: Boston University Press, 1966). 43. Van Dantzig, Forts, pp. 37-39; Eberhard Schmitt, "The Brandeburg Overseas Trading Interests in the Field of European Politics, 1634-1682," in L. Blusse and F. Gaastra, eds., Companies and Trade (Leiden University Press, 1981), pp. 163-176.
T h e Dutch on the West African coast
77
Much of this duty (recognitie) was paid in the form of tobacco, which became an essential item in the African trade during the eighteenth century. Failure to pay the 10-percent duty at Elmina carried with it the threat of capture and confiscation, which became the fate of many a Brazilian vessel.44 An average of fifteen ships paying their fees at Elmina was not uncommon during the first half of the eighteenth century, and there were years when the number of ships exceeded thirty. There were years, however, when the relationship between the Dutch and the Portuguese was strained and the two did much damage to each other. Throughout the decade of the 1720s the Portuguese reasserted themselves, particularly on the Slave Coast. In 1725 they captured a large WIC slaver with 550 slaves aboard, and during the next two years three smaller WIC slave ships met the same fate. The WIC retaliated by destroying the Portuguese lodge at Cape Lopez and capturing Portuguese vessels in turn. But the Portuguese attacks constituted a serious menace and brought the WIC considerable financial loss.45 This revival of Portuguese determination was not necessarily coordinated with the interests of the Brazil traders. The latter continued to anchor at Elmina, pay their 10-percent duty, and trade with both WIC and African merchants for most of the eighteenth century. WIC officials clearly distinguished between Lisbon and Brazil Portuguese, and they favored the latter greatly. Quite regularly the WIC also sold slaves to the Brazilians, particularly during the years 1715 to 1731. In fact, in 1719 the WIC sold 1,491 slaves to twelve different Brazil captains, but that was an unusually active year for the trade with Brazil. The reason for this may have been that in the previous year a formal agreement had been worked out between the WIC and the Brazilians, putting this trade on a firm footing. The total number of slaves sold in these transactions reached nearly 4,000, as Table 3.1 illustrates, and averaged slightly more than 200 per year. Not all records have been located, however the number of slaves sold during this period was undoubtedly considerably higher, although the WIC plans in 1722 called for approximately 200 slaves a year and an average of 25 slaves for each Brazilian ship.46 44.
Pierre Verger, Flux et reflux de la traite des negres (Paris: Mouton, 1968), pp. 28-46; WIC, vol. 1275, doc. of 1725; VWIS, vol. 37; RLLM, Radermacher, folder 593; NBKG, vol. 420. 45. WIC, vol. 113, p. 432; WIC, vol. 108, pp. 74, 529 and 631; NBKG, vols. 237 and 238; WIC, vol. 485, p. 533; WIC, vol. 487, pp. 34-6 and 40-3; WIC, vol. 107, p. 522; WIC, vol. 269, Account 1726-8. 46. WIC, vol. 55, cor. 11/20/1720; WIC, vol. 106, p. 14; NBKG, vol. 6, min. 4/21/1728; NBKG, vol. 237, instr. 9/15/1729; NBKG, vol. 85, doc. 5/17/1718; WIC, vol. 56, p. 192; WIC, vol. 104, p. 245.
The Dutch in the Atlantic Slave Trade Table 3.1 Slaves sold to Brazilians in Africa by the WIC establishment Year
Ships
Slaves
Year
1715 1717 1718 1719
7 2 7 12
473 199 761
1,491
1721 1727 1728 1730 1731
Total
28
2,924
Ships
Grand total
Slaves
1 3 1 1 1
14 412 99 143 10
7
678
35
3,602
Source: WIC, vols. 102-5; NBKG, vol. 237.
Even when the WIC lost its monopoly over the slave trade in the 1730s, the company preserved its unique position in the trade with the Brazilians. Dutch free traders were not allowed to trade with the ships from Brazil, though they were free to trade with Africans and other European nationalities. The trade with the Brazilians remained the exclusive domain of the WIC, under the supervision of the director-general.47
Privateers, pirates, and interlopers In addition to dealing with rivaling nations, the WIC also had its freedom of action curtailed by pirate ships, whose crews owed allegiance to none but themselves, and by Dutch interlopers who ventured into the WIC monopoly areas at the risk of being captured and confiscated. In time of war there was the additional problem of privateers who were commissioned by proper authorities to do damage to enemy shipping. They operated much like pirates, except that their behavior was more predictable. During its early years the WIC itself had functioned as a privateering agency against the Spanish and the Portuguese. At times pirate groups became so powerful that they established land bases, such as at Dunkirque and on the Algerian coast. Slave ships often carried a so-called Turkish pass, which had been purchased from pirates operating from Algeria, and made the Atlantic waters to the west of Africa dangerous for slave ships leaving and returning to Europe. In 1687 a large WIC slave ship, on its way to Africa, was attacked and sunk 47.
WIC, vol. 57, pp. 59 and 76.
The Dutch on the West African coast
79
near the Canary Islands by an Algerian pirate, apparently because it did not carry such a pass.48 Occasionally, the WIC also had to contend with pirates on the African coast. In 1685-6 two powerful pirate ships appeared on the Slave Coast and captured two WIC slavers at Ouidah, while a third company ship barely escaped. And again, in 1719 pirates made the West African coast unsafe and captured or grounded several merchant ships of various nationalities. This time the WIC lost one slaver on the Guinea Coast, the Emmenesy and the slave ship Africa was robbed of its cargo. That same year the WIC slaver, Companies Welvaren, was grounded and wrecked off the Loango coast, apparently by the same pirates. As a result of this raid commerce stagnated along the entire Guinea coast, because merchant vessels did not dare leave the protection of the European forts. The port of Ouidah, which usually harbored a large number of European slavers, became a particular target of these pirates. Again, in 1721-2 a team of four large pirate ships made the Guinea coast unsafe. At this time four WIC vessels were robbed of their cargo and then released. The English dispatched a large warship to Africa and neutralized three of the pirate ships, and a WIC cruiser captured the last of them, thus ending the pirate attacks on the African coast. 49 Privateers, in this case Dutch ships commissioned to prey on enemy ships, were a factor only in times of war. It has already been noted that the WIC in its early days had privateering as one of its functions. Dutch privateers were not a threat to WIC slave ships unless they stimulated an enemy into retaliating and hurt Dutch interests, as was sometimes the case of the Dutch West Indian colonies (see Chapter 8). A number of slave ships were captured by the French privateers early in the eighteenth century, and a few additional WIC slavers were taken by the Portuguese on the African coast during the 1720s. Occasionally, WIC slave ships had also privateering commissions, and they did capture foreign ships or interlopers either in their capacity as privateers or in defense of the WIC monopoly rights.50 Penetration of the WIC monopoly areas by independent Dutch ships was a perennial problem for the company authorities on the African coast and to a lesser extent also in the Caribbean. WIC documents repeatedly make references to such interlopers, or lorredraayers, and several measures were taken to prevent this practice. As a rule, captured interlopers were confiscated by the WIC, and the officers of these ships faced punitive action. Captured sailors, however, 48.
Menkman, "Nederland in Amerika en West Afrika," in H.J. de Graff, ed., Nederland Over de Zeeen (Utrecht: W. de Haan, 1955), p. 58; WIC, vol. 54, p. 4. 49. WIC, vol. 267, 4th account; WIC, vol. 1024, doc. 18; WIC, vol. 574, pp. 712 and 750; WIC, vol. 105, p. 714; WIC, vol. 486, pp. 25, 61-2, 68-9, 75, 77-80, 214-16, and 2567; NBKG, vol. 6, min. 7/1/1719, n/22/1719, 11/31/1719, and 9/30/1721. 50. J.Th.H. Verhees-van Meer, De Zeeuwse Kaapvaart tijdens de Spaanse Successieoorlog, 1702(Middelburg: Koninklijk Zeeuws Genootschap, 1986), p. 200.
80
T h e Dutch in the Atlantic Slave Trade
were allowed to keep their personal belongings and were often offered an opportunity to join the generally depleted WIC work force. In order to increase the interloper confiscation rate, a WIC order of 1680 promised 10 percent of the captured value to the crews of the WIC ships that captured an interloper. Five years later the captors were offered two-months extra wages. In 1714 the 10 percent of confiscation reward was again awarded.51 Many Dutch interlopers undoubtedly traded on the African coast under the cover of foreign flags, especially the Swedish and later the Danish and Brandenburger flags. But many independent-minded Dutch maritime merchants must have taken the risk without that protection. In 1661 the WIC directors issued a strong set of instructions against interlopers for the use of the director at Elmina. This order was repeated in 1675 and again in 1682; during the decade of the 1680s the Dutch interlopers were particularly active on the African coast. In 1687 the WIC sent a frigate, which may be regarded as a warship at that time, to cruise along the African coast and intercept and confiscate interlopers. By 1691 the company had three frigates employed for this purpose, which became a heavy financial burden for the WIC. This effort must have been effective, however, because little interloper activity was reported for several years afterward. Not until 1698 did the WIC authorities in Africa again request the dispatch of two frigates to ward off interlopers.52 Perhaps the greatest interloper threat against the WIC occurred during the second decade of the eighteenth century, which was met by vigorous WIC response and numerous confiscations. From a lamenting report from the province of Zeeland, which apparently was producing the lion's share of the interlopers, we learn that twenty-six Zeeland ships had been confiscated in the ten-year period of 1713-24, with an economic loss in excess of one million guilders.53 In 1715 alone ten interloper confiscations have been documented, and they included among their cargo a total of eighty-two slaves from five of these ships. This last figure is significant, for it seems quite certain that the vast majority of the Dutch interlopers on the African coast were interested in the direct trade between Africa and Europe and not so much in the slave trade. It is quite likely that the small number of slaves aboard these captured interloper ships were intended for resale to the rare interloper that crossed 51.
WIC, vol. 54, cor. 7/20/1693 and 9/26/1699; WIC, vol. 55, cor. 10/12/1714; WIC, vol. 832, p. 227; WIC, vol. 833, p. 400. 52. WIC, 831, p. 87; WIC, vol. 832, pp. 12 and 588; WIC, vol. 834, pp. 158-9 and 184; WIC, vol. 836, p. 175; WIC, vol. 54, pp. 2, 4, 9, and cor. 11/3/1690, 11/12/1691, and 10/5/1697. 53. VCC, vol. 6, pp. 118-19. See Chapter 11 and Table 11.1 for the relative value of currency at that time.
The Dutch on the West African coast
81
the Atlantic to the West Indies.54 The triangular slave trade was a longer and more complex commercial venture than the Guinea trade, the direct trade between Europe and the Guinea coast, and it is therefore not surprising that only a small percentage of the interlopers were actual slavers. It is very difficult to gain reliable statistical information about the illicit activities of the interlopers. WIC records of sightings and confiscations often provide the only source. For this reason such studies are rarely undertaken, but recently a master's thesis has been devoted to the subject and has identified seventy-eight Dutch interlopers for the period 1700 to 1725. Of this number, twenty-four could be said to have any dealings with the slave trade, and only ten could be linked to an Atlantic crossing with 300 slaves or more. During the period 1688 to 1725, a total of twenty-eight interloper slave ships have been identified (see Table 3.2). Much of this evidence comes primarily from sightings by WIC personnel active in the Caribbean. Furthermore, it is clear that the first quarter of the eighteenth century can be regarded as the high point in Dutch interloper activity.55 Obviously, several interloper slavers must have gone unreported, because they often took their human cargo to French and Spanish markets in the Caribbean, primarily to the northern islands of the Lesser Antilles. Early in the eighteenth century there seems to have been an active interloper interest in the slave trade, which may well have gone beyond the number of cases reported. This is confirmed by the fact that in 1702 the WIC again sent a warship to Africa to counter interloper activity. Similarly, in the years 1715 to 1718, slave-trading interlopers appear to have been very active, notwithstanding the fact that the WIC warship, De Faam, captured and confiscated a few in this period.56 This sketchy record obviously prevents a reliable accounting of the contribution of the interlopers to the Dutch slave trade. One can only produce some speculative estimates for this traffic, which is taken into account in the discussion on slave origins in Chapter 5. An estimated 14,000 slaves were exported from Africa by Dutch interlopers.57 The interloper contribution to the slave trade is thus not to be ignored, but one should be careful not to overstate this factor. The triangular slave trade was a complex affair which required a great deal of coordination and protection, on the African coast 54. 55.
NBKG, vols. 255-60. MJ.G. Kors, "Lorrendraaien in het vaarwater van de Westindische Compagnie; De Nederlandse smokkelhandel op de westkust van Afrika in de periode 1700-1734," M.A. thesis, Leiden University, 1987, Appendixes 2 and 7. 56. WIC, vol. 200, pp. 67, 115, 157-8, and 224. WIC, vol. 54, cor. 12/18/1702; NBKG, vol. 6, min. 29/6/1718 to 3/18/1719; WIC, vol. 485, p. 713. The information on St. Thomas was supplied by Robin Sabino of the University of Pennsylvania. 57. See Chapter 5, Table 5.1, and accompanying text for further treatments of the interloper question.
The Dutch in the Atlantic Slave Trade
82
Table 3.2 Documented interloper slaving activity Year 1688 1690 1695 1698 1700 1701 1701 1701 1702 1702 1702 1702 1702 1703 1707 1709 1710 1715 1715 1717 1717 1717 1717 1719 1719 1724 1725 1725
Ship Rode Leeuw Vogel Phenix ? ? Carolus Secondus Plaatsenburgh Dolphijn Levant St. Joseph Vier Gebroeders Grote Amazone ? ?
?
Vliegent Hert Roosenburgh De America De America Vlissings Welvaren Jonge Christina Jonge Adriaan Elisabeth Adriana Catharina Vergulde Vryheit De Jager 7 ? ?
Captain Antonius Tange Frans van Goethem Willem Fante C. Wendt Leendert Jansz. Mathijs Bogaert Gabriel Jansen J.J.Koetswagen Lucas Oostdupuis F.Huyge de Lange J. v/d Klooster A. Dames J. Roggestaert Jacob Vos David Misen David Misen J. Guipijn Jan Vosbrug Reyke Maerschalk Jan Pater P. Gelijnsz. David de Laay D. de Laa Jacob Prins Ketelaar Jan Vergouwen
Africa Loango Loango Loangoa Loango Calabary Loango
Loango Loango Loango
America
Slaves
Surinam Surinam St. Eustatius St. Eustatius St. Eustatius Caracas Surinam St. Eustatius St. Thomas St. Thomas St. Thomas St. Thomas Caracas St. Thomas St. Eustatius
5-600 52 400 400 ?
420 400 300 321
St. Eustatius St. Eustatius
Loango
Curasao St. Eustatius St. Eustatius St. Eustatius St. Thomas St. Christopher
440 400 400
Source: WIC, vols 54, 69 200, 203, 248, 560, 619, 835, 1137, 1152 and 1300; Kors, pp. 75-76; Waldemar Westergaard, The Danish West Indies under Company Rule, 1671-1754 (New York: Macmillan, 1917), pp. 320-325. Notes aThis ship was captured by the WIC on the Loango coast; its intended destination was Veracruz, Mexico. b The record states that no slaves were on board, but they could well have been sold elsewhere beforehand. See WIC, vol. 1137, cor. 6/ 29/1703.
and in the West. Faced with hostility and the threat of punitive action in both of these areas, it is understandable that interlopers generally limited their activity to one of these areas and to regular commercial products. WIC officials were always keen to report the slightest evidence of interloper ac-
The Dutch on the West African coast
83
tivity, since this was often used as an excuse for their own commercial failures. It is therefore not likely that too many interloper slavers escaped the notice and the correspondence of the WIC establishments on the African coast and in the Caribbean.
Trade and politics on the African coast
When the Europeans first arrived on the coast of western Africa during the second half of the fifteenth century, they found conditions quite different from today. Instead of the sprawling urban centers along the coast, like Lagos, Accra, and Dakar, the centers of population in West Africa were deep in the interior, where states like old Ghana, Mali, and Kanem had controlled vast stretches of the Sahel on the Sahara desert fringes, and where Songay and Kanem-Bornu were to rise to great power status in the sixteenth century. The trade networks of West Africa converged on the caravan routes across the Sahara, which gave rise to the power of these states. By contrast, the coastal regions were thinly populated with small autonomous fishing villages, separated by an endless ethnic variety and dispersed political authority. One exception to this coastal pattern was the city-state of Benin in southwestern Nigeria. Early Dutch visitors described the town with considerable admiration and compared it to contemporary European urban centers in Holland. But on the whole, it was not until the arrival of the Portuguese that several trading centers along the Atlantic coast were developed. This gradually changed the focus of West African trade from the Sahara to the Atlantic, where it tied into the international trading network that was developed and dominated by the Europeans.1
An Afro-European trading partnership The Dutch arrived on the African coast in the early seventeenth century after the Portuguese had spent over a century creating a trading network between Europeans and Africans. Most of the important European trading i.
Philip D. Curtin, et al., African History (Boston: Little, Brown, 1978), pp. 185-9; Olfert Dapper, Naukeurige Beschrijvinge der Afrikaensche Gewesten. 84
Trade and politics on the African coast
85
stations had already been well established and several had been heavily fortified, like Goree and Elmina. After driving the Portuguese from the coast, the Dutch and other Europeans who filled the vacuum simply continued the established pattern. The competition among the various northwestern Europeans merely added to the number of trading stations and intensified the commercial activity by offering more goods for sale to the Africans and opening up a broader market for African products. Lest one conclude that slaves were the only item of commercial value in Africa, there were many other products that Europeans exported from there through their various trading stations. A compilation of WIC exports from West Africa for the period 1675 to 1731 lists fifteen different commercial items. By far the most valuable of these products was gold. This precious metal exceeded all other items of trade during this whole period, albeit at a declining rate. It represented 75 percent of the combined commercial value of WIC exports from the Guinea coast. According to the same document, ivory was another significant African export commodity. It represented more than 5 percent of the goods exported by the WIC, and it was obtained at various points along the west coast of Africa, unlike gold which came essentially from the Gold Coast. According to this document, the slaves exported from the Guinea coast by the WIC accounted for slightly over 13 percent of the total commercial value for this period. The remaining commodities totaled a mere 3 percent combined, and may thus be regarded as secondary export items.2 Slaves were thus by no means the only reason for the Dutch to seek to replace the Portuguese in the African Atlantic waters. Slaves may have been essential to the Dutch colony in Brazil after 1630, but gold was crucial for the European dominance of world trade, because at this time the European nations produced little that was in great demand on the world's markets. Gold had drawn the Portuguese to Africa in the first place, and it continued to draw other European nations as well until the beginning of the eighteenth century, when the African gold supplies seemed to be depleted and new discoveries of gold in southern Brazil could replace the African exports. Before this time, however, Africa's contribution to the world's gold production may have been as much as one-fourth of the total during the seventeenth century. And during the last quarter of that century, the Dutch exported nearly half of all the gold mined in West Africa.3 2. 3.
VWIS, Folder 928; Postma, "West African Exports," pp. 53-74. Davies, RoyalAfrican Company', pp. 225 and 360; F. W. Paish, "Gold," Chambers Encyclopedia (New York: Oxford University Press, 1950), vol. 6, p. 416; Van Dantzig, Hollandais sur Guine'e, pp. 77-102; Postma, "West African Exports," pp. 58-66; Franz Binder, "Die Goldeinfuhr von der Goldkiiste in die Vereinigten Provinzen," in H. Kellenbenz, ed., Precious Metals in the Age of Expansion, (Stuttgart: Klett-Cotta, 1981), pp. 131-49.
86
The Dutch in the Atlantic Slave Trade
African products, like gold, slaves, and ivory, were crucial in the international commercial network of the Europeans. Therefore, it was necessary for them to maintain friendly relations with African merchants, especially because Europeans were unable to penetrate the African interior and exercise control there until medical and technological advances made this possible during the end of the nineteenth century. The pattern of mutually beneficial commercial relations had been established by the Portuguese and was perpetuated by other Europeans. The trading stations, or factories as they were then often called, provided for a systematic and peaceful exchange of goods as well as ideas. This made the African historian, Kwame Daaku, characterize these trading stations as "windows," through which both information and goods could flow in and out of Africa.4 African merchants would often come from the interior to these trading stations and negotiate deals and exchange goods with Europeans. More often it was the local African traders and brokers who served as conduits between the African interior and the European traders at the factories. Whatever the regional or local practice, out of necessity the trading generally occurred in a cooperative and mutually beneficial relationship between Africans and Europeans. These practices evolved slowly and had to be carefully maintained if commerce were toflourish.As a rule, Europeans made payments in kind to local Africans, which could be viewed either as a rent for the use of land or space or a bribe for favorite commercial treatment, such as preferential treatment over a European competitor or first pick of the merchandise. Such payments often became a customary practice, a custom as they were frequently called, which may well have contributed to the modern term customs, or import duties.5 African traders were highly specialized and operated as skillful professionals, as most European contemporaries were willing to attest. They quickly learned to distinguish between the various European and Asian manufactured goods. Willem Bosman, who was consistently demeaning in his assessment of Africans when he wrote his letters from there around 1700, describes the blacks of the Gold Coast as "crafty, villainous, and fraudulent," which in this case implies a degree of respect. One of the WIC directors, writing to Holland in 1790, gives a more poignant assessment of the African trader: Daaku, pp. 20 and 142-3; For the changes that made the penetration of the African interior possible see Daniel R. Headrick, The Tools of Empire; Technology and European Imperialism in the Nineteenth Century. (New York: Oxford University Press, 1981). WIC, vol. 54, cor. 11/1/1701; WIC, vol. 835, p. 363; Van Dantzig, Hollandais sur Guinee, pp. 25—31; See also Ray A. Kea, Settlements, Trade, and Politics in the Seventeenth Century Gold Coast (Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 1982), Chapters 6 and 7.
Trade and politics on the African coast
87
One has to be fair to the Negroes and say that as merchants, in whatever branch, they are very cunning; one quickly notices how one merchant tries to do as much damage to the other as possible. All they have to do is stay away with their slaves and the inevitable result is that the prices will rise hand over fist.6 African merchants were frequently organized as professional groups; sometimes a whole clan or ethnic group specialized in trade and frequently monopolized commerce in a given region, as is illustrated by the role of the Hausa, Dyula, and Akani. During the seventeenth century the Akani came to dominate the gold trade from the interior to the Gold Coast, but they fell victim to the rise of the Asante state and disappeared from the Gold Coast by 1700. They were replaced primarily by Asante and Fante merchants. The Dutch came to regret the demise of the "reliable" Akani traders, and in 1705 they were still expressing hope for their return. 7 In addition to these merchants from the interior, the WIC attracted an increasing number of African specialists who established themselves near the fortified trading stations. A few able merchants from among this new class were appointed by the WIC to the position of broker {makelaar). This influential post was created wherever the company had sizable trading stations, and Elmina had even more than one, a chief broker and an assistant broker. 8 The role of the broker was to represent the WIC and to function as an intermediary between African traders and the company. When in 1741 Amba, the Elmina caboceer (a leader or person of prominence), was recommended to succeed the diseased chief broker, Abbocan, the function of broker was described as "furthering the trade and the general well-being of the company." The position of broker was frequently transferred from father to son. Brokers, even those who served at the outer forts, were apparently installed in official ceremonies at Elmina; at least this was the case with the successor to broker Apetta Coffy of the Apam trading station, when he swore an oath of allegiance to the WIC in 1788. 9 One of the functions of the company broker was to collect outstanding debts from African traders. In 1767 an unnamed WIC broker was sent to 6.
Wyndham, p. 63; Bosman, Description, p. 117; ARA, Aanwinsten, LX-447; WIC, vol. 838, p. 292. According to this last citation, Africans insisted on receiving Swedish iron and refused to purchase iron from Luyk, or Belgium. 7. Lars Sundstrom, The Trade of Guinea (Lund, Sweden: Hakan Ohlsson, 1965), Chapter II; Daaku, pp. 310 and 345; WIC, vol. 97, pp. 452-3; WIC, vol. 98, p. 454; see also Kea, Chapter 7. 8. NBKG, vol. 7, min. 1/-/1735, p. 5; Harvey M. Feinberg, "Elmina, Ghana, A History of its Development and Relationship with the Dutch in the Eighteenth Century," Ph.D. dissertation, Boston University, 1969, pp. 93ff. 9. NBKG, vol. 14, min. 11/3/1788; NBKG, vol. 240, p. 45; NBKG, vol. 290, Doc. 50.
88
The Dutch in the Atlantic Slave Trade
the island of Shipon, near Shama, to collect payment for four slaves kidnapped by Jan Tim, a prominent African resident of the island. The outcome of the mission was that the local ruler, King Cobbena Apo, agreed to trade exclusively with the WIC as long as he received a monthly subsidy from the company.10 Some of the prominent African merchants on the Gold Coast remained more independent from the European establishment. However, they too have been referred to as brokers, and in fact they did function as middlemen between smaller African traders and European companies. They maintained their own warehouses, and were involved in the trade along the coast as well as in dealing with Europeans. Many of the brokers became extremely wealthy and influential. Men such as John Conny, John Kabes, and Pieter Pasop came to hold power equal to African kings or chiefs; Daaku calls them merchant princes. Pieter Pasop, who was related to the king of Akwamu, had sufficient power and influence to effect the end of warfare between Akwamu and neighboring states.11 Influential as the merchants may have been at times, political authorities generally wielded ultimate control over commercial affairs. They could refuse or grant passage on the trade routes between the interior and the coast, and demand tolls and transit duties along the way. On the Slave Coast African political authorities exercised greater control over commerce than on the Gold Coast. Before the rise of Dahomey in the first quarter of the eighteenth century, the supreme kings of the Aja state, who resided at Allada (or Great Ardra), controlled the trade of the region through their appointed merchants. The best of the European merchandise of each arriving slave ship had to be carried to the royal palace, some twenty-five miles inland, in order that the king could have first choice. Toward the end of the seventeenth century, the kings of the coastal towns became more independent from Aja, and demanded preferential treatment. From a directive compiled by Willem Bosman we learn that the king of Ouidah received in duties merchandise to the value equal to six slaves, plus goods equal to the value of two slaves for servicing each slave ship that did business in the harbor. In addition, the captain of the slaver was obligated to purchase his first slaves from the king, paying approximately ten to twenty percent more than he would on the free market. Occasionally, the king demanded additional duties and higher prices from the captain after a cargo of 500 slaves had been obtained.12 Some of the most prominent merchants in the Slave Coast ports also received preferential treatment after the king had gained satisfaction. These 10. 11. 12.
NBKG, vol. 12, min. 11/14/1767. Kea, pp. 212-23; Daaku, pp. 115-43; WIC, vol. 484, p. 238. Sundstrom, pp. 62 and 65; Ratelband, p. lxxxi; WIC, vol. 485, p. 156; NBKG, vol. 2334, instr. 10/3/1700. See Appendix 7 for a translation of Bosnian's instructions.
Trade and politics on the African coast
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merchants were often referred to as the "favorites of the king," a distinction they had earned in part through their relationship to the ruler, and sometimes because of services they had rendered to the WIC. Like the king, they received gifts from the captains of the slave ships and also received better prices than were paid on the free market. These merchants, also called captains by the Dutch, enjoyed the WIC's special trust and esteem, like the brokers on the Gold Coast. They functioned as links between the Africans and the Europeans, informing the WIC of market conditions and serving as interpreters. Names such as Captain Carte (or Carter) and Captain Agou are repeatedly found at the top of purchase accounts of the slave ships at the beginning of the eighteenth century. Carte held his favorite position for many years. In a WIC report of 1720, the wish is expressed that "he may yet live many years" because he "renders much friendship, as he has great influence with the king."13
War and peace and Afro-European trade How did the trade in human beings function in this cooperative atmosphere? In that the vast majority of the trade slaves were acquired as prisoners of war, common sense would suggest that the slave trade encouraged warfare, and to a degree this is true. At the same time, however, we find the European commercial community constantly working for cooperation and friendly relations between Africans and Europeans, as well as among Africans. In 1695, a time of war between Europeans as well as among Africans on the Gold Coast, the WIC directors wrote company representatives in Africa: We can imagine that the wars among the natives make the just mentioned task (collecting debts from the Africans) extremely difficult and that in times of peace there is more hope for this. For this reason, your honor's most important charge is to make every effort and use every means to further peace among the natives. The whole well being and commercial success of the company in Africa depends on this, and without this it will be impossible for us to pay for the heavy annual burdens there. It will be greatly to your advantage if you can work out amicable relations between you and the natives and also establish peace among them.14
WIC documents contain repeated references to this concern over warfare, for without peace commerce could not be conducted. One of the most frequently cited causes for the deteriorated state of commerce in Africa was wars among Africans. Warfare tended to shift African priorities away from 13. NBKG, vol. 234, instr. 6/6/1703; WIC, vol. 102, pp. 21-44; WIC, vol. 104, p. 846. 14. WIC, vol. 54, cor. 11/25/1695.
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The Dutch in the Atlantic Slave Trade
commerce and led to the blocking of the trade routes between the interior and the coast. For this reason, WIC agents occasionally were willing to forfeit the payment of debts and give presents to African leaders in order to prevent hostilities and keep commerce going. In 1699 disagreement arose between WIC authorities in Africa and their superiors in Holland over whether trade credits (spenduen) or gifts furthered peace or created more warfare. The penny-pinching directors in Holland thought the latter was the case.15 Political instability and wars continued to erupt from time to time among the Africans, as was the case among Europeans. In 1780 WIC DirectorGeneral Pieter Woortman reported that he had managed to bring peace between the Fante, Hante, and the Asante; he added that the trade routes were clear again and that trade could flourish once more. A century earlier, the Amsterdam directors wrote to the WIC director in Africa: That the fire of war among the natives there has to a large degree been extinguished is very sweet and pleasant news for us. And we hope that the other parties will follow this good example ... and that the mediation efforts of your predecessor will have succeeded, with the result that the deteriorated trade will revive again under your direction.16 There were special circumstances in which Europeans interfered in African political affairs and even encouraged warfare if that promised to improve their power base and ultimately their commercial opportunities. Europeans repeatedly tried to exploit their African clients against their European rivals, and African states tried to do the same. This is shown in the Komenda Wars during the end of the seventeenth century, in which the English, Dutch, and French were all vying for control of an important coastal trading outlet; and again in 1703, when the WIC supplied the Akwamu state with 100 company soldiers and a large quantity of arms for the purpose of making war on its neighbors.17 This leaves us with a strange ambiguity in the European attitude toward war and peace. In order to get an adequate number of slaves to the trading stations, hostility among Africans was often desirable because it would most likely increase the number of marketable slaves, but peace was necessary in order to get these slaves and other trade commodities to the coast. A study of liberated slaves at Sierra Leone during the early nineteenth century revealed that more than a third lost their freedom as a result of warfare or 15.
NBKG, vol. 25, cor. 12/6/1699; WIC, vol. 180, pp. 62 and 67; WIC, vol. 114, pp. 3003; NBKG, vol. 3, min. 3/20/1708; WIC, vol. 54, cor. 9/26/1699. 16. NBKG, vol. 24, cor. 6/25/1674; MCC, vol. 1567, p. 20; see also WIC, vol. 54, cor. 7/4/1692 and 9/16/1698. 17. Van Dantzig, Hollandais sur Guinee, pp. 102-114; WIC, vol. 98, pp. 98-9.
Trade and politics on the African coast
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raids, while others were victims of kidnapping, indebtedness, or judicial offenses.18 A number of issues need to be clarified in order to understand conditions in precolonial Africa with respect to war and commerce. First, African societies were and still are extremely heterogeneous: a gigantic mosaic of ethnic and linguistic variation. Most of Africa was politically more fragmented than it is today. As a result, a large number of Africans were enslaved by their rivals and traditional enemies. To many Africans a European could be more readily seen as an ally than an equally foreign African neighbor. Further, a distinction needs to be made between wars and raids, even though the two overlap to some extent. Slave raids in Africa were generally committed by superior powers at the expense of often greatly outnumbered or militarily weaker societies. They were often carried out on a regular or seasonal pattern, although special circumstances such as natural disasters or political chaos might also make societies subject to raids. Warfare would more generally exist between societies that were more evenly matched in their military power, with either party having a chance at victory, or the loser at least having a chance to resist and inflict damage on the victor. From this perspective, as the demand and volume of external slave trade increased, it was most likely that raids increased greatly, often at the expense of the weaker and smaller ethnic groups. Such raids may often have been termed wars by both Africans and Europeans. As a result of slave raids, whole communities could be wiped out; the population could be captured or might flee to a safer abode. In many cases Africans may have felt there were only two choices: either raid or be raided. Thus, societies once plagued by intense slave raiding, like the Dahomey, armed themselves and became slave raiders in turn. In this process they extended their power toward the coast, where they could deal directly with the European traders. As Van Dantzig claims, societies near the coast tended to be participants in the slave trade and others farther in the interior specialized in raiding.19 Africa felt the impact of the European presence on the coast in several ways. New products, new plants, and new ideas were introduced by the Europeans, who encouraged the exploitation of Africa's natural resources, gold, ivory, and her young men and women. The European presence on the coast also affected Africa's political and social institutions by causing a shift in the trade patterns and population concentrations, introducing new military technologies and shifting the commercial demands increasingly to human 18. 19.
P.E.H. Hair, "The Enslavement of Koelle's Informants," Journal of African History, vol. 6 (1965)* PP- I93-2O3Albert Van Dantzig, "Effects of the Atlantic Slave trade on Some West African Societies," in Revue Franqaise d'Histoire d'Outre-Mer, vol. 62 (1975), pp. 252-67.
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The Dutch in the Atlantic Slave Trade
merchandise. New and larger states began to emerge in the coastal regions, often as a result of and in cooperation with European traders. Some of these, such as Denkyira on the Gold Coast and Aja on the Slave Coast, were still relatively small and remained more in the traditional African mold, although their wealth and power resulted to a large degree from their European contacts. By the beginning of the eighteenth century, two still more powerful states, Asante and Dahomey, came to dominate the Gold Coast and Slave Coast, respectively. The rise to prominence of Asante and Dahomey was significantly influenced by what has been called a military revolution, which consisted essentially of the adoption of firearms by African military establishments. The Portuguese had avoided selling muskets to Africans, but during the second half of the seventeenth century both the Dutch and the English intended to bolster their power by arming their African clients. The first states in West Africa to adopt this new technology were Akwamu and Denkyira. But they lost out to Asante and Dahomey because these new states effected still further changes, including the creation of new political organizations and the creation of mass citizen armies.20
Political developments on the Gold Coast Because political conditions in Africa influenced the supply of slaves on the coast, the political developments in regions crucial to that trade should be explored. The Gold Coast region, where the Dutch had their headquarters and their strongest presence, was essential in this process, although the Dutch did not export slaves from there in a significant number until the end of the seventeenth century. For this reason, the political developments in this region prior to this time will be largely ignored. Suffice it to say that since their arrival in the early seventeenth century the Dutch had built nearly a dozen trading posts along the Gold Coast. They had cultivated and maintained friendly relations with a number of African states, among which was the powerful state of Denkyira, and to which were added the states of Akwamu and Asante during the early eighteenth century. Due to the multifarious nature of the African political scene, it was a difficult task for the Dutch to keep on good terms with the rivaling African states that influenced commerce either on the coast or in the interior. Recurring wars among Africans hindered the flow of trade in the late 1650s and again during the early 1670s. The Komenda Wars, which had their roots 20.
Kea, pp. 154-168 and 324; See also Van Dantzig, Hollandais sur Guinee, which focuses on the rise of the Asante and the Dahomey states.
11°
MAP 4.1
POLITICAL DEVELOPMENTS ON GOLD AND SLAVE COASTS ca. 1650-1750
V
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The Dutch in the Atlantic Slave Trade
in the middle of the seventeenth century, became extensive affairs during the later 1680s. They drew into their web several African as well as a number of European states, and caused considerable stagnation in the commerce on the Gold Coast until their conclusion in 1696, and there were serious repercussions for years afterward.21 In the meantime an even more serious conflict was developing, namely the revolt of the Asante against their overlord Denkyira. Under the able leadership of Osei Tutu, one of the Asante princes from the Kumasi region, the various Asante clans were molded into a unified state during the final decades of the seventeenth century. Excessive demands for tribute by the Denkyira king in 1699 led to a struggle for dominance of the region, from which the former vassals emerged as victors in 1701. Denkyira was completely despoiled and in turn had to submit to the overlordship of the Asante state. Its allies, such as Akyem, were subsequently defeated by the Asante. The result was that the Asante came to dominate most of the areas formerly dominated by Denkyira, in the western Gold Coast, and their control reached much farther into the interior. Subsequently, the states of Akyem and Akwamu farther to the east, became involved in their own battle for survival, in which the Asante ultimately interceded to effect the fall of both states. During all this turmoil the coastal Fante, relatives of the Asante and other Akan peoples, had organized their own federation, with the help of the English, to stop the Asante from taking over the whole Gold Coast.22 This whole complex political realignment on the Gold Coast caused considerable consternation and damage to the WIC trade in Africa. WIC reports from Africa at the turn of the century abound with news of adjustments to the new situation and they were gloomy about trading prospects. But recognizing the reality of the political revolution that had taken place, the Dutch and the English alike tried to establish friendly relations with the new and rising power of Asante. In 1701 the WIC sent David Van Nyendael as an emissary to the court of the Asantehene in Kumasi, one of the deepest penetrations of the West African interior by a European until that time. Van Nyendael spent a year in Kumasi, perhaps longer than he wished, and died shortly after his return to Elmina. The important report he wrote about his mission has been the object of many a scholar's search, but thus far to no avail.23 In due time the Dutch did develop a friendly relationship with the Asante, 21. 22. 23.
Daaku, Chapter IV; ILTVK, vol. H-65, p. 409; ARA, Aanwinsten-1902, xxvi, nr. 112. Daaku, Chapter VII. WIC, vol. 54, cor. 9/26/1699, 11/22/1700, 3/24/1701, 11/1/1701, and 12/18/1702; NBKG, vol. 1, min. 5/30/1701, 4/9/1704 and 11/7/1704; see also reports from the Director-General in vols. 484 and 485. Van Dantzig, Hollandais sur Guinee, pp. 133-5 and 138-41; Daaku, pp. 67-71.
Trade and politics on the African coast
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but the turmoil that accompanied their rise to dominance continued to plague the region for many more years. In 1705 the trade at Apam declined drastically as a result of war between the Akyem and the Akwamu states. The following year trade faltered at Accra as a result of internal Akwamu problems, and that same year commerce came to a virtual halt at Elmina, Butri, and Kormantin because of wars and political tension in the region as a whole.24 During this same time, commerce was frequently disrupted in the Axim area on the western Gold Coast, where the African merchant prince, John Conny, continually defied the authority of the WIC. For a few years he claimed title to the trading castle of Gross Friedrichsburg, which the Brandenburgers had abandoned and sold to the WIC in 1717. Conny's opposition to the company lasted from 1711 to 1725, when he was finally driven from his castle stronghold, and the Dutch renamed it Hollandia. In 1712 Conny had been bold enough to attack and capture the WIC fort Dorothea at Akwida, and in 1724 he laid siege to the company's fortress at Axim. And just after the WIC directors in 1720 decided that commerce might be revived in this western region, warfare between the Hante people on the coast and the Wassa, Twifo, and Adorn farther inland broke out the following year.25 To the east of Elmina the trade at Accra was disrupted again, in 1723, when Akyem and Akwamu disputed the control of this coastal port. Four years later the Asante completely stopped the flow of slaves to Elmina, and in 1729 regional wars killed the trade at both Axim and Accra again. In 1727 widespread wars began in the interior and on the Gold Coast. This was the beginning of another significant drive of Asante expansion that caused commercial disruption until 1730.26 In the meantime, a significant shift in the Dutch trade pattern had taken place, perhaps as a result of this political turmoil. Whereas the Dutch purchased most of the slaves on the Slave Coast during the seventeenth century, they later began to acquire a larger proportion of their slaves on the Gold Coast. In 1726 the WIC director-general reported that the "Gold Coast had become a slave coast."27 Already in 1705 a WIC report commented that the Gold Coast was "changing completely into a slave coast, and the natives no longer concentrate on the search for gold, but make war on each other in order to acquire slaves, and (for this purpose) do not even shrink from 24. 25. 26. 27.
WIC, vol. 98, p. 455; WIC, vol. 99, pp. 15-16 and 19. WIC, vol. 55, p. 5; WIC, vol. 101, p. 37; Van Dantzig, Forts, pp. 50-2; Daaku, Chapter VI. WIC, vol. 486, p. 372; WIC, vol. 107, p. 528; WIC, vol. 108, pp. 511-2; WIC, vol. 109, pp. 16-17, 88, and 95; WIC, vol. 487, pp. 40-3, 177, 355, and 372; NBKG, vol. 6, min. 10/11/1723, 8/11/1728; 1/3/1729, and 2/16/1731. WIC, vol. 487, p. 63. See also Chapter 5, on the origin of slaves.
g6
The Dutch in the Atlantic Slave Trade
violating the public roads."28 The WIC authorities were not pleased with this commercial transformation, primarily because they feared that it hindered their profitable gold trade. For several years they tried to redirect the slave trade to the Slave Coast, with the result that few slavers were receiving their human cargoes at Elmina between 1708 and 1724. But in the long run the trend could not be reversed, because the gold export from Africa was rapidly drying up and the demand for slaves was increasing during the eighteenth century.29
The Dutch on the Slave Coast In contrast to the Gold Coast, the Slave Coast authorities maintained greater independence from European infringement. Only a limited number of trading lodges were allowed, and not until the second half of the eighteenth century were a few European powers allowed to build fortified trading stations in the area. The WIC was never allowed to build a castle there; they had to be content with one or a few lodges, which were maintained only with the approval of local rulers. The kings exerted much influence over the trade, demanded heavy duties, and even the transportation of merchandise between the European ships and the trading lodges was controlled by Africans. When in 1708 the WIC tried to guard its merchandise against theft by African carriers by sending three armed sailors on shore, the king of Ouidah threatened to halt trading as a reprisal. That same year the king forced the Dutch and French factors there to sign a treaty that recognized the neutrality and inviolability of the Ouidah port, even though the two European nations were at war with each other at that time.30 Initially, the WIC did little trading on the Slave Coast; it attracted Dutch attention only after the capture of Brazil, when slaves were in demand. They did not even establish a lodge there until the middle of the seventeenth century. Slaves were initially kept on leggers,floatingships in a lagoon, and later in corrals on the beach, until a company slave ship arrived to board them for the middle passage. No facilities like warehouses or dungeons, as on the Gold Coast, were available for the Europeans there.31 For most of the seventeenth century the kings of Aja, who resided at Great Ardra (modern-day Allada), seemed to monopolize the trade at one 28. 29. 30. 31.
WIC, vol. 98, p. 322. NBKG, vol. 2, min. 9/17/1710; WIC, vol. 918, no. 15. See also Chapter 5. NBKG, vol. 85, cor. 9/20/1716, and 6/21/1718; WIC, vol. 100, p. 342; WIC, vol. 180, p. 172; NBKG, vol. 1, min. 2/4/1705; WIC, vol. 98, p. 291; WIC, vol. 102, p. 360; WIC, vol. 484, p. 235. Ratelband, pp. lxxix-lxxx.
Trade and politics on the African coast
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of the coastal ports, which was then usually referred to as Little Ardra. Several other coastal ports functioned as slave export centers, such as Offra (Abomey Calavi), Jakin (Godomey), Appa (Ekpe), Ouidah and Popo, and occasionally these ports were rivals. The kings of each town in the area derived their authority from the Aja king at Great Ardra. The latter could thus be regarded as the capital of a small confederation, and the supreme king as a father of the brother kings of the various towns. Toward the end of the seventeenth century, the authority of the king of Aja had greatly deteriorated, and the kings of the separate towns became virtually independent.32 During the 1670s the ruler of Ouidah began to defy the authority of Allada and subsequently the town attracted several European merchants who established lodges at the port. Ouidah became for a time perhaps the busiest slave port on the African coast. For several decades there were tensions and periodic warfare between Aja and its nominal vassal Ouidah; however, Ouidah was spared punitive actions because of Allada's military weakness. But because Allada controlled the hinterland, it could use economic sanctions and threaten to close the trade routes leading to Ouidah. Such threats were issued in 1680, but they were not implemented until 1688 and on several occasions afterward. While this weakened Ouidah's position, Ardra was never able to destroy the newly gained independence of Ouidah. 33 The WIC remained loyal to the king at Allada longer than the French and the English. Not until 1687 did they establish a lodge at Ouidah, and as late as 1690 they kept a permanent slaving lodge at Offra, which functioned as the loyal port of Allada. The 1680s, the period of the Coymans' asiento, found the Dutch slave trade at a peak, and much business was done at Offra, and after 1687 at Ouidah as well. In 1682 the WIC scheduled one slave ship every three months for the Slave Coast, which would amount to exporting at least 2,000 slaves a year. The company briefly had a lodge at Great Popo in 1680, but little is known of its activities. WIC authorities were clearly sympathetic to Great Ardra, because of a long and satisfying business arrangement, but when Ouidah began to harass the town of Offra, the latter's desirability as a trading center quickly deteriorated and the WIC bowed to reality and moved its operation to Ouidah. The decline of Great Ardra, however, also signaled the decline of the WIC on the Slave Coast. 34 32.
33. 34.
See I. A. Akinjogbin, Dahomey and Its Neighbors, IJ08-1818 (London: Cambridge University Press, 1964). For Slave Coast nomenclature see Patrick Manning, "The Slave Trade in the Bight of Benin," in H. Gemery and J. Hogendorn, eds., 77?^ Uncommon Market (New York: Academic Press, 1979), p. 115. WIC, vol. 180, pp. 65 and 67-9, and 151; WIC, vol. 106, p. 52; WIC, vol. 485, pp. 375, and 485-486; WIC, vol. 1024, doc. 4; NBKG, vol. 5, min. 4/4/1714; WIC, vol. 85, doc. 5/13/1718; Akinjogbin, p. 29. WIC, vol. 1024, cor. 12/19/1680 and doc. 35; WIC, vol. 180, pp. 51 and 63; WIC, vol.
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The Dutch in the Atlantic Slave Trade
After the WIC had established a lodge at Ouidah and allowed the trade at Offra to deteriorate, Offra's population took it out on the company factor, N. V. Hoolwerf, who was allegedly killed by a mob during the end of 1690. Little trade was carried out at Offra after that, and the town was destroyed by people of neighboring Jakin, allegedly on orders of the king of Ardra, who wanted to appease the WIC for the murder of Hoolwerf. Negotiations with the king of Ardra for the purpose of reestablishing the Offra lodge were held on a few occasions, as late as 1705, but they never produced results. In 1703 a WIC communication mentioned the "immense loss" suffered on the Slave Coast since the abandonment of the lodge at Offra.35 For several years after the Hoolwerf affair there was little indication of WIC activity on the Slave Coast, although the exportation of slaves from that area was entering its peak. The decade of the 1690s was a period of warfare for the Dutch Republic, and it was also a nadir for the WIC trade in Africa, including the slave trade. An official WIC letter to Africa in the year 1693 bemoans the "deteriorated state at Ardra," but assigns a slave ship to the region anyway, in the hope that the situation might improve. Apparently things did not improve, for it was not until 1702 that the WIC ordered the reestablishment of a lodge at either Ouidah or Popo, and the following year the one at Ouidah was restored. Political conditions on the Slave Coast continued to be very unstable, however, and the Dutch continued to negotiate with Great Ardra for the reestablishment of a lodge at Offra or Appa. But in the end they decided to strengthen their position in Ouidah instead and kept their trading lodge operating there until 1726.36 The year 1707 was full of political turmoil on the Slave Coast when Ardra closed the trade routes to Ouidah once more. Tension between the two rivals rose to an all-time high in 1714-15, without either one being able to eliminate the other. Akinjogbin suggests that the trade routes were blocked almost continually between the years 1712 and 1720, except for an interruption in 1717. Still, according to Manning this was one of the peak decades for slave exports for the region. The council at Elmina was so discouraged by this political chaos and its negative effect on the Dutch slave trade that they decided to close the lodge at Ouidah; however, this decision was not carried out. In 1716 there seemed to be hope for peace and the revival of 832, pp. 442 and 476; WIC, vols. 180 and 1024 contain a large amount of information on Slave Coast trade. 35. WIC, vol. 180, pp. 51, 63, 103-4, 111; WIC, vol. 1024, doc. 35; WIC, vol. 98, pp. 3056, 309-10, and 354; WIC, vol. 100, pp. 537-8 and 593; NBKG, vol. 234, instr. 6/6/1713. 36. Manning, pp. 117 and 133; WIC, vol. 54, doc. 12/8/1702 and 7/20/1703; WIC, vol. 97, pp. 35, 123, and 288; WIC, vol. 98, pp. 94-6, 184, and 353-8; WIC, vol. 99, pp. 14 and 431-2; WIC, vol. 100, p. 33; WIC, vol. 484, p. 237.
Trade and politics on the African coast
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commerce, but this time a war between Jakin and Ouidah spoiled the revival of trade.37 By 1720 Ardra and Ouidah ended their hostilities and it seemed that trade could be resumed again. Four years later, however, war between the two towns broke out again and this time the slave trade seemed to be completely ruined. In 1726 the WIC abandoned its lodge at Ouidah and set up a new one at Jakin, which lasted until 1734, and operated a second Slave Coast lodge at Appa from 1732 until 1736.38 These final years of the WIC involvement in the slave trade were active ones, also on the Slave Coast, but then they were brought to a halt by the rise of a new political power not at all sympathetic to the Dutch.
The rise of Dahomey The abandonment of the WIC lodge at Ouidah in 1726 was the result of a drastic change in the political situation on the Slave Coast. Ouidah had always managed to maintain considerable independence from the Aja capital, Great Ardra, because of the latter's military weakness, and also because of the support received from the state of Akwamu on the western flank of Aja. The rapid rise to great power status of Dahomey during the period 1725 to 1735 changed all this. Located about fifty miles from the coast, Dahomey had long been one of the weaker brother states in the Aja system. They had often been the object of slave raids from their more powerful neighbors, which may have been the cause for their establishing a powerful military deterrent. Under their young king, Agaja, they developed both a strong army and a nationalistic political organization that enabled them to defend themselves against raids and then to take the offensive and expand their power base. In 1724 Agaja actually captured Allada and claimed for himself the paternalistic authority traditionally associated with the capital of the Aja state. Many of the other Aja subject states, recognizing the determination and power of the newcomer, submitted voluntarily to Agaja's assumed status; those who resisted were subdued by force. Such was the fate of Ouidah in 1727, and of Jakin in 1732 and again in 1734, when Jakin revolted against Dahomey.39 37. 38. 39.
NBKG, vol. 3, min. 11/24/1707; NBKG, vol. 5, min. 12/31/1716; NBKG, vol. 236, doc. 3/16/1716; WIC, vol. 100, pp. 519, 527-9, and 540-1; WIC, vol. 103, p. 267; WIC, vol. 180, pp. 151 and 182; Akinjogbin, p. 46. WIC, vol. 106, p. 52; WIC, vol. 486, pp. 484-5, 492, and 737; WIC, vol. 487, pp. 403; See also the personnel rosters in WIC, vols. 107-11. Akinjogbin, pp. 33-4, 50, 66-7, and 99-100; WIC, vol. 107, p. 549; Patrick Manning,
i oo
The Dutch in the Atlantic Slave Trade
As a result of these turbulent political developments on the Slave Coast, the slave trade in that region became even less predictable. In light of the fact that Dahomey subsequently became identified as a strong participant in the slave trade, this may come as a surprise. Two important factors contributed to this uncertainty. First, Agaja seems to have opposed the idea of exporting so many able-bodied young Africans to distant places; it appears that he wanted to develop a slave system at home that would exploit slave labor under the control of Dahomeyans rather than by Europeans in the Americas. The second influencing factor was the repeated invasions of the Oyo empire from the northeast into Dahomey territory. Powerful as Dahomey appeared in the coastal region, as Aja before, it was a vassal of the state of Oyo and was militarily in no position to defy Oyo until the early nineteenth century. For the WIC, there was the added factor that it had always tended to side with Great Ardra and, as the following helps to illustrate, Agaja had come to see the Dutch as his opponents, who should not expect his cooperation in the slave trade.40 Thus, the WIC abandoned Ouidah after its conquest by Dahomey in 1724. For a while, they sought to continue the trade from Appa, Jakin, and later at Badagry, which were beyond Agaja's reach and under the protection of Oyo. The political upheaval on the Slave Coast also created much conflict over commercial policy within the WIC, between the directors in Holland and the council at Elmina, as well as among WIC agents on the Slave Coast. Commissioner Hendrick Hertogh was the WIC factor at Ouidah when the lodge was abandoned. Hertogh had been in WIC service in Africa since 1716, and was regarded as an astute slave trader and a valuable asset to the company. To the chagrin of Director-General Jan Pranger, Hertogh had recently acquired unprecedented independence from Elmina. He had been allowed to assume the title of governor, like other European factors on the Slave Coast, but the title had no precedence for the WIC in Africa. Hertogh also was given the authority to accept tolls from Brazilian traders on the Slave Coast, which had always been the exclusive prerogative of the directorgeneral at Elmina. He was also allowed to modify the purchase price for slaves, and he carried on an extensive correspondence with the WIC authorities in Holland, without acknowledging his immediate supervisors at Elmina.41 When in 1733 Hertogh headed the WIC lodge at Jakin, Pranger simply refused to send him provisions and merchandise. Nor did Pranger give Slavery, Colonialism and Economic Growth in Dahomey, 1640—ig6o (New York: Cambridge
40. 41.
University Press, 1982), pp. 41 and 130. WIC, vol. 55, cor. 11/27/1724. Akinjogbin, pp. 92; WIC, vol. n o , pp. 2-6, 169 and 204; See WIC, vol. 55, for Hertogh's correspondence with Holland.
Trade and politics on the African coast
ioi
Hertogh any support in the latter's forced retreat from Jakin to Appa in 1734. Instead, he sent Commissioner Jacob Elet to undermine Hertogh's authority by negotiating a settlement with agents of Dahomey. Pranger apparently recognized the latter as the permanent power of the region, which authorities in Holland had not yet come to realize. King Agaja demanded that Hertogh be removed from the Slave Coast because he had intrigued against Dahomey along with the deposed king of Ouidah. Elet succeeded in getting Agaja's approval to reestablish a WIC lodge at Ouidah, although this was never implemented because the WIC authorities in Holland discharged both Pranger and Elet for not supporting Hertogh in his plight against Dahomey. The top WIC authorities underestimated Agaja's determination, for Dahomey did become the dominant power on the Slave Coast. Hertogh never succeeded in stabilizing his position in that region, and was assassinated at Badagry in 1738, quite likely by agents of Agaja. Thus ended an ill-fated diplomatic gamble of WIC directors, one that had far-reaching consequences, for the Dutch were never able to regain the confidence of Agaja and his successors, and were shortly thereafter driven from all of the trading outlets on the Slave Coast.42
The Loango-Angola region Dutch control over the coastal area of Angola was short-lived (1642-8), not long enough to provide the Dutch with a firm foothold and to establish a firm pattern of trade in the region. North of the Congo River, however, on the Loango coastal region, the Dutch traded for nearly two centuries. Since about 1670, the WIC had acquired slaves from the region on a regular basis, and free traders continued that practice after 1730. The decline of the once powerful Kongo state to the southwest seems to have contributed to the steady supply of slaves after the middle of the sixteenth century. As was pointed out in the previous chapter, the WIC once had as many as three lodges in this region, of which the one at Loango-Boary seemed to be the most stable. Here, the Vili traders provided a reliable flow of slaves, mostly brought to the coast in walking caravans, or coffles. In addition to the larger state of Loango, the states Ngoyo, Kongo, and Sonyo also sold slaves to Europeans at rival coastal outlets. A complex structure of royally appointed 42.
NBKG, vol. 238, p. 19; WIC, vol. 487, pp. 598 and 622; WIC, vol. 488, pp. 1 and 16; WIC, vol. n o , pp. 5-6, 152, 229-31, and 659; WIC, vol. 487, p. 350; NBKG, vol. 7, min. 6/25/1734 and 8/-/1734; NBKG, vol. 8, min. 4/27/1735; WIC, vol. 925, p. 174. Pranger was recalled to Holland, and Elet remained in Africa for several more years; see WIC, vol. 57, pp. 49 and 64; vol. 11, pp. 411 and 597. This issue has been carefully scrutinized by Jeroen Verhoog in the Leiden Seminar.
102
The Dutch in the Atlantic Slave Trade
African administrators and brokers arranged the exchange of merchandise. Most of the trading was done on African terms and with the interests of the African authorities setting the tone. Although efforts were made by Europeans to establish a commercial monopoly in the region, African authorities would never allow this; they were even more successful in this than their African counterparts on the Slave Coast. In addition, European rivalry also aided the Africans in preventing the establishment of a European trade monopoly.43 After a brief period of dominating the slave trade at Loango during the 1670s, trade seemed to flourish, particularly in 1679, when WIC correspondence discussed the establishment of a second lodge in that region. In 1682, however, WIC reports from the region became quite gloomy, and two years later the company decided to abandon the one remaining lodge in Loango. After some hesitation the decision was finally carried out in 1686. As was shown earlier, this did not mean that the Dutch would stop trading in the region; it meant that WIC slave ships would have to fend for themselves when they traded there. In fact, trading from the slave ship, with only a temporary storage place on the coast, became the pattern for the trade in the Loango region. Shortly before the lodge in Loango was dismantled, the ruler of Sonyo wrote a letter to the WIC directors at Zeeland, requesting that WIC ships come and trade at his port. Shortly thereafter the company dispatched a slave ship to Sonyo, carrying a present for the king. A WIC report of 1691 indicated that the slave trade at Loango had been "good lately," affirming in essence the precariousness of the WIC position in that region.44 Because the Dutch had trading lodges and never had any fortified trading stations in the Loango region, the African political scene here affected them in a different manner. Their commercial activities were still vulnerable to African wars and other developments. A WIC report of 1659 stated bluntly that "the Angola trade was completely ruined as a result of wars among the natives." Most of the time it was the captains of the WIC ships that had to deal with the situation on the coast, without the assistance of stationed WIC personnel. Slave ship captains were responsible for maintaining commercial contacts, and the reputation of a particular person, a company, and a nation had to be safeguarded if commerce was to flourish. This can be illustrated by an incident that occurred in 1695, when the Dutch interloper, Captain Frans van Goethem, allegedly kidnapped and exported as a slave an African who was actually a royal prince from the Sonyo state. African traders made it virtually impossible for the Dutch to do any further business there unless 43. 44.
Martin, Loango, pp. 73-118. WIC, vol. 832, pp. 10-2, 42, 89, 128, 274, 297, 357, 415, 437, and 523; WIC, vol. 833, p. 213; WIC, vol. 434, p. 123; WIC, vol. 834, pp. 27-8; WIC, vol. 835, p. 295.
Trade and politics on the African coast
103
the prince was returned from his enslavement in Surinam, and WIC authorities made every effort to locate the person in question and return him to his African home. In the long run, the princely slave was actually located and returned to Africa via the Dutch Republic, and on WIC ships.45 The principal trading areas for the WIC on the African coast were the Gold Coast, the Slave Coast, and the Loango region. The company did have commercial relations with other coastal regions, but they were either limited in terms of the bulk of the trade or the commercial contact was of a relatively short duration, which would make an examination of the political developments in such regions superfluous. These other coastal regions will be discussed in connection with the origins of the slaves in the following chapter.
Merchandise exchanged for slaves As Africa exported its human merchandise in increasing numbers from the sixteenth to the nineteenth century, what was the continent getting in return? The range of merchandise that Europeans shipped to Africa varied greatly. In 1628 there were no less than 218 different types of merchandise stored at the WIC castle at Elmina, although these were not exclusively intended for the slave trade. Keeping up with the changing demands of the African market was a serious problem for WIC merchants, and this could at times be very costly to the company. Dutch interlopers, with their smaller and speedier sailing ships, could apparently respond more readily to demands of the African market.46 During the years of the WIC monopoly, textiles were clearly dominant among the trade goods that the company brought to Africa. Guns and gunpowder were often included in slave ship cargoes, but compared to textiles they were of minimal value in the WIC slave trade. Due to the irregularity of the documentation on European merchandise, a systematic appraisal of this subject has not been possible, and for this reason the following impressionistic assessment will have to suffice. An account of the WIC trade on the Slave Coast during the years 1714-15 shows that approximately 10 percent of about 2,000 slaves were purchased with guns and gunpowder. By contrast, about 800 slaves were obtained with cowrie shells, and most of the remainder with a variety of textiles. Several of the WIC slave ships, including the Clara (1712) and the Piershil (1733), included no guns at all, and requests for merchandise for the Slave Coast often listed none or very little in weapons and gunpowder. The Adrichem, purchasing a 45. 46.
KITLV, vol. H-65, p. 397; WIC, vol. 69, pp. 76-8; WIC, vol. 836, p. 35. WIC, vol. 108, pp. 521-5. Leiden seminar student H. R. Nooitgedacht has contributed to the understanding of the WIC predicament in the constantlyfluctuatingAfrican markets.
104
T h e Dutch in the Atlantic Slave Trade
total of 613 slaves on the Slave Coast in 1708, exchanged only forty-seven guns and two-hundred pounds of gunpowder for a very small percentage of its slave consignment.47 Alcoholic beverages were also nearly always present among the WIC cargoes from Europe, but they too accounted for only a small percentage of purchasing power. In the case of the earlier mentioned ships, the Ouinera (1709) and Clara (1712), less than 5 percent of the slaves were purchased with liquor. Luxuries and trinkets, like mirrors and jewelry, were also of limited importance in the WIC trade, although perhaps slightly more important than alcoholic beverages. Useful materials, such as iron bars, were often significant among the European cargoes. On the two last mentioned ships, these accounted for 100 and 109 slaves purchased, respectively, or nearly 20 percent of the total slave cargo. Household goods and other useful items, such as pots, pans, knives, clocks, and locks, were nearly always present among the cargoes from Europe, although these too were limited in significance when compared with textiles. Textiles were clearly dominant in the slave trade. Some of the textiles were exotic items from Asia, but these goods were often regarded as too dear for the African market. The vast majority of the textiles appeared to be manufactured in Holland, especially in the towns of Haarlem and Leiden.48 Thanks to the excellently preserved documents of the Middelburgsche Commercie Compagnie (MCC), a much clearer picture can be presented about European goods shipped to Africa for the free-trade period, later in the eighteenth century. In a general appraisal, linger has calculated that in the MCC slave trade 57 percent of the trade goods consisted of textiles, 9 percent were guns and 14 percent gun powder, slightly more than 10 percent consisted of alcoholic beverages, and a generous 9 percent could be categorized as sundry luxury items or trinkets. This, as well as the asssessment of goods carried to Africa by the WIC, refutes an earlier held view that the goods with which slaves were purchased were of an inferior nature and more often than not useless trinkets.49 Approximately 50 percent of the textiles taken to Africa by the MCC could be regarded as exotic, silks and other fineries originating from Asia; their share was lower in the early stages but increased gradually during the 47. 48. 49.
See WIC, vol. 55, doc. 10/12/1714; WIC, vol. 98, p. 316; WIC, vol. 102, p. 40, and 253; WIC, vol. 103, pp. 98-9; WIC, vol. 180, pp. 165, 174, and 184; WIC, vol. 238, pp. 62-3. WIC, vol. 54, doc. 7/20/1793; WIC, vol. 332, p. 90; WIC, vol. 836, p. 140. See also note no. 26. A thorough analysis of the merchandise shipped to Africa has not been made yet, but that is beyond the scope of this study. W. S. Unger, "Bijdragen tot de geschiedenis van de Nederlandse slavenhandel II," Economisch-Historisch Jaarboek uy vol. 28 (1958-1960), p. 33, cited hereafter as Unger II. See also Vrijman, p. 68.
Trade and politics on the African coast
105
second half of the eighteenth century. The overall percentage of textiles carried by Dutch slave ships remained at about the same level, which meant that the European- and Dutch-made textiles decreased relatively. A total of forty-five different types of textiles were taken to Africa by the MCC. Slave ships sailing to the Loango region seemed to carry a larger proportion of textiles than those obtaining their slaves on the Guinea coast, although this finding should be treated with caution, as it is based on a very small sample. The gun and gunpowder traffic of the MCC increased slightly with the passing of time, although as a result of decreasing prices their relative value seemed to decrease. The quantity of alcoholic beverages taken to Africa by the MCC also increased as the eighteenth century progressed.50 Something was returned to Africa for the exodus of its sons and daughters, although few would argue that the accumulative results were positive economically for African societies, let alone morally and socially.51 The slave trade did link African economies more firmly to the global commercial system, however. The overall effect on African society of these imported goods remains to be evaluated in a separate study. The price paid for such a development by the slaves shipped to the West is certainly beyond any rational comprehension. 50. 51.
These findings are based on a more detailed analysis of merchandise shipped by the MCC, carried out by the Leiden Seminar student, Jan Gewald. See Chapters i and 12 on these issues.
Volume ofAfrican exports and origins of slaves
The question of where the African slaves came from is one of the most perplexing problems in the Atlantic slave trade, one which will probably never be solved to satisfaction. This is largely due to the fact that so little written evidence exists on the trade routes of the African interior. Although recent studies have tried to come to grips with this problem, the internal African markets were by no means static and provide therefore indications only and are of limited value about slave origins. Studies using information on the ethnic origins of slaves in the New World have been attempted, but they too suffer from a lack of comprehensive data.1 The best contributions this study can offer are to delineate the coastal regions from which the Dutch obtained their slaves and to discuss the qualitative evidence of the ethnic or coastal preferences indicated by Dutch slave traders and colonists in the West.
Demands of the market place Numerous factors determined where Europeans acquired their slaves. In addition to the availability of slaves, the existing commercial contacts, and the political and economic conditions in a given African region, slaves from certain regions were simply in greater or lesser demand in the colonial markets of the New World. And such preferences might differ from one market area to another, and also from one time to another. Slaves from the Bight of Biafra, implying the Niger delta region and eastward to the Cameroons, were generally referred to as Calabaries and were invariably considered undesirable by most Dutch colonists. This is repeatedly brought out in correspondence and directives, and it is also confirmed by the limited number i.
See for example Paul E. Lovejoy and Jan S. Hogendorn, pp. 213-35; Curtin, Atlantic Slave Trade, pp. 97-100, 113, 189, 192—6 and 202. 106
African exports and origins of slaves
107
of slaves obtained from that coastal region, particularly during the WIC monopoly period. Asiento contracts with the Dutch also stipulated that slaves from that region were not acceptable, and for this reason over 1,000 such slaves were simply rejected by asiento agents in 1675. Even before the Dutch acquired the asiento, during the 1650s, a limited number of so-called Calabary slaves were purchased by Dutch slavers but they were then already regarded as inferior to slaves from the Bight of Benin.2 By the 1680s the dislike of Calabary slaves became so pronounced that a number of slaving assignments were shifted from the Bight of Biafra to other areas, primarily because the Surinam planters did not want slaves from that region. The WIC directors decided in 1681 to send two special slave consignments to Surinam with slaves from the Bight of Biafra, because the fledgling colony was badly in need of slaves and the asiento trade demanded the best. If the demand was critical enough the Surinam planters could tolerate these slaves, but by 1685 they complained bitterly that such slaves were undesirable because they were unwilling to work and their death rate was extremely high. In spite of such protests the WIC directors decided that 25 percent of the shipments to this colony could be Calabaries. Eventually, the planters' pleas were heeded because by the end of the seventeenth century such slaves were no longer purchased by the WIC. During the early stages of their development, small settlements like Berbice, Essequibo, St. Eustatius, and Saba were forced to accept shipments of Calabary slaves, because the settlers there had no other choice but to accept what they could get. The asiento contracts demanded the bulk of the slaves in those early days, leaving only the least desirable ones for the colonies that had little capital and influence.3 Why were the slaves from the Bight of Biafra region so much less in demand by the colonists? A report of the 1650s already characterized them as prone to run away or to die more readily than other African slaves. Correspondence from Surinam in 1684 described the shipment of slaves arriving from that region on the ship, St. jfan, as "crazy and retarded." And they also believed that they were unwilling to work and died more readily. Antagonism toward these slaves persisted, for in a handbook for Dutch slavers, published in 1770, these slaves are described as "lazy" and "cowardly" in character. One can speculate that Calabary slaves originated from the predominantly stateless societies of that region, people who were accustomed to a great amount of individual freedom and were thus, like most 2. WIC, vol. 783, doc. 5; W I C vol. 330, pp. 113 and 145;' WIC, vol. 832, pp. 182 and 290; WIC, vol. 652, doc. 1/24/1686; SS, vol. 113, p. 8; WIC, vol. 831, p. 95; WIC, vol. 649, doc. 2/9/1682; KITLV H-65, cor. 9/-/1659. 3. WIC, vol. 833, pp. 448, 182 and 424; WIC, vol. 834, p. 191; SS, vol. 213, pp. 97, 180 and 369; SS, vol. 214, p. 190.
108
The Dutch in the Atlantic Slave Trade
of the native Americans, less able to adjust to the degradation and regimentation of enslavement. Thus, although the Dutch traders were active on the nearby Cameroon coast, they bought very few slaves there and perhaps never designated a slave ship to that region. Only during the peak of the free-trade period did a few Dutch slave ships fetch their slaves from the Bight of Biafra.4 Bantu-speaking slaves from the Loango region, north of the Congo river, were also less well appreciated than their counterparts from the Slave Coast and Gold Coast, although the Dutch did ship a substantial number of these slaves to the West Indies. When during the 1720s large numbers of slaves were shipped to St. Eustatius, many for resale to French and English planters on nearby islands, the so-called "Angola" or "Loango," slaves were not in demand by these settlers, and the WIC had at times difficulty selling them. Surinam planters may well have preferred these Loango slaves, and they seemed to have replaced the shipments from the Bight of Biafra by the early eighteenth century. But by the second decade these planters were also complaining that they disliked the "Loangos." The main reason was because these slaves were prone to run away into the forest. Of one shipment in 1720, more than half of the slaves had fled into the wilderness within a short time. In a contract for the importation of 1,500 slaves into Surinam onethird to one-fourth of the slaves were to come from Angola, while the remainder had to be Ardra slaves from the Slave Coast. The Guinea coast alone could not satisfy the demand for slaves in the West, even though slaves from the Loango region regularly sold for less than Guinea coast slaves. In 1767 Gold Coast slaves sold for 380 guilders compared to 350 for those from the Loango region. There were, however, some planters in Surinam who preferred Bantu-speaking slaves, at least as a mix with slaves from other areas, to avoid slave conspiracies. Some sources stated that Angola slaves were more prone to run away or to become sick because of their unhygienic eating habits. Not long after one shipment was brought from the Loango region in 1720, the Surinam governor claimed that two-thirds of the male slaves had escaped into the forest. Other planters did not object to slaves from that region if they came in large enough groups, particularly when many of them were young and a large percentage of them were women, because most adult males from the Loango region were regarded as lazy.5 4.
SS, vol. 113, p. 8; SS, vol. 214, p. 190; Ratelband, p. 320; D. H. Gallandat, "Noodige onderrichtingen voor slaafhandelaren," Verhandelingen Zeeuws Genootschap (1769-1770), pp. 438-9. See also Ralph A. Austin and K.Jacobs, "Dutch Trading Voyages to Cameroon, 1721-1759; European Documents and African History," Annales de la Faculte des lettres et sciences humaines, Universite federate du Camerones/de Yaounde, vol. 2 (1974), pp. 47-83.
5. W I C , vol. 619, cor. 1/17/1724, 1/18/1724, 12/12/1725, 1/22/1725, and 6/30/1727; W I C , vol. 619, cor. 3/28/1727 and 6/30/1727; W I C , vol. 1138, cor. 2/16/1707 and 3/
African exports and origins of slaves
109
On the whole, Dutch colonists clearly preferred slaves from the Slave Coast and Gold Coast. The English preference for the so-called Cormantin slaves from the Gold Coast, however, is not reflected in the correspondence from Surinam, at least not before the eighteenth century, when the Dutch had not yet concentrated on the Gold Coast as a slaving region. A careful reader may also detect that the WIC directors preferred the slave trade to remain on the Slave Coast and discouraged any inclination to purchase too many slaves on the Gold Coast, fearing that it might interfere with the gold trade. The so-called Ardra slaves from the Slave Coast, also referred to as Papas in Surinam, were still clearly rated above Gold Coast and Loango slaves during the first decade of the eighteenth century, although a report of 1707 seems to indicate that Gold Coast slaves were well-liked at Surinam. During the 1720s the WIC began to mix slave consignments, even mixing some Loango slaves with those from the Guinea coast when this was feasible. This was apparently aimed at confusing the settlers and increasing the price of the slaves from less desirable regions. In 1734, however, the Ardra slaves were still selling at higher prices than others in the Dutch Caribbean. 6
Slave exports during the WIC monopoly period Table 5.1 presents the global estimate of the slaves exported from Africa by the WIC and by Dutch interlopers during the period 1600-1738. As was already shown in Chapter 2, the figures for the years prior to 1675, of the old WIC, are based on data collected by other scholars for a time when scarcity of the surviving records provide less reliability than the later years. Where the data seemed incomplete, an estimated adjustment has been added to the documented figures. The latter also involve estimates, but at least those are based on documented slaving voyages or company account. For the years of the new WIC, 1675 to 1738, a more comprehensive record of individual slaving voyages, as well as considerable detail on many of the consignments, has been collected. They are listed in Appendix 1. Where detailed figures on slave consignments are missing, they have been filled in by estimates based on other cases for which data was available. If, for example, only the number of slaves landed in the West was recorded, the mortality on the middle passage and the number of slaves boarded in 26/1712; WIC, vol. 1139, doc. 147; WIC, vol. 1140, doc. 63; WIC, vol. 204, p. 467; WIC, vol. 69, p. 109; WIC, vol. 1026, pp. 27, 52, and 338; WIC, vol. 836, p. 358; M C C , vol. 1567, doc. 68, p. 7; SS, vol. 226, p. 187; SS, vol. 238, p. 317; SS. vol. 247, p 753. 6. WIC, vol. 832, pp. 186 and min. 4/9/1682; WIC, vol. 1026, p. 3; WIC, vol. 1137, cor. 10/5/1701 and 7/30/1704; WIC, vol. 202, pp. 8 and 98; WIC, vol. 55, pp. 6 and 20; WIC, vol. 619, p. 223; WIC, vol. 55, cor. 10/29/1734.
The Dutch in the Atlantic Slave Trade
no
Table 5.1 Dutch slave exports from Africa, 1675-1738 Years 1600-1635 1636-1645 1646-1657 1658-1659 1660-1664 1665-1669 1670-1674 1675-1679 1680-1684 1685-1689 1690-1694 1695-1699 1700-1704 1705-1709 1710-1714 1715-1719 1720-1724 1725-1729 1730-1734 1735-1738 Total
Ships 10 a 65 a 15 a 9 16 47 59 21 28 46 21 23 29 28 17 27 37 43 27 19 587
WIC
Documented 799b 29,383 1,821 2,670 6,548 19,210 24,202 8,650 13,538 22,660 10,910 10,934 14,032 14,564 8,625 11,950 16,654 21,926 13,767 11,144 263,987
Adjustment
Interlopers
2,000 1,000 2,000 500 500
1,000
500
500
1,000 1,000 1,000 2,000 1,500 1,500 2,000 1,000 1,500
8,500
14,000
1,000 500 500
Total 2,799 30,383 3,821 2,670 7,048 19,210 24,702 8,650 15,038 23,660 11,910 12,934 16,032 16,064 10,625 14,450 17,654 23,926 13,767C 11,144°
Annual average
286,487
78
3,039 318
1,410 1,410 3,842 4,940 1,730 3,007 4,732 2,382 2,587 3,206 3,213 2,125 2,890 3,531 4,785 2,753 2,229 2,754d
Source: Appendix 1, and Tables 1.1 and 2.2. Notes: aThe number of consignments are estimated. HThis includes 470 slaves landed at Trinidad. c Free trade figures are not included for these years; see Table 5.6. The overall average is calculated for the period 1636-1738.
Africa were estimated based on averages derived from cases in which the information was complete as well as from qualitative references in the documents. The cumulative results of this process are presented below in successive periods of five years, unless conditions dictated a different span of time.7 As has been described in Chapter i, the Dutch introduction in the Atlantic slave trade was hesitant and restrained, and the documentation for the years prior to the 1630s is severely limited. With the establishment of the Dutch in Brazil and their capture of Elmina, a boom in their exportation of slaves 7.
For a more detailed explanation of the adjustments and the basis for making estimates see Chapters 2 and 8.
African exports and origins of slaves
111
from Africa occurred. Another peak was registered during the late 1660s and early 1670s, when the WIC acquired the asiento trade with the Spanish colonies. Still another peak is noticeable during the 1680s, when the Coymans family dominated the asiento trade. The intervening reductions in the flow of the trade resulted primarily from complications in the asiento trade or international conflicts in which the Dutch Republic became embroiled. The loss of the asiento contracts and the frequently occurring and longlasting wars were responsible for a significant slowdown of the Dutch slave trade during the period 1690 to 1720. Beginning in the 1720s, however, the Dutch slave trade began a long period of gradual expansion, which was caused primarily by the growth of the plantation colony of Surinam. The introduction of the free trade in 1730, which operated simultaneously with a reduced WIC monopoly until 1738, may also have contributed to the increase of the volume of the Dutch slave trade.
Regional African distribution of the WIC slave trade The WIC obtained slaves from virtually every African coastal region between Senegal and Angola, although the various regions varied in significance and their contribution also changed through the years. As we might expect from the political realities during the 1636-46 peak years for the Brazil market, when the Dutch gained dominance along the whole west-central African coast, more than half of the slaves obtained by the WIC came from the Angola region (see Table 1.1). This period was also the only time that Angola proper was an important slave-producing area for the WIC. After the Portuguese reconquest of the Angola ports in 1648, the Loango coastal region to the north of the Congo River became the only slaving area for the WIC outside the Guinea coast. At this early time the Slave Coast was already a principal supplier of slaves for the WIC, accounting for approximately 50 percent of the slaves purchased along the entire Guinea coast. The Gold Coast supplied less than 20 percent of the WIC slaves, and about 30 percent came from the Bights of Biafra and Benin.8 It should be mentioned that, unlike several other European nations and the United States, the Dutch did not actively become involved in the exportation of slaves from East Africa for markets in the Western Hemisphere. The Dutch East India Company (VOC), however, did export slaves from that region across the Indian Ocean to its Asian colonies. This company also supplied Cape Colony at the southern tip of Africa with slaves from eastern Africa. Approximately 4,000 slaves were shipped to the Cape by the 8. Van den Boogaart and Emmer, pp. 359-69.
ii2
The Dutch in the Atlantic Slave Trade Table 5.2 Slave origins under the old WIC, 1658-1674 Slaves
Ships
Average consignment
%of total
Senegambia Ivory Coast Gold Coast Slave Coast Bight of Biafraa
1,520 750 5,453 12,154 2,581
4 2 13 29 8
380 375 419 419 323
5.1 2.1 18.3 40.8 8.7
Guinea combined
22,458
56
401
75.
7,339
16
459
25.
Region
Loango/Angola
100.
Documented total
29,797
Unknown origin
22,883
60
381
Grand total
52,680
132
402
43.2 100.
Source: Franz Binder (see Chapter 2, note 16) collected the data from which this table has been extrapolated. Note: aThese may have included small consignment destined for Elmina.
VOC during the period 1652 to 1795, but many more slaves of Asian origin were brought into the colony on VOC ships that stopped at the Cape on their return voyage from Batavia to the Dutch Republic. Perhaps no more than about 500 slaves were brought to Cape Colony from the Atlantic shores. Only one slave ship, carrying 260 slaves, obtained its cargo on the Slave Coast, and an undetermined but small number were taken from captured Portuguese ships sailing from the Angola region. But this topic is outside the limits of this study, and because these slaves did not cross the Atlantic they have not been included in the statistical tables of this work.9 The data on slave origins for the third quarter of the seventeenth century are less clear than for the eighteenth century, as is demonstrated in Table 5.2. For 60 of the 132 slave consignments no area of African coastal departure is known. If the remaining 72 are taken as representative of the whole, the Loango coast produced one-fourth of the WIC slave exports; the remaining 75 percent came from the Guinea coast, with the Slave Coast by far the most important export market, with over 40 percent of the total WIC export for the period 1658 to 1674. 9. James Armstrong, "The Slaves, 165 2—1780," in R. Elphick and H. Giliomee, eds., The Shaping ofSouth African Society (London: Longman Group, 1979), pp. 76-9. On this issue, Robert Ross of the University of Leiden extended his advice to me.
African exports and origins of slaves
113
Table 5.3 Slave origins in the WIC trade, 1675-1699 Slaves
Ships
Average consignment
%of total
Senegambia Gold Coast Slave Coast Bight of Biafra
710 2,207 24,323 1,403
3 7 49 4
237 315 496 351
1.5 4.7 52.2 3.0
Guinea combined
28,643
63
455
61.5
Loango/Angola
17,948
33
544
38.5
Documented total
46,591
96
Unknown origin
20,501
43
477
30
Grand total
67,092
139
483
100
Region
100
Source: Appendix 1.
A clearer picture about slave origins emerges for the last quarter of the seventeenth century, with more than two-thirds of the slave origins documented, as is shown in Table 5.3. For this period, however, the Loango area contributed a greatly increased proportion of nearly 40 percent of the total. The Slave Coast also had become a more significant slave exporting region for the WIC, while Senegambia and the Bight of Biafra dwindled to insignificance and the Gold Coast supplied less than 5 percent of the total. For the final phase of the WIC slave trade, 1700 to 1738, over 80 percent of the coastal origins of exports have been verified, providing a greater degree of accuracy in estimating the origins of the slaves involved. At this time the Loango contribution dropped back to one quarter of the total, and the relative significance of Slave Coast exports was also reduced significantly. The Gold Coast contribution to the WIC slave exports rose to an unprecedented high of nearly 30 percent, as is shown in Table 5.4. The question of African origins with respect to the interloper trade, discussed in Chapter 3, is quite simple. With few exceptions interloper slave traders obtained their slaves from the Loango region; all but one of the interlopers listed in Table 3.2, went to the Loango coast. Qualitative documentary references also repeatedly confirm the interloper predisposition toward the Loango coast, primarily because the WIC was not as able to protect its monopoly there as on the Guinea coast. At one point, in 1688, the king of Loango prevented a WIC warship from attacking a Dutch in-
H4
The Dutch in the Atlantic Slave Trade Table 5.4 Slave origins in the WIC trade, 1700-1738 Slaves
Ships
Average consignment
%of total
Guinea general Gold Coast Slave Coast Bight of Biafra
3,881 27,196 39,765 103
7 58 75 1
554 469 530 103
4.1 28.5 41.6 .1
Guinea combined
70,945
141
503
74.2
Loango/Angola
24,630
45
547
25.8
Documented total
95,575
186
514
Unknown origin
16,687
41
407
112,262
227
495
Region
Grand total
100 17.5 100
Source: Appendix 1.
terloper with the threat that he would no longer do business with WIC ships. Thus, the interloper slave trade should perhaps be regarded entirely as originating from the Loango region.10 Because Tables 5.3 and 5.4 cover increasingly longer periods of time, dictated essentially by the nature of the documentation, a more detailed tabulation of exports may clarify the export trends. Table 5.5 presents the WIC slave exportation by decades, except in a few instances, and this shows a steady contribution of 25 to 40 percent from the Loango region. The obvious exception is the final decade, when the free traders had virtually replaced the WIC in this region. The Slave Coast retained a dominant role in the WIC slave exports, averaging more than 45 percent of the total. The only significant drop occurred during the 1720s, when warfare in the region made trade in that area very unstable, as has been discussed in Chapter 4. One striking change is the enormous increase in the slave exports from the Gold Coast after 1720. As early as the 1650s the WIC had obtained a moderate number of slaves from this region, but the WIC continued to emphasize the export of gold from there. A significant shift began to take place early in the eighteenth century, when the export of gold from that region was rapidly declining, which may well have led to the trade in humans to offset the decline. More likely, however, the dramatic increase of slave exports from the Gold Coast during the 1720s was also linked to the decrease 10. WIC, vol. 200, p. 158; WIC, vol. 104, p. 408; WIC, vol. 835, pp. 75 and 116.
African exports and origins of slaves Table 5. 5 Fluctuations of WIC slave origins, 1658-1738 Years 1658-1674 (%) 1675-1689 (%)
Senegal Ivory Coasi
Slave Coast
Bight of Biafra
Loango
Origin Total unknown
2,270 (7.6)
5,453 (18.3)
12,154 (40.8)
2,581 (8.7)
7,337 (24.6)
29,796 (100)
22,883 (43)
710 (2.3)
2,101 (6.7)
15,777 (50.5)
1,403 (4.5)
11,266 (36)
31,257
14,301 (31)
106 (0.7)
9,449 (58.2)
6,682 (41.2)
16,237
6,200 (28)
3,275 (12.1)
14,752 (54.3)
9,128 (33.6)
27,155
1,038 (3.7)
1,045 (5.7)
12,851 (69.7)
4,447 (24)
18,446
2,563 (12)
12,869 (45.6)
5,572 (19.8)
9,762 (34.6)
28,203
10,103 (26)
12,492 (58)
7,793 (36)
1,293 (6)
21,578
2.983 (12)
37,341 (21.6)
78,348 (45.4)
49,915 (28.9)
172,672 (100)
37,188 (16)
1690-1699 (%) 1700-1709 (%) 1710-1719 (%) 1720-1729 (%) 1730-1738 (%) Total
Gold Coast
2,980 (1.7)
103 (0.6)
4,087 (2.4)
Source: Appendix 1. Notes: Percentages of the various coastal regions are expressed in terms of total documented slave origins. Percentages of unknown origins relate to the grand total. The Gold Coast and Slave Coast columns include a few consignments that contained a mixture of slaves, mostly from these regions (see Table 5.4).
in the Dutch slave trade on the Slave Coast; this forced the WIC to obtain most of its slaves from the Gold Coast. The complete dominance of the Gold Coast in the WIC slave trade during the 1730s resulted from the change in the WIC charter in 1730, which limited the company's monopoly in the slave trade to the Gold Coast. Four years later the WIC lost this privilege as well, resulting in the company's retreat from the transatlantic slave trade after 1738." Because the African ports of origin of a significant number of the WIC slave ships have not been verified, making conjectures necessary, it is important to note that the system of slave-ship assignments by the directors of the company basically confirms the conclusions stated above (see Table 2.5). In addition, the assignments confirm that the documented WIC slave voyages WIC, vol. 55, cor. 11/27/1724; KITLV vol. H-65, pp. 406-7. The circumstances of the shift from monopoly to free trade will be discussed in Chapter 6.
116
The Dutch in the Atlantic Slave Trade
are fairly representative of the company's total slave traffic, and are not skewed toward one area or another. Unfortunately, the listing of assignments is not complete either, and it refers to ships rather than slaves, but at least it lends tentative confirmation to the primary statistical calculations employed in this study.12 A final note on the coastal regions between Senegambia and Ghana, the so-called Windward coast, which is conspicuous by its absence in the WIC slave trade (see Map 5.1). The WIC never established any trading stations or made it a practice to purchase slaves there. One exception is that in 1716 the company dispatched one slave ship to the "Upper Coast," or Windward coast, to experiment with slave trading in that region. Company directors at Elmina may have been threatened by this, for they seemed to be elated when the experiment failed, and no additional WIC slavers have been found recorded sailing to this coastal region. Nevertheless, among the slaves exported by the WIC there may well have been a few slaves from the Ivory Coast, because the WIC was engaged in a general small-scale coastal trade, all the way from the Ivory Coast to the Bight of Biafra. By this method a wide variety of merchandise was purchased from Africans, including some slaves, who were then taken to Elmina.13 Thus, some of the slaves counted among the Gold Coast departures may in fact have originated from the Ivory Coast, but the number involved in these transactions cannot have been very high. This situation changed drastically during the free-trade period, when large numbers of slaves were obtained by the Dutch from the Windward coast.
The free-trade traffic During the 1730s the Dutch slave trade increased dramatically. This decade also witnessed a significant shift in the manner in which the Dutch organized the slave trade. Starting in 1730, Dutch slavers unaffiliated with the WIC were allowed to purchase slaves in select areas of the WIC monopoly, and four years later the WIC monopoly of the slave trade was terminated completely. Although the company made a determined effort to maintain a foothold in the traffic, and in fact transported as many slaves annually as during the previous decade, it had terminated its involvement in the Atlantic slave trade by 1739. Thereafter, the free trade increased its volume steadily until it reached its peak during the early 1770s with an annual average of nearly 7,000 slaves exported from Africa by Dutch free traders. 14 Table 5.6 lists the volume of the free trade in five-year intervals. Between 12. See Appendix 8. 13. WIC, vol. 485, p. 564; NBKG, vol. 85, Instr. 6/3/1718; WIC, vol. 834, p. 187. 14. See Appendix 2 for a listing of all free-trade missions.
THE
MAP 5.1 WINDWARD COAST 18th Century West Africa
n8
The Dutch in the Atlantic Slave Trade Table 5.6 Slaves from Africa by Dutch free traders, 1730-1803
Years 1731-1734* 1735-1739* 1740-1744 1745-1749 1750-1754 1755-1759 1760-1764 1765-1769 1770-1774 1775-1779 1780-1784 1785-1789 1790-1803 Total
Ships 31 37 64 78 71 80 83 109 121 58 21 30 36
Cargo average 295 271 306 353 299 351 333 292 287 281 309 246 242
Slaves 9,138 10,031 19,982 27,592 21,212 28,150 27,671 31,830 34,742 16,353 6,480 7,365 9,905
Adjustment
815
311
250,451
6,034
1,416 2,324 588 291 1,415
Total 9,138 10,031 19,982 27,592 21,212 29,566 29,995 32,418 35,033 17,768 6,480 7,365 9,905 256,485
Annual average 2,285 2,006 3,996 5,518 4,242 5,913 6,000 6,484 7,007 3,554 1,296 1,473 708 3,514 3,794b
Source: Appendix 5 and text in Chapter 5. Notes: *The WIC traffic of 1730-1738 is not included here; see Table 5.1. This annual average is for the years 1731-1795 only.
1744 and 1773 the average annual export by the Dutch came to about 6,000 slaves, with only a few years dropping significantly below that figure. Only during the mid-1750s was there a noticeable slump in the traffic. During the peak years of 1764 and 1771 the number of slaves exported by the Dutch reached nearly 9,000 each year. But the economic crisis of 1773, which will be discussed later, reduced the traffic drastically. Toward the end of the decade, the American Revolution and the diplomatic turmoil that grew out of it caused additional reduction of the Dutch slave trade, until it came to a complete standstill when Holland became directly embroiled in the ensuing Atlantic conflicts. There were a few efforts to revive the slave trade during the early 1790s, but only during the year 1793 did the total number of slaves shipped from Africa exceed 2,000, and this turned out to be the final major effort. The international turmoil flowing from the revolution in France, beginning in 1789, and which involved the Dutch Republic directly starting in 1795, terminated the Dutch involvement in the Atlantic slave trade. The last recorded Dutch slaver, the Standvastigheid, sailed in 1802-3, taking 281 slaves to Surinam. As was the case with the WIC slave trade, the basis for calculating the free trade are records of individual slaving voyages. There were far more
African exports and origins of slaves
119
free-trade slave ships than W1C slavers, even though the total number of slaves carried by the two different processes were not far apart; for the WIC the total reached an estimated 273,000 (not including about 14,000 slaves shipped by interlopers), and for the free trade a generous 256,000. Because the WIC was a much larger institution and was in a sense a public institution that received financial support from the government, its records have been better preserved and provide far greater detail. Even for the free trade, the records of the WIC are essential in determining the volume of its trade in human beings. In spite of its discontinuation of the transatlantic slave trade, the WIC was still responsible for managing the administration of the slavetrade passes that were required for free traders, and the company also continued to maintain the trading stations on the African coast from which free traders frequently purchased slaves. By scrutinizing a large number of pertinent archives in the Netherlands, it has been possible to verify most of the free-trade slaving voyages. And just as the WIC slave ship assignments provided verification for the individual slave-ship records of that company, a similar Rosetta stone has been located for the free trade in the form of two separate lists of slave-trade passes, sold by the WIC to the so-called free traders. By comparing these documents with the data collected on individual free-trade voyages, it appears that an estimated twenty-two ships, or less than 3 percent of the total, escaped the scrutiny of this historical investigation. An adjustment for these potentially overlooked slaving missions has been made in Table 5.7.15 In spite of the preservation of all these records, statistics on the free trade are far from complete. In many cases there is only the record of a pass being purchased at a given date, providing permission to trade on the African coast but leaving the remainder of the undertaking a matter of conjecture. This is a serious problem for the 1730s, the first decade of the free trade, when an undetermined number of such passes were intended for the AfroEuropean trade rather than the slave trade. But beginning in 1742, the records of the governors of Surinam as well as other documentary collections provide us with much additional information about the slave trade. The volume of the free trade durmg the 1730s, however, remains a problem that promises no easy solution. For the years 1731 to 1741 an undetermined number of Guinea traders, ships that limited themselves to the AfroEuropean trade, are included in the lists of passes. There is no fail-safe method to separate the Guinea traders from the slave traders, and in the absence of other concrete data, the lengths of the voyages have been employed in deciding which passes were used for the slave trade and which were used 15.
See Appendix 9 for the lists of slave passes, and their comparison with the documented slaving records.
120
T h e Dutch in the Atlantic Slave Trade
for the Afro-European trade. Only those ships that required more than a thirteen-month voyage were regarded as slave traders. Of a total of ninety recorded missions for the eleven-year period, fourteen fit the slaver category, and one of these, the Lammerenburg of 1740, could otherwise clearly be identified as a slave ship, even though it completed its voyage in 370 days. Of all the free-trade slave ships with recorded voyage length, only 8 out of 330 completed their triangular voyage within 393 days and these 8 were all only slightly under that mark.16 The foregoing provides only speculative answers to the early years of the free trade, but it provides no answer to the crucial questions of origins and destinations; at least it supplies a rational solution to the broad picture of the Dutch slave trade during the 1730s.
Slave origins in the free trade Slightly more than two-thirds of coastal origins of the free-trade slaves have been documented. If these figures are accepted as representative of the overall traffic, Bantu Africa north of the Congo provided approximately onethird of the total number of slaves exported. This calculation is based on the number of slaves exported and not on the number of ships frequenting that area, because free-trade slave ships sailing to Loango tended to be larger than those going to the Guinea coast. The slave trade with Bantu-speaking Africa tended to decrease when the free trade in general was low or in decline, as is illustrated by the early 1740s and early 1750s, and also during the declining decades of the Dutch slave trade. During the most active years of the Dutch slave trade, the Bantu share of the trade increased, particularly during the peak years 1665 to 1674, when slaves from that region amounted to more than 42 percent of the total Dutch slave trade. If the attraction of the slaves from the Loango region increased with the growing demand for slaves, it confirms the qualitative evidence cited earlier that slaves from Bantu Africa were generally regarded as inferior to those from the Gold Coast and Slave Coast regions. A similar pattern is noticed in the WIC slave trade, but in the free trade (see Table 5.7) the Loango share rose by about six percentage points. The documentation is less clear on the separate regions of the Guinea coast, in that the majority of free-trade slave ships were often simply designated with Guinea as their African boarding area. As clarified in Chapter 6, the free traders also employed a new method of trading, which often took them along the Guinea coast and made it difficult to distinguish between specific areas of origin. The ships designated as having boarded their slaves 16.
See Chapter 7 on the discussion of length of voyage.
African exports and origins of slaves
121
Table 5.7 Slave origins in the free trade, 1730-1803 Period 1730-1739
Loango (%) 318
Guinea general
Gold Coast
Total verified 676
356
No docb. % 18,495 (96.5)
15,565
32,009 (67.4)
32,566
16,796 (34.1)
49,571
9,930 (16.7)
563
47,962
2,970 (.6)
5,726 286
3,569 223
11,485
2,360 (17.1)
2,313 (27.7) 386
2,357 196
3,685 217
8,355
1,550 (15.7)
57,475 (34.5) 340
86,881 297
20,912 272
166,180
84,110 (33.6)
1740-1749 Cargo avg.a
5,990 (38.5) 374
7,409 353
1,636
1750-1759 Average
9,587 (29.4) 417
16,283 326
6,696 279
1760-1769 Average
19,771 (39.9) 330
24,657 301
4,763 340
1770-1779 Average
17,306 (36.1) 293
30,093 281
1780-1789 Average
2,190 (19.1) 438
1790-1803 Average Total Average
Slave Coast
530
380
910
Source: Appendix 2. Notes aAverage slave consignments are not listed when fewer than four ships were recorded. Lists the slaves whose origin has not been found recorded, and their percentage of the grand total exported.
at Elmina did not necessarily obtain all their slaves on the Gold Coast; usually it meant that Elmina was their last port of call in Africa. In 1744 the W1C director at Elmina reported that most of the free traders purchased their slaves on the Windward coast, sailing on to Elmina only when their slave cargo was still deficient.17 That general pattern of trade is clearly illustrated by the detailed trading records of fifty free-trade slave ships, which have been preserved in the Dutch archives. They represent about 16 percent of the free-trade traffic to the Guinea coast for the period 1741 to 1792, and their records are listed in Appendix 12. Table 5.8 presents a summary of these data, and several of the trading villages and rivers where slaves were obtained are listed on Map 5.1. Occasionally, slaves were purchased in the Senegambia region, 17. WIC, vol. 113, p. 187.
The Dutch in the Atlantic Slave Trade
122
Table 5.8 Specified slave origins from the Guinea Coast, 1741-1782 Places of origin
1741-9
1750-9
Sierra Leone 0 St.Paul & StJohn R. 4 Cess R. to Cape Palmas 297 Cavalla toSassandra 10 Cape Lahou 106 Grand Bassam 2 Assini to Axim 13 Unidentified 0
122 45 374 102 695 65 22 203
432
1760-9
27 12 208 112
1770-9
407 151 514 141
1780-9
Total
699 259
2,060
1,817
233 101 220
143 47 115 89 283 33 8 0
1,628
2,731
3,584
718
9,093
7 0 0 0 0 0 2 32 20 0 0 64 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 66
23 0 9 4 0 18 0 0 217 0 0 208 0 274 0 12 1 0 34 100
80 0 2 8 13 19 0 0 429 5 13 126 40 5 5 79 4 0 0 76
200 10 24 62 59 3 22 2 788 0 136 4 57 118 86 10 4 5 118 106
4 0 0 0 0 0 6 0 228 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 47
314 10 35 74 72 40 30 34
Gold and Slave Coasts combined
191
900
904
1,814
Grand total
623
2,528
3,635
5,398
Subtotals Axim Poquefoe Akwida Butri Takoradi Secondi Shama Komenda Elmina Cape Coast Mori Anomabu Kormantin Apam Bercu Accra Keta
Epe
Popo Unidentified
86 43 183
% 5.3 2
1,508
11.4
4,961
37.6
69
454 419 187 606
3.4 3.2 1.4 4.6
2.4 .1 .3 .6 .6 .3 .2 .3
1,682
12.8
285
4,094
31.1
1,003
13,187
5 149 402 97 397 91 101 9 5 152 395
.1 1.1 3.1 .7 3 .7 .8 .1 .1 1.2 3
100
Source: Appendix 12.
but as a rule the acquisition of slaves commenced on the coasts of presentday Sierra Leone and Liberia. Cape Mesurado, where Monrovia was subsequently built, was the most frequent starting point of slave acquisition. The average free-trade slave cargo, according to this sample, was nearly 70 percent complete before the Gold Coast was reached, making the Windward coast (the approximate equivalent of today's Liberia and Ivory Coast) one
African exports and origins of slaves
123
Table 5.9 Gold Coast slave origins, 1705-1716 Year 1705 1706 1707 1708 1709 1710 1711 1712 1713 1714 1715 1716
Butri 9 16 30 11 18 31 7 0 4 2 0 28
Secondi 2 10 40 64 93 57 5 0 10 11 60 52
Komenda 0 33 34 13 29 21 4 0 0 6 10 1
Mori 12 92 9 20 13 5 0 0 0 1 2 1
Total
156
404
151
155
Kormantin 36 30 43 15 21 1 0 0 3 0 0 0 149
Total 59 181 156 123 174 115 16 0 17 20 72 82 1,015
Source: WIC, vol. 488, pp. 416-18.
of the principal slaving areas for the Dutch. All export regions taken together, Dutch free traders may well have obtained 40 percent of their slaves from the Windward coast. Cape Lahou in particular and the Ivory Coast in general clearly emerged as the most prolific supplier of slaves in this region.18 There is thus a noticeable shift westward in the Dutch slave trade. First from the Slave Coast to the Gold Coast, which became especially pronounced during the 1720s, and then incorporating the Ivory and Liberian coastlines with the onset of the free trade. The latter may well have resulted from the fact that during the early years of the free traders the Gold Coast was offlimits to them. Captains from Zeeland, who dominated the free trade, may also have frequented these regions as interlopers during the final years of the WIC monopoly and thus already had trading contacts there. After the Gold Coast restriction was lifted in 1734, it became a practice for free traders to make Elmina their final stop in Africa and complete their consignment through purchases from the WIC establishment at the Gold Coast. Some free traders, such as the ships of the Coopstad and Rochusen firm of Rotterdam, frequently contracted their whole slave cargo in advance with the WIC at Elmina. The vast majority of the slave ships in the sample just cited belonged to the MCC, which was undoubtedly the largest of the free-trade slaving companies in the Dutch Republic. If other free traders practiced a 18.
See Adam Jones and Marion Johnson, "Slaves from the Windward Coast," Journal of African History, vol. 21 (1980), pp. 17-34, for a valuable appraisal of this region.
124
The Dutch in the Atlantic Slave Trade Table 5.10 Fragmented Gold Coast slave origins , 1725-1754 1752-54 Total 24 mo. 84 mo
Locations
1725 8mo. a
1727 8 mo.
Axim Poquefoe Akwida Butri Takoradi Sekondi Shama Komenda Elmina Mori Kormantin Apam Bercu Accra
77 0 0 26 0
47 265 24 8 103
64 1 0 34 89 231 134 15 826 49 174 37 40 97
42 45 25 33 65 115 218 376 768 72 263 97 37 58
3 28 30 54 81 114 67 178 8 62 0 19 32
692 174 93 20 65 234 560 149 435 8 298 54 8 307
39 16 5 21 6 22 19 4 159 18 3 660 99 311
1,838
1,791
2,242
701
3,097
1,383
Total
55
112 26
1,095
1735 1738-40 1742-43 9 mo. 17 mo. 18 mo.
25
939 239 151 164 279 738
1,157 637
3,461 203
1,065 872 211 908
9,214
Source: WIC, vol. 102, pp. 160, 167 and 284; vol. 108, pp. 32, 41,46 and 53; vol. 112, p. 336; vol.113, p. 294; vol.290, p. 609; vol.484, pp. 418-19. Note: aTimespan is expressed in consecutive months.
trading pattern unique and different from that of the MCC, it might weaken the conclusions presented in Table 5.8. But in the absence of contrary evidence, the data from two of the foremost slave-trading companies must stand as representative for slave origins in the free trade. Because the WIC establishment on the Gold Coast remained involved in the slave trade in a middleman capacity during the free-trade period, it is possible to give a more detailed account of slave origins in that region. Table 5.9 lists the slaves exported from the outforts (buitenforten), the Dutch trading stations on the Gold Coast outside of Elmina. These slaves were most likely taken by small boats to Elmina, where they were kept for a while and then boarded on WIC slave ships or, in later years, sold to free traders. It is obvious from the record that the slave trade in these areas was not very significant in the years 1705 to 1712. Elmina itself must have been by far the chief source of Gold Coast slaves for the WIC. An incomplete statistical record, but including Elmina, of slaves dispatched or sold by the WIC from the Gold Coast is listed in Table 5.10. As was stated earlier, Elmina was clearly the chief port of export in nearly every period for which there is documentation, providing more than one-third of the export slaves in the sample. Slaves from Kormantin, favored by the English slave traders, became also highly regarded by Dutch slave traders. This was particularly true during
African exports and origins of slaves
125
the waning years of the Dutch slave trade. A report of 1788 stated that Kormantin had surpassed Elmina in the export of slaves; that year the Dutch obtained 300 to 400 slaves in Kormantin and neighboring Anomabu.19 One striking change in terms of origins of slaves was that the Slave Coast, once the primary slaving area for the WIC, became relatively insignificant during the free-trade era. As was shown in Chapter 4, this shift can be linked to political changes in that area during the 1720s and 1730s. Only two ships in the sample of fifty free traders obtained any slaves in that area. Likewise, in the complete collection of data (see Appendixes 1 and 2), only two free traders were reported to have departed Africa from the Slave Coast, and presumably received the bulk of their slave cargo there. In two other areas, Senegambia and the Bight of Biafra, the free traders continued in the same pattern as the WIC by not exploiting the export of human beings in these areas. 19. ARA, AW 1895, LX-447.
Organization and mechanics of the trade
The sinews of the Dutch slave trade were in Holland, where the whole complex system of obtaining slaves and disposing of them was ultimately arranged. During the first century of the Dutch involvement in the traffic, the WIC had complete mastery of this system, but during the free-trade period the company's role was largely limited to administrative and intermediary commercial functions. This chapter focuses on the organization of the slave trade, examining the regional distribution of the Dutch participation, and the techniques employed in obtaining the slaves in Africa and disposing of them in the Americas.
The WIC as manager of the slave trade The WIC was not chartered for the purpose of the slave trade, however, a few decades after its organization the traffic became one of its main interests. By the 1670s one of the nine committees of the Amsterdam chamber governing board dealt exclusively with the slave trade, and the supreme directorate of the WIC, the Heren X (and before 1674 the Heren XIX), also devoted much attention to this subject.1 As a typical joint-stock company, or corporation of that time, the WIC was totally dominated by its major investors, or hoofdpartidpanten. To belong to this illustrious group one had to purchase shares in the company amounting to 6,000 guilders through the Amsterdam chamber or 4,000 through one of the other chambers. There must have been 150 to 200 of these major stockholders, for Amsterdam alone had 83 at one time. From their number the directors (bewindhebbers) of the separate chambers were selected by the supreme civil authorities of the respective cities or regions, while the mem1. N. H. Schneeloch, "Die Bewindhebber der Westindischen Compagnie in der Kammer Amsterdam 1674-1700," Economisch en Sociaal Historisch Jaarboeky (1973), vol. 36, p. 17. See also WIC, vol. 831. 126
Organization and mechanics of the trade
127
bers of the Heren X or Heren XIX were appointed as representatives of their respective chambers. The Amsterdam chamber was governed by ten directors, Zeeland had six, and the minor chambers had from seven to fourteen directors each, bringing the total to fifty. By and large, the WIC directors came from the merchant oligarchy in the Dutch Republic, albeit from the less well-to-do elements as compared to the directors of the East India Company. Among the WIC directors were lawyers, bankers, and merchants; several of them had also served as mayors or council members of the cities they represented.2 The relative authority of each chamber was determined by the respective investment that each chamber had been able to draw at the inception of the company. On that basis the regional authority was set at units of one-ninth, with Amsterdam carrying four, Zeeland two, and the remaining chambers one each. This also determined the number of representatives each chamber had on the chief board of directors, the Heren X, with the tenth member representing the States General. Another indication of regional strength in the WIC can be found in the day-to-day administration of the company. Because the Heren X met only twice a year, spring and fall, for several consecutive weeks, and after the mid-1680s only once a year, the overall supervision of the company's affairs was in the hands of one of the two largest chambers on a rotating basis with the title presiding chamber. Amsterdam would get the honor for six years, after which the leadership would go to Zeeland for two, and then back to Amsterdam. Obviously, much of the initiative was in the hands of these respective chambers between the infrequent meetings of the Heren X (hereafter called the X or the Council of X). The directors of the Amsterdam chamber met twice weekly, Tuesday and Friday evenings, and during their long terms as presiding chamber they obviously were able to greatly influence if not dominate the WIC operation. There was also considerable continuity between the X and the presiding chambers, since nine members of the Council of X were also directors of the chambers they represented.3 Conflicts between the two largest chambers of the WIC were quite common. Each chamber functioned as an independent economic unit, and the Zeelanders in particular resented the obvious dominance over company affairs by Amsterdam. The issue may have been resolved partially by giving the two dominant chambers independent control over some of the company's West Indian possessions, although the African coastal regions and the gold, 2. 3.
Menkman, WIC, p. 45; Van Dillen, pp. 146-7; Schneeloch, pp. 3off. Schneeloch, pp. 1-16; C. Ch. Goslinga, "West-Indische Compagnie," Encyclopedic van de Nederlandse Antillen (Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1969), pp. 602-3; WIC, vol. 833, p. 271. In 1684 the Heren X decided to meet only once per year during the month of November, although for some unknown reason they were in session again during the next spring.
128
The Dutch in the Atlantic Slave Trade
ivory, and slave trade remained directly under the supervision of the X. The directors from Zeeland seemed to be more determined than those from Amsterdam to maintain the trade monopoly the WIC had acquired at its inception. Living somewhat on the periphery of the Dutch Republic, the Zeelanders nevertheless insisted that meetings of the X be held in their territory during their presidency, and in fact they once boycotted the meetings when this request was not honored. On at least two occasions the X ordered Amsterdam to check out complaints that Zeeland had sent slave ships to Africa without approval of the X.4 It was in the context of this governing structure that the Dutch slave trade was operated and directed. The policy of general company control over the African slave trade was reiterated during the first year of the new WIC in 1675 that no ships were to be sent to the African coast without approval by the X. In fact, WIC ships were not even allowed to sail to parts of the African coast that were not approved in the meeting of the X supreme directors. The directors of the Maze chamber were reprimanded in 1675 f°r allowing one of their ships bound for the Slave Coast to make an unauthorized stop at Elmina. In subsequent years these rules were eased a little by allowing the presiding chambers to authorize modifications in the assignments when the situation clearly demanded this. In 1702, however, the Council of X expressly demanded that each slave ship return to the chamber that had commissioned its dispatch, and that all chambers should receive an accounting of the ship's transactions.5 This contributed to the large collection of paperwork that researchers have come to appreciate.
The home ports The meetings of the X specified the WIC slave-ship assignments that have been listed in Appendix 5. On a rotating basis, the X directed the separate chambers to outfit slave ships and execute their slaving assignments. General directives were issued for each assignment, including a ship's African and West Indian destination and the approximate size of the slave cargo. The details were determined by the directors of the respective chambers. Occasionally, slave ships sailed under the general auspices of the WIC, but these were usually small ships initiated by the WIC authorities in Africa. The individual chambers generally employed their own standard slave ships and occasionally they rented ships from individual owners or smaller com4.
Emmer, "The WIC," pp. 78-82; Goslinga, "WIC," p. 603; WIC, vol. 832, p. 217; WIC, vol. 834, p. 215; WIC, vol. 835, p. 146. 5. WIC, vol. 830, p. 128; WIC, vol. 831, p. 195; WIC, vol. 835, p. 175; WIC, vol. 836, p. 127; WIC, vol. 69, p. 166.
Organization and mechanics of the trade
129
Table 6.1
Recorded slave-ship assignments and regional WIC affiliation Chambers Amsterdam
Total assigned
%of total
Serial numbers
100.5
42.6
(1,3,5,9)
Haarlem, Leiden, Gouda
Towns
Regions Gelderland, Utrecht, Overijsel
Zeeland
57
24
(2,7)
Middelburg, Vlissingen, Veere, Tholen
Maze
28
11.9
(4)
Rotterdam, Delft, Dordrecht
Noorder Kwartier
26
11
(6)
North of Enkhuizen, Amsterdam Hoorn, Alkmaar, Edam, Medemblik, Monnikendam
10.4
(8)
Groningen
Stad en Lande
24.5
Total
236
Groningen, Friesland
100
Source: Schneeloch, pp. 1-8; Appendix 9.
panies. Rented ships were given service priority to speed up the process and limit the duration of their voyage, in order to limit their cost to the company. Profits and losses were apparently determined for each chamber separately and not for the WIC in general unless an assignment was designated as such.6 Each chamber of the WIC was comprised of several affiliating towns or regions. Even Amsterdam had several inland towns and regions associated with its chamber, although this may have been only for the purpose of attracting the initial investment capital. Other chambers consisted of several port towns that did in fact participate direcdy in WIC maritime activities, including the slave trade. Table 6.1 lists the affiliated towns and regions. In the WIC trade the chambers rather than specific ports outfitted slave ships, although the sources are not always clear on this. In that respect the documents of the free trade are more explicit.7 From the surviving records of slave-ship assignments we learn the division 6. WIC, vol. 69, p. 41. See also Chapter 11 concerning finances and profits in the slave trade. 7. Schneeloch, pp. 6-8.
130
The Dutch in the Atlantic Slave Trade
MAP 6.1
THE DUTCH REPUBLIC ca. 1700
51°
of slaving opportunity, as shown in Table 6.i. Slave-ship assignments were listed in the minutes of the X by consecutive series of numbers of one through nine. The assignments were made in a very systematic manner with, as a rule, the same numbers being assigned to the same chamber. Documentary evidence of an estimated three-fourths of the slaving assignments have been verified by this author. In some instances Amsterdam undertook
Organization and mechanics of the trade Table 6.2 Home ports of the WIC, 1675-1738 Regions
Consignments with %
Slaves transported with %
Cargo Average
Amsterdam
89 ==
34.5
48,759
=
36.5
548
Zeeland
77 ==
29.8
37,991
=
28.4
493
Maze
35 ==
13.6
18,108
=
13.5
517
Noorder Kwartier
24 =
9.3
12,024
=
9.0
501
Stad en Lande
33 ==
12.8
16,868
=
12.6
511
133,750
=
Total WIC - general Interlopers51 Not documented Grand total
258 == 100
100
518
27 5 80
5,328 2,160 38,596
197
370b
179,834
486
Source: Appendix 1. Notes: aAll recorded Dutch interlopers were based in Zeeland. This includes a few aborted missions.
joint slaving missions with the small chamber of northern Holland. It is quite likely that more joint ventures occurred than are reflected in the surviving assignment records. Occasionally, special assignments were made for Amsterdam and Zeeland. The method used in the assignment process clearly reflects the division of the original capital investment and the relative influence of the separate WIC chambers, with a slight advantage to the chambers of Zeeland and Maze.8 The actually documented Dutch ports of origin of WIC slave traders produce a picture slightly different from the record of assignments, as is shown in Table 6.2. Ports of origin have been documented for about 75 percent of the total number of WIC ships dispatched on the slave trade. They suggest that during the years of the Second WIC (1675-1738) Amsterdam was responsible for slightly more than 37 percent of the slaves transported by the Dutch and Zeeland carried nearly 28 percent, leaving slightly more than 10 percent for each of the three remaining regional chambers. These data also suggest that Zeeland obtained a slightly larger share of the slaving assignments than her financial share in the company warranted, and this appears to have been at the expense of Amsterdam. However, Zeeland did tend to employ smaller ships on the average, and that 8.
See Table 6.2 and Appendix 1.
132
The Dutch in the Atlantic Slave Trade Table 6.3 Home ports in the free trade, 1730-1803 Consignments with %
Region Amsterdam Zeeland Middelburg Vlissingen Unspecified Maze
84
=
11.0
24,776
=
10.6
295
=
78.3
180,485
=
77.4
303
172 215 208
= = =
22.6 28.3 27.4
49,232 66,713 64,514
= =
21.1 28.6 27.7
286 310 310
80
=
10.5
27,504
=
11.8
344
0
Stad en Lande
1 760
Not documented
Cargo average
595
Noorder Kwartier
Total documented
Slaves transported with %
55
0
0.01 = 100 7.2
401
-
233,166
=
17,285
=
0.02 100 7.4
307 314
Source: Appendix 2, and Postma Data Collection. Note: All percentages are based on the documented figures.
may have reestablished the proper balance. In addition, Amsterdam occasionally joined forces with the small chambers when these lacked the capital for their assigned slaving missions.9 Home ports during the free trade With the introduction of the free trade during the 1730s, several drastic changes took place in the Dutch slave trade. Not only did the volume of the trade rise and the methods of slaving change, but the relative participation of the various regions changed significantly. As Table 6.3 shows, the province of Zeeland and particularly the ports on the island of Walcheren became the center of the Dutch slave trade. The northern regions of the Dutch Republic, the areas of the Stad en Lande and Noorder Kwartier, almost completely dropped out of the picture. Only one slave consignment for Groningen or Friesland has been documented for the free-trade period. The Maze region, primarily the port of Rotterdam, kept its share of the slave trade at nearly the same level. Amsterdam's participation, on the other hand, dropped drastically, from about 37 percent during the WIC monopoly to 11 percent in the free-trade period. 9.
Appendixes 1 and 2.
Organization and mechanics of the trade
133
The Zeeland area had clearly come to dominate the Dutch slave trade as no other area had done before, by carrying nearly 80 percent of the freetrade traffic. The island of Walcheren, and particularly the neighboring towns of Vlissinger (Flushing) and Middelburg carried the largest share of the slaves, while nearby ports like Veere, Tholen, and Zierickzee participated on a marginal basis. Several Zeeland slave-trading firms (rederijen) and shipping companies began to specialize in the slave trade after 1738, replacing the erstwhile monopoly of the WIC. Appendix 10 lists many of these companies; the majority were operating from Vlissingen. In 1763 the town's firms reportedly had twenty-eight ships at sea of which fourteen were engaged in the slave trade. Middelburg and Vlissingen must have been virtual slaving communities, with a substantial amount of its capital and manpower involved in the traffic. In fact, a report of 1750 confirms that Vlissingen's only commercial branch of significance was the slave trade. 10 The most active of these companies was the MCC, which participated in the slave trade from 1732 to 1803. Records of 43 of its slave ships and more than 100 of its slaving voyages have been preserved, some of them in considerable detail, providing essential data for this study. Another very active free-trade slaving company was the firm of Coopstad and Rochussen. Operating from Rotterdam, although Rochussen came from Zeeland, it was engaged in the slave trade during the years 1750 to 1777. Extensive records of fifteen of the firm's slave ships have been preserved, which represent about fifty slaving voyages; a few cannot be clearly identified. Coopstad and Rochussen carried an estimated 7.5 percent of the entire Dutch free trade, whereas the MCC could be estimated at 15 to 20 percent of the total. The records of most of the other slave-trading firms have undoubtedly been lost, but some may surface in the future.11 Another interesting comparative element in the Dutch slave trade is the variation in the size of the slave consignments. It has already been pointed out that free traders used smaller ships than WIC slavers. The average cargo also varied, depending on the home region or port in Holland, although the differences were not significant. As Tables 6.2 and 6.3 illustrate, Zeelanders always carried smaller-than-average slave consignments, with Amsterdam the larger ones during the WIC period and Rotterdam during the time of the free trade. The reason for these discrepancies and changes may simply be that Zeeland had a smaller economic base and smaller port facilities and 10. RAX-A, no. 17, sub. 405; MCC, vol. 1569, doc. 10. n . A valuable analysis of the MSS slave trade records has been made by W. S. Unger, see Unger II. This author was one of the first admitted to examine the papers of Coopstad and Rochussen, but more recently the collection has been studied more thoroughly by Pamela Veder in the Leiden Seminar, and her conclusions have been incorporated in this studv.
134
The Dutch in the Atlantic Slave Trade
catered to smaller ships. Perhaps this was also one of the reasons why Zeeland became the center of the Dutch slave trade. Why the remaining Amsterdam participants used ships even smaller than the Zeelanders during the free trade is difficult to explain. Larger ships may simply have been put to more efficient use in other branches of maritime trade at a time when the slave trade was utilizing smaller ships, as will be shown below.12
Monopoly and stationary trade The WIC directors tried to keep close control over all facets of the slave trade, including the essential procurement of the slaves on the African coast. This unitary command structure was accomplished in part through the existence of a chain of trading stations or castles along the West African coast, which spawned a pattern of trade that might be called castle, station, or stationary trade. The last term is preferred in this study. The trading stations functioned as connecting links between African and European merchants. The WIC officials stationed at the so-called factories were facilitators in the exchange of merchandise, including the human captives. In theory, the company personnel would get a consignment of slaves ready for embarkation before a WIC slave ship arrived in African waters, although in reality there were always various factors that prevented such a smooth operation. Various methods were used by the metropolitan directors to maintain a maximum of control over the operations on the periphery. The system of assignments discussed earlier was one of these methods. WIC ships were directed to a specific African and American destination, with an approximate timetable and cargo size stipulated. Any changes made in these instructions by the African director of the WIC could result in a serious reprimand, unless existing market or political conditions clearly justified such alterations.13 Another means of metropolitan control was the issuing of a price guide (marktbriefiy which stipulated the prices for goods to be bought and sold on the African coast by WIC personnel. The price guide was posted at the various trading stations, and deviations from this list could be made only by the WIC director-general and then only with the approval of his council. Only under unusual conditions was the director allowed to change prices on his own authority. In 1710 WIC factors were allowed to sell European 12. See Tables 6.2 and 6.3. The utilization of ships will be explored further below. 13. WIC, vol. 484, p. 114; WIC, vol. 486, p. 320; WIC, vol. 487, p. 101; WIC, vol. 835, 135-6.
Organization and mechanics of the trade
135
goods at prices higher than the price guide, but the resulting profits had to be returned to the company.14 Communications were slow at that time; it could take half a year for a two-way communication between Africa and Holland. The authorities in Africa had to be given some leeway in adjusting policies initiated in Holland. In addition to the cases mentioned, the director and council in Africa had the authority to issue specific instructions for WIC captains and company personnel on the coast that fit the general policies of the company. One such directive for the conduct of the slave trade at Ouidah is printed as Appendix 7. An important element of flexibility in the slave trade was that the WIC directors in Africa were allowed to take the initiative to send small slave consignments across the Atlantic when there was a surplus of slaves. This policy seems to have been initiated in 1688, although there were incidental cases before that date. As a rule small ships confiscated from the Portuguese or from Dutch interlopers or ships used in the coastal trade were utilized for this purpose. A few dozen of such slave consignments have been documented, and they generally stand out from the regular WIC slavers by their small cargoes of only 100 to 200 slaves.15 There were also several variations in the stationary pattern of trade. One of these was the coastal trade, which is mentioned in Chapter 5. This trade was generally carried out by small company ships, yachts as a rule, that frequented various places along the coast where the WIC had no trading stations. At any rate, this practice seems to have had little or no impact on the slave trade. During the period 1710 to 1725 the WIC leadership in Africa experimented occasionally with a more mobile trade that was similar to the practice of the coastal trade and also to that of the Dutch interlopers. Consequently, contemporaries often referred to this as the interloper trade. In this context a few WIC ships were sent to trade on the upper coast (Windward coast) directly with coastal African merchants. This took place at a time when the WIC slave and gold trade were at a low point and when the company monopoly and stationary trade were under much pressure from the private sector in Holland. After one such experiment the WIC director at Elmina reported with elation that the experiment had met with failure, obviously because the WIC establishment in Africa had a vested interest in the stationary trade.16 14. WIC, vol. 56, p. 115; WIC, vol. 109, p. 56; WIC, vol. 831, min. 1/18/1675; WIC, vol. 746, cor. 1/11/1677; WIC, vol. 54, cor. 11/3/1690; WIC, vol. 55, p. 3. 15. WIC, 55, p. 20; WIC, vol. 832, pp. 182-3; KITLV, doc. H-65 and H-67; WIC, vol. 200, p. 54; WIC, vol. 54, p. 9. See Table 10.2, category "General," and Appendix 1, where these ships are marked with the A after their names. 16. These experiments took place in 1710, 1714, 1720, 1724, and 1725. See WIC, vol. 56, p. 74; WIC, vol. 485, pp. 150, 496, and 328; WIC, vol. 486, pp. 75, 328, and 524-6; NBKG, vol. 235, Instr. 11/21/1713.
136
T h e Dutch in the Atlantic Slave Trade
The most important exception to the WIC stationary trade was the company's activities on the Loango coast. Because the WIC only sporadically had trading stations of any permanence in that region, the stationary trade was not possible there. WIC ships procuring slaves in this region would establish temporary lodges on the beach, sometimes purchasing their slaves all in one location, but other times moving to a number of different locations to complete their slave consignment. This practice was a blend between stationary and mobile trade. Slave-ship captains could not always rely on the services of the WIC merchants at the trading stations. Captains often had the dual responsibility of being merchant as well as master of the ship. But sometimes a special merchant, or supercargo, came along to supervise the commercial aspect of the slaving expedition.17 The stationary trade had its variations, and it was limited to the areas of the Gold Coast and Slave Coast.
The forbidden private trade WIC employees, wherever they were stationed, were thus expected to work as a team and to maximize efficiency and profitability for the benefit of the company. The WIC had a special set of regulations (artikelbrief), which all WIC employees overseas had to adhere to under oath and with the threat of dismissal and prosecution. Article 36 of these WIC regulations stated clearly that employees were prohibited from engaging in private trade of any sort, except when specifically approved. This applied to WIC employees on company ships as well as in the different WIC territories. Only the officials at the top of the hierarchy and captains of WIC ships had opportunities for special bonuses or commissions, and these were carefully defined by company rules.18 In spite of these regulations and their repeated warnings and postings at the trading stations, violations of the prohibition of private trade seemed to be endemic, judging from the frequent references to it in WIC correspondence. It was apparently the involvement in this practice that prevented the prominent factor, Willem Bosman, from attaining the position of director, and forced his repatriation to Holland after about fourteen years of service on the African coast. It may have been rather naive on the part of the WIC directors in Holland to assume that these men risked their lives serving in 17. WIC, vol. 485, p. 328; WIC, vol. 833, pp. 128-32 lists a set of instructions for a supercargo on the WIC slaver St. Jan. Some good records of the Loango pattern of trade have been preserved, see SS, vol. 113, on the Vrede, 1684. 18. WIC, vol. 54, pp. 2-3 and cor. 9/26/1699; WIC, vol. 69, cor. 12/20/1691; WIC, vol. 832, pp. 241, 263-74.
Organization and mechanics of the trade
137
such a dangerous area without being tempted by extra bonuses, even if it involved serious risks. Some got involved trading with foreign ships, others with interlopers, with whom they then shared a common legal transgression. I9 In order to avoid such illicit private trade the WIC had to create a host of bureaucratic regulations, which incidentally became a windfall for researchers, including a careful bookkeeping system for each consignment of slaves (cognossement), and signed death affidavits (attestaties) for slaves who died while the property of the company. The branding of company-owned slaves before embarkation was another means of preventing them from being stolen or exchanged by company personnel.20 One of the most common violations of the code against private trade was that captains of slave ships were prone to carry slaves not accounted for on the ledgers, which they claimed to be their private property. Sometimes this involved sizable numbers, such as in 1680 when Captain de Vos smuggled thirty-eight slaves on his ship Africa from the Slave Coast to Curasao. Four years later, Captain Petts of the Vrede tried to sell twenty-seven privately owned slaves at Surinam, in addition to 172 ivory tusks and some African copper. Captain Wassenaer of the Rusthof sold twenty-five privately transported slaves to a French merchant at St. Eustatius, but before delivering them was apprehended and saw his slaves confiscated by WIC officials. In 1708 the council of X complained that so much privately owned merchandise was carried on slave ships that there was not enough space for the slaves. Since 1675 only captains had been allowed to take along a small amount of private merchandise on their ships, but this privilege was gradually adopted by other officers and to sailors. When apprehended, as in the aforementioned cases, the slaves and merchandise were confiscated and the men involved were punished with demotion, fining, or both. Sizable bonuses were given to WIC personnel who contributed to the apprehension of violators.21 A more common form of exploitation and violation of the company policy against private trade was the practice of slave captains taking privately owned slave girls or boys on board. Of the specific cases documented in this study, there were nineteen boys and four girls, and in a few cases more than one boy was owned by the captain. We may surmise that sexual exploitation was involved. Like the other trade slaves, the youngsters generally ended up being sold on the Western slave markets at the conclusion of the middle passage, which was the real offense insofar as the company directors were concerned. When, in 1724, Captain Gerrit de Haen of the Emmenes had 19. W I C , vol. 98, p. 9; W I C , vol. 55, cor. 11/9/1713. 20. W I C , vol. 832, p. 241. See also Appendixes 22 and 23. 21. W I C , vol. 617, pp. 5 and 35; SS, vol. 113, pp. 427-9; W I C , vol. 55, cor. 11/28/1708; W I C , vol. 619, p. 237; W I C , vol. 330, pp. 22 and 40; W I C , vol. 833, p. 194; W I C , vol. 68, cor. 5/23/1689; W I C , vol. 69, p. 183 and cor. 12/20/1691; W I C , vol. 832, p. 249.
138
The Dutch in the Atlantic Slave Trade
two young boys confiscated by the authorities at Surinam, he promptly bought back the young slaves at the next public-slave auction. One can only speculate upon the nature of the captain's attachment to the boys. In virtually every case the captains claimed that the young slaves were presents, given to them by either African or European traders, most likely in return for favors granted. Because a single slave could rather easily have escaped the scrutiny of the WIC official in the port of destination, one may assume that the practice of taking young slaves as private property on the middle passage was not at all uncommon.22
Free trade and mobile trade As a result of enormous pressures from the private sector in Holland, the slave-trade monopoly of the WIC was significantly curtailed in 1730 and was completely terminated for the coast of Africa in 1734. Compared to other nations the Dutch were late in adopting a free-trade policy; France and England had already done so in 1672 and 1698, respectively. The WIC establishment fought against freeing the trade, and with the renewal of their charter in 1730 they were able to retain portions of the old monopoly, including the Gold Coast of Africa, and Surinam and the other Guiana colonies in South America. Due to continued pressure by free traders and financial difficulties of the WIC, those remnants of the company's monopoly were also terminated, in 1734 and 1738, respectively.23 Any Dutch subject who wished to engage in the slave trade was now permitted to do so upon the payment of a fee known as recognitie, or lastgeld, literally "recognition" or "burden money." The latter term was derived from the capacity of the ship, which was measured in "burden," or last. The records of these fee payments have become a crucial measure of the flow and volume of the Dutch slave trade during the free-trade period, as has already been demonstrated in this chapter and Appendix 9. The WIC was the recipient of these fees, as well as the agency that collected them. A WIC director wrote in 1750 that this "recognitie is one of the important, if not the most significant part of the (income of) the company." Thus, the WIC remained involved in the slave trade, albeit indirectly, long after it lost a monopoly over the traffic.24 22. WIC, vol. 68, cor. 5/5/1687; WIC, vol. 200, p. 160; WIC, vol. 202, pp. 218 and 367; WIC, vol. 203, p. 556; WIC, vol. 204, p. 469; WIC, vol. 205, p. 23; WIC, vol. 619, pp. 270 and 344; WIC, vol. 1141, cor. 4/10/1733, 6/23/1733, and 7/10/1733; SS, vol. 221, p. 2. 23. The process and forces instrumental in the shift from monopoly to free trade will be discussed in greater detail in Chapter 9. 24. MCC, vol. 1569, doc. 10; See VWIS, folder 1244; ARA, Aanwinsten, 1895, LX-447; MCC, vol. 119; MCC, vol. 1569; WIC, vol. 1265 for listings of these recognition fees.
Organization and mechanics of the trade
139
The fees for slaving permits, or passes as they were also called, were paid one-third in advance and the remainder after the slaving mission was completed. Initially, a slave ship was allowed only twelve months for a triangular voyage, after which a monthly late fee, or napremie was collected. After a few years' experience with the free trade, however, the time span for a slaving voyage was extended to a more realistic duration of eighteen months. The rate for slave permits was 60 guilders per last (equivalent to about two maritime tons), which was lowered to 42.5 guilders in the charter of 1760. The penalty for late fees was 210 guilders a month. These fees constituted a significant source of revenue for the WIC, as shown in Appendix 11. 25 In return for this income the WIC retained the responsibility for the upkeep of the African and Caribbean trading stations, as well as the right to trade in these areas without duty payments. Thus the WIC continued to trade on the African coast, albeit at a greatly reduced rate. WIC merchants continued to purchase slaves from African traders and then resell them to free traders who chose to anchor at one of the WIC trading stations. In fact, Elmina often became the last port of call for free traders on the Guinea coast because slave consignments were frequently completed here. One of the reasons for this was that slaves bought from the WIC establishment were more expensive than those acquired directly from Africans, because WIC merchants had to pay the company a special fee of twenty guilders for each slave sold. This fee was called hoofdgeldy or head money, and supplied the company with another source of income, as is shown in Table 8.1. Free traders often complained that the cost of their slaves was significantly higher than that of other European nationals, because of the permit fees and the head money payment. They could avoid the head money if they bought directly from African vendors.26 The shift from monopoly to free trade also signaled a change in the methods of slave procurement. Free traders used trading stations only as a second choice or in emergencies, and they operated a system that might be called a mobile trade. It has also been called the ship trade because instead of the coastal trading station the slave ship itself had become the base of operation and the coordinating center of the trade. In the free trade, a captain had to be an expert merchant, know African affairs, as well as perform as a navigator and master of the ship and crew. A free trader could not rely on storage and assistance from the WIC establishment. On the other hand, a captain was free of WIC restrictions, and he could anchor and trade directly with Africans at his own risk. African traders often came aboard the slave ships to negotiate deals with European captains. Instead of sailing directly 25.
VWIS, folders 24 and 41. See also WIC charters in Le Moine de L'Espine, De Koophandel van Amsterdam. (Amsterdam: J. de Groot, 1810). 26. VWIS, folder 1203.
140
The Dutch in the Atlantic Slave Trade
to Elmina or to the Loango coast, the free-trade ship generally started trading along the Windward coast, and procured a slave cargo in piecemeal fashion, as was described in Chapter 5 (see Table 5.8). One unique feature of the mobile trade was boating: sending small sloops or boats upstream on the rivers or along the coast while the mother ship continued trading in the general vicinity off the coast. On the whole, however, this practice did not significantly add numbers to the Dutch free trade. Of the fifty ships listed in Table 5.8, only thirteen reported the use of sloops or boats, with a total of thirty-three separate trips, and the acquisition of approximately 150 slaves by this method. This represents only slightly more than 1 percent of the total number of slaves (12,865) acquired in this sample, and is thus hardly worth mentioning as a significant feature of the Dutch slave trade.27
Procurement efficiency The free traders operated in a very individualistic and competitive manner. There is only scant evidence of cooperation between them, unless the ships represented the same company. In addition, they did not have the full cooperation of the WIC trading establishment on the African coast. The WIC stationary trade, by contrast, was geared to coordinate activities of the company slave ships. This greatly reduced the procurement or loading period of the WIC slave ships, which averaged slightly more than three months. The shortest procurement period on record occurred in 1693, when the WIC slaver, Rachel, required only eleven days to purchase and board its human cargo. Unfortunately, we do not know the number of slaves taken in, and it should be noted also that this ship may well have spent several weeks at Elmina before sailing to the Slave Coast, where it obtained its slaves. Other WIC slavers singled out for their speedy procurement were the Europe, which obtained 471 slaves in twenty-seven days, and the slaver, Duynvliet, with 340 slaves in twenty-three days. The longest procurement period on record for the WIC was at least eight months, involving the ship, Duynenburgh, on the Loango coast. Little detail is known about this slaving voyage; besides, the Loango trade was perhaps closer to the mobile trade of the free traders than to the stationary trade of the WIC. The next longest WIC slaver on record, the Phenix, took about seven months to board 674 slaves on the Gold Coast from March until October I728. 28 It should be 27. 28.
See Table 5.8 and its sources. WIC, vol. 97, p. 152; WIC, vol. 180, p. 59; WIC, vol. 486, p. 365; WIC, vol. 486, pp. 129 and 176; WIC, vol. 658, cor. 11/10/1701.
Organization and mechanics of the trade
141
kept in mind, however, that occasionally WIC ships were assigned alternate duties, such as patrolling against interlopers and Brazilian ships, while on the African coast. Unfortunately, the records on procurement time for the WIC are not very solid, primarily because very few African arrival dates have been found recorded and thus far only two WIC slave-ship logbooks have been located. For only nineteen WIC ships is the time spent on the African coast known, and for three of these the number of slaves boarded have not been verified. According to this skimpy record, WIC ships spent an average of ninety days on the African coast. A larger but more speculative set of data, focusing on mortality records and representing forty-nine WIC ships, suggests a ninetynine-day procurement period. Time calculations based on the overall voyage length of WIC slaving missions suggest an African coasting time in excess of one hundred days. Slightly more than three months of trading on the African coast before anchor was weighed for the Atlantic crossing seems to be a representative average for WIC slave ships.29 Better statistics on this matter are available for the free trade, especially from the MCC records. Unger had already noted that seventy MCC ships spent an average of seven and a half months in Africa to obtain their human cargo; twenty-four ships took longer and forty-six needed a shorter period. The unpublished thesis of Robert Hezemans explored these MCC statistics in greater detail, and the results give us a far better picture of the relative efficiency of the MCC slave trade, as shown in Table 6.4.30 A comparison of these statistics shows that the stationary system of the WIC loaded about three times as many slaves as the MCC during the same time period: approximately five slaves per day for the WIC as compared to fewer than two on the average for the MCC free traders. In terms of costs these differences are offset by other factors, such as the cost of maintaining the trading stations and the slower WIC sailing ships. The MCC statistics also point to the interesting fact that the slave trade with Bantu-speaking Africa on the Loango-Angola coast was far more efficient for free traders than their procurement of slaves on the Guinea coast. The WIC data is inadequate to provide meaningful distinctions between these two areas. The same is true for changes in procurement efficiency over time, where the MCC statistics point to a declining efficiency until the 1760s, after which it remained stable at an average of one and a half slaves per day.31 29. 30. 31.
See Table 6.4 and Appendixes 15, 16 and 17. See also Chapter 7 for elaboration on the duration of the various legs of slave voyages. Unger II, p. 39; R.A.F. Hezemans, "De Atlantische slavenhandel der Middelburgsche Commercie Compagnie," M.A. thesis, Leiden University, 1985. Hezemans, pp. 16-20, and 71. See also Appendix 18.
142
The Dutch in the Atlantic Slave Trade Table 6.4 Daily loading rates on the African coast
Period
Category
Sample
Average per ship
Days in Africa
Loaded per day
90.4 93.4
4.8 4.7
1687-1735 1700-1734
WIC WIC
19 49
436 397
1732-1802
MCC (all) MCC (Cent. Africa) MCC (Guinea coast)
57 13 42
284 361 256
200 143 217
1.8 3 1.4
1732-1749 1752-1759 1760-1769 1770-1779 1780-1802
MCC MCC MCC MCC MCC
8 10 15 18 7
201 284 282 277 284
158 170 191 192 200
1.9 1.7 1.5 1.5 1.5
Source: Appendixes 15-18. Notes: See accompanying text for explanation of calculations.
The ships of the slave trade The wooden sailing ships employed in the Dutch slave trade were typical cargo ships of their time. Contrary to what some writers have claimed, there is no evidence that the Dutch ever designed ships specifically for the slave trade, as did their competitors from Liverpool, and the frequently pictured slave ship Brooks. In WIC correspondence of 1687 we read that slave ships should have a diep verdeck, which refers to a narrow 'tween deck between the lower and upper deck. When such an extra deck, generally used for storage, was deep enough for a person to walk through nearly upright, it supplied valuable additional space for slaves to be housed. The reference also confirms that slaves were, as a rule, kept between decks and not in the holds of ships. Figure 6.1 is a simplified view of a generic slave ship. With the different ship types, the variations within these types and changes that occurred through time, one should keep in mind that the representation may not show an exact pattern among existing slave ships. In general, Dutch literature and archives have revealed little about slave-ship architecture. This may be because slave ships were of minimal importance in the Dutch shipbuilding industry or because merchant ships could readily be refashioned into slave ships through internal modifications.32 Before the period of the free trade, the types of ships utilized for the slave 32.
Daniel P. Mannix and Malcolm Cowley, Black Cargoes; A History of the Atlantic Slave Trade (New York: Viking, 1962), pp. 105 and i46ff.; WIC, vol. 652, doc. 4/21/1687.
Organization and mechanics of the trade
143
Figure 6.1 Generic diagram of the interior of a slave ship
Source: This drawing is adapted from a design by Victor Enthoven (see Chapter 6, note 34).
trade remain somewhat of a mystery. Occasionally, the terms fluit, hekboot, katschipy and pinas are used in connection with specific types of WIC slave ships, all typical merchant ships of that period. Yachts were usually employed for the small consignments of slaves that were dispatched on the initiative of Elmina. On rare occasions a frigate (fregat) carried slaves, but during the seventeenth century this type of ship was commonly employed as a cruiser for naval and military purposes. Much has been said of the Dutch construction and use of the so-called flute ship (fluitschip), the seventeenth-century Dutch invention that was specifically designed to maximize cargo capacity. Some writers have claimed that the flute also played a significant role in the Dutch slave trade. This may indeed have been the case during the early years of the Dutch slave trade, but by the last quarter of the seventeenth century flute ships may already have been in the minority among WIC slavers. During the course of the seventeenth century, many of the Dutch ships were designed with flutelike characteristics to maximize carrying capacity. Ship types are rarely mentioned in the records; the word ship was generally used as a designation to distinguish them from the smaller and faster sailing frigates. Toward the end of the seventeenth century, the fluit (flute) was often singled out in negative terms in the slave trade. In 1686 Governor Sommelsdijck of Surinam wrote to his superiors in Holland complaining that flute ships were not suitable for the slave trade. His comments were stimulated by the recently arrived flute, t'Huys te Loirheim, which in September of that year had landed 303 slaves in the colony. The flute ship, Gideon, also active
144
T h e Dutch in the Atlantic Slave Trade
during the 1680s, was expected to be an ideal slaver able to carry 900 slaves, a great improvement over the then standard 500 slave cargoes. Detailed statistics on the Gideon's consignments are lacking but there is no indication that the ship was exceptional among WIC slave ships in its carrying capacity. If flute ships were used as slavers during the early days of the Dutch slave trade - and there is no evidence to that effect - they were certainly on their way out by the end of the seventeenth century. The pear-shaped flute had a large hold for cargo but limited deck space, and that is the area where slaves were housed.33 Advancing into the eighteenth century, the faster sailing but generally smaller frigates became the most commonly used Dutch slavers. But in addition, the barque (bark), yacht, snauw, hoeker, and galjoot are also commonly mentioned ship types. The special slave shipments initiated by the WIC establishment at Elmina, generally made use of yachts, and these ships were also quite frequently employed by free traders. One WIC document of 1675 describes yachts as being generally about 60 feet in length and the typical frigate 75 feet, whereas the WIC slaver Sonnesteyn (1714-30), a bark, was 115 feet in length. It should be kept in mind that length and capacity of ships could vary significantly within a given ship type. In the Dutch free trade, frigates were clearly most common among the slave ships. Of twentynine recorded types among the MCC slavers, nineteen were frigates, and five belonged to the snauw type, and three others were a combination of both. The slave ships employed by the Rotterdam-based shipping firm Coopstad and Rochussen were also mostly frigates.34 General-purpose cargo ships were used for the Dutch slave trade. As a rule, the ship's carpenter, aided by sailors and selected slaves, would gradually modify the decks of the ships during the coasting phase. Gradually, European merchandise was moved to the top deck and sold, and wood shelving was installed between decks to accommodate the incoming human cargo. Many ships were used only for a single or a few slaving voyages; others were put to use exclusively in the slave trade. The most actively utilized WIC slave ships were the Leusden (1720-38) and the Duynvliet (1721-37), which made ten and nine slaving missions, respectively. The 33. 34.
SS, vol. 216, p. 8; WIC, vol. 652, doc. 4/21/1687; Van Dantzig, Nederlands Aandeel, pp. 17 and 87; Vrijman, p. 48; J. van Beylen, "Scheepstypen," in Maritieme Geschiedenis der Nederlandeny (Bussum: Uniboek, 1977) vol. 2, pp. 28-32. Starting in the eighteenth century ships were usually identified by their rigging, but in earlier days this was generally done by the appearance of the hull of a ship. WIC, vol. 832, p. 601; WIC, vol. 55, cor. n/1/1720 and n/20/1720; G.C.E. Crone, Onze Schepen in de Gouden Eeuw (Amsterdam: Van Kampen, 1939), pp. 69, 72, and 86-91; Unger, II, p. 19. See also Appendixes 1 and 2. Special thanks go to Victor Enthoven, student in the Leiden Seminar, who has contributed significantly to my understanding of ships used in the Dutch slave trade.
Organization and mechanics of the trade
145
Leusden alone carried a total of 6,642 slaves from Africa. During the period 1675 t 0 I 738, eighteen WIC vessels made five or more Atlantic crossings; their combined 105 slaving voyages carried more than one-third of the total number of slaves transported by the company in the period 1675 to 1738. The fact that ninety-three WIC vessels, more than fifty percent, undertook only a single voyage underscores the fact that any cargo ship could and was readily modified into a slave ship. The single-voyage slavers include most of the special assignments that were authorized in Africa, and several others were ships the company had rented for a specific slaving mission.35 Most of the WIC slaving ships were owned by the company, but on occasion the company rented ships for specific duties including the slave trade. These shipsflewthe company flag for the duration of their mission, and they might be given different names. They were generally given preferential service at the WIC trading stations in order to keep down the time and thereby the cost of their rental fee. Occasionally, such ships were subsequently purchased by the company and used for additional slaving duty. During the early 1680s there was much conflict between the cautious council of X and some of the chambers that wanted to purchase more ships. Going into the eighteenth century, there were fewer references to rented ships, and after 1720 the company seems to have owned all its regular slaving vessels.36 The utilization of ships in the free trade was basically similar to that of the WIC, except that the former tended to have a somewhat smaller carrying capacity and carried smaller slave consignments. In addition, whereas WIC slave cargoes gradually increased in size, free-trade slave consignments tended to get smaller with time. For WIC slave ships, very little data about tonnage has survived and no meaningful comparison about size differential can be made. A typical WIC slaver during the period 1720 to 1738, the only time for which some data on sizes has survived, measured between about 90 to 120 feet in length, while MCC free-trade ships ranged between about 79 to n o feet.37 For the free trade, statistics on tonnage or carrying capacity and size are abundant. This resulted primarily from the fact that the fees paid for obtaining slaving permits were based on tonnage, or last (burden), by which Dutch ships were measured during the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. 35. 36.
37.
See Table 6.4 and Appendix 1. WIC, vol. 831, doc. 1/14/1675; WIC, vol. 832, pp. 230, 261, 409, 416 and 480; WIC, vol. 833, pp. 10, 14, and 61; WIC, vol. 834, pp. 286 and 312; WIC, vol. 838, pp. 246 and 394; WIC, vol. 659, cor. 4/6/1703; WIC, vol. 647, cor. 5/9/1675 and 6/10/1675; WIC, vol. 54, cor. 11/3/1690, 9/4/1694, and 11/17/1706; WIC, vol. 1139, c o r - 4-/D/ 1719. Credit is due to Victor Enthoven of the Leiden Seminar for analyzing comparative ship sizes during the final years of the WIC slave trade.
146
The Dutch in the Atlantic Slave Trade Table 6.5 Ship carrying capacity and mortality
Years
Slave sample
1730-1739 1740-1749 1750-1760 1762-1769 a 1770-1779 1780-1789 1790-1803
14,933 19,717 39,568 33,844 28,755 6,027 2,902
Average Avg. mort. cargo Deaths % 305 318 329 293 285 301 290
Ship size1*
Adjust-
ment
Per last b
58 61 64 66 a 70 a
5.3 5.2 5.2 4.5 4.1
56 62 120 115 104
3.5
24
3.2
10
2,398 2,967 4,865 4,387 3,603
16.1 15. 12.3 13. 12.5
58
978
16.2
107
293
10.1
115
61 64 82 87
86a 92 a
Ship total
Source: Appendix 2. Notes: a Date discrepancy and size adjustments were the result of a change in ship capacity measurement in 1761. This year is not included for that reason. Ships were measured in last; one last was approximately two register tons.
It is impossible to state precisely what a last represented, because the method of measuring ships changed from time to time. Dutch maritime historians generally equate one last with two register tons. During most of the seventeenth century, the length of a ship was the primary factor in determining its lasten, but by the end of the century a more mathematical formula came in use. According to this, lastagewas calculated by multiplying length, width, and depth, and dividing that by 200. A ship measuring 100 x 24 x 11 would be registered as 132 last; it had a storage capacity of 16,500 cubic feet, and a carrying capacity of 561,000 pounds of grain. But this standardization did not prevent variations in measurement from occuring afterward, which might have differed from region to ship function. In the slave trade, for example, the method of measuring slave ships was changed significantly in 1662, with the result that the same ship measured on average about 20 percent more than before. Table 6.5 shows the size variation of free-trade slave ships, and it adjusts for the measuring change of 1760 by not including the years 17601, when the changes were being applied. An interesting development is noticeable in free-trade utilization of ship space, as is shown in the same table. Whereas the capacity of the ships slowly but persistently increased with the years, the average slave cargoes gradually decreased. 38 As was the case with the WIC, many slave ships in the free trade were used for one slaving mission only. A total of 111 ships, or two out of five, were not used for the slave trade a second time, and a relatively small number of ships undertook several slaving missions, as is shown in Table 6.6. One 38. J.R. Bruyn, F.S. Gaastra, and I. Schaffer, Dutch Asiatic Shipping in the 17th and 18th Centuries (The Hague: Nijhoff, 1987), vol. 1, pp. 42-44.
Organization and mechanics of the trade
147
Table 6.6 Utilization of slave ships Maximum number of slave missions per ship Categories 16
12
WIC ships Category max. Voyage per ship
10
Number of voyages 7 6 8 9
5
5
4
3
2
1
1 1
1 2
1 3
3 6
11
7 18
9 27
15 42
37 79
93 172'
Free traders Category max. Voyage per ship
1 1
1 2
5 7
7 14
7 21
9 30
14 44
17 61
18 79
36 115
49 164
111 275'
Combined Category max. Voyage per ship
1 1
1 2
6 8
8 16
7 23
13 36
19 55
24 27 79 106
51 157
86 243
204 447;
Source: Appendixes 1 and 2. Notes: Out of a total of 368 WIC and 831 slaving missions documented in this study, 4 and 15 respectively failed before slaves had been boarded on the African coast. a Totals of the sample in each catagory.
free-trade ship may have made as many as sixteen Atlantic crossings, carrying a total of 5,350 slaves from Africa. This was the ship Surinaamse Welvaart, also referred to as Surinaams Welvaren. It is quite likely that these were actually two different ships which because of the timing and the similarity in name became inextricably confused through the often incomplete and inaccurate documentation. The unusually high number of slaving voyages would also suggest that the records of two separate ships may have been involved. The second most active free-trade ship was the Prim Willem V, which exported slightly more than 4,000 slaves from Africa in twelve missions.39 As Table 6.6 shows, there were several free-trade ships that made a record number of crossings. Counting the Surinaamse Welvaart as a single vessel, there were 61 free-trade ships out of a total of 275 that undertook five or more slaving missions, shipping a total of 132,500 slaves from Africa. This represents more than half of all the slaves exported by Dutch free traders. What was the quality of the ships engaged in the slave trade? From the literature on the traffic, one might surmise that the ships must have been of poor quality because of the wretched conditions in which the slaves were 39.
See Appendix 2.
148
The Dutch in the Atlantic Slave Trade
quartered. Of course, there were cases of old ships that were leaking and in a general poor state of repair. Given the high value of the human cargoes, however, one may assume that slaving firms would be very careful not to risk their investment in an unseaworthy vessel. Slave ships regularly returned to Europe with sugar products from the West Indies, so there was an added reason to keep ships in good repair to preserve products extremely vulnerable to spoilage. For this reason, a number of slave ships were sold or retired in the Caribbean, or warnings would be sent to Holland to either repair or discontinue use of certain ships for the slave trade.40 Thus with the shift from monopoly to free trade, there was also a significant change in the methods of procurement of slaves, from a rather stationary to a more mobile pattern. In the latter, the captains of the ships were often expected to be more involved in the trade, and they had more frequent direct contact with African merchants. The WIC slave captain was to a large extent deprived of his intermediary position in the slave trade, as far as contact with Africans was concerned. With the introduction of the free trade, the volume of the Dutch slave trade started to increase significantly, and the number of ships used for the traffic increased even more because they were smaller and, on average, carried significantly smaller consignments. 40.
WIC, vol. 1138, cor. 6/15/1707. The housing of slaves on board ships is discussed more extensively in Chapter 10.
The triangular trade
The Dutch slave trade, like that of other European nations, can truly be called a triangular trade because it involved three principal stages or legs and three different continental regions. European goods were shipped from there to Africa, where they were exchanged for slaves, who in turn were taken across the ocean to some destination in the Americas. There the slaves were exchanged for either cash, promissory notes, or tropical agricultural produce that was then shipped back to Europe. Although there were several variations of this pattern, which has made some historians question the triangularity of the system, broadly speaking this was at least the general pattern of the Atlantic slave trade as practiced by Europeans. English writers called this system the "great circuit trade." Slave ships originating from Brazil followed a bilateral pattern and, in a sense, the same can be said about slavers from North America, although the latter have also had their slavetrade pattern referred to as triangular. This chapter focuses on the various stages of the Dutch triangular slave trade, clarifying the basic pattern as well as pointing to the exceptions and peculiarities within the system, and it places the major emphasis on the so-called middle passage in which the slaves were the crucial elements.1
Preparation and voyage to Africa Once it became apparent that a profitable slaving mission could be undertaken, the interested authorities assigned a ship for that task. In the case of the WIC, the Heren X authorized specific missions for a specific chamber, specifying the year and the African and American destinations. The designated WIC chamber then selected a ship, appointed the master or captain, i.
See Walter E. Minchington, "The Triangular Trade Revisited," in The Uncommon Market (New York: Academic Press, 1979), pp. 331-52, for an examination of the debate on the triangular trade; Davison, pp. 51 and 62. 149
150
T h e Dutch in the Atlantic Slave Trade
and saw to it that the needed preparations for the voyage were made. In the free trade such tasks were the responsibility of the chief reder, or boekhouder, who represented the shareholders of the slave ship, or it was done by the directors of the companies that engaged in the slave trade. In addition to the preparation of the ship, a crew had to be hired, appropriate merchandise for the African trade had to be obtained, and provisions for the crew and the slaves had to be secured and taken aboard. The provisioning of a slave ship needed special care and exceptional expertise, because of the fluctuating nature of the cargo. For the middle passage in particular, extra personnel was needed for the care of the "living merchandise," and large quantities of food had to be stored to keep the slaves alive and well until their disposal in the West. Although water and some of the fresh foods could be obtained in Africa, the bulk of the food for slaves and crew was boarded in Holland, consisting of dried fish, smoked meats, bread, beans, barley, cheese, and spirits, to mention the most important items. As a rule, the delivery of these provisions was contracted out by way of public announcers or by advertisements. The acquisition of the merchandise for the slaver, consisting of a large variety of goods, involved a similar process.2 Preparing the ship for the voyage could take several months. In the case of the ship, Standvastigheid (1802-3), one of the last legal Dutch slavers, it took from March to September before it was ready to sail. With the crew and cargo complete, the ship was towed from the harbor to open water. It was at this point that the crew members boarded the ship, with the captain the last one to arrive. With Zeeland ships this was a relatively simple matter, but Amsterdam ships had to be piloted across the shallows facing the city and then across the Zuiderzee (now Ijssel Lake) to the takeoff anchorage at the island of Texel. Here the captain, having traveled by different means, finally joined his ship. In addition to overseeing the whole preparation for the voyage, the captain had to wait until all the ship's papers were prepared - insurance policies, fee payments, company directives, and the appropriate passes. The latter usually included the so-called Turkish pass which safeguarded the ship against North-African privateers. Appendix 6 lists the various papers that slave ships had to have on hand. 3 2.
3.
See Chapter 4 for a discussion of European merchandise used in the African slave trade. For the preparation of ships of the free trade see Unger II, pp. 18-20. See also P.C. Emmer, "De laatste slavenreis van de Middelburgsche commercie compagnie," Economisch en Sociaal-Historisch Jaarboek, vol. 34 (1971), pp. 83-8; D. van der Vlis, "De reis van het fregatschip Het Vergenoegen naar Angola en Suriname," Mededelingen van de Nederlandse Vereniging voor Zeegeschiedenis, no. 15 (November, 1967), pp. 3-5; H.I. Vroeijenstijn, "De eerste voyage van het fregatschip De Standvastigheid... ", M.A. thesis, Leiden University, 1969, pp. 9-13. Unger II, pp. 34-6; J. Hudig, De Scheepvaart op West Afrika en West-India in de i8de eeuw (Amsterdam, 1926) pp. 16-17.
T h e triangular trade
151
After the captain boarded and a number of formalities, such as appropriate salutes, completed the voyage officially started. Waiting for the captain and other final arrangements could keep a ship from starting the voyage immediately, but the weather was often the principal cause for postponement, as frost, storms, or unfavorable winds could prevent the ship's departure. A week was the least amount of time spent waiting, and most ships were delayed far longer. Some ships had to wait two or three months before favorable winds allowed them to sail. Once the ship was on the North Sea, the trip to Africa was underway.4 With the ships in good repair and the crews at their prime, the voyage to Africa must have been one of the most pleasant and leisurely legs of the triangular voyage. It is difficult to determine how long this voyage lasted, because the African destination and location where trading began varied greatly. Some free traders started purchasing slaves on the Senegal coast, but ships destined for the central African coast (Loango) were barely past the halfway mark of the initial leg of the voyage at this point. For WIC slave ships the variation was less confusing, because they sailed directly either to Elmina or to the Loango region and commenced trading shortly thereafter. Unfortunately, very few of the WIC African arrival dates have been documented. As Table 7.1 shows, the average voyage length of five WIC slavers was 87 days; the shortest took 59 days and the longest 144. More reliable statistics are available when the initial voyage and the trading period on the African coast are combined. An extrapolation from the various combinations of data on voyage length, as is shown in Table 7.1, puts the first leg of the triangular voyage at an average of approximately 100 days for the WIC. The free trade may be more complicated but the data on the voyage length is more abundant. In his thorough study of the MCC records, Unger has collected a much larger sample of data and puts the average length of the initial leg of the voyage at approximately 76 days, with voyages ranging from 37 to 326 days before slaves were taken on. It should be noted that these figures include the ships' waiting periods between leaving the harbor and the time they sailed into open sea, which in some cases lasted for months. Such conditions undoubtedly were contributing factors in the few extremely long-lasting voyages to the African coast.5 The smaller and swifter sailing ships used by the free traders outpaced the bulkier WIC slaving vessels, as shown in the comparable average voyage length. This comparison will be explored further at the end of this chapter. 4. 5.
The ship Vergenoegen had to wait seventy-nine days in 1793, and the Vliegende Foam took a full three months before it departed. See Van der Vlis, p. 4; Unger II, pp. 35-6. Unger II, pp. 38-9 and 50. See also Table 7.1.
152
The Dutch in the Atlantic Slave Trade Table 7.1 Time dimensions of triangular slaving missions
Units of the slaving voyage
Average in days
Category
Complete mission
WIC Free trade
1. Holland to Africa
WIC
520 553
Range in days 306-837 323-1399
Median in days 515
Sample 6 32 327
87 (100a) ca.76
59-144
5
37-326
90
92 96
11-245 28-177
70-85 95
14 17
200
60-508
177
57
WIC MCC1 Free trade
81 62 71
23-284 41-135 32-182
74 61
110 ca. 65 56
WIC Free trade
116 86
18-425 13-285
107 81
76 281
WIC MCC1 Free trade
72 74 87
28-216 45-146 28-281
66 78
28 ca. 90 109
Holland to African departure
WIC Free trade
217 348
76-509 127-653
199 323
44 51
Holland to arrival in America
WIC Free trade
310 379
111-624 133-976
285 366
38 283
Holland to departure from West
WIC Free trade
235 181
93-773 49-936
186 167
30 191
MCC1 z. On African coast
WIC
(11^a\
^ 1 ID )
MCC2 3. Middle passage
4. Stay in the West 5. Return voyage
Source: ^ n g e r II, pp. 38-39 and 50; 2 Hezemans, p. 71; and Appendixes 1, 2, 15, and 17. Notes: a Extrapolated from the 2d, 3d, and 7th units of the triangular voyages. Number of missions in the sample.
Captains and crews The people managing and operating the slave ships played crucial roles in the slave trade, although they often were more victims than beneficiaries of the traffic. Their mortality rates, for example, were generally higher than those of the slaves. Sailors on slave ships were a varied lot. The captains and officers were primarily Dutch and frequently had a direct interest in
T h e triangular trade
153
the financial success of a slaving venture either through family ownership or through special bonus payments, but many of the sailors were drawn from a pool of foreign migrant labor concentrated in the capital city of Amsterdam. Unger calculates that over one-third of the sailors serving on MCC slave ships were foreigners, primarily from German and Scandinavian countries. Far less is known about the crews of WIC slave ships, but because more of these ships sailed from Amsterdam this author assumes that a large percentage of those crews were also of foreign origin.6 A typical WIC slave ship at the end of the seventeenth century had a crew of forty when slaves were obtained on the Slave Coast and Gold Coast and forty-five when Loango was the African destination. The larger crew was necessary to make up for the lack of onshore company assistance, which was available only on the Guinea coast. One WIC slaver departing Holland in 1680 and commissioned to fetch 500 slaves had a crew of thirty-four. In the eighteenth century we find WIC slavers with crews of sixty and one ship, the Arent, with as many as seventy crew members, and these figures may have gone even higher during the 1720s and 1730s, when the slave cargoes were larger. Table 7.2 lists the various functions of crew members on Dutch slave traders, with their respective salaries.7 Not all of these crew members listed were present on every slave ship, as is shown in Table 7.2. Some functions were simply not filled and occasionally crew members served dual roles. One important addition on the WIC ships sailing to Loango was a supercargo, who was in charge of the commercial aspect of the slaving mission, leaving the captain in charge of overall supervision and navigation of the ship. Free traders apparently also have been known to use supercargoes, even when trading on the Guinea coast.8 Free-trade slave ships, being smaller on the average and carrying fewer slaves, also had correspondingly smaller crews. The MCC slave ships carried an average crew of thirty-six, ranging from a minimum of twenty-six to a maximum of forty-four. With the average recorded tonnage of free traders at 74 last (148 ton) per ship, this meant approximately one crew member per two fasten, if the MCC average for crews is applied to all free traders. The documentation for WIC ships on tonnage and crews is extremely sparse; consequently, a single example of the WIC slaver, Brandenburg, will have to suffice. This vessel made three slaving voyages during the period 1726 to 1733, carrying 563 and 409 slaves, respectively, on its two last missions. It measured 128 last (256 tons), was armed with twenty-five cannon, and had a crew of sixty. This again is very close to one crew member per two fasten, 6. Unger II, pp. 22-3. 7. WIC, vol. 834, p. 132; WIC, vol. 836, pp. 147 and 333; WIC, vol. 832, pp. 208 and 567-8. 8. WIC, vol. 834, p. 132.
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The Dutch in the Atlantic Slave Trade Table 7.2 Dutch slave ship crew members and their monthly salaries Listed in guilders (/)
Positions (Dutch equivalents) 1682a Master or Captain /50 36 Mate or First Mate Second Mate 25 Third Mate Third Mate Assistant Supercargo (Oppermeester) Supercargo Assistant (Ondermeester) 20 Boatswain 14 Second Boatswain and Sailmaker 20 Constable 14 Second Constable Bottler 20 Bottler Mate & Cooper 14 Second Bottler Cook 20 14 Second Cook Surgeon (Ship Doctor) 26-28 16 Second Surgeon 12 Third Surgeon 14 Cooper Second Cooper 14 Sail Maker Carpenter 36 Second Carpenter 20 Smith 10-11 Sailors Seamen Boys
1732b
1802c
/60 36 30 20
/60 38 30
22 24
(3d Watch) 24 14 36 24 26 22 22
15 20 22 20
22
36 20 26 20 36 20
(10-28)1 12 9-11 8
40 22 22 (16) 1 20
(7)1 14 (I) 1 7
Source: WIC, vol. 832, pp. 567-8, lists maximum wages as determined by theWIC Council of X in 1682. b Unger 2, pp. 20-5; crew of an MCC slaver in 1732. c Emmer, pp. 120-3; crew of MCC slave ship in 1802. Note: Refers to the total number in that function.
or one for every four tons. In both the WIC and the free trade it seems that for each crew member about nine to ten slaves could be shipped across the Atlantic.9 Judging by the salaries, ship carpenters were highly valued. This is understandable in light of their important role, for not only were they doing 9. Unger II, pp. 19-21; RLLM, Radermacher, vol. 576; VCC, vol. 6. See also Apendix 2.
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ordinary repairs but they also had to rebuild the interior of the slave vessel to accommodate three divergent types of cargo during the triangular voyage. By and large, salaries did not increase much during the 120 years covered in Table 7.2. Salaries increased a little for some categories during the final decades of the eighteenth century, and for the sailors they were raised significantly during this period. Relatively little is known about the crews of slave ships, except the masters or captains, or those who eventually rose to that rank. Shipmasters seem to have benefited the most from successful slaving missions. Under the WIC and the free-trade cbmpanies they generally received bonuses on the slaves successfully transported to the West, and as a rule they also had the privilege of doing a limited amount of private trade. As a result, the slave-ship masters not only enjoyed the greatest comforts and the highest salaries among the crew members, but if they were fortunate enough to survive several slaving missions they had a chance to become wealthy. This is best illustrated by the French slave captain, Pierre Van Alstein, who survived eight slaving voyages and as a result of the profits secured became the owner of a sizable estate and a member of the French nobility.10 No Dutch slave-ship captains are as well-known as Van Alstein and the English captain, John Newton, who published his own account of the slave trade after he had become an abolitionist. The names of many Dutch slave shipmasters have been collected and are presented in Appendixes 13 and 14. This study does not lend itself to an examination of the lives of these captains, but others might benefit from this list and pursue such an investigation. The economic opportunities of these captains went hand in hand with much responsibility. Starting from the preparation of the voyage to its conclusion, shipmasters had to account for their actions in this many-faceted commercial enterprise. It was therefore difficult at times to find competent captains for slave ships, as one WIC document of 1675 illustrates. In that year WIC directors were debating the bonuses that slave captains should receive for carrying slaves alive and well across the Atlantic. A number of former interloper captains, including Jan van Arrel and Jan van der Does, were hired by the WIC to serve as masters on WIC ships. The mates of the masters, particularly the first mate, also had special privileges and responsibilities. They usually kept a journal and were responsible for other bookkeeping chores as well. In addition, they succeeded the captain when he was unable to exercise his duties due to illness or death, which seems to have happened quite often.11 10. 11.
See John Everaert, De Franse Slavenhandel (Brussels: Koninklijke Academie, 1978), Part III. WIC, vol. 330, p. 183; WIC, vol. 331, p. 31; WIC, vol. 663. cor. 10/1/1716; WIC, vol. 205, p. 478. See also John Newton, The Journal of a Slave Trader, 1750—1754 B. Martin
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The Dutch in the Atlantic Slave Trade Table 7.3 Documented voyages by Dutch slave captains Captains Voyages
WIC trade 186
260
Free trade 310
673
10
2
9
1
8
4
7
6
5
4
3
2
1
1
1
4
5
16
37
122
9
8
18
26
31
58
153
Source: Appendixes 1, 2, 13 and 14. Note: The captains who replaced deceased captains are included in these figures.
A considerable amount of data exists concerning the activities of the captains of the slave ships. The names of the masters of about 75 percent of the slave voyages have been documented. As Table 7.3 illustrates, a surprisingly large number of captains went on slaving missions only once; whether they chose not to go again or were disqualified by the owners of the ships is not certain. Some WIC captains endured the hazards of the slave trade for several voyages, but only nine are recorded to have commanded from four to six slaving missions. In the free trade, a much larger number of captains repeated the triangular voyage and as many as sixty-one went on four or more trips. One, David Rietveld, commanded as many as ten slaving missions, while twelve others were in charge of seven to nine voyages. Shipmasters lost their lives on their slaving missions. In the case of the WIC at least twenty-nine, or 11 percent of those found recorded, died during the voyage and for the free trade the casualties among the captains reached forty-seven, or 7.3 percent. The author surmises that these may not represent even half of the casualties. In fact, death in the line of duty7 may have been a major reason why many captains failed to undertake a second or subsequent slaving mission. Mortality for the rest of the crew may have been even higher than for the captains. An examination of the MCC records puts the mortality rate of the slave-ship crews at 17.9 percent, compared with 12.3 percent among the slaves on the same ships. High death rates among the slave-ship crews have been confirmed by other studies as well. Sailors were subject to the same illnesses as the slaves, and life for them was also far from comfortable. This may be confirmed by the fact that many crew members deserted at either African or American ports.12 and M. Spurrell, eds., Epworth Press, (London: 1962); Unger, II. p. 23; Appendixes 1 and 2. Crew mortality will be discussed further in Chapter 10. 12. WIC, vol. 1137, cor. 7/30/1674; WIC, vol. 1138, cor. 6/15/1707; WIC, vol. 1140, cor. 9/14/1726; WIC, vol. 1141, cor. 4/10/1733; Hezemans, pp. 43-4; Emmer, "Laatste slavenreis," pp. 90-1; Unger II, pp. 26-7; Curtin, Atlantic Stave Trade, pp. 282-3,
T h e triangular trade
15 7
One of the reasons for the high mortality among crew members was the fact that they were on the ship much longer than the slaves. If one takes this into account, respective death rates may have been very similar during the middle passage. Occasionally, the casualties among the crew were much heavier than among the slaves. This was the case with the slaver, Vergenoegen, which will be examined later in this chapter. On the free-trade ship, Lammerenberg (1743), only eight crew members survived and at one point only the mate, who had meanwhile become the master of the ship, and two boys were able to do any work. On the WIC slaver, Petronella Alida (1723), all crew members seem to have succumbed, and the ship with its forty surviving slaves was finally rescued by a Portuguese ship. The WIC slave ship, Stad en Lande (1773), lost sixty-seven or nearly all of its crew members and the captain and four survivors of the crew were barely able to navigate the ship into the Surinam River. This same ship on its next slaving mission again had heavy losses among its slaves and crew.13
On the African coast Perhaps the most crucial and generally the longest leg of a slaving mission was the time spent on the African coast in the process of procuring slaves. This subject has been discussed before, especially in Chapter 6, which established that free traders spent at least twice as long as WIC slavers on the African coast. Table 7.1 confirms that trend. Whereas WIC slave ships required approximately 100 days on the average to procure their slaves, free traders took twice as long for taking in their often smaller human cargo. Aside from the fact that the ships destined for the Loango region followed a quite different pattern from those on the Guinea coast and that free traders differed in their methods from WIC slavers (see Chapter 6), there were also other distinct patterns of trade within each category. Before 1700 WIC slavers on the Guinea coast obtained their water and firewood supply nearly always at Shama, west of Elmina, where the Pra River flows into the Gulf of Guinea. Even ships loading their human cargoes on the Slave Coast would first go to Shama to obtain the water that was so crucial for the middle passage. Because this was a time-consuming process, often with only one boat a day carrying water-filled barrels to the ship anchored offshore, it was decided in 1695 t 0 build large water cisterns at Elmina for the purpose of storing rainwater for slave ships. The cisterns were near completion by the end of the following year, but they may not 13. WIC, vol. 1140, docs. 223 and 224; WIC vol. 1142, doc. 61; SS, vol 407, 3/10/1743; WIC, vol. 486, p. 367.
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T h e Dutch in the Atlantic Slave Trade
have been satisfactory because during the first decade of the eighteenth century there are still reports of WIC ships getting their water and wood at Shama. By the 1720s, however, water was obtained on the Slave Coast and boarded with the slaves, as described below.14 Most of the food for the slaves was brought from Holland, but the predominantly dried and salted supplies from Europe were supplemented by fresh vegetables and small lifestock purchases in Africa. On occasion, staples such as millet were purchased when a larger than expected slave consignment was obtained. The availability of water, however, was also a seasonal question. On the Loango coast, water was taken aboard while the slave negotiations were in process. In the case of the WIC slaver, Brandenburg, the daily boat ferrying goods to shore in the morning and returning with slaves in the evening would also bring fresh water to the ship whenever possible.15 This was in contrast to the Gold Coast and Slave Coast, where it was often difficult to obtain water. One may wonder if there was a seasonal pattern to the slave trade. It is true that specific seasons at any particular stage of the trade were more or less compatible with the slave trade. A report from the WIC director in Africa in 1659, when the Dutch were still quite new in the traffic, stated that the period from mid-August to mid-February was ideal for the trade on the African coast and that the trade ought to be halted during the rest of the year. The recommended time span corresponds with the dry season, and it has been verified subsequently that the wet season, particularly on the Loango-Angola coast, could have a detrimental effect on the slave trade. There is no clear indication that the WIC slave traders let the advice cited above influence them a great deal, except that their least active month of arriving in Africa was in May and their most active month was November, the height of the wet and dry seasons, respectively. The WIC directors seemed to be mainly concerned about spacing slave assignments; thus, in 1691, they assigned their large slave ships to depart in March, June, and September. They were certainly in a position to adjust their departure from Holland to accommodate themselves to the seasons, but on the whole the WIC showed no clear indication of doing this. Allowing for a three-month sailing period from Holland to Africa, WIC slave ships favored the dry season as a whole by only 4 percent. Free traders, however, may have learned from the mistakes of their predecessors, because they showed a decisive preference for the dry season. Their low point of activity on the African coast was also in May, but their peak did not come until January. In general, they favored 14. W I C , vol. 54, cor. 11/25/1695 and 12/21/1696; N B K G , voi. 2, min. 10/15/1706; N B K G , vol. 3, min. 7/16/1708. 15. NBKG, vol. 3, min. 5/16/1708; ECMMR, no. 190.
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Table 7.4 Seasonal factors in the Dutch slave trade Projected arrivals in Africa Month January February March April
Ships 10 11 17 20
5
May
June July August September October November December Total August - January
9 11 19 7 7 22 14
WIC
%
Ships
6.6 7.2
73 38 45 38 20 32 30 32 48 36 53 52
11.2 13.2 3.3 5.9 7.2
12.5 4.6 4.6
14.5 9.2
Free trade
%
14.7 7.6 9.1 7.6 4 6.4 6 6.4 9.7 7.2
10.7 10.5
152
100
497
100
79
52
294
59
Source: Appendixes 1 and 2.
the dry season at a ratio of 60 to 40 percent of the total number documented, as is shown in Table 7.4. l6
Two Dutch slave ships in action One of the rare surviving WIC slave-ship logs, or journals, belonged to the slaver, Brandenburg, and it is kept at the Maritime Museum in Rotterdam. The ship left Zeeland for its slaving mission on June 18, 1729, with Captain Frangois Block commanding a crew of sixty and armed with fourteen cannon. During the first six weeks little of pertinence is found recorded in the log, except weather and nautical information. Cape Verde was sighted on August 1, other African coastal landmarks, like Cape Appolonia, followed on August 30, and Elmina was reached on September 4, 1729. While the ship was anchored at Elmina small boats from the WIC castle came daily to unload various items. All along, the log faithfully reports the sighting of various other ships, Dutch and foreign.17 16. 17.
KITLV, H-65, p. 405; WIC, vol. 560, p. 12; WIC, vol. 835, p. 291. The information about the Brandenburg is all derived from its journal at ECMMR, no.
190.
160
T h e Dutch in the Atlantic Slave Trade
At this point there is some confusion in the journal. It seems to shift from the Brandenburg to a smaller WIC coastal ship named Berckensteyn. The latter's captain, Pieter de Roo, appears to continue the log book as his ship sailed along the Slave Coast and on to the Benin River, purchasing some ivory, firewood and water, as well as a total of fifteen slaves, all apparently intended for the Brandenburg. (The writer of the log was most likely the first mate on the Brandenburg, and was temporarily transferred to the Berckensteyn) Finally, on November 29, Captain de Roo arrived at Jakin, where the Brandenburg had meanwhile arrived. By this time, however, the Brandenburg may have taken in about 100 slaves, and it was then actively engaged in boarding additions to its human cargo. Its sloop or accompanying "small boat" was fetching slaves nearly every day, usually bringing along water and firewood. On December 31 smallpox was discovered among the slaves on the Brandenburg, and three days later the disease produced its first casualty. By that time there must have been about 250 slaves on board. When the ship was ready to lift anchor on January 28, 1730, at least seven slaves had succumbed to the dreaded disease, and many more were to follow during the middle passage, until a total of 38 out of 409 had died when the survivors were disembarked at Surinam. On the day of departure from Africa, as the ship was being readied by the crew, those crew members who had been working on shore returned to the ship and the local WIC officials visited the ship to sign the cosignment papers. The middle passage could now begin.18 The free trade has bequeathed a much more generous supply of slaveship log books to posterity than the WIC. One of the more dramatic and best-documented Dutch free-trade slaving voyages was that of the ship, Vergenoegen, from Vlissingen, Zeeland, 1793-7. The excessive length of the mission was due primarily to the international situation, which delayed the ship unusually long in the West Indies. Two of its log books have been preserved among the MCC papers at Middelburg, and a copy of the most detailed of these logs, written by the first mate and later captain of the ship, J. G. Klaver, is also at the Maritime Museum in Rotterdam. In addition, this slaving mission has been given extensive coverage in two publications in the Dutch language. The Vergenoegen started its slaving mission on December 20, 1793, but it had to wait for seventy-nine days before ideal winds brought the ship into the open waters of the North Sea. It took the ship 101 days to reach Elmina on June 18, 1794, where it took in water and firewood, and purchased three slaves. It was unusual for a ship with Loango as its intended African destination to stop at Elmina and remain there, as the Vergenoegen did, before sailing on to Loango, where the ship arrived after 18.
See Appendix 22 for a translated copy of such a cargo affidavit.
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another seventy-eight days, on September 5. Without dramatic reversals, except for unfavorable winds and weather, this was nevertheless an unusually slow start for a slaving voyage, and worse was yet to come.19 A few days after dropping anchor at Loango the first mate and the ship's doctor went ashore to make commercial arrangements with the local authorities. The captain continued this process on the following day, while the ship was given a thorough cleaning in preparation for further negotiations aboard ship. The next day, on September 10, the ship log records that "a few black gentlemen came aboard to check out our merchandise, and above all to collect the gifts that customarily are given in this area."20 During the next week the ship was prepared to accommodate its intended human cargo, and a week later the captain took up quarters on shore to supervise the trading process. After two days, the first group of six slaves was brought aboard, followed by others on a daily basis in groups of two to about seven, but rarely more than seven. This relatively slow process went on for more than four months, until 390 slaves had been purchased. The weather was a constant problem for the slave traders. It seemed to rain virtually every day, and storms and heavy surfs at times kept the boat from going to shore. u The sails were nearly rotting from wet and damp weather as it rains every day," the log book stated on November 21, and two weeks later it recorded: "The weather is so bad, no slaves can come on deck," for their customary fresh-air break. But the weather was only one of the problems of the Vergenoegen. The captain had fallen ill and returned from shore to the ship on October 14, where he died after a painful illness nearly two months later. Several crew members also fell ill with high fevers, and one of them contracted smallpox. On November 30, the new captain reported that "each crew member is sick to some degree," and in the end he had to call on an English ship to help supply them with water, because not enough crew members of the Vergenoegen were able to carry the containers. In addition to the original master of the ship, seven crew members died before the ship started its middle passage. The slaves on the Vergenoegen also suffered badly. Ten days after the first slaves were boarded a slave girl showed signs of smallpox. She was taken ashore, where she died a few days later. Shortly thereafter another case of smallpox was detected, and rumors were heard that the disease was widespread in the region as well as on other slave ships. By November 23 as many as fifty of the slaves aboard were suffering from the disease. Two days earlier the captain had reported about the slaves that: 19. 20.
ECMMR, folder 47; Van der Vlis, pp. 1-21; Unger II, pp. 39-43. Unless otherwise indicated, this account is derived from the ship's logbook, written by the first mate and later captain, J. G. Klaver, ECMMR, folder 47.
162
The Dutch in the Atlantic Slave Trade Some looked like monsters, raw from top to toe as if they were skinned alife, and a stench that was hardly bearable. We have to turn them over with... old rags.
Meanwhile many crew members were ill, or weak and recovering, and the new captain was worried that the slaves would become aware of the precarious position of their captors. At any rate, the slaves too must have lacked the strength to revolt. To make matters worse, dysentery broke out among the slaves by the middle of December. The captain became almost desperate at this point and recorded in this log: "what will come of us, I don't know." At this point, the aid of an English competitor was requested in order to get the ship ready for departure and out into the open sea. After taking inventory of the remaining merchandise early in January 1795, it was decided that twenty-five more slaves could be purchased. Having done this during the next week and paying the customary duties and fees to African brokers and other officials, the Vergenoegen lifted anchor and started its middle passage on January 12, 1795. Altogether, 390 slaves had been purchased at Loango (plus three at Elmina), and of these 26 had died before the departure. An additional 25 slaves were still suffering from smallpox, which may have contributed to another 18 deaths on the middle passage. Eight crew members had died on the African coast, and two English sailors had been hired in late November to make up for the loss of manpower at this crucial juncture in the slaving mission.
The middle passage and its perils The voyage from Africa to the Western Hemisphere was generally one of the shortest legs of a slaving mission, although it has for many good reasons often been dramatized as the most crucial. For the slaves, the departure from the African coast must have been a dramatic, if not a heartrending experience. As Table 7.1 shows, the duration of the middle passage could vary greatly from one voyage to another. The WIC's average crossing was 81 days but its shortest and longest ranged from 23 to 284 days. When the WIC slaver, Amsterdam, in 1706 accomplished its crossing in two months, it was singled out in the correspondence as a short voyage.21 Free traders averaged 71 days for the ocean crossing, the fastest ship sailing only 32 days and the slowest 182 days. The free traders of the MCC were even faster than the others in their category with an average of 62 days and a range of 41 to 135 days. The few unusually long crossings for the 21.
WIC, vol. 1138, doc. 14.
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WIC raised its average, but one should expect that the company's bulkier and slower sailing ships would be slower than the smaller and sleeker freetrade ships. About 50 percent of the WIC slavers accomplished the ocean crossing within two or three months. The same was true for the free traders, except that far more free traders made the crossing in less than two months. To the casual observer it might come as a surprise that the average duration of the middle passage originating on the Loango-Angola coast was generally shorter than from the Guinea coast, despite the longer distance a look at the map suggests. The reason for this has been explained by Philip Curtin. A ship from Senegambia could move directly into the northeast trade winds for a relatively short and predictable passage to the Caribbean. The Guinea Coast, however, had prevailing westerly winds and a strong current flowing towards the east. The usual voyage, and the route still recommended for sailing ships bound from the Guinea Coast to the North Atlantic, took the ship south to the equator to pick up the southeast trades. Then in mid-ocean, it turned northward across the equatorial calms to catch the northeast trades for the Caribbean. Thus, a ship bound for the northern hemisphere had to cross the doldrums twice with slaves on board, each time taking a chance on prolonged calms which could mean shortages on food and water and a greater danger of disease in the crowded slave quarters. The voyage from Europe to Angola and return by the Caribbean was much the same, but in this case the first crossing of the equatorial calms took place with only the crew aboard.22
Dutch slave ships were bound by this pattern also. Those that obtained their slaves on the Guinea coast would as a rule sail east and south until they reached Cape Lopez, where they would often take on additional water and firewood, after which they would benefit from the southeast trade winds and cross the Atlantic, as described above. This pattern is illustrated in the case of the Brandenburg, the WIC slaver cited earlier in this chapter. Dutch slavers carrying a slave cargo from the Loango-Angola region registered considerably shorter middle passage durations than their counterparts from the Guinea coast. WIC slavers averaged fifty and free traders forty-seven days for the crossing from Loango, compared with eighty-one and seventyone days, respectively, for overall averages for the middle passage. 23 As was noted earlier, Surinam planters generally preferred Guinea slaves to those from Bantu-speaking Africa, and they tried to use the commonsense argument of the greater distance that had to be traveled by ships from "Angola." In 1726 the WIC slaver, Beekesteyn, which had obtained slaves at Loango, took twice as long for its overall voyage length as its contemporary, 22. 23.
Curtin, Atlantic Slave Trade, pp. 278-9. ECMMR, no. 190; WIC, vol. 1139, cor. 3/11/1718; Appendixes 1 and 2.
164
The Dutch in the Atlantic Slave Trade
the Amsterdam, which sailed via Guinea. The planters tried to use this as evidence that slaving at Loango was more costly and should be avoided.24 But such arguments could not change the statistical facts, which the slave traders must have known, and which must have been an inducement to keep going back to Loango. The doldrums, or periodic absences of wind on the equator, was one of the most dreaded phenomena encountered on the middle passage. Invariably prolonged calms meant delays and shortage of food and water, coming at a time when the ships were filled to capacity with hungry and thirsty human beings. It was often a major cause of unusually high mortality among the slaves, as will be discussed in Chapter 10. Storms could also imperil a slave ship by blowing it off course and delaying its mission, doing damage to vessel and passengers, or causing a shipwreck that could lead to extensive loss of life. Of course, a ship could run aground as a result of other causes, but strong winds were usually the reason. At least eight of the WIC slave missions are recorded to have ended in shipwreck during the period 1675 to 1739, and the records of others may well have been lost. The destiny of an additional nine WIC ships was uncertain, and shipwreck may well have been the reason for this. At least seven WIC ships were reportedly captured by enemy privateers or pirates. Free traders faced similar misfortunes, although they fared better when one considers that they had many more ships in the traffic. Seven of their slave ships were reportedly shipwrecked or stranded, and ten of their number were captured by enemies.25 Perhaps the most disastrous Dutch shipwrecks on the middle passage occurred in January 1738, when the ship, Leusden, was caught in a storm off the Surinam coast and got stranded on rocks near the Marowin River. While the crew escaped with 14 of the slaves, who had been assisting the crew on deck, the remaining 702 slaves suffocated and drowned below deck. This is indeed the most tragic disaster in the Dutch slave trade, and it may well have been the compelling reason for the WIC to quit the slave trade altogether.26 Occasionally, piracy hampered the slave trade, particularly on the African coast and in the Caribbean, although this was a factor that hit like an occasional epidemic, as has been discussed in Chapter 3. The problem tended to decline in the eighteenth century, although the so-called Turkish pass was carried by merchant ships well into the nineteenth century. Hostilities with rivaling European nations and the plague of foreign privateers could also be a menace to Dutch slave shipping, as they themselves tried to 24. WIC, vol. 1140, doc. 63. 25. See Appendixes 1 and 2. 26. WIC, vol. 1141, doc. 168. The shipwreck of the Leusden will be discussed further in Chapter 10.
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damage their enemies as much as they could. The French in particular captured several WIC slavers and confiscated their human cargoes, as has been described in Chapter 2. Free traders suffered greatly at the hand of the English during the Fourth Anglo-Dutch War (1780-4). Unger states that the whole Dutch slave fleet was captured. The MCC was apparently so seriously damaged that it dispatched only a few slaving missions after that war.27
Slave resistance and uprisings The slaves did not always accept their fate passively, although their resistance was against unsurmountable odds. Several slaves tried to flee during the boarding process, for once on the ship the opportunities for escape were diminished. Some slaves refused to eat, which resulted in forced feeding, or they jumped overboard when they had the chance. Both were forms of suicide, which showed the slaves' desperate resentment against their fate, At times Dutch ships employed spies, presumably free Africans who could understand various African languages, to obviate escapes and slave revolts. It has been suggested that free traders managed to prevent several slave uprisings by this method.28 One of the reasons for the slaves' desperation was that some suspected the Europeans were cannibals or would sell them to cannibals. The Dutch factor, Willem Bosman, summed up these fears: "Sometimes we deal with slaves from deep in the interior, who convince each other that the reason why we buy and transport them is to fatten them up and sell them again for an appetizing meal."29 One MCC captain reported in 1752, while in the harbor of Paramaribo, in Surinam, with his ship, Prins Willem V, that he was afraid his slaves would jump overboard because "they feared they would be eaten" at their destination. An eighteenth-century Dutch handbook for slave traders urged them to "assure the slaves, after they have been purchased, that they should not be afraid; that white people were not cannibals " 3° In spite of such efforts, if they were actually employed, slaves did protest and sometimes they revolted in groups. Table 7.5 lists twenty-five documented slave uprisings on Dutch slave ships, and these do not include revolts planned but aborted. The records of several more slave rebellions on board Dutch slave ships must have gone unrecorded, particularly on those of the WIC. Of the fifty-eight carefully 27. 28. 29. 30.
Unger II, p. 13; Appendixes 1 and 2; SG, vol. 5773, p. 8. Hezemans, p. 39. Unger II, p. 57. Hezemans, p. 41.
The Dutch in the Atlantic Slave Trade
i66
Table 7.5 Documented slave uprisings on Dutch slave ships Company 1685 1699 1703 1715 1717 1731 1735 1741 1751 1751 1756 1756 1757 1757 1759 1762 1764 1764 1769 1770 1774 1775 1775 1780 1785
WIC WIC WIC WIC WIC WIC MCC MCC MCC MCC MCC MCC MCC MCC
MCC MCC MCC MCC MCC MCC MCC MCC
Ship ]Location ? Koninck Salomon ? Rachel Son (de) Africa Sonnesteyn Africa Agatha 9 Leusden ? De Hoop 7 Afrikaanse Galey 7 Middelburgs Welvaren Africa Grenadier Africa Vliegende Faam Africa Philadelphia Africa Philadelphia 7 Drie Gezusters M'burgs Welvaren Africa Africa Johanna Cores Africa Johanna Cores Africa Eenigheid 7 Zanggodin 7 Guinese Vriendschap 7 Zanggodin 7 Armina Elisabeth Geertruyda & Christina ? Africa Vigilantiea Neptunis Africa
Casualties Crew Slaves 1
1 12 36
Comments Minor
9
0 0 0 0
9
Minor
0
Minor
213 0 22 b 0 0 0
0
0
11
0 24 2C 0 21d 5
Serious
11 21
17
all-8 e
Exploded
Source: WIC, vol. 103, p. 168; vol. 206, p. 105; vol. 484, pp. 6 and 264; SG, vol. 1212, logs of the ships Pollux and Castor; HAR, vols . 41-2; SS, vol. 205, p. 465; SS, vol. 409, 2/11/1751; MCC, vol. 1155 and 1570; Unger 2, pp. 57-8; Menkman, WIC, p. 109; Priester, p. 119; Hezemans, p. 61. Notes: a Three slave rebellions were reported on this voyage. Priester reports 11 deaths, 6 wounded, and 22 missing. c An additional 16 slaves were wounded. These slaves were reported missing. e Only eight slaves survived.
examined MCC slaving missions, at least eleven reported slave rebellions, and the Vigilantie recorded three revolts in one voyage. This represents one slave uprising in five missions for the well-documented and well-researched MCC, and if this statistical average were applied to all of the Dutch slave
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trade there may have been as many as 300 such revolts on Dutch ships alone.31 Most of the slave revolts seem to have taken place in sight of the African coast; this was the case in at least twelve of the twenty-five documented rebellions listed in Table 7.5. Once in open sea, the slaves must have realized that the chances of a successful rebellion were virtually nil, whereas the sight of the African shore gave them hope for escape. But such hope was usually misplaced, because when twenty-one slaves managed to escape from the Zang Godin in 1769, they were promptly recaptured by Africans on the coast, who offered to sell them again to the slave captain. We may assume, when the latter refused to repurchase the slaves, that they were sold to the next slaver that came along. On at least one occasion the slaves on the Vigilantie (1780) revolted near the Marowin River, on the Guiana coast. The nearly 200 slaves aboard chased the crew and eighteen of the slaves to shore, while the ship remained stranded. Apparently the ship was wrecked, because the record indicates that the captain of the ship sailed back to Holland as a passenger on another Dutch slaver.32 What happened to the rebel slaves remains a mystery, however chances are slim that any of them survived the ordeal. Most of the slave uprisings were small affairs and none of the recorded revolts resulted in the slaves taking and maintaining control of a ship, except for the Vigilantie and the Neptunis in 1785. In the latter case, the slaves had also gained control of the ship, but an English ship came to the aid of the desperate Dutch crew and accidentally hit the powder chamber of the Neptunis with a cannon shot, causing the ship to explode. All of the seventeen crew members still on board died in the explosion but eight slaves of an undetermined number aboard survived the ordeal. They were collected from the water by local Africans and returned to the surviving captain, who had been ashore when the revolt broke out. The death toll in this case may well have been 200 to 300, the full cargo capacity of the ship.33 Another tragic slave revolt on a Dutch ship had occurred in 1741 on the free trader, Middelburgs Welvaren. Of the approximately 260 slaves obtained on the Guinea coast only 30 were landed at Surinam. Only about 15 slaves had died of natural causes on the ocean crossing, but an estimated 213 died in the revolt that broke out a few days after the ship had started the middle passage. None of the crew members died in the uprising, and the slaughter may well have been a case of a trigger-happy crew. Claiming there was a 31. 32. 33.
See Priester, pp. 118-24, on slave rebellions. Priester lists at least five planned revolts that were prevented by the crew. WIC, vol. 487, p. 446; Priester, p. 120. SS, vol. 416, 10/11/1780 and 1/23/1781; AAC, vol. 1212, log of the Pollux.
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T h e Dutch in the Atlantic Slave Trade
threat to their lives, they fired indiscriminately into the crowd of slaves on and below decks.34 In the slave revolt on the Guineese Vriendschap in 1770, the slaves had virtually gained control of the ship when the Dutch warship, Castor, appeared on the scene, rescuing the crew and restoring order and authority on the ship. No casualties among the crew members were reported, but four slaves died in the tumult as a result of jumping overboard. The alleged ringleader of the rebellion, an Asante slave named Essjerrie Ettin (one of the few slaves aboard a slaver ever to be identified by name in the records) was executed by the crew in a brutal manner. His right hand was cut off, his left hand was already maimed as a result of the battle, and he was then suspended by a rope under his arms and subsequently abused by the crew until he died. Such legally sanctioned forms of lynching were not uncommon responses to slave revolts, as will also be shown in Chapter 9, in the case of the slave rebellion in Berbice during the 1760s.35
The disposal of slaves in the West Arriving at their destination in the Western Hemisphere must have been a relief for slaves and crew members, as fresh water became available again and slaves were generally treated with fruit and other fresh foods. This was true in particular in the eighteenth century, when such food, citrus fruit in particular, was known to deter scurvy. It was reported that slaves danced with joy when they saw land and green trees again. For the managers of the slave ships, it was important that the slaves were in good spirits and looked healthy as they were prepared for the market.36 Most of the Dutch slave ships had a single destination, and the majority of the slaves were sold and remained in the vicinity of their point of disembarkation. For some slaves, however, there was a second voyage, as was the case with the asiento slaves who were landed at Curasao and afterward were shipped to the Spanish-American mainland ports. This was also the case with the slaves smuggled through Curaqao to the Caracas coast. A small number of slaves were transshipped from Curasao to other Dutch colonies in the Caribbean or Guiana. Only a small percentage of the slaves landed in Curasao remained on the island. Occasionally, a slave ship was rerouted due to war or market conditions, and thus might actually make more than one landing in the West, but this was rare in the WIC slave trade. With the free trade, however, slave captains frequently had to search for profitable 34. 35. 36.
MCC, vol. 1570; SSUR, vol. 409, 2/11/1751. AAC, vol. 1170, Castor log. ECMMR, folder 47; Unger, II, p. 67; Van der Vlis, p. 14.
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markets and anchored at more than one harbor in the West. At least thirtyone free-trade slavers were reported stopping at Surinam and subsequently sailing on to other locations, and many others may not have been included in this count. Ships taking slaves to St. Eustatius might also stop at neighboring islands, like St. Martin, and sell a portion of their slaves there. Mixed landings for the Guiana colonies were not uncommon in the WIC trade, and they became more frequent in the free trade, especially during the last quarter of the eighteenth century. At least twenty-two of the latter took slaves to a variety of locations, and many more mixed destinations must have been left unrecorded. Just about any conceivable combination of West Indian destinations can be found in the record. One slaver, the Neptunis, sailed in one month in 1777 from Surinam to St. Eustatius, and then to Curasao and possibly elsewhere to dispose of its human cargo, thus extending the middle passage extensively.37 Such voyages must have added greatly to the confusion and consternation of the slaves aboard the vessels. In spite of these variations, however, the vast majority of the Dutch slave ships disembarked their slaves at one harbor. When a slave ship arrived at its destination it was by no means certain that the slaves would be disembarked immediately. The situation in Surinam illustrates this best. Since about mid-eighteenth century, slave ships sailing into the mouth of the Suriname River were boarded by health officials of the colony to check the condition of the slaves, and the highest ranking officers of the ship were required to sign a statement under oath that there were no contagious diseases among the slaves. Only after positive responses were registered to these actions was a ship allowed to go up the river to the harbor of Paramaribo. Serious outbreaks of smallpox on a number of occasions had given rise to these precautions. Similar policies existed in other Dutch colonies. Visitations upon arrival of slave ships had been practiced at Curasao as early as the seventeenth century, but then it was a precaution against smuggling rather than the spread of disease.38 As a rule, these hygienic visitations, for which the captain had to pay as much as seventy-five guilders during the 1790s, were routine and were followed immediately by permission to sail up the river. Occasionally, a slaver had to wait until the epidemic aboard ship had subsided, and permission to go ahead was given at subsequent visitations. One ship, the earlier mentioned Vergenoegen of 1793, had to go through four visitations and had to remain for fifty-two days on the river before it was allowed to enter the Paramaribo harbor. But this must have been one of the most drastically delayed cases. 39 Apart from such delays, disembarkation took place quite quickly, generally 37. 38. 39.
WIC, vol. 205, p. 19; WIC, vol. 648, cor. 11/25/1678; WIC, vol. 632, 1777. WIC, vol. 617, doc. 41; Unger II, pp. 66-7 and 105. Unger II, pp. 51-2.
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The Dutch in the Atlantic Slave Trade
within a week of arrival. At most places of destinations the slaves were housed in crowded barracks, where they were forced or encouraged to exercise, in order to recuperate from the taxing ocean voyage. Occasionally, slaves were sold while still aboard ship, but as a rule they were sold after disembarkation either by public auction, by previously agreed contract, or on an individual basis. At Curasao, as part of the asiento trade, the slaves were housed either in barracks or warehouses or they were temporarily put to work on WIC plantations. The asiento agents, who had their own facilities at Curasao, were obligated to examine the slaves within fourteen days after arrival and take possession of them within thirty-eight days or the WIC would charge a maintainance fee of one stuiver (one-twentieth of a guilder) per day for each slave. If after three months the asiento agents had still not claimed and shipped the slaves from Curasao, the WIC was free to dispose of the slaves as it pleased.40 When the asiento trade began to slip from WIC control during the end of the 1680s, the WIC began to operate Curasao as an open market and sell slaves either on an individual basis or at public auctions. The latter seems to have been preferred and was demanded by company authorities in 1690. But subsequent records show that both methods were employed at Curasao during the next few decades.41 Selling slaves by previously agreed contract was often practiced in the settlements of Essequibo and Demerary, and occasionally in Surinam as well. Sometimes a portion of a slave consignment was delivered on contract and the remainder sold individually or by auction. At Surinam both of these last two methods were the common practice, although a regulation of 1742 called for public auctions exclusively. Unger's analysis of eighty-six MCC slave consignments shows that the majority (fifty-six) of the slavers used both methods, and only slightly more slaves were sold "on the block" than by individual agreement. Prior to 1769 the auction method seems to have been prevalent, and a specially appointed vendue master regulated this trade, but it was discontinued and replaced by individual sales during that year.42
Return voyage and cargo After the slaves had been disembarked and sold the slave ship had to be thoroughly cleaned and prepared for the return voyage to Holland. Significant modifications were made on the decks of the ship to accommodate a 40. WIC, vol. 832, p. 533; Appendix 18. See also Chapter 2 on Curasao and the asiento. 41. WIC, vol. 835, p. 175; See WIC, vols. 201 and 202 on the sale of slaves. 42. MCC, vol. 1567, doc. 6; SS, vol. 407, 1/5/1743 and 12/19/1742; SS, vol. 414, 4/10/ 1769; Unger II, p. 69.
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new cargo. Ideally, a return cargo was secured in order to provide for ballast and to make the slave mission more remunerative. Thus, slave vessels often remained for quite some time in the West Indies before they started their homeward voyage. As Table 7.1 shows, WIC ships remained an average of 116 days in the West. This figure would be considerably lower if a few ships that stayed very long were not included in the average; the median is therefore also significantly lower. Both figures are nonetheless slightly higher than the three months that were set in 1699 as a limit for WIC ships to remain in the West. This decision was made because a number of WIC slave ships had stayed there six to seven months in order to secure a return cargo, and the WIC directors decided such long stays were too costly. A larger set of data combining the stay in the West with the return voyage raises the averages for the WIC also decisively. By comparison, free-trade ships spent less time in the West, eighty-six days on the average. This lower figure is also confirmed by the larger data package combining both legs of the mission. The median length for return voyages for free traders is also shorter than for the WIC, although only by five days.43 The question of return cargoes is only of peripheral interest to the slave trade. Payment for slaves in the asiento trade came primarily in the form of silver cash, Spanish pesos called pieces of eight. Such freight, not bulky but extremely valuable, was generally carried by heavily armed WIC ships, leaving space in many of the slave ships for other commodities. Little is known about the return cargoes from the West in the seventeenth century. Some of the earliest products mentioned were wood products (stokvishout) from Curasao and salt from neighboring Bonaire. When additional space was available, WIC ships were allowed to carry freight for private persons. Sugar and oriane paint pigments were exported from Essequibo in slave ships as early as 1700. A few years later various animal hides, cotton, and lemon juice are mentioned in a cargo from Curasao, and indigo is listed in 1709. Wood products were particularly prominent in the first decade of the eighteenth century, although wood products seem to have become depleted by 1713. That same year, however, six WIC vessels shipped wood for a value of more than 50,000 pesos from Curasao.44 With the growth of the Surinam and Guiana plantations early in the eighteenth century sugar products became increasingly more prevalent among the return goods on slave ships. In 1710 there were not enough ships to carry the available sugar to Europe. Two years later thirteen Dutch ships exported nearly 13,000 oxheads, or more than ten million pounds of the 43. 44.
Unger II, p. 83; WIC, vol. 69, pp. 133 and 178; See Table 7.1 and Appendix 5. WIC, vol. 200, pp. 5, 273, and 298-300; WIC, vol. 69, pp. 1, 180-1; WIC, vol. 201, p. 219; WIC, vol. 202, pp. 368, 371, and 466; WIC, vol. 203, p. 445; WIC, vol. 560, p. 14; WIC, vol. 1026, pp. 33-6; WIC, vol. 205, pp. 325-7 and 495.
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T h e Dutch in the Atlantic Slave Trade
sweet stuff. Planters were particularly interested in sending their sugar products to Amsterdam, where many refineries were located. WIC officials were initially not too eager to shift primarily to sugar as cargo. Nevertheless, even from St. Eustatius, so active in the slave trade during the 1720s, sugar products were the principal commodities on the return voyage, although a variety of other goods, such as cotton, indigo, and ginger, were included as well. Sugar continued to be most prominent in WIC return cargoes during the 1730s.45 The pattern established early in the eighteenth century continued with the free trade. Sugar continued to dominate and, as Unger points out, it took two to three ships to carry the comparable value of one cargo of slaves. The large number of ships sailing directly between Holland and the West Indies could take care of any surplus. There were also many other colonial products, such as coffee, cocoa, cotton, to mention the main ones, which were taken back to Holland in exchange for slaves or as freight items. Van de Voort gives a good account of the variety and quantity of the tropical exports from the West Indies by the Dutch during the free-trade period, and its link with the slave trade is convincingly established in his dissertation.46 One of the reasons for the shorter West Indian stay of free traders was that they often left with small return cargoes or simply in ballast, weighed down with water and sand. Of the 185 slave ships clearing from Paramaribo, of which a cargo record has been preserved, 65 were reported leaving in ballast, and 69 had a full or fairly sizable cargo. Another 51 ships left with a small or token cargo. It should be noted, however, that several free-trade ships may have sailed to other West Indian harbors in order to obtain a cargo before they started their Atlantic return crossing.47 Free traders thus clearly regained some of the time through their shorter stay in the West, time that they might have lost on the African coast through their slow procurement process. But they may have sacrificed some of these gains again by sailing home with empty holds. The average complete sailing time for all slaving missions was still shorter for the WIC, as Table 7.1 shows, although only by about one month out of eighteen, or slightly more than 5 percent. On the return voyage, which took an average of two to three months, WIC ships actually recorded better times than free traders. However, it should 45. 46. 47.
WIC, vol. 1138, docs. 36, 65, and 6/25/1711 and 3/26/1712; WIC, vol. 1139, cor. 3 / 24/1717 and 3/29/1720. WIC, vol. 619 on St. Eustatius and vol. 1141 on Surinam. A study of exports from Surinam is in progress by this author. Unger II, pp. 83-4. J. P.Van de Voort, De Westindische Plantages van ij2o-ijgs: Financial en Handel (Eindhoven: De Witte, 1973), pp. 30-3 and 234-41. See Appendix 1.
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be kept in mind that when the departures were recorded the slave ships often made stops at other locations in the West Indies to obtain backhaul before they started their Atlantic crossing. Thus, the actual crossing was undoubtedly significantly shorter than indicated in Table 7.1, particularly for free traders. Some slave ships never returned to Holland. Of the free-trade ships at least seven were found recorded as unseaworthy after they delivered slaves in the West. Another nineteen were reported captured, shipwrecked, or met an uncertain fate and thus never returned to Holland. For the WIC the record was even worse, primarily because it operated in a more turbulent period of time; twenty-four of its slave ships never returned home, which is about 7 percent of the total number of WIC slaving voyages in the period 1675 t 0 X 739- 4§ Those slavers that did return to their port of origin, unloaded and marketed their West Indian cargo, and that marked the end of the triangular slaving mission. In several cases, the same ship and the same captain were soon preparing for another slaving mission. 48.
Appendixes i and 2.
8 The Dutch plantation colonies under WIC monopoly 1616-1738
The first two chapters of this book describe how the Dutch got involved in the Atlantic slave trade during the seventeenth century, first to supply their new plantation colony in northern Brazil, and then to make profits by supplying the Spanish mainland colonies with slaves either through the asiento or by means of illicit trade. As the asiento slave trade declined toward the end of the seventeenth century, Dutch slavers found a growing demand for their human cargoes in the various Dutch plantation colonies of Guiana, then also known as the Wild coast, in northwestern South America, between the river deltas of the Amazon and the Orinoco. The next two chapters will focus on the slave traffic to Surinam and the settlements in present-day Guyana: Berbice, Essequibo, and Demerara, as the Dutch identified their plantation colonies there. The Guiana coast, which today includes the countries of Guyana, Surinam, and French Guiana (as well as portions of Brazil and Venezuela), had been the object of numerous colonization attempts during the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries by Dutch, English, and French settlers. The Dutch may have been pioneers in the area by establishing a settlement on the Essequibo River in the second half of the sixteenth century. But this, like many similar attempts afterward, had failed as a result of the hostile physical environment or the opposition of the indigenous population, the Caribs and the Arawaks. The Portuguese also eliminated a number of Dutch settlement attempts in the Amazon River delta. Most of these early settlements ended in disaster, and they have left very little documentary evidence for historians to scrutinize. 1
Settlement and trade on the Guiana coast Dutch interest in the Guiana region was initially twofold: settlement and commerce with the indigenous people. A variety of local products, including 1. For an overview of the early settlements in the Guiana region. See Goslinga, Dutch in the Caribbean, pp. 409-32. 174
The Dutch colonies under WIC monopoly
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dyes, wood, oil, and balsam, were purchased through barter trade by the Europeans; the reportedly warlike Caribs also sold slaves to the Dutch. As a potential settlement area, Guiana was forced to the background when the Dutch captured northern Brazil in 1630, but as described in Chapter 1, that situation changed again a few decades later. In addition to the loss of Brazil in 1654, the peace between Holland and Spain in 1648 had deprived the WIC of its privateering role, and these two events made settlement in Guiana an attractive alternative again. The Treaty of Munster in 1648 had, in fact, given the Dutch legal possession of the river valleys of the Essequibo and the Berbice in present-day Guyana. Settlement in the Guiana region produced its share of problems for the WIC. First there was the usual rivalry between the leading chambers of Amsterdam and Zeeland for control of the region. Zeeland initially gained the upper hand in this battle and initiated most of the settlement attempts, although Amsterdam also organized a few abortive settlements. Once a colony had been established the WIC directors had to organize a governance structure for it, by virtue of rights inherent in its charter. The system of patronship, granting a patent for settlement to a person or family, became the pattern in Berbice, where the Van Pere family acquired such status and retained it for many years. In Surinam the Van Aersses van Sommelsdijck (hereafter referred to as Sommelsdijck) family had much influence, but they had to share their authority with the WIC and the city of Amsterdam through the Society of Surinam, the governing committee of the colony established in 1682. Because the WIC's primary function was not colonization, the overall administrative supervision of the early settlements in this region was generally directed by interested groups in the province of Zeeland. The Dutch were not alone in establishing plantation settlements in Guiana. The French had pioneered a settlement on the Cayenne River, which was subsequently developed into the colony of French Guiana. The most prosperous settlement in the whole region was on the Suriname River. It was founded by the English in 1651 and controlled by them until 1667. By the time of the Second Anglo-Dutch War (1665-7) t n e colony had a population of about 4,000. But this war, unlike the First Anglo-Dutch War (1652-4), proved to be quite unsettling for the Guiana region. Virtually every settlement changed hands at least once, and when the war was finally ended with the Treaty of Breda in 1667 the Dutch had achieved hegemony in the region. Only the French regained possession of their colony; the English lost all their colonies in the region. Because England received title to New York (New Amsterdam) by the same treaty, the impression was left that Surinam and New York were simply exchanged. At that time the exchange appears to have been beneficial to the Dutch, because Surinam held far
\
/TRINIDAD
MAP 8.1
THE GUIANA REGION
The Dutch colonies under WIC monopoly
177
greater promise for economic exploitation, both in agricultural production and the slave trade.2 On the whole, the Dutch were more committed to trade than to colonization; they simply did not have the surplus population required for settlement, and their extensive maritime commerce already demanded a large toll from their population of about a million and a half. In fact, they relied heavily on the recruitment of sailors and soldiers from other European areas.3 The tropical plantations in the Guianas, however, could be worked primarily by slave labor, requiring only a skeletal settler community as supervisors. And by the second half of the seventeenth century the Dutch had acquired the experience, the capital, and the commercial structure to obtain an adequate number of slaves from Africa to operate their plantations. As a result of the turbulent early history of the Guiana colonization, as well as subsequent developments, the population of the region became an amazing mixture of human beings. It was perhaps for this reason that the Dutch scholar, Rudolf van Lier, dubbed it "a society of a border territory."4 The early settlers included Dutch, English, French, and Sephardic Jews. To this mixture, with the indigenous populations, were added numerous African slaves from every conceivable region in Africa. The people of African descent came to constitute the vast majority of the population in the region, until the influx of large numbers of Asians during the nineteenth century changed the demographic configuration once again. In spite of several attacks by colonial rivals, the Dutch were for many years able to retain their early settlements, as well as their conquests in Guiana. The colonies on the Essequibo and the Berbice rivers were maintained, and another neighboring settlement was started on the Demerara River in 1746. These three settlements formed the basis of what later became a British colony, and more recently the country of Guyana.
The early Surinam settlement The settlement on the Suriname River, however, remained the most prosperous and most populous colony in the region. Building on the foundation laid by the English, the Dutch continued to develop the colony and enlarge its population, which was no easy task. When the Treaty of Breda was signed 2.
G. W. van der Meiden, Bestwist Bestuur: Een eeuw strijd om de macht in Suriname, 1651— I 753 (Amsterdam: Bataafse Leeuw, 1987), Chapter 1. 3. J. R. Bruyn and J. Lucassen, eds., Op de schepen van de Oost-Indische Compagnie (Groningen: Wolters-Noordhoff, 1980), Chapter 1. 4. See Rudolf van Lier, Samenleving in een Grensgebied; een Sociaal-Historische Studie van Suriname (Deventer: Van Loghum Slaterus, 1971), pp. 1-14.
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The Dutch in the Atlantic Slave Trade
in 1667, the English settlers were initially unwilling to surrender and cooperate with the Dutch. It was not until an admonition by the English king and a sizable show of force by the Dutch that they surrendered the entire colony to the WIC in 1668. The opposition by the settlers was evidenced by a large amount of physical damage and the departure of some 1,200 settlers and slaves. By 1680 most of the English settlers had left the colony. In 1663 the population of Surinam had been about 4,000 not counting the indigenous population, and it was enlarged a little with the arrival of the Jewish settler, David Nassy, and his entourage the following year. The Jewish settlers continued as a substantial element of the white population in Surinam. As a result of the war and these various population shifts, the colony's combined white and black settler population must have been in the neighborhood of 3,000 when the Dutch took firm control of the colony in 1668.5 For the next fourteen years the Surinam settlement continued to exist in a state of suspense. Because the province of Zeeland had taken the initiative in capturing Surinam from the English, it was allowed to administer the colony, continuing the longstanding relationship between the Guiana region and Zeeland. It failed, however, to establish an adequate governing structure for the colony. Partly as a result of this, the relative freedoms granted by the English became a permanent part of the Surinam tradition, and so did the planters' individualism and the quarrelsome relationship between the settlers and the administrators of the colony. In order to rebuild the depleted population of Surinam, the WIC started a program in 1670 to attract Dutch subjects to settle in the colony. This might have increased the population had it not been for the fact that soon thereafter the Dutch got involved in another war with both France and England, a war that also precipitated the bankruptcy of the WIC. After the reorganization of the company in 1674, the chamber of Zeeland was allowed to continue the administration of Surinam, but the war with France continued until 1678, and this made any effort to supply and enlarge the colony very difficult. In addition, increasing conflicts with the indigenous Caribs during the end of the decade brought the colony close to its demise.6 In 1679 the Carib population in the Surinam region attacked the white colonial establishment and gained control over much of the settlement, leaving little more than the fortress and the town of Paramaribo in the hands of the colonists. A few settlers had gone so far as to board ships in order to escape if the Caribs should capture the whole settlement. However, under the firm leadership of the newly arrived governor, Johannes Heinsius, with the assistance of the Arawaks (traditional enemies of the Caribs) from the 5. Van der Meiden, pp. 22-32. 6. A. J. A. Quintus Bosz, "Misvattingen omtrent de Staatkundige Ontwikkeling van Suriname," West-Indische Gids, vol. 40 (i960), p. 5; Van der Meiden, pp. 32-33.
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Berbice, and the arrival of 200 fresh soldiers from Holland, the white settlers persevered and saved their settlement. The threat of renewed indigenous attacks remained a problem for the settlers at least until 1706.7 It was during the two years before the Carib attack that the WIC for the first time tried to supply the colony with new slaves. One WIC slave ship was assigned to Surinam in 1677, and the following year as many as three slavers were assigned to the colony. That same year, special directives were formulated for the sale of slaves in Surinam, confirming that the arrival of slaves in the colony had not yet developed into a regular routine. One obvious reason for this generosity on the part of the WIC directors toward Surinam was that the asiento trade had recently come to a halt, and new markets for slaves already in transit were in demand. The WIC directors even discussed the possibility of making Surinam a new slave-transit station, like Curasao, but nothing came of that notion as the asiento trade was resumed again. As a result of all the confusion in the colony, none of the assigned slave ships made it to Surinam. In fact, not a single slave ship arrived in the colony during the period 1678-81. 8 As might be expected under these conditions, the settler population of Surinam was in serious decline. Whereas in 1671 there had been still 800 white settlers in the colony, this number had dropped to 400 to 500 at the end of the Carib attack in 1679. That same year Governor Heinsius reported that the white population had declined to 500, where there once had been 1,500. In addition, a number of slaves may have used the upheaval to run away from their plantations, and joined the Caribs or fled into the wilderness. The outlook for the colony at that time was indeed bleak.9
The charter of 1682 and the Society of Surinam It became evident by the early 1680s that the Zeeland sponsors of Surinam could no longer shoulder their responsibilities, and in 1682 they sold their interest in the colony to the WIC for the sum of 260,000 guilders. But even the WIC directors found Surinam too much of a risk to take on by themselves. There was, however, considerable interest in the colony among the Amsterdam merchants. After lengthy negotiations, it was agreed by the end of that year that three parties would take joint responsibility for Surinam in the governing structure, which took the name Societeit van Suriname (Society of Surinam). The WIC, the city of Amsterdam, and the prominent 7.
SS, vol. 233, pp. 1-21; R. Buve, "Gouverneur Johannes Heinsius," West-Indische Gids, vols. 44-5 (1966), pp. 16-22. 8. WIC, vol. 831, pp. 410, 441-2, 439-40; vol. 333, pp. 17-18. 9. Buve, p. 17; Van der Meiden, p. 32.
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T h e Dutch in the Atlantic Slave Trade
Sommelsdijck family had equal representation in a body of directors that would meet in Amsterdam and determine policy for the colony. Hereafter, Amsterdam rather than Zeeland dominated the affairs of Surinam. The three-way partnership in the governance of the colony lasted until 1770, when the Sommelsdijck family sold its share to the other two partners. The Society of Surinam governed the colony until 1795, when the region was placed under the jurisdiction of the Dutch government. The arrangements of 1682 were approved by the States General in a special charter that spelled out the terms of the governance of Surinam, including its administration, taxation, and the provisioning of slaves. The colony was opened to free trade by all Dutch subjects on condition of payment of stipulated duties. However, Article 6 of the charter specified that the WIC would retain a monopoly over the importation of slaves and be responsible for supplying the colony with as many slaves as were needed by its planters. In 1730 this article was amended to include a specific number of slaves, 2,500 a year. The charter also specified the terms and methods to be employed in the sale of the slaves. As a special favor, the society of Surinam was initially allowed to assist the WIC in the slave trade, but this prerogative was withdrawn after a few years. (Only one slave ship, sailing with an agent of the Society on board, has been found recorded. This was the Koninck Solomon in 1686, and it is one of the few WIC slavers whose log book has survived.) The daily administration of the colony was placed in the hands of a governor, who was appointed by the society's directors in Amsterdam, and he was assisted by a council of ten (Raad van Politie) who were selected by the governor from a group of twenty big planters elected by their peers. The colony's basic source of revenue consisted of a 2.5 percent duty on all exports and a head tax of 50 pounds of sugar levied on every inhabitant of the settlement, including slaves. Newly arrived settlers, however, were exempt from the head tax for themselves and their slaves for the first ten years in the colony.10 One of the first major decisions under the new arrangement was the appointment of Cornelis Aerssen van Sommelsdijck as governor of the colony. As one of the principal shareholders of the society, Sommelsdijck proved to be a forceful and stubborn leader. A legend of unswerving integrity and dedication has developed about this man that has until very recently been perpetuated by the writers of Surinam history. According to this legend he carried through several reforms and put the colony on a sound fiscal footing. Many new settlers arrived in Surinam during Sommelsdijck's tenure of office, and slaves were beginning to be imported on a regular basis. At least 10.
SS, vol. 215, pp. 446-75; Van der Meiden, Chapter II. Van der Meiden discovered this rare ship log and called it to my attention.
T h e Dutch colonies under WIC monopoly
181
ten WIC slavers landed their black cargoes in the colony during his five years as governor, amounting to 4,327 slaves, according to a contemporary WIC report. This was about as many as in the previous fifteen years, thus three times as many annually (see Tables 8.2 and 8.3). Several new plantations were started; their number more than doubled while Sommelsdijck was governor. The exact number is not known for the period, but in 1668 there had been only twenty-three functioning plantations, and by 1700 their number had increased to well over a hundred. Special efforts were made to encourage new settlers to come to Surinam and also to increase slave imports. Rather than giving Sommelsdijck the credit for all this progress, however, the growth of the colony was undoubtedly due more to the new governance structure of the colony and the firm financial backing from Amsterdam merchants. Nor should one blindly accept that everything was running smoothly under Sommelsdijck's governorship. Problems surfaced in 1686, when the WIC directors began to balk at further slave deliveries, because the planters were seriously behind in settling their accounts. There were continual and serious conflicts between the governor and the planters, resulting among other things from Sommelsdijck's abuse of power by demanding preferential treatment in the distribution of the slaves brought by WIC slave ships. In the end, the governor seemed to have more enemies than friends, and he was certainly far from the legendary altruistic person that his admirers created. In fact, after his death the Sommelsdijck share in the society was confiscated for several years by the other partners, because of the former's financial indebtedness to the society.11 The governorship of Sommelsdijck came to a sudden and dramatic end in 1688, when he was killed by a group of eleven mutinous soldiers at Paramaribo. Angered by a reduction in rations, caused by a shortage of supply shipments from Holland, the soldiers at the fortress demanded improvements. While on a walk, according to the story, the governor was accosted by the soldiers and shot to death when he reached for his pistol. The rebels then took control of the fortress and started negotiating with members of the Surinam council for a ransom and a safe exit from the colony. But while negotiations were in progress, the captain of a slave ship anchored in the river tricked the rebels into surrendering. After a hasty trial, the ringleaders of the rebellion were promptly sentenced and gruesomely executed.12 The death of Sommelsdijck temporarily threw the Surinam colony into 11.
Doc. "Consideration...," ARA Library and KITLV, WIC, vol. 834, pp. 92-5, 107, and 142-4; Cornelis C. Goslinga, A Short History of the Netherlands Antilles and Surinam (The Hague: Nijhoff, 1979), pp. 96-7; Van der Meiden, Chapters III and IV. 12. J. J. Hartsinck, Beschrijvingvan Guiana, ofde WildeKust van ZuidAmerika . . . , (Amsterdam: Tielenburg, 1770), vol. 2, pp. 683-720; Van der Meiden, Chapter III.
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T h e Dutch in the Atlantic Slave Trade
confusion, and it had barely recuperated when in 1689 aflotillaof nine French warships sailed up the river and demanded the colony's surrender. However, the Surinam garrison and militia, aided by several armed WIC merchant ships, were able to drive off the attackers. This was at the beginning of the Nine Year War between France and Holland (1688-97), known in a broader perspective as the War of the League of Augsburg. In 1696 Surinam was threatened again by a French fleet patrolling along the Guiana coast, but this time an attack did not materialize. The whole period from 1688 to 1714 knew few peaceful years between the colonial empires of Holland and France, which greatly disturbed the provisioning and development of the young Surinam colony. In 1712 the constant fears of the colonists became a reality when the French attacked again, now with greater force and determination. 13 In October of that year a French fleet under Admiral Cassart captured and destroyed several of the upstream Surinam plantations. Fearing that the French would eventually succeed in capturing the rest of the colony as well as the fortress, the colonists started negotiations with the enemy and agreed to the payment of a large ransom in return for the enemy's departure. After lengthy negotiations, the ransom was set at 750,000 Surinam guilders, to be paid in a combination of cash, slaves, and sugar. A total of 750 slaves, valued at 350 guilders each, were turned over to the French. In addition to these losses to the colonists, some slaves may have made use of the confusion and escaped into the interior to join their fellows in so-called maroon societies that had been established a few years before the war. These setbacks must have been extremely demoralizing to the planters, and they bitterly complained about the additional tax burden that was instituted for the future defense of the colony.14
Surinam expands Despite these various setbacks, the Surinam settlement grew slowly but steadily. The colony's plantations numbered 80 in 1684 and had grown to 128 by 1704. Sugar remained the staple export crop during most of the eighteenth century, amounting to an average of 15 to 20 million pounds per year. Initially, this was supplemented only by small amounts of wood products, dyes, indigo, cocoa, and cotton. Coffee became a major export item 13. Hartsinck, vol 2, pp. 651-71. 14. WIC, vol. 1138, doc. 88; Hartsinck, vol. 2, pp. 674-80. Population statistics based on head taxes showed a drop of fewer than 600 between 1711 and 1713. With the loss of 750 slaves to the French, this would suggest that the runaway problem cannot have been too significant at that time.
T h e Dutch colonies under WIC monopoly
183
during the 1720s, climbing to nearly 16 million pounds in 1763. Cocoa became a significant crop during the 1730s, and cotton in the 1750s.15 Between the death of Sommelsdijck and the 1712 French attack, the colony had imported nearly 20,000 slaves. This was fewer than a 1,000 a year, and far less than the planters desired and felt entitled to obtain. In the period 1692 to 1695, the number of slave imports had been particularly low, only 1,600 for the period. In 1692 the WIC directors discussed the possibility of stopping the delivery of slaves to Surinam completely, and they went so far as to suggest that they abandon the colony. Both may well have been threats with ulterior motives, for three years later their attitude had changed completely and they weighed the possibility of a contract for the delivery of 20,000 slaves to the colony. As no agreement could be reached on the price of the slaves, the WIC went back to the old practice stipulated by the charter of 1682. This meant that conflict regarding slave deliveries remained endemic, with planters constantly complaining about insufficient imports and high prices, and WIC officials lamenting the poor remittances and mounting slave debts. When the latter became very serious the company responded with fewer deliveries, as was the case during the early 1690s.16 Conflicts between planters and WIC directors became acute again in the period 1702 to 1705. In 1703 a group of Surinam planters, led by a society official named Arnoud Van Pauwe, directed a formal request to the Dutch States General to end the WIC monopoly over the importation of slaves. The planters argued that freeing the slave trade would increase deliveries and lower the prices of slaves. The WIC chamber of Amsterdam, which had its turn of presiding over the day-to-day affairs of the company at this time, responded to the challenge with a lengthy rejoinder of forty pages and supporting documentation. According to the WIC directors, the "spoiled" Surinam planters had always benefited from the services of the company and had received all the slaves for which they had been willing to pay. At that time, the directors argued, Surinam planters owed the WIC 557,566 guilders on unpaid slave deliveries. Furthermore, they claimed that over the past few decades the colony had been greatly enriched, often at the expense of the WIC. They documented that since the mid-1680s the number of plantations in the colony had increased from 80 to 126, and the slave population during this time had risen by 4,281 to 9,321. The directors admitted that the official slave prices had risen from 210 to 250 guilders, but this was 15. WIC, vol. 1138, doc. 5; SG, 5773, vol. 1705; David de Ishak Cohen Nassy, et al., Geschiedenis der Kolonie van Suriname (Amsterdam: Emmering, 1974); first published in French in 1788 and in Dutch in 1791, Appendix on Surinam exports. A study on the production of the Surinam colony is in progress by this author. 16. WIC, vol. 69, pp. 45, 52, 93, 103-4, 132, 153, and 160; WIC, vol. 836, pp. 32-3; WIC, vol. 1137, docs. 4 and 5; SS, vol. 226, pp. 131 and 227.
184
T h e Dutch in the Atlantic Slave Trade
the result of the long war with France, which had raised costs through higher wages, insurance, and the necessity of convoys. The demand for ending the slave-trade monopoly of the WIC was totally rejected by the company directors, because this would completely destroy the company's viability. Furthermore, the directors promised to deliver 1,500 to 1,600 slaves to Surinam annually, and more if demanded, if the planters would only promise to pay for them.17
Slaves consumed by the land One might ask at this point why Surinam required so many slaves. Expansion of the colony was only part of the answer, whereas high mortality must have been a principal cause for this intense demand for slaves, as one planter explained in 1706: "There are here about 160 plantations which on average each lose six slaves per year. This comes to a loss of at least 1,000 slaves each year, which shows that this land devours Negroes at a rate . . . that the importation can barely keep up with the losses due to death and runaways." 18 This was the reason, the planter continued to explain, why better terms for payment of slaves needed to be made available, why they could not pay their debts on time, and why they continually needed more slaves. The colony could easily import and put to use 2,000 slaves per year, he claimed; but above all, the colony needed more European settlers. It seemed as if the planter admitted that the colony could not be self-sufficient, and needed to be subsidized; or that someone, in addition to the slaves, needed to be exploited for the colony to flourish. New slave importations could thus barely keep up with the losses in the slave population. This explains why in spite of the sizable influx of slaves, the Surinam population registered only marginal growth, and at times even declined. Surinam was not unique in this respect. A study of English slaveplantation societies in the Caribbean confirms that mortality rates were higher in sugar-growing settlements than with any other crops. Furthermore, new sugar colonies registered higher death rates than well-developed ones, and Surinam fitted into both of these negative categories until the middle of the eighteenth century.19 What proportion of these losses were due to flight is difficult to determine. Obviously, the death rates among the slaves in this worker's hell must have been catastrophic, but a significant number of slaves must also have risked their lives in order to gain their freedom. Maroon societies were large and 17. SG, vol. 5773, vol. 1705; WIC, vol. 836, pp. 267, 292, and 358. 18. WIC, vol. 1138, doc. 5. 19. See Chapter 2, note 16.
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185
Table 8.1 Population of Surinam, 1684-1754 Selected years - from Head Tax payments' 1 European settlers Children1" All Adults 1684 1695 1700 1705 1710 1715 1720 1725 1730 1735 1744 1754
601 672 671 767 785 909
1,038 1,028 1,275
132 173 167 166 162 176 228 189 166
652 379 745 733 845 838 933 947
1,085 1,266 1,217 1,441
Adults
8,433 10,372 9,702 11,347 11,945 15,391 18,799 20,707 27,533
African slaves Children*5
All
Grand total
1,330 1,737 1,962 2,257 2,382 2,799 3,397 4,428 5,890
3,332 4,618 8,926 9,763 12,109 11,664 13,604 14,327 18,190 22,196 25,135 33,423
3,984 4,997 9,671 10,496 12,954 12,502 14,537 15,274 19,275 23,462 26,352 34,864
Source: SS, vols. 213-85. Notes: aSee accompanying text for an explanation of head taxes. This refers to children below the age of 12.
significant during the second half of the eighteenth century, but the size of these societies for earlier years has frequently been exaggerated. It seems that maroon villages were first established in Surinam about 1709, and in 1717 Governor Mahoney estimated their population at a generous i,4oo. 2° Of course, life was extremely hard for the maroons, and many must have died in the initial stages of their flight. High death rates rather than flight, however, must have been the primary cause of the slow growth of the Surinam slave population, during the early years at least. Although incomplete, Table 8.1 charts the slow growth of the Surinam population. The statistics are based on the payments of head taxes, paid on an annual basis by the free citizens for members of their families, their servants, and their slaves. New settlers were exempt from these taxes for their first ten years in the colony, in order to encourage immigration and bolster the growth of the European population. It is therefore uncertain how many of these individuals were absent from these tax rolls, but given the slow growth of the white population, the absences cannot have been very high, rarely in excess of 10 percent. There have also been complaints that occasionally not all servants and slaves were reported, which may explain 20.
SS, vol. 239, p. 58; SS, vol. 242, p. 513; SS, vol. 244, p. 6. The size of the early maroon societies has often been strongly inflated. One source gives an estimate of no less than 16,000 maroons in 1713; F. Oudschans Dentz, Geschiedkundige Tijdtafel van Suriname (Amsterdam: J. H. de Bussy, 1949), p. 8.
i86
The Dutch in the Atlantic Slave Trade Table 8.2 Slave landings at Surinam by WIC ships, 1668-1738
Years 1668-1674 1675-1679 1680-1684 1685-1689 1690-1694 1695-1699 1700-1704 1705-1709 1710-1714 1715-1719 1720-1724 1725-1729 1730-1734 1735-1738 Total
Documented Slaves Ships 11 3 6 17 4 10 7 9 4 11 7 15 21 16
3,404 1,160 2,418 7,072 2,076 5,079 3,433 4,250 2,065 5,212 2,191 7,432 9,423 7,704
141
62,917
Partial cargoes
Adjustment8
100
400 260
150 40 90 280 60 115
400 400 400
555
2,140
Total 3,404 1,560 2,778 7,072 2,226 5,119 3,433 4,340 2,345 5,272 2,591 7,947 9,823 7,704 65,612
Annual average 486 312 556
1,414 445
1,023 687 868 469
1,054 518
1,589 1,965 1,926 924
Source: Appendix 1, Table 2.2 and 9.9, and Postma Data Collection. Note: a Estimates for potential shipments that have not been verified (see text).
the severe penalties imposed on inaccurate reporting of dependents. Nevertheless, these figures provide at least a basis for understanding the demographic development of Surinam. When these statistics are compared with the actual importation of slaves into the colony, the enormous attrition of the slave population becomes evident.21 Table 8.i shows that the war period, particularly the years between 1706 and 1718 (for which statistics are lacking), show a growth in the Surinam population of little more than 10 percent, and that may well have occurred after the end of the War of the Spanish Succession in 1714. The wars between Holland and France, particularly the final years, may well have caused a decline in the Surinam population as a result of casualties, desertion of slaves, and a significant drop in slave importations (see Table 8.2). Afterward, there followed a steady increase, with a new slowdown throughout most of the 1720s, and then a significant and sustained increase began during the end of the 1720s. The demographic trends of Surinam correspond with the importation of slaves by the WIC, as is shown in Table 8.2. From 1717 to 1719 there was a significant increase in slave landings in the colony, and archival materials 21.
SS, vol. 158, p. 278.
The Dutch colonies under WIC monopoly
187
confirming this renewed growth of the colony are abundant. Even though the WIC was importing slaves in excess of a thousand a year, the planters complained that they badly needed more of these forced laborers. Nevertheless, the slave transports declined again during the early 1720s; in fact, not a single slave consignment reached Surinam in the years 1722 and 1724. This reduction was due essentially to the perennial problem of nonremittance for slave deliveries. When the old slave debts had been reduced appreciably by 1725, the WIC started delivering slaves again, and at an increased rate.22 The year 1730 was a watershed in the history of the Dutch slave trade, because in that year the WIC relinquished a portion of its slave-trade monopoly to Dutch free traders (see Chapter 8). The Dutch plantation colonies on the Guiana coast, however, were outside of the free-trade sphere, and the WIC continued to supply these areas until 1738. In fact, by concentrating its activities on this one area, the company supplied these colonies more effectively with slave labor than ever before. And as mentioned earlier, the WIC committed itself to a specific figure: 2,500 slaves a year. During the eight-year period 1730-7, Surinam alone was supplied with nearly 18,000 slaves, still 2,000 short of the WIC's commitment. During that last year, however, the WIC's interest in the traffic began to decline, and only two more WIC ships landed slaves in Surinam in 1738. Surinam planters were starting to complain again about high prices, poor payment terms, and limited deliveries, and the trend toward free trade was now so obvious that the WIC directors finally succumbed to the inevitable and surrendered their slavetrade monopoly.23 Because annual statistics on slave arrivals can be deceptive, with ships arriving at the very beginning or end of a given year, a comparative series of years might be more meaningful. Table 8.2 provides that perspective, and it also takes into account the factor of possible missing data. Slave-ship arrivals at both Surinam and Curasao have been thoroughly researched for the years after 1674. WIC slave shipments to Surinam for the years 1668 to 1675 are estimates based on data received from Binder (see Chapter 2) and these numbers appear to be rather high, although this may well reflect an initial effort to develop the colony.24 It can be said then with considerable certainty that during the seventy-one years that the WIC supplied the colony with slaves on an exclusive basis, the company shipped approximately 62,000 slaves to Surinam. A few additional slaves may have been disembarked there illegally by either foreign ships or Dutch interlopers, but their number can 22. 23. 24.
WIC, vol. 1138, cor. 2/26/1714 and 4/7/1714; WIC, vol. 1140, cor. 6/29/1721, 8/11/ 1721, 3/23/1722, and 9/12/1725; VCC, vol. 6, pp. 127 and 137. SS, vol. 14, cor. 6/5/1737 and 11/6/1737. B. W. Higman, Slave Populations of the British Caribbean, 180 j—1834 (Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 1984), pp. 322-8.
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T h e Dutch in the Atlantic Slave Trade
hardly have been significant enough to alter the overall picture. An estimated 2,140 landings have been added as an adjustment for such probabilities. The Essequibo settlement Of the various Dutch plantation settlements in today's Guyana, only the ones in the Berbice and the Essequibo River valleys were of any significance to the slave trade before the free-trade period. There was a small Dutch settlement on the Pomoroon River, but it hardly got off the ground and its share in the slave trade must have been minimal. The Demerara settlement was not started until 1746, after the WIC monopoly in the Dutch slave trade had been terminated. Essequibo was one of the earliest Dutch overseas settlements. It was started in 1618, even before the WIC was established and northern Brazil was captured. For several decades the settlement remained extremely small, and little is known of its early history. At first it was essentially a trading station, where regional products such as oriane paint and wood products were purchased from the indigenous population. In 1657 the WIC allowed a group of Zeeland towns (Middelburg, Vlissingen, and Veere) to expand the tiny settlement into a sugar-plantation colony. A small number of Jews, refugees from recently abandoned Dutch Brazil, settled in Essequibo in 1658. That same year, the Jewish merchant, David Nassy, agreed to supply the colony with slaves, but there is no evidence that this promise ever materialized. This sudden spurt of activity in the 1650s apparently met with little success, but even if it had the struggling colony was captured and destroyed by the English in 1666.25 By 1670 the Zeelanders were busy getting the Essequibo colony off the ground again. The WIC promised to contribute a shipment of 100 slaves, but the instability of the company and the volatile international situation prevented this promise from being carried out. With the reorganization of the WIC in 1674, the Zeelanders lost control and Essequibo was placed directly under WIC supervision. This did not necessarily improve the colony's prospects for growth. In 1676 there were only twenty-five WIC employees stationed at the colony's fortress, Kijkoveral, and it appeared as if the settlement had reverted back to a trading station.26 In order to revive Essequibo as a settlement enterprise, the WIC directors decided, in 1676, to open the colony to private settlers. The following year they also discussed dispatching slaves to the colony again, which apparently 25. 26.
P. M . Netscher, Geschiedenis van de Kolonien Essequebo, Demerary en Berbice ( T h e Hague: Nijhoff, 1888), pp. 71-5 and 89; ILTVK, doc. H., 65. Netscher, pp. 89-93; NBKG, vol. 24, doc. 2; WIC, vol. 831, p. 200,.
The Dutch colonies under WIC monopoly
189
had not been done for a long time. Three years later the colony still had only one WIC plantation and two additional ones in the planning stage. Only thirty-three slaves worked the WIC plantation, whereas in the past there had been as many as 120 slaves in the colony. In spite of good intentions on the part of the WIC directors, the colony remained a very small operation indeed.27 The situation changed during the 1680s, when several private settlers came to the colony. In 1685 there were five private plantations and two years later their number had grown to thirteen. WIC correspondence of this period reveals a chronic shortage of slaves on company as well as private plantations. Slave consignments, directly from Africa to the settlements in Guyana, had rarely if ever taken place, but the WIC directors were not setting aside portions of Surinam consignments for Essequibo and Berbice. The first regular slave assignment entirely for Essequibo or Berbice had to wait until 1720. 28
The Essequibo demand for slaves became so intense during the 1680s that a variety of new attempts were made to import them. Efforts were made to get small WIC boats to bring in slaves from Surinam and Curasao. For both 1686 and 1687 there is evidence that small consignments of about one hundred slaves each were shipped to the colony from Curasao. Earlier, in 1684, planters requested that a boat would be allowed to fetch thirty slaves for them from Surinam. After an initial rejection, the WIC directors approved this the following year, establishing a precedent for years to come. Essequibo planters even explored the possibility of obtaining slaves from the Spanish asiento agents, which surprisingly was approved by the WIC, but which was apparently never carried out. There is also evidence that suggests that the Essequibo director, Samuel Beekman, against regulations, traded with English subjects. In order to pacify their subjects to some degree, in 1688 the WIC directors ordered their agents at Curasao to send some macron slaves to Essequibo.29 In that same year, the WIC directors also tried to reestablish the defunct settlement on the Pomoroon River. This was greatly resented by the Essequibo planters because this would further endanger their prospects of obtaining much needed forced labor. A French attack in 1689, however, caused the WIC to abandon this settlement indefinitely. Survivors from the Pomoroon settlement scrambled to safety in nearby Essequibo, where a similar attack was feared to be imminent. In spite of these disturbances, the WIC managed to dispatch a small ship with 150 slaves to Essequibo that 27. W I C , vol. 1025, pp. 75, 82, 85, 87-8, 102-9, and 592. 28. W I C , vol. 1025, pp. 137, 331, and 342. 29. W I C , vol. 833, pp. 363 and 418; vol. 834, pp. 142 and 288; vol. 1025, p. 406; vol. 68, cor. 6/29/1688; SS, vol. 113, p. 444.
190
The Dutch in the Atlantic Slave Trade
same year. This was undoubtedly the largest single shipment landed there up to that time.30 Slowly the Essequibo colony expanded. An inventory of 1691 shows that the WIC had three functioning plantations, operated by 43 Europeans, 165 black slaves, and 54 red indigenous slaves. Six years later, the colony had four plantations in operation, and the number of WIC European employees, including the personnel on the fortress, had reached 73, with a salary outlay of 872 guilders a month. The number of private plantations had also increased; by 1700 there were 14 of them, managed by 39 Europeans and worked by 225 slaves. With an average of only eleven slaves, these were indeed small plantations. When in 1697 the WIC ship, Goude Brackhond, arrived in Essequibo with 226 slaves, the planters were overjoyed and expressed their great satisfaction to the company. "If only such shipments could arrive each year," Director Beekman wrote to his superiors in Holland. Two years later he wrote that the colony needed 150 slaves each year, in order to be effective. In fact, 130 slaves were disembarked at Essequibo in 1699. The following year, 266 slaves were landed after 56 had died on the middle passage. Of the survivors, the private planters obtained 154 and the company plantations the remainder.31
Catastrophe and renewal in Essequibo As the eighteenth century opened, the Essequibo colony was still quite small but it appeared to be stable and growing. Population statistics are lacking for this period, but it would seem reasonable to estimate a total population of 600 to 700, of which about 500 may have been African slaves. Early in the first decade the modest importation of slaves seems to have come to a halt again, and in 1706 Beekman complained that the plantations had virtually come to a standstill.32 Worse was yet to come. The wars between the colonial empires came home to Essequibo, as it had to other colonies. In October 1708, three heavily armed French privateers attacked the settlement and damaged several plantations. The fortress, Kijkoveral, did not surrender, but the warring parties negotiated a ransom settlement of 50,000 guilders, paid principally in the form of 112 slaves. The following year two other French privateers attacked and damaged the remaining plantations, and carried off more slaves. 30. W I C , vol. 1025, pp. 208-9,a n d 4°6» vol. 835, p. 88; vol. 834, p. 357. 31. Netscher. p. 98; W I C , vol. 1025, pp. 430-2; vol. 1026, pp. 9—11, 20, 36-41, and 72. 32. W I C , vol. 1026, pp. 72-5, and 139-41.
The Dutch colonies under WIC monopoly
191
Table 8.3 Slave imports at Essequibo, 1618-1738 Years 1618-1669 1670-1679 1680-1689 1690-1699 1700-1709 1710-1719 1720-1729 1730-1738 Total
Documented Ships Slaves 1 3 1 5 4 3 2 1
100 225 170 987 1,079 709 395 306
20
3,971
Partial cargoes
110 227 90 60 200 687
Adjustment8 400 25 50 50 50 50 50 750
1,425
Total 500 250 330
Annual average
1,056
25 31 126 122 82 65 117
6,083
51
1,264 1,219 819 645
Source: Appendix 1, Tables 2.2 and 9.9, and Postma Data Collection. a Estimates for potential shipments that have not been verified.
Only two sugar mills remained operative in the whole colony by the summer of 1709. The Essequibo settlement had nearly been wiped out.33 While the planters of Essequibo kept struggling to get the colony to flourish again, little activity and no profits were reported during the second decade of the century. For several years WIC documents only sparingly mentioned the settlement. By 1717 the WIC was taking slaves to Essequibo again, but the consignments were much smaller than before the French attacks. In 1719 the cultivation of coffee was started in Essequibo, a clear sign that the colony was recovering. During the 1730s the colony also experimented with growing cocoa beans and indigo, but it soon became evident to the planters that the soil was best suited for sugar cultivation. It was during the 1730s that the same level of activity was again reached as in the late 1690s. By 1735 the WIC was operating four or five plantations, and there were an estimated twenty-five to thirty private plantations in the colony. A census report of that year placed the European population at 66 and the slaves at 859. The latter may well have included a number of native American slaves.34 Table 8.3 presents an overall estimate of the number of slaves landed in the colony during the period 1618 to 1738. The WIC shipped a grand total of about about 6,000 slaves to Essequibo. Adjustments have been made in these calculations for periods in which documentation appeared to be weak, 33. 34.
Netscher, pp. 100-3; WIC, vol. 1138, doc. 5/1/1709. WIC, vol. 1026, pp. 249, 274, 410, 436, and 459; vol. 1139, doc. 2/26/1719; Netscher assumes that this population figure was exclusive of the private plantations and arrives at a much higher overall estimate for the Essequibo population. However, his figures are totally out of line with other population statistics for the settlement; see Netscher, p. 108.
192
T h e Dutch in the Atlantic Slave Trade
and qualitative evidence implies that additional shipments may have been made. This is particularly true during the decade of the 1730s, when free traders may have supplied the colony with slaves before they were officially allowed to do so.35 Some adjustments have been made to round off the figures for whole decades. It appears, however, that on the whole few if any significant slave imports to Essequibo have been overlooked. The Van Pere patronship at Berbice Another seventeenth-century Dutch colony in Guiana that had significance for the slave trade was located on the Berbice River. In many respects, Berbice and Essequibo had parallel developments, but both were obviously overshadowed by Surinam. Berbice was one of the personal Dutch patronship colonies. Settled by the Dutch Van Pere family in 1627, it remained a family possession until 1712. It was, nevertheless, subject to the overarching WIC monopoly, which included the company's exclusive right and obligation to supply the colony with slaves. For most of the seventeenth century, Berbice remained a very small colony, and little is known of its history prior to 1666. In that year, during the Second Anglo-Dutch War, Berbice was the only settlement in the region to remain in Dutch hands. By 1672, there were five plantations in the colony, and the settlement was led by a WIC ship captain, who was assisted by a few of the planters. The control of the Van Pere family had apparently slowly eroded. But when the newly reorganized WIC in 1675 acted as if the settlement were company property, representatives of the Van Pere family hastened to remind the directors of the unique status of the colony, and as a result it was allowed to continue as a family patronship.36 Although the WIC was obligated to supply the Berbice colony with slaves, the small size of the settlement must have made it a very lean market for the company. This may be one reason why so little documentary evidence exists on the subject. The relative independence of the settlement, due to its patronship status, may also have contributed to a dearth of historical records among the surviving WIC papers. During the years 1679 a n d 1680, the Van Pere family requested that the WIC import 100 and 200 slaves for those years, respectively, which was not a routine request and may therefore represent a special effort to strengthen the colony. For the next two decades no evidence of any additional requests for slave deliveries has been located.37 In 1703 the proprietors again requested the WIC to bring slaves to Berbice, but the company directors balked at the request because of the planters' 35. 36. 37.
WIC, vol. 1026, pp. 394, 474, 481, 486, 518, 533, and 549 Netscher, pp. 59, 78, 151, and 153. WIC, vol. 832, pp. 28, 58-9, and 228.
T h e Dutch colonies under WIC monopoly
193
poor credit rating. Two years later, however, the WIC slaver, Pijnenburg, disembarked fifty slaves at the colony. Then, after several more years of apparent inactivity, in 1716 the WIC ordered two company boats to ship fifty slaves each from Curagao to Berbice. This order, similar to the practice in Essequibo, was carried out the following year. While this very scanty documentary record must be due in part to the loss of evidence, there is no doubt that the slave traffic to Berbice during the seventeenth century must have been small indeed. Not until the 1720s was there a significant increase in the slave trade to the colony.38 In the meantime, however, the colony of Berbice had experienced a number of dramatic events that threatened its very existence. In 1687 the indigenous population revolted and attacked the white settlement, causing considerable damage to some of the plantations. And in 1712 three French privateers attacked and subdued the colony. As had been the case in Surinam and Essequibo, the planters negotiated the return of their independence for a ransom payment of 300,000 guilders. Forty percent of this ransom was paid immediately in the form of sugar products and 259 slaves. The remaining 180,000 guilders were to be paid by the Van Pere family, who were all domiciled in Holland as absentee landowners at that time. The family representatives subsequently refused to honor the ransom agreement, and offered to turn the whole colony over to the French. Perhaps this signifies the limited economic value of the Berbice colony at that time. After two years of negotiating and uncertainty, four merchants from Amsterdam agreed to pay 108,000 guilders on the balance of the ransom in return for control over the settlement.39
The Society of Berbice Thus the Van Pere patronship of Berbice came to an end, and the new owners made a concerted effort to make good on their investment. The WIC agreed to continue its prior obligations to the colony and deliver slaves whenever the planters demanded them. Immediately, a consignment for 250 slaves was prepared in order to get the colony revitalized, and the WIC promised to send additional shipments when further bona fide requests were made. However, since the owners and settlers lacked the means to pay for the additional slaves, there were no follow-up shipments. Thus, the new proprietorship was no more successful than its predecessor. Nevertheless, 38. 39.
Netscher, p. 155; WIC, vol. 836, pp. 315-17; WIC, vol. 747, doc. 1/19/1705; WIC, vol. 206, pp. 266 and 281. Netscher, pp. 155-9.
194
T h e Dutch in the Atlantic Slave Trade
an inventory of 1719 listed the total slave population, including children, at 895-4° In 1720 the Berbice planters organized themselves into a society, or corporation, on the Surinam model, which was approved by the WIC and the States General. The new society planned to create eight to ten new plantations and import 1,200 slaves from Africa, if the WIC was willing to accommodate them. They also decided to start the cultivation of coffee, indigo, and cotton, in addition to the traditional sugar crop. The records of a number of slave contracts and deliveries of this period have been preserved. In 1722 the WIC ship, Vrijheid, delivered 400 slaves, and two years later the Leusden landed 314 slaves at Berbice. Contracts calling for slave deliveries of 250 to 300 slaves for the years 1720,1723, and 1730 have been preserved, but fulfillment of such contracts has not been verified.41 The ambitious plans of 1720 must have fallen short of their goals, for by the late 1720s the society faced serious financial problems and was in virtual disarray. These problems led to the reorganization of the society and the issuance of a new charter in 1732. The new charter gave the society slightly greater independence from the WIC, although the company retained a monopoly over the importation of slaves as long as the needs of the planters were satisfied. Apparently the WIC tried to fulfill its obligation, because during the next five years it dispatched four slave consignments to Berbice, delivering a total of about 1,100 slaves. This was undoubtedly the most rapid expansion of the colony in such a brief time. Perhaps there were even more slaves landed during this period, because there were WIC complaints about slave contracts with free traders in 1733 and 1736. During the final years of that decade, perhaps beginning with 1736, the free traders replaced the WIC as the slave suppliers of Berbice.42 The decade of the 1730s represents therefore the real takeoff for the Berbice colony. By 1733 the society alone had twelve operating plantations, and there must have been a number of private plantations as well. An undated map of the colony, which has sometimes been attributed to the year 1740, shows ninety-three plantations; however, this must belong to a later period, for in 1762 there were still only ninety-five plantations in Berbice.43 Table 8.4 tabulates the estimated number of slaves landed in Berbice in the period 1627 to 1737. The estimate has been generously inflated by doubling the number actually documented as arriving, because of the poor condition of the records for that period. In terms of numbers, Berbice was 40. 41. 42. 43.
SB, vol. 31, pp. 108-109; Netscher, pp. 159-60. SB, vol. 31, pp. 132-3, and 151; Netscher, pp. 162-70. SB, vol. 31, pp. 268, 462-9. See also Appendixes 1 and 2. Netscher, p. 173.
The Dutch colonies under WIC monopoly
195
Table 8.4 Slave imports at Berbice, 1627-1737 Years 1627-1699 1700-1709 1710-1719 1720-1729 1730-1737 Total
Documented Ships Slaves 1 1 2 2
90 50 422 770
5
1,547
11
2,879
Partial cargoes
Annual average
Adjustments8
Total
327 90 60 200
600 100 300 100 750
1,017 1,070 2,297
14 24 78 107 287
677
1,850
5,406
49
240 782
Source: Appendix 1, Tables 2.2 and 9.9, and Postma Data Collection. Note: aEstimates for potential landings that have not been verified.
the smallest of the Dutch slave markets during the period of the WIC monopoly, importing a grand total of approximately 5,000 slaves by 1738.
Colonization attempts at St. Eustatius One of the small Leeward Islands in the Lesser Antilles, St. Eustatius, also played a substantial role in the Dutch slave trade, albeit for a short duration during the 1720s. Although started as a small plantation colony, St. Eustatius is best remembered for its transit trade, playing a role much like that of Curasao. St. Eustatius had been acquired by the Dutch in 1635, and the Zeelander, Jan Snouck, was granted a patronship over the island with the purpose of developing it into a plantation settlement. At first tobacco and later sugar became the dominant crops of the island. Native Americans, shipped primarily from the Guiana region, were initially forced to work the plantations, but by the middle of the seventeenth century they were replaced by black slaves. The island was too small and its climate was unsuitable (long intervals of drought) for St. Eustatius to become a plantation colony of significance. In addition, the island was politically unstable and frequently changed colonial masters between Holland, England, and France, especially during the seventeenth century.44 After several setbacks and failures of leadership at St. Eustatius, the Van Pere family was allowed to develop the island in 1679, and the WIC directors buttressed this attempt with a special slave transport of 200 to 250 slaves 44.
Goslinga, Dutch in the Caribbean, pp. 261-3, and 336.
Nf
0
>
VIS
O SI JOHN'S 0 MONTSERAT
MAP 8.2
THE LESSER ANTILLES
g 0ST""A /
<9 STV1NCFM
The Dutch colonies under WIC monopoly
197
directly from Africa. This may well have been the first such shipment, for the island had generally been supplied with small boat loads of macron slaves from Curasao. The Van Peres were no more successful than their predecessors, and in 1685 St. Eustatius was placed directly under WIC governance, with a WIC official, titled commander, as its ranking officer and manager. In addition to small shipments of macron slaves from Curaqao, interlopers occasionally supplied the island with slaves. The interloper ship, Dolphin, for example, landed approximately 400 slaves at St. Eustatius in 1701. 45
Reflecting the size of its economy, the population of St. Eustatius always remained small though fairly stable. The European population, including children, numbered 330 in 1665, and by 1734 this figure had grown to 519. The slave population during this period fluctuated between 800 and 1,000, although the figures for both slaves and Europeans were considerably lower during the War of the Spanish Succession at the beginning of the eighteenth century.46
St. Eustatius as slave-trading depot Isaac Lamont, the commander of St. Eustatius, suggested to his WIC superiors in 1701 that the island would make an ideal slave-trading station, like Curasao, and he requested that the company assign several slave transports for this purpose. He claimed that he could sell 3,000 to 4,000 slaves annually and, he continued: "that trade would render much profit to Your Honors and also be the only means to end the interloper trade here, as the foreign planters would rather buy from me than from interlopers I hope you will soon resolve to send Negro slaves."47 The international situation prevented Lamont's plan from being imple45.
46.
Y. Attema, St. Eustatius: A Short History of the Island and Its Monuments (Zutphen, Netherlands: Walburg Press, 1976), pp. 18-19; WIC, vol. 68, cor. 10/20/1688; WIC, vol. 69, p. 152; WIC, vol. 248, p. 18; WIC, vol. 832, pp. 59 and 291; WIC, vol. 833, pp. 148 and 274; WIC, vol. 834, p. 152. The scarce population statistics for St. Eustatius for the early years are as follows:
1665 1705 1709 1720 1723 1730 1734
47.
Europeans
Slaves
330 253
840
422
823 871 980
349 426
120?
463
519 973 See: Attema, p. 16; WIC, vol. 248, pp. 66-7, 117-8, and 373; WIC, vol. 249, p. 349; WIC, vol. 619, pp. 67-8; WIC, vol. 620, p. 499. WIC, vol. 248, p. 19.
198
The Dutch in the Atlantic Slave Trade
mented, however, as St. Eustatius was for several years under imminent threat of a French attack. Many of the island's inhabitants left St. Eustatius for safety on neighboring islands, causing a large drop in its population. And French attacks came, in 1709 and again in 1713. In the first attack the French destroyed all buildings on the island and carried off 264 slaves, more than half of its slave population. The island remained in Dutch hands, and by 1713 the WIC directors inquired about the feasibility of starting the slave trade there as Lamont had suggested twelve years earlier. Now that the asiento trade at Curasao had officially been terminated, St. Eustatius might conveniently fill the vacuum. The St. Eustatius commander responded positively, but in a more modest tone, suggesting that he would be able to sell about 300 slaves annually for the company. At the same time a more optimistic report was written by Anthonius Cowan, the Protestant pastor of St. Eustatius: "Your Honors should direct one or two slave ships to this island each year, and these slaves can be sold to the French, English, and this island's inhabitants, and the ships will be returned to Your Honors with produce. This could result in much profit for the company."48 Apparently the WIC directors were in no hurry with the St. Eustatius slave trade, because the first slave assignment to the island was not recorded until 1720, resulting in the arrival of the ship, Leusden, the following year. One reason for the slow response of the WIC directors may have been the bitter struggle for leadership of the WIC establishment on the island in 1717, which could have made the new venture risky. Interloper activity in the region may well have prompted the WIC to pursue the St. Eustatius slave trade. In 1915 two interloper slavers were reported at the island, and in 1719 three others appeared and threatened to attack the island unless they were given permission to sell slaves there. The following year, the interloper ship, Korte Prim, delivered 340 slaves to the island. This is undoubtedly the most intense effort made by Dutch interlopers to penetrate the WIC slave trade monopoly. And the location of St. Eustatius, with several islands of other nationalities in the vicinity, was an ideal location for the interloper trade, making WIC policing efforts extremely difficult. Several St. Eustatius citizens were accused of encouraging the interloper trade. One of the WIC employees on the island, Jacob Stevens, had been an interloper trader himself, and the social environment thus lent support to the suspicions of the WIC's directors. After the WIC began to respond to the demand for slaves in that region, however, the interlopers either became less active or they sold their slaves on nearby French islands instead.4g 48.
WIC, vol. 203, 439; WIC, vol. 248, pp. 5-10, 109, 118, 149-51; WIC, vol. 1299, cor.
49.
Thirty-three slaves were sold to foreigners in 1717. For the power struggle on the island see: WIC, vol. 248, pp. 151, 173-5, ^ 7 , 205, 229, 239, 249, 450, 487; WIC, vol. 619,
10/12/1717.
The Dutch colonies under WIC monopoly
199
Table 8.5 Documented slave landings at St. Eustatius, 1689-1729 Year 1689 1701 1719 1720 1721 1722 1723 1724 1725 1726 1727 1729 Total
Ships 1 1 2 1 1 3
5
3 3 5 1 1 5+22
Slaves 175a 400a 700a 340a 450 1,579 2,744 1,067 1,324 2,238 570 11,587
75
Total 175 400 700 340 450 1,579 2,744 1,288 1,324 2,342 570 75
400
I 1,987
Cargo portions
221 104
Source: Appendix 1, and Postma Data Collection. Note: a Interloper consignments are estimates.
As Table 8.5 shows, in 1721 the WIC started to get intensely involved in the St. Eustatius slave trade, and made the island into an active slave trading depot. During that decade twenty-three WIC ships disembarked nearly 11,000 slaves at the island, and interlopers had brought in about 1,000 during the years 1719-20. Many of the slaves were apparently resold to the nearby French islands of Guadeloupe and Martinique, but some also ended up in nearby English islands or were sold to English asiento agents operating from the Spanish mainland. Some Dutch traders living at St. Eustatius participated in the process of distributing the slaves; Joanz Doncker, for example, son of the former commander of the island, complained that he lost one of his boats to a French privateer while taking slaves to Guadeloupe.50 During the 1720s St. Eustatius briefly became the cornerstone of the Dutch slave trade, facilitating the sale of more than a third of the total traffic, even more than Surinam at that time. In contemporary correspondence the island was compared to Curasao, whose role it seemed to have usurped. The growth of commercial activity in the island stimulated a flurry of building activities, including the refurbishing of the local fort and the construction of a twostory building that could house 400 to 450 slaves who were awaiting trans-
50.
pp. 99-101, 131 and 230; WIC, vol. 1300, doc. 5/12/1719. See Attema, p. 62, for a list of the commanders of St. Eustatius. WIC, vol. 248, pp. 405 and 487; WIC, vol. 249, p. 29; WIC, vol. 619, pp. 76-80. See Chapters 3 and 5 about the interloper trade.
200
T h e Dutch in the Atlantic Slave Trade
shipment. The slave trade at St. Eustatius was not without problems, however. The predictable three-month-long hurricane season created havoc and delays for slave ships, and the unreliability of the foreign market was a constant concern, as was the competition from foreign slave ships that sold their slaves at neighboring islands.51 The documentation for the St. Eustatius trade during the 1720s is quite reliable and complete. With the increase of commercial activity came a stream of correspondence between the island and the WIC headquarters in Holland, and much of it has been preserved. Ships assigned to the St. Eustatius slave trade were five short of actual arrivals, but for two years the records of such assignments have been lost, which might explain the discrepancy. The documents certainly confirm the feasibility of the twenty-three WIC slave consignments that have been found recorded. Three of these ships disembarked only a portion of their slaves on the island, taking the remainder of their slaves to Curasao. The St. Eustatius slave trade reached its peak in 1726, and then suddenly seemed to evaporate. The activity of the years immediately following that year are somewhat unclear, but by early 1729 it was evident that the slave trade had come to a halt. In February of that year, Commander Everard Raecx wrote to Holland that the "slave trade needs to be maintained, for without it this island amounts to nothing." Shortly thereafter the last arriving WIC slaver, Phenix, could sell only seventy-five of its slaves, and was forced to continue with the remainder of its consignment to Curasao. The captain of the ship reported: "Never do we trade slaves beneficially at St. Eustatius."52 In 1730 Commander Raecx again saw hope for the revival of the slave trade at St. Eustatius and he urged the WIC to send slaves again. A year later he reversed himself, claiming that the English were flooding the market, and that slave prices had dropped significantly, discouraging further shipments. Meanwhile, Raecx was busy collecting for the WIC on old debts from French planters at Martinique and Guadeloupe. From that time on, St. Eustatius played only a marginal role in the slave trade, and it was not until the 1770s that the island earned the nickname "Golden Rock" and became a significant part of Dutch overseas commerce again.53 51. Attema, p. 29; W I C , vol. 248, pp. 405-7, and 481; W I C , vol. 409, pp. 3-4; W I C , vol. 619, pp. 103, 124, 128 and 269. 52. W I C , vol. 249, pp. 3-4, and 29; W I C , vol. 1154, pp. 91 and 95. 53. WIC, vol. 619, pp. 412, 451 and 661; WIC, vol. 294, pp. 491-4, 510, 528 and 549; Attema, pp. 30-3.
The era of the free trade 1730-80
In contrast to their European competitors, the Dutch were slow in replacing company monopoly with free trade in the Atlantic slave trade. The French in 1672 and the English in 1689 permitted their nationals to participate freely in the slave trade on condition that they pay a certain fee, 10 percent in case of the English subjects. Hence, they were often referred to as the 1 o-percent men. By the end of the 1720s, when the WIC charter was due for its customary thirty-year renewal, the Dutch States General also bowed to pressure from the private sector and curtailed the WIC monopoly so drastically that it essentially inaugurated the free-trade period with the new WIC charter of 1730.1
The free trade triumphs The Atlantic trade monopoly of the WIC had slowly been eroded throughout the seventeenth century, first in Brazil and in North America, and in specific branches of commerce; however, the slave trade had been retained by the company as one of the last vestiges of company control. There had been discussions as early as the 1660s to open the slave trade to private merchants. This had come to nothing, and in the WIC reorganization in 1674 the slave trade was perhaps even more firmly under the company's monopoly than before. In 1687 the Heren X discussed the freeing of the slave trade to Surinam, but it offered so many objections that one can hardly interpret this as a serious intent; they merely made efforts to loosen restrictions within the framework of the company monopoly. Five years later the city council of Middelburg urged that the trade with Africa be opened to all citizens of the Dutch Republic. But the directors of all WIC chambers overwhelmingly 1. Davies, Royal African Company, pp. 20 and 46.
202
T h e Dutch in the Atlantic Slave Trade
rejected the free trade, at least until 1710, although the Zeeland directors may have wished to free the slave trade to Surinam and the Guianas.2 With the loss of the asiento trade early in the eighteenth century, the WIC slave trade had declined seriously. With the rapid development of the Surinam colony during the 1720s, it had revived again but by then the opposition to monopoly trade had become too powerful to retain it in its entirety. Besides, the Dutch government was paying sizable subsidies in order to keep the WIC afloat, and all these factors influenced the members of the States General, who by 1730 had to decide on the renewal of the WIC charter for an additional thirty years. The strongest pressure for freeing the slave trade came from the private sector in Zeeland. In 1728 the merchants of Vlissingen took the initiative by signing a request for ending the WICs monopoly, and that same year the Zeeland estates and the Zeeland chamber of the WIC discussed the issue favorably. The argument in favor of the free trade was that foreign competitors were overwhelming the WIC in the African trade, and that since the WIC had lost the asiento trade the English were in a position to offer higher prices for slaves in Africa. When the States General received the Zeeland proposal in December 1729, WIC directors complained about the lateness of the proposed alteration. They put forth a valiant defense for the retention of the company monopoly, claiming their method to be the most efficient means of supplying the colonies with slave labor. But their defense was not strong enough to prevent the States General from forcing a reduction in the WIC monopoly. Free traders, however, were required to purchase a permit from the WIC for the privilege of trading on the African coast. This fee, or "recognition," amounted to approximately sixty guilders per last, more than twice as much as the Zeeland merchants had anticipated.3 In the compromise solution of the so-called Regulations of 1730, which were appended to the new WIC charter of 1730, the WIC retained its monopoly for the Gold Coast, where its trading stations were clustered. The company also retained the exclusive right of importing slaves into the plantation colonies in Surinam and Guyana. Elsewhere on the African coast and in the Caribbean, free traders were allowed to come and go as long as they 2. WIC, vol. 656, doc. 9/29/1692; WIC, vol. 839, p. 166; GAR, folders 458 and 802; WIC, vol. 834, p. 295. 3. VWIS, folders 1199 and 36. See also van de Voort, pp. 120-2, from which the following table of "recognition" payments has been excerpted: SHIP LENGTH MEASUREMENT DUTIES 70 feet 45 last /3,ooo 80 feet 60 last f3S00
90 feet 100 feet n o feet 120 feet
80 last n o last 125 last 150 last
/ 5,100 /6,900 /7,8oo /"9,300
T h e era of the free trade
203
purchased a permit from the WIC and followed the accompanying instructions. The WIC establishment at Elmina was alarmed at the concessions made in the new charter, because in the compromise of 1730 the WIC also committed itself to ship 2,500 slaves to Surinam annually. They claimed that this number could not possibly be acquired in the small monopoly territory of the Gold Coast, and they also feared that the arrival of large numbers of free traders would inflate the price of slaves, making their obligation to Surinam even more difficult to fulfill.4 On the other hand, free traders in Holland were not satisfied with the terms of the charter either, although they eagerly responded to the new opportunities, and they continued to keep up the pressure for a total abolition of the WIC monopoly over the slave trade. In 1734 they managed to persuade the States General to amend the charter of the WIC with a special ordinance or regulation known as Naader Reglement, which also opened the Gold Coast to free traders and extended the period of validity for a slaving pass from twelve to twenty months. The penalties for prolonging slaving voyages beyond these time spans were also reduced from 8 percent to 5 percent of the total fee paid for the slaving permit or pass. Another limitation for free traders that remained in effect was the carrying capacity of their ships; they were not allowed to use flute ships, and the maximum length allowed for freetrade slavers remained at 125 feet, although the table for recognition payments favored smaller ships. There is a certain irony in this arrangement because the WIC rarely used flutes for the slave trade and hardly any of its slave ships were over 125 feet in length. Whatever the rationale, the free traders did develop a pattern of using smaller ships than the WIC's, as has been explained in Chapter j . 5 In 1738 the WIC surrendered the last vestiges of its slave-trade monopoly in the Guianas as well, and the first free traders arrived in Surinam that same year. But even then the WIC registered a symbolic gesture of opposition by voting against the complete surrender of their monopoly in the meeting of the Society of Surinam. In reality, however, there were many factors that forced the WIC to face the inevitable. The WIC's financial position had greatly deteriorated during the decade of the 1730s. The value of its shares on the stock market had dropped drastically and the company had no capital to replace its aging slave-trade fleet. In addition, a number of misfortunes plagued the WIC slave trade during these final years, the worst of which was the sinking of the slaver Leusden, in January 1738, off the coast of Surinam, drowning 702 of the 716 slaves on board. This must have been 4. WIC, vol. 41, docs. 35-43; WIC, vol. 487, p. 421; WIC, vol. 109, cor. 8/1/1731. 5. VCC, no. 6, pp. 116-17; RLMM, Lelyveld, folder 106. This folder includes printed copies of the pertinent charters and ordinances. See also H.J. den Heyer, "De ondergang van een monopoly," M.A. thesis, Leiden University, 1988.
204
T h e Dutch in the Atlantic Slave Trade
an enormous financial loss for the company, and it may well have helped the directors to get out of this risky business before it was too late. Two years earlier two other WIC ships had suffered 59 percent and 46 percent mortality rates on the middle passage, raising the average mortality of the WIC's last few years well above the aggregate average. Only two more large WIC slavers sailed after the catastrophe with the Leusden, completing their assignments in 1739, because they had been en route to Africa or were about to depart when that disaster occurred. Records of only a few additional WIC slavers have been located for the next few decades, but for all practical purposes the WIC was no longer an active participant in the transatlantic slave trade after 1738.6 In an indirect way the WIC remained involved in the slave trade. The company was still the agent that managed the sale of the slaving passes to free traders, and it still maintained trading and refreshment stations in African and Caribbean waters. The WIC had assumed an intermediary, or middleman, function. Starting in 1734, and particularly after 1740, WIC agents in Africa were selling slaves to free traders but the company charged a fee of twenty guilders for each slave transacted. This mandatory fee angered free traders and caused them to protest, but in the end the States General confirmed the WIC's right to continue this practice. As a concession, the free traders were allowed more flexible payments for slaving passes: one-third at the commencement of the voyage and the remainder upon their return to Europe. The special ordinance of 1734 had been specified for the duration of twenty years, and when it was due to expire the States General prolonged its operation until the expiration of the WIC charter in 1760. The special ordinance of 1754 also confirmed the other alterations in policy mentioned above.7 In the renewal of the WIC charter in 1760, the previously mentioned ordinances were adopted as permanent elements of the provision, and there were some additional modifications that perpetuated the balancing act the States General had been playing. With the new charter taking effect at the beginning of 1762, all limitations on the size of slave ships were dropped. Furthermore, slave ships were given twenty to twenty-four months for their slaving missions, depending on the type of ship, before they had to pay overdue fees. The fees for slaving permits were also reduced at this time, although this coincided with a change in configuring the cargo capacity of 6.
7.
The end of the WIC monopoly has been analyzed by H.J. den Heyer in his thesis cited in this chapter, note # 5 . WIC, vol. 57, p. 47; WIC, vol. 113, pp. 502 and 523; WIC, vol. 489, pp. 301 and 703; VWIS, folder 932. The middle passage and mortality are discussed in Chapters 7 and 10. The last recorded WIC slavers were the Catharina Galey (1742 and 1748), the Maria Galey (1747), and the Margaretha Christina (1750); these ships are listed with free traders in Appendix 2. RLLM, Lelyveld, folder 106; GAR, folder, 457a.
T h e era of the free trade
205
ships. In general, these changes may have come close to canceling out each other. Nevertheless, these decisions collectively were greeted with vigorous protests from Zeeland slave traders, who had by now come to dominate the trade. They complained bitterly that they had been "left alone to face the stiff competition of the French and the English in this dangerous traffic." Later in that decade, Vlissingen slave merchants were requesting that fees for the slave trade be dropped altogether, especially for the Guiana colonies, where they faced fierce competition by the British. But their demands were not met until the 1780s.8
Africa and the free trade When the company monopoly over the slave trade ended on the Gold Coast in 1734, and particularly when five years later the WIC essentially discontinued its Atlantic crossings with slaves, the company's role in Africa had to be reassessed. WIC officials still had the obligation to maintain the trading stations and they were allowed to continue trading with Africans as in the past. On the whole, the company's activity was greatly reduced and reductions in personnel was one of the inescapable results. The surviving minutes of the WIC council in Africa during the following decades give a gloomy picture of low morale, internal bickering, and preoccupation with what previously would have been regarded as mere minutiae. Company officials still bought slaves from Africans, but they now sold them to free traders instead of simply boarding them on WIC slave ships. By 1740 the factory masters of the trading stations were permitted to buy and sell slaves at their own risk in addition to their customary obligations to the company. For this privilege and opportunity, they had to pay the company eight ackeys of gold (the equivalent of twenty Dutch guilders) for every slave that they thus channeled from African merchants to Dutch free traders. In effect, they had become middlemen. The policy of charging a fee, or head money, was started on the WIC's own initiative and was not officially approved by the Dutch government until 1754. By 1762 WIC servants ranking below factory masters were allowed to trade gold, but not in slaves until 1768.9 The records of these head-money payments provide us with a glimpse of the slaving activity at the Dutch trading stations on the Gold Coast, but unfortunately their preservation is far from complete. Table 9.1 presents the incomplete record of company slave sales to free traders, providing us with an impression of the volume and flow of the slave trade from this region. 8.
MCC, vol. 1569, pp. 36 and 48; RLLM, Lelyveld, folder 106; MCC, vol. 1567, doc. 68. See also Chapter 6 on ship measurements. 9. NBKG, vol. 9, min. 4/11/1747; WIC, vol. 57, pp. 79 and 82.
The Dutch in the Atlantic Slave Trade
206
Table 9.1 WIC slave sales to free traders, 1737-1777 Period mo./ year 11/ 10/ 11/ 3/
Slaves
1737 through l,676a 1738 1738 through 702 1740 634 1740 1,216 1741 1,586 1742 1,743 1743 2,241 1744 962 1745 228 1746
8/ 1752 through 11 1754
1,383
Annual average
Period mo./ year
Slaves
Annual average
1755
1,137
1,137
1762
2,424
2,424
1,131
1,131
622 2,594 2,317 1,530 2,362 1,839 1,503 1,612
1,244 2,594 2,317 1,530 2,362 1,839 1,503 1,612
1,676 558 634 1,216 1,586 1,743 2,241 962 228 692
1766 1/ 1767 through 6/ 1767 1771 1772 1773 1774 1775 1776 1111
Source: WIC, vol. 113, p. 421; vol. 114, p. 229; vol. 117, p. 177; vol. 488, p. 537; vol. 490, p. 609; VWIS, nr. 932. Note: aThese may include some sales to WIC ships.
Some of the early figures also include slaves boarded on the last WIC slave ships. On the average, the WIC was selling 1,500 to 2,000 slaves annually at its stations on the Gold Coast. Fluctuations in the export figures can often be explained by political turmoil in that specific African region. With the demand for slaves either stable or growing during much of the eighteenth century, increasing areas of Africa began to respond to this demand and supply slaves in growing numbers. The mobile pattern of the free traders was more flexible in its response to changes in political or economic conditions in Africa than the stationary system, which was restricted by the heavy investment in fortified stations. If a given region was plagued by war and political instability, and the trade routes converging on a particular trading station were blocked, the station was of no value. Free traders, on the other hand, could sail to another coastal area to obtain their slaves. For the WIC with its trading stations concentrated on the Gold Coast, the disadvantages of the stationary system remained a problem. African wars on or near the coast could have a disastrous effect on the company's trade. There were several small-scale wars at Elmina, Accra, and Bercu during the late 1730s that may have contributed to the decline in slave exports for the WIC. Larger conflicts could immobilize the whole trading system, as was the case during the second half of the 1740s, when the Wassa people blocked the trade routes to the coastal stations in that region. As a result,
The era of the free trade
207
WIC agents reported repeatedly that the slave trade was "completely dead," and they openly blamed "native wars" for the deterioration of the trade. Table 9.1 reflects the impact of these political disturbances. Tensions between the Wassa on the coast and the Asante in the interior were the cause of problems, preventing the latter from bringing their merchandise (slaves included) to the WIC stations. Asante traders eventually diverted their merchandise to the Slave Coast, causing the Dutch to think of reactivating their trading stations in that area.10 Free traders could try to obtain their slaves elsewhere in such situations by shifting their operation to the Windward coast or to other areas. During the early 1750s, however, the slave trade on the Windward coast was also reported dead, causing the free traders real problems. One free-trade ship required nearly eleven months to obtain its cargo of 317 slaves, and the overall volume of the Dutch slave trade shows a decided decline at this time.11 As widespread West African wars dissipated after 1755, Dutch slave exports also increased significantly. In 1767 conflicts erupted between the Fante and the Asante, as Akyem shifted its alliance from the former to the latter, but no negative commercial repercussions from this diplomatic shift were reported by the WIC. A more troublesome problem for the WIC was the insubordination of the wealthy and powerful merchant prince, Amnichia, from Apollonia, who controlled most of the Hante lands on the western Gold Coast, forcing the trade at Axim to a virtual halt. Amnichia's actions were reminiscent of John Conny in the same region early in the century. WIC leaders desperately tried to arouse neighboring people to oppose Amnichia, but apparently to little avail, as he continued to defy the Dutch as well as the English. In 1768 the WIC threatened to bombard Amnichia's headquarters at Apollonia with the WIC cruiser, Amazone, which led to a temporary truce between the feuding parties. It was not until 1774 that WIC leaders succeeded with a variety of gifts in appeasing Amnichia into a working relationship with them.12 Although the disorders caused by Amnichia were restricted to only a small region of the Gold Coast, elsewhere the WIC trade flourished. This changed in 1773, when trade along most of the Gold Coast was hampered by hostilities between the Fante and Asante nations. The latter had become increasingly more prominent in the coastal slave trade and they prevented Asante mer10. WIC, vol. n o , p. 731; WIC, vol. 113, pp. 447-8, 504, 522, 570, and 585; NBKG, vol. 8, min. 7/-/1736, 5/27/1737, and 10/30/1738. NBKG, vol. 9, min. 5/1/1747; MCC, vol. 60, cor. 1/3/1755; WIC, vol. 490, pp. 360-2, 602, and 635-640. n . MCC, vol. 60, cor. 10/26/1753; WIC, vol. 113, p. 322. See also Table 5.8. 12. WIC, vol. 117, pp. n , 82, 101, and 467; WIC, vol. 118, p. 58. For an account of Amnichia's activities see also WIC, vol. 115, pp. 289-91, 559, and 744; NBKG, vols. 11 and 12.
208
T h e Dutch in the Atlantic Slave Trade
chants from taking their merchandise to European stations.13 It is doubtful that these political developments in Africa caused the sharp decline of the Dutch slave trade during the 1770s. The answer to the precipitous drop in the slave trade at this time must be sought in international political and economic developments.
International factors The eighteenth century was also clearly a period of economic decline for the Dutch at home and abroad, despite brief periods of revival during the 1720s and 1730s and again during the 1760s. Nevertheless, the Dutch still had a huge merchant marine, which continued to play a prominent part in international commerce until the turmoil of the Napoleonic era. Foreign competition, particularly from the English and the French, was steadily eroding the seventeenth-century Dutch dominance in international shipping.14 Compared with the war-filled era that ended in 1715 and the turbulent political period 1775 to 1815, the years in between were quite peaceful for the Dutch Republic. Even during the War of the Austrian Succession (17408) and the widespread Seven Years War (1756-63), the Dutch essentially maintained their neutrality, except for getting involved briefly in hostilities with France in 1747-8. By this time Holland was no longer a first-rate power; its one-time powerful navy stood in the shadows of the now-mighty British Empire, and neutrality could not always prevent damage to Dutch maritime activities. It was not until the Fourth Anglo-Dutch War (1780-4), however, that the Dutch suffered irreversible losses from which they never recovered. The Dutch slave trade also came to a complete halt during this war, and only faintly recovered during the decade that followed.15 During the 1740s the Dutch may actually have benefited from the European war, which prevented the French from supplying their Caribbean plantation colonies with slaves, and provided the Dutch with a share of this market. Besides, the French were never a threat to the Dutch stations on the African coast until the 1780s. Other European nations did threaten Dutch trade in Africa. The Portuguese-Brazilian return to the Slave Coast region during the later 1720s drew defiant reactions from WIC leaders in Africa, and it clearly undermined Dutch activities in that region. The Danes also 13.
HAR, vols. 41 and 42, cor. 7/15/1773; WIC, vol. 494, docs. 68 and 83; WIC, Vol. 926, no. 109; De Maree, vol. 2, p. 129. 14. Van Dillen, pp. 652-57. 15. The waning years of the Dutch slave trade will be discussed in Chapter 12.
T h e era of the free trade
209
renewed their pressure on the Dutch on the Gold Coast during the second half of the century.16 The rise of British competition during the eighteenth century was phenomenal, and WIC correspondence from Africa repeatedly refers to them as their chief competitors. Despite the lack of open hostility between the two countries for more than a century (1674-1780), their competitive positions could not but cause tension between the two powers. In time of war the British navy frequently harrassed neutral Dutch ships. In peace time their economic rivalry was often intense, with the British increasingly gaining the upper hand. In 1749 the Royal African Company reorganized its administration in Africa and in the process significantly raised its purchase price for slaves above that of the Dutch. This drew angry denunciations from the Dutch, and it may well have been one of the reasons why the volume of the Dutch slave trade declined significantly during the early 1750s. Five years later, Dutch traders were still complaining that the British were paying their slavers subsidies, while they were burdened with the payment of permit fees and head money, which greatly increased the cost of their operation. Actually, the permit fees paid by Dutch free traders averaged slightly more than 4 percent of outlays on each slaving voyage, but this did not include the head money that the WIC establishment in Africa demanded. The WIC director in Africa wanted to negotiate with the English for parity of slave-purchase prices, but the directors of the WIC vetoed such attempts on grounds that fluctuating market conditions actually favored the Dutch. 17
The flow of the trade It was during the free-trade period that the volume of the Dutch slave trade reached its peak, particularly during the years from 1756 through 1773, when the annual average exported from Africa rarely fell below 5,000 slaves; twice, in 1763 and 1771, it nearly reached the 9,000 mark. Please note annual averages can be deceiving, with ships leaving at the beginning or end of a specific year.18 See Figure 12.1, Chapter 12. An earlier high point in the Dutch slave trade was registered during the 16. NBKG, vol. 9, min. 4/14/1744; NBKG, vol. 13, min. 12/19/1786 and 6/2/1787; Van Dantzig, Forts, pp. 57-8. 17. WIC, vol. 133, p. 585; WIC, vol. 114, p. 96; WIC, vol. 115, p. 101; WIC, vol. 37, p. 95. The fee calculations are based on the records of thirty-three MCC slaving voyages of the Haast U Langzaamy the Philadelphia, the Johanna Cores, and the Prins Willem V, on which fees of 702, 607, 613, and 609 Flemish pounds were paid, respectively, not counting late fees. 18. Specific annual averages can be derived from Appendixes 1 and 2. See also Figure 12.1, Chapter 12, for the overall pattern of the trade.
210
T h e Dutch in the Atlantic Slave Trade
early 1730s, when the combined activities of the WIC and the initial entrance of free traders became evident. The initial spurt in the free trade was not sustained. Except for the years 1732 and 1735, which may be seen as responses to the 1730 and 1734 policy changes, the free trade operated on a modest scale during the 1730s. The biggest problem in assessing the free trade for this decade is that so little is known of the details of these early missions. What little data exist are essentially from the sale of slaving permits to shipowners. Details on African and Caribbean destinations and the number of slaves transported have been verified for only a few slaving missions. It is quite certain that some of the permits to Africa were not used for the slave trade but for the direct trade between Africa and the Dutch Republic. This problem disappears for the post-1741 years because then far more corroborative data become available, and also a complete list of the number of permits issued for the slave trade confirms the number of slave voyages.19 This uncertainty in free-trade statistics during the 1730-41 period has been resolved by conjecture based on verified but incomplete voyage data, primarily on the length of the voyages. Two of the missions listed were so short that they could not possibly have been triangular slaving voyages, but had to be part of the Guinea trade. For the eighty-four recorded permits to Africa, if the total voyage time span was less than thirteen months, or 395 days, the ship was regarded as a Guinea trader. Thirteen voyages fell into this category but one ship, the Lammerenburg (1740), could clearly be identified as a slave ship with a voyage length of 370 days, thus close to the assumed limit. By applying this test to the remainder of the free-trade slaving voyages, it appears that only 7 out of 246 completed their slaving missions in less than eleven months, with only 2 in less than 363 days. All but one of these seven have clearly been identified as bona fide slaving voyages. The fastest of all the free-trade slavers was the Guide Vrijheid (1770), which completed a triangular voyage in 225 days. Because this whole calculation remains somewhat conjectural, all of the ships discussed above have been retained on the list of free traders in Appendix 2, but the ones thought to have been Guinea traders have not been assigned estimates for slave consignments.20 The volume of the Dutch slave trade reached unprecedented heights during the second half of the 1740s. There are a number of reasons for this. Dutch slave traders may well have benefited from the war between the 19.
20.
Unger II, p. 5, claims the the ship Leliendaal was a Guinea trader and not a slaver; however, the ship was insured for the triangular voyage and took nearly two years to complete its mission, and it is therefore listed as a slave ship in this study. See GAR, vol. 218, 9/11/1730. Because of the conjectural nature of the method employed here, the ships thus identified as Guinea traders have been maintained on the list of free traders in Appendix 2, but estimates for slaves have been omitted.
T h e era of the free trade
211
major European powers at this time, as was stated before, although the cost of shipping had actually risen as a result of the war.21 In addition, free traders were now completely responsible for supplying the Dutch plantation colonies in the West, which were expanding significantly at that time. The precipitous decline in the volume of the Dutch slave trade during the mid-1770s also had multiple causes. Most important of these was the international economic crisis that also gripped the Amsterdam financial markets in 1773 and which led to a drastic drop in the prices of colonial produce and caused many bankruptcies in the plantation colonies. This crisis was aggravated by the revolt of the American colonies during succeeding years, causing considerable diplomatic tension between the British and the Dutch, and culminating in a state of war between the two countries in 1780. The combined result of these crises led to a drastic reduction of the slave trade and ultimately to a temporary halt of the Dutch traffic by 1782.22
The colony of Surinam As described in Chapter 8, the plantation colony of Surinam had expanded rapidly since the end of the seventeenth century, and the WIC continued to supply the planters with slaves through 1738. During this last decade the company had shipped over 17,000 slaves to Surinam, an average of approximately 2,000 a year through 1737, when the importation of slaves dropped suddenly. This was less than stipulated by the compromise of 1730, which obligated the WIC to import 2,500 slaves annually. These figures are also confirmed by Hartsinck, the eighteenth-century Surinam chronicler, who claimed that the WIC had landed slightly more than 13,000 slaves during the period 1731-7, which was 4,500 less than promised. The compromise of 1730 also stipulated that if the WIC was unable to supply 2,500 slaves annually, Surinam would be opened to the free trade. Thus, the WIC, under pressure from planters and merchants, had little choice but to abandon its last element of monopoly over the slave trade in 1738, as it had done in other areas in 1730 and 1734.23 As early as 1732 a small free-trade slaver, the Berkendam, was reported stopping at Surinam in transit to Curasao. Although it was illegal for these slave ships to sell their human cargo there before 1738, they were allowed to anchor at Paramaribo for repairs or replenishments, and in this manner they may well have sold some slaves there against WIC regulations. Not 21. Van Dillen, pp. 532 and 558-9. 22. Van Dillen, p. 588. Both the economic crisis and the Anglo-Dutch War will be discussed in greater detail below. 23. See Van der Meiden, p. 120; Hartsinck, vol. 2, p. 740.
The Dutch in the Atlantic Slave Trade
212
Table 9.2 The free trade to Surinam, 1732-1803 Years 1732-1734C 1735-1739° 1740-1744 1745-1749 1750-1754 1755-1759 1760-1764 1765-1769 1770-1774 1775-1779 1780-1784 1785-1789 1790-1795 1802-1803 Total
Documented Slaves Ships 1 31 44 41 50 47 76 69 24 6 13 19 6
7,872 14,062 10,169 15,079 13,919 19,309 17,535 6,320 1,856 2,423 3,605 1,087
427
113,512
276
Adjustment8
Consignment portions
400 400 400 400 500 500 500 500 250 250
Total
Annual average
400 676
164 455 250 412 439 161
250 250
88
4,350
1,969
8,272 14,462 10,669 15,743 14,874 19,559 18,197 7,009 2,267 2,423 3,943 1,337
1,654 2,892 2,134 3,149 2,974 3,912 3,639 1,402
119,831
2,089(
453 485 789 669
Source: Appendix 2, Tables 9.8 and 9.9, and Postma Data Collection. Notes: aEstimated arrivals from ships without verified destination (see Table 9.9). Parts of these consignments were shared with other settlements. c For WIC shipments during these years see Table 8.3. Annual average for the 1740-1795 period.
surprisingly, concrete evidence of such illicit importations has not been unearthed, but in order to account for the large number of unspecified freetrader destinations during these early years this author has designated a small portion of the free-trade slaves for Surinam (see Table 9.2). The first reported free trader landing its entire slave cargo at Surinam was the Jonge Rombout in 1739. Another free-trade slaver has been reported arriving the following year, and thereafter an increasing number of free traders disembarked their human cargo at Surinam on a regular basis, as is shown in Table 9.2. The last WIC ships to take slaves to Surinam arrived in 1738, even though the company continued to ship some slaves to other destinations in subsequent decades.24 The colony of Surinam continued its steady expansion during the freetrade period, although this growth was periodically impaired by a variety of factors. One such period of stagnation occurred during the late 1730s, coinciding with the opening of the free slave trade to the colony. Reports of slackening slave sales and slave prices began to appear in 1737, and a letter from Surinam early the following year mentioned that the "bad con24.
WIC, vol. 1140, doc. 225; WIC, vol. 1142, doc. 11.
T h e era of the free trade
213
ditions of most of the colony is deteriorating daily due to the continuing low prices of the coffee beans (shipped) to the Fatherland." Changes in company policies concerning the payment for slaves also were blamed for the problems. These factors may provide a partial explanation as to why the WIC lost its monopoly over the importation of slaves to Surinam; it may also clarify the decline in coffee production in the colony during the following decade.25 Appendix 26 shows the growing diversification as well as the steady increase in agricultural production of Surinam. The colony's sugar production had remained fairly stable at approximately sixteen million pounds a year, until it started to decline somewhat during the 1730s. Other plantation products were gradually added to the list of the colony's commodities. Coffee, already a substantial commodity by 1740, experienced a decline during the following decade, but it had become a major product again by the middle of the 1760s. It continued to be produced at an annual average of often more than ten million pounds and in some years over fifteen million pounds. Cocoa, first exported in 1736, seems to have increased when coffee production declined during the 1740s, and it continued to be produced in quantities of several hundred thousand pounds per year by the mid-1740s, and its production increased further during the 1770s. Cotton came into production in the 1730s but its cultivation was not undertaken seriously until 1752. It began to reach substantial production levels during the late 1770s. Tobacco was a latecomer among Surinam's plantation products, and its production levels were substantial only during a few isolated years.26 Reliable population statistics for Surinam are difficult to obtain for the eighteenth century, but the steady growth of the first half of the century must have persisted, as the few surviving statistics imply. Whereas the colony had a total of about 10,000 settlers and slaves in 1706, their number had grown to 25,000 by 1743, to 35,000 in the mid-i75os, and to 63,000 by 1787 (see Table 8.1). On the average, around 90 percent of these people were of African descent, with a smattering of indigenous so-called red slaves. These figures do not include the free indigenous population and the growing number of maroons, or runaway, slaves. The Europeans living in Surinam came primarily from the Dutch Republic, but there was also an increasing number of other nationalities, and a sizable Jewish community as well as Moravians, who had been encouraged to settle there. The number of plantations numbered around 400 in 1737, but by 1793 Surinam counted 614 such units of agricultural production.27 25. 26. 27.
WIC, vol. 1141, docs. 147, 165, and 178, p. 182. See Appendix 26 for a tabulation of Surinam's production figures for 1740-1793. Oudschans Dentz, p. 10; See Tables 8.1 and Appendix 26. A study of Surinam exports is in process by this author. Van de Voort, p. 86; Oudschans Dentz, pp. 10-13 and 18-19; See also Chapter 8 and
214
T h e Dutch in the Atlantic Slave Trade
A variety of factors served to slow the growth of Surinam and the importation of slaves into the colony. These forces include natural disasters such as the weather, earthquakes, forest fires, epidemics, and so forth. The prolonged drought of 1769 reduced Surinam's exports the following year. Slave rebellions and attacks by maroon communities could be unsettling, and these occurred frequently, particularly around 1760 and again around 1770. International conflicts could make the seaways unsafe, as was the case during the wars of 1740-6 and 1756-63. Financial problems such as low prices of colonial commodities and a limited flow of capital or high interests were endemic problems for the Surinam planters. During the 1740s the colony also experienced a serious crisis of morale, which divided the settlers into quarreling factions until the early 1750s. The Society of Surinam, seated in Amsterdam, appointed Jan Jacob Mauricius as governor in the hope that a capable and talented administrator would create harmony in the colony, but his presence seems to have intensified the tension between the quarrelsome planters and the authorities in Holland. The situation improved during the 1750s, when a number of Dutch financiers worked out a scheme to make credit more readily available to the Surinam planters. Even though these schemes later often brought bankruptcy to individual planters, the colony as a whole flourished for the next few decades.28 One of the results of the apparent prosperity in Surinam during much of the free-trade period was that the supply of new slaves from Africa was, on the whole, quite abundant. Between 1745 and 1774, the annual averages of slaves imported rarely dropped below 2,000, and some years it exceeded 4,000. The credit schemes developed by Dutch financiers, mainly after 1750, made it possible for many Surinam planters to expand their holdings and invest in slaves as they had never been able to do in the past. During the 1770s Surinam was confronted with several serious problems. First came the disastrous drought of 1769, which dramatically reduced the production of the plantations and the exports of the colony during the following year, as is shown in Appendix 26. Also, in 1770 the prices of coffee and cocoa beans began to drop on the Dutch staple market, and they did not recover for seven years. Furthermore, a series of slave rebellions and maroon attacks began in 1771, to which the planters responded with costly countermeasures. Then, in the fall of 1772 an international financial crisis struck London and quickly spread to Amsterdam, where several financial
28.
Table 8.1. Some scholars, including van de Voort, have cited Surinam population statistics supplied by C. van der Oudermeulen, who seems to have inflated the figures significantly. SS. vols. 407-19, Governor's records, 4/28/1750, 7/20/1757, 7/6/1762, 1/22/1771, 4/ 22/1778, and 7/28/1778; DMS, B1482, doc. eb; Van De Voort, pp. 90-103, and 153. See also Van der Meiden, Chapters 4 and 5, where Surinam's administrative conflicts are thoroughly analyzed.
The era of the free trade
215
establishments faced bankruptcy. The speculative investment schemes of the past decades soon exhibited their vulnerability. Bills of exchange from Surinam planters were frequently not accepted, and a rejected bill carried heavy penalties. Speculative land and property values of the plantations dropped dramatically, and new credit schemes were attempted but rarely met with success. These conditions greatly reduced the planters' ability to purchase slaves.29 While the repercussions of the financial crisis were troubling the West Indian planters, the political crisis flowing from the North American colonial revolt against the English produced additional pressures for the Dutch slavers. Dutch ships were subject to searches after the outbreak of the colonial war in 1774, and privateers and foreign warships made life for the Surinam colony uneasy. The number of slave ships anchoring at Paramaribo had averaged above twenty since the mid-eighteenth century but it dropped to seventeen in 1774, largely due to the financial crisis. The volume of slave landings continued to go down for the remainder of that decade, and when in 1780 the Fourth Anglo-Dutch war broke out the slave trade to Surinam ground to a virtual standstill.30 The full implications of this war for the slave trade and the feeble efforts to revive it again after the war ended in 1784 will be discussed in Chapter 12.
Berbice and the slave rebellion of 1763 Compared to Surinam the Dutch plantation colonies on the Berbice, Essequibo, and Demerara rivers in present-day Guyana were far less significant, both in terms of production and the slave trade. Close in proximity and sharing the same natural environment, they were subject to the same natural political forces that shaped the destiny of Surinam. As has been shown in Chapter 8, Berbice, the oldest of the Dutch settlements in the region, had led a precarious existence until the 1730s, when the colony experienced an economic growth spurt. Berbice continued to grow modestly during the free-trade period, specializing primarily in coffee production, until the great slave revolt in 1763. By that time there were ninety-five plantations operating in the colony and the total settlement population had grown to at least 4,423. Of this number, black slaves constituted nearly 90 percent, totaling 3,833; and there were 244 native American slaves, leaving 346 Europeans as managers of plantations, soldiers, and administrative personnel. The Berbice settlement had thus quadrupled in size since 1720.31 29. 30. 31.
For a discussion of the financial crisis of 1773 see Van de Voort, pp. 153-62. SS, vol. 416, 5/25/1777, 4/22/1778, 7/28/1778. See also Appendix 2. SB, vol. 49, p. 85; Netscher, p. 191; Van de Voort, p. 87. The actual population was most
216
T h e Dutch in the Atlantic Slave Trade
Reports from the Guiana region indicate that the lot of the slaves was particularly harsh in Berbice, although the reasons for this are not clear.The colony was poorly governed and the "moral" standards of the planters were judged to be very low in comparison to other plantation colonies, but this judgment may well have been tainted by the events of the 1760s. The planters in Berbice tended to be very suspicious of outsiders; in contrast to several other West Indian colonies, for example, no Jews were allowed into the colony. Roman Catholics were likewise barred. Missionaries of the German Moravian Brotherhood were tolerated in the colony, but they operated under the strongest suspicions of the settler community. In this respect, Berbice did not differ much from neighboring Essequibo and Demerara. Several minor slave rebellions were reported from Berbice in the years 1749, 1751, 1752, 1756, 1759, a n d 1762. The 1750s were particularly trying times for the settlement. A deadly epidemic, characterized by high fevers and dysentery, broke out in Berbice and persisted until 1765. It appears to have struck Europeans in particular, and carried numerous planters, soldiers and visiting sailors to their graves, especially new arrivals.32 In February 1763 the slaves at a few plantations rebelled and killed their European masters, and the revolt quickly spread to neighboring plantations until it nearly engulfed the whole colony the following month. Severely hampered by the epidemic, the military establishment was unable to contain the rebellion, and several planters fled to neighboring Demerara or to the capital town New Amsterdam and its nearby fortification Fort Nassau, until these too had to be abandoned to the rebelling slaves. The beleaguered settlers burned down the fort as they crowded into three merchant ships and drifted downstream for several days, until they found shelter in the fortified post of St. Andries, near the mouth of the Berbice River. Here they held out, fighting off several rebel attacks until assistance arrived from Surinam and St. Eustatius during the ensuing months. Decisive assistance arrived from Holland in October of that year, enabling the settlers to take the offensive and slowly recapture control of the colony. The rebel slaves fought fiercely against the reimposition of planter control, but their leaders were gravely divided among themselves and they were up against a growing and better-armed military machine. During several battles in the early months of 1764, many surviving rebel fighters surrendered and other former slaves returned to their plantations voluntarily. The suppression of the rebellion and the reprisals that followed were marked by extreme cruelty. In four
32.
likely a few hundred persons higher, as these statistics are based on the payment of "head taxes" from which settlers were exempt during the first ten years of their domicile in the colony. See also Chapter 8. Netscher, pp. 180-9, *9 2 ' a n d 131; SB, vol. 49, p. 8.
T h e era of the free trade
217
separate mass executions, a total of 128 of the rebel slaves were executed, some in the most brutal manner.33 As a result of the slave rebellion, the colony of Berbice was decimated, and the epidemic among white soldiers and planters continued unabated for two more years. Many of the plantation buildings were ruined and several were still not rebuilt by 1772. The slave population was reduced from an approximate 4,200 before the rebellion to 2,464 in June 1764, when the colony returned to settler control. Virtually no export commodities were produced in the colony for over a year. The planters were financially in desperate straits, and it took special low-interest loans from the provincial government of Holland and West Friesland to stimulate the rebuilding of Berbice's plantation economy. This did lead to a significant slave importation after the rebellion, as is shown in Table 9.3. By 1777 the slave population of Berbice had climbed to 4,463, about the same level as before the rebellion, and by 1780 there were 5,112 slaves in the colony. The Society of Berbice permanently lost five of its eleven plantations as a result of the rebellion, and many of the private plantations were still not restored when the colony was taken over by the British in 1781.34 Table 9.3 lists the slave importations into the Berbice settlement that have been verified by this study; estimates for possible additional shipments have been added. On the whole, the records of the Guiana settlements have not been kept or preserved as well as those of Surinam. There is considerable uncertainty about the early years of the free trade to this region. The Dutch historian, Netscher, writes as if the WIC continued to supply these colonies throughout the eighteenth century, although we now know that Essequibo was expecting slaves as early as 1738 from the free-trade ship JongeRombout, for which slaving permit fees had been paid. In addition, the Jonge Pedro stopped at Surinam on its way to Berbice as early as 1737. It is therefore quite likely that some of the free traders, whose destinations have not been verified, landed their slaves at the Guyana colonies before it was legally allowed. It was also not uncommon for Guyana planters to purchase slaves at official sales in Surinam and carry them in small boats to their own respective settlements.35 All these factors add considerable uncertainty to the problem of determining slave imports to the Guyana colonies. Adjustments made for missing data in Tables 9.3 to 9.7 are based on a combination of insights from the following factors: (1) qualitative documentary evidence, (2) documented free-trade slave ships with unknown destination, (3) a com33. 34. 35.
See Netscher, pp. 193-249 for a detailed account of the slave rebellion. Netscher, pp. 254-8. SS, vol. 165, p. 475.
2l8
The Dutch in the Atlantic Slave Trade Table 9.3 Free trade to Berbice, 1731-1795
Years 1731-1734° 1735-1739° 1740-1744 1745-1749 1750-1754 1755-1759 1760-1764 1765-1769 1770-1774 1775-1779 1780-1789 1790-1795 Total
Documented Ships Slaves 1
Consignment portions 8 Adjustment
300
2 1
300 430
6 7
1,753 1,516
100 214
350 400 500 500 500 500 500 500 250
Total 350 700 500 500 800 930 600
1,753 2,230 250
2
530
104
250
884
19
4,829
418
3,750
9,497
Annual average
100 100 160 186 120 351 446 50 0 147
Source: Appendix 2, Table 9.9, and Postma Data Collection. Notes: aParts of these consignments were shared with other settlements. Estimated arrivals without verified destination (see Table 9.9). c For WIC shipments during these years see Table 8.4.
parison with the rates of population growth and slave imports into Surinam, and (4) the uncertain factor of foreign markets for free traders.
Essequibo and Demerara The small WIC colony on the Essequibo River was barely kept going, as was shown in Chapter 8, but it survived into the free-trade period and expanded considerably during the second half of the eighteenth century. Population statistics for the colony are scarce, but by 1769 Essequibo had ninety-two plantations in operation and a slave population of 3,086, compared to 854 slaves and 66 Europeans in 1737. Essequibo experienced stable and forceful leadership through Laurens Storm van 's-Gravesande, whom the WIC appointed as Secretary in 1738 and as commander in 1742, and he retained that position for thirty years. On the negative side, unlike Surinam and Berbice, Essequibo did not attain semi-independent society status, but remained under direct WIC jurisdiction. From 1750 until 1772 control over Essequibo was disputed between the chambers of Zeeland and Amsterdam, which undoubtedly impeded the colony's growth.36 an 36. Van de Voort, pp. 27-9, 88, and 129; Netscher, pp. 108-13, 121-33, d 139; Hartsinck, vol. 1, p. 268.
T h e era of the free trade
219
During the 1740s, Essequibo spawned a satellite colony on the nearby Demerara River (see Map 8.1). On the promptings of Storm van V Gravesande, the first plantation on the Demerara was established in 1746, and six years later the rapidly growing new settlement had its first commander appointed, although he remained subordinate to the now director-general of Essequibo. The first three commanders of Demerara were all close relatives of Storm van 's-Gravesande, the director-general of Essequibo, and the two colonies did not become entirely independent from each other until 1772. Demerara quickly outgrew its parent colony, counting a slave population of 5,967 by 1769. One of the reasons for its rapid growth was the fact that the WIC allowed several British settlers from the Caribbean islands into the Demerara colony. Netscher claims that of its 130 plantations in 1770, one-third were owned and operated by British settlers. Neighboring Essequibo also attracted many English settlers, and both colonies carried on a considerable amount of trade with British ships, and the latter undoubtedly smuggled slaves into these colonies.37 No free-trade slave ships have been found recorded taking their human cargoes to either of these two colonies before the 1760s, although this must be due primarily to the sparse documentation for this region. If the British were able to smuggle slaves into these colonies, it is safe to assume that several Dutch free traders must have disembarked their slaves there. Otherwise, it would be difficult to account for the steady growth of the two settlements. When in 1767 the planters of Essequibo complained that Dutch ships were not supplying them adequately with slaves, the MCC company alone claimed that they had taken eleven and one-third slave cargoes there during the past eight years, and at least two slave ships from Vlissingen had disembarked slaves at the two colonies that same year. Two additional MCC ships had been contracted to take another 1,095 slaves there in 1768. The MCC also claimed that the Essequibo settlers owed them 350,000 guilders for slaves delivered. Another source states that the MCC disembarked 1,134 slaves at Essequibo and Demerara during 1768, and these came from at least three different shipments. These combined factors suggest that the two colonies imported at least 5,000 slaves during the 1760s, and quite likely considerably more.38 Earlier decades may not have been as active for the slave trade to Essequibo and Demerara. The latter did not start importing slaves until the later 1740s, although the rate of importation must have been quite high thereafter to establish a slave population of nearly 6,000 in two decades. The WIC apparently still was responsible for supplying slaves for these two colonies, as 37. 38.
Netscher, pp. 115-18, 128-30, 145; Van de Voort, p. 129. MCC, vol. 1567, doc. 68; VWIS, vol. 1203, cor. 12/19/1769.
The Dutch in the Atlantic Slave Trade
220
Table 9.4 Free trade to Essequibo, 1731-1795 Years 1731-1734° 1735-1739° 1740-1744 1745-1749 1750-1754 1755-1759 1760-1764 1765-1769 1770-1774 1775-1779 1780-1784 1785-1789 1790-1795 Total
Documented Slaves Ships
Consignment portions*1 Adjustment*3
405
1 7 1 1
10
269
1,810
397 437
2,913
1,078
373 290 100
350 400 500 500 500 500 750 250 500 250
Total 350 400 500 500 500 500
1,155 1,597 2,683 937 537
102
250
352
2,348
4,750
10,011
Annual average
100 100 100 186 231 319 537 187 107 0 59
Source: Appendix 2, Table 9.9, and Postma Data Collection. Notes: a Parts of these consignments were shared with other settlements. b Estimated arrivals without verified destination (see Table 9.9). c For WIC shipments during these years see Table 8.3.
a plaintive source reports that the company had brought only four cargoes of slaves to Demerara during the period 1749 to 1765, which justified their obtaining them from either foreigners or free traders. Essequibo developed more slowly than Demerara. Qualitative sources suggest a significant expansion of the colony during the 1740s, but at this time the colony apparently never received a complete slave shipment but only partial cargoes, perhaps shared with Berbice or Surinam. The practice of sharing cargoes of slaves became quite common for Essequibo and Demerara, particularly since the two were geographically in such close proximity. This is evident in the rather large number of slaves in the mixed column in Tables 9.4 and 9.5.™ In 1782 the British took control of Essequibo and Demerara and captured three Dutch slave ships moored in the river. The Anglo-Dutch War halted the Dutch slave trade for a few years, but after the war and its return to Holland Demerara still experienced considerable growth before the colony was lost to the English permanently during the early nineteenth century. These last few decades are discussed in Chapter 12. 39.
Netscher, pp. 113-15, 120, and 138.
The era of the free trade
221
Table 9.5 Free trade to Demerara, 1746 -1795 Years 1746-1749 1750-1754 1755-1759 1760-1764 1765-1769 1770-1774 1775-1779 1780-1784 1785-1789 1790-1795 Total
Documented Slaves Ships
1
270
2 10 4
2,793 1,177
17
5,080
840
Consignment portions 8 Adjustment
410 850 150 306 102
500 500 750 750 250 500 250
Total 500 500 750
1,160 1,100
920 556 942
100
250
2,793 1,527
1,918
3,750
10,748
Annual average 100 100 150 232 220 184 111 188 559 255
Source: Appendix 2 , Table 9.9 and Postma Data Collection. Notes: aParts of these consignments were shared with other settlements. b Estimated arrivals without verified destination (see Table 9.9).
Curasao and St. Eustatius The once formidable Dutch slave transit centers in the Netherlands Antilles, Curasao and St. Eustatius, lost their prominence in the slave trade during the free-trade period, although they continued to function as transit centers on a marginal basis. They also continued to be governed by the WIC, and although they had become open markets the company kept track of all the commercial activities on these islands. Compared to Surinam these islands had become insignificant in the Dutch West Indies, except for specific periods of time when they flourished as commercial transit centers. They tended to attract a wide range of international merchants, often men of questionable character. Among them were traders from various Caribbean islands, the Spanish Main, as well as from the North American colonies of Great Britain, particularly during the American Revolution. In fact, after 1770 Curasao and St. Eustatius became quite profitable for the WIC, although this was not due to the slave trade. 40 When the free trade began in 1730, Curasao had already lost its prominence as a major center of the slave trade, and it never again occupied a position of significance in the traffic. Its community of merchants began concentrating its efforts on the so-called kleine vaart, or trade between the 40.
Goslinga, Netherlands Antilles, 63-4 and 82-8; Van de Voort, p. 59; VWIS, vols. 304 and 1172.
222
The Dutch in the Atlantic Slave Trade
Caribbean islands and the American mainland. Henceforth, its economic fortunes shifted with the international situation, quick spurts of growth followed by periods of economic depression. Curasao often benefited from Dutch neutrality in hostilities between the various great powers operating in the Caribbean. This was the case during the Seven Years War (175663) and the early stages of the American Revolution. With declining prosperity came conflicts between the European residents of the island; the Jews, who at times constituted half of the white population, were often feuding with the other Europeans. In 1750 the slave population of the island revolted, but it was quickly and brutally suppressed.41 Because the slave trade from Africa had now become a minor factor in the Curasao economy, it is difficult to document it with precision. Undoubtedly, a few of the early free traders for which the American destinations are unknown may have disembarked their human cargoes at Curasao. As Table 9.6 shows, there was an increase in the slave trade to Curasao during the later 1740s and again during the Seven Years War. Portions of slave cargoes were often landed at the island after mid-century, when portioning became a more common practice in the Dutch slave trade. Correspondence from the island in 1762 indicated that the Dutch could actually benefit greatly from the war between Spain and Great Britain, and that three to four cargoes of slaves could profitably be sold there annually. Four years later, however, the slave trade in Curasao was again reportedly "dead" and by the middle of the following decade the slave trade was at a virtual standstill there. Because the island had become a slave market of peripheral importance, some slave landings may have been overlooked, and this accounts for the adjustments in Table 9.6. As had many of the other Dutch West Indian possessions, Curasao fell into British hands in 1780.42 The role of St. Eustatius during the free-trade period was quite similar to that of Curasao, and they often traded with the same Caribbean regions. One may have assumed the position of the other on occasions, as the slave landings in Tables 9.6 and 9.7 seem to suggest. As was shown in Chapter 8, St. Eustatius achieved notoriety as a slave-trade depot during the 1720s, just as Curasao was losing that distinction. Little has been written about the history of St. Eustatius during the following decades, although the island seems to have continued a rather undramatic existence of a small-scale international marketplace. Nevertheless, the island's population was slowly increasing during the 1730s, as the main town, Oranjestad, expanded until 41. 42.
Cornells Ch. Goslinga, The Dutch in the Caribbean and in the Guianas, 1680-1ygi (Assen: Van Gorcum, 1985), pp. 105-20. Goslinga, Netherlands Antilles, pp. 63-4; Cornelius C. Goslinga, Encyclopedic van de Nederlandse Antillen (Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1969), p. 230; Unger II, pp. 12-13; WIC, vol. 1154, p. 66.
The era of the free trade
223
Table 9.6 Free trade to Curasao, 1731-1795 Years 1731-1734 1735-1739 1740-1744 1745-1749 1750-1754 1755-1759 1760-1764 1765-1769 1770-1774 1775-1779 1780-1784 1785-1789 1790-1795 Total
Documented Slaves Ships 1 2
418 810
5
1,640
4 6 1 2
1,438 1,318
806 508
Consignment portions51 Adjustment*5 1,000 1,500 1,000 1,000 400 100 158
500 500 750 250 750 250
2,338 2,118 1,056 1,416
250
250
7,750
15,437
91
21
6,938
749
Total 1,418 1,500 1,810 2,640 500
250 91
Annual average 284 300 362 528 100 468 434 211 283 50 18 0 42
Source: Appendix 2, Table 9.9, and Postma Data Collection. Note: aParts of these consignments were shared with other settlements. b Estimated arrivals without verified destination.
the war that broke out in 1740 slowed this process. During the middle of the 1740s the weighing house was repaired, evidence of commercial activity on the island. A devastating hurricane in 1772 destroyed most of the documents on the island, which accounts for a dearth of documentation from the preceding decades. The abolition of the 1-percent import tax in 1757 seems to have stimulated the island's commercial enterprise, for during the 1760s considerable expansion took place on the island, including several new buildings on the bay below Oranjestad. By 1770 St. Eustatius had developed into one of the most impressive international marketing centers in the Caribbean, and merchants of Spanish, British, and French, as well as Dutch nationality had established themselves on the island. Profits from the trade on the island became so formidable that St. Eustatius became known as the Golden Rock. Ships from the North American mainland in particular frequented the island, especially after the American Revolution broke out in 1775. During the last years of that decade as many as 3,000 ships anchored off St. Eustatius annually, and as a neutral harbor the island played a significant role in supplying the American rebels with ammunition and other supplies.43 43.
Attema, pp. 29-38; J. Hartog, Geschiedenis van St. Eustatius (Aruba: De Wit, 1976), PP- 35ff-
22
The Dutch in the Atlantic Slave Trade
4
Table 9.7 Free trade to St. Eustatius, 1731-1795 Years 1731-1734 1735-1739 1740-1744 1745-1749 1750-1754 1755-1759 1760-1764 1765-1769 1770-1774 1775-1779 1780-1784 1785-1789 1790-1795 Total
Documented Slaves Ships
3 1 2 1 13 1
21
1,129
294 608 313
3,536
Consignment portions 8 Adjustment 1,000 1,500 1,500 1,000 1,000 200 136 314 516
443
6,323
1,166
Total 1,000 1,500 1,500 1,000 1,000 1,629 1,244
500 750 250 750 250 250 250 250
1,377 4,302
9,250
16,739
994 693 250 250
Annual average 200 300 300 200 200 326 249 199 275 860 139 50 42
Source: Appendix 2, Table 9.9, and Postma Data Collection. Notes: aParts of consignments shared with other settlements. Estimated arrivals without verified destination (see Table 9.9).
The remarkable development of St. Eustatius as a commercial center was actually not based on the slave trade but rather on the fact that the island became a center of the sugar trade. However, slaves and sugar production are related, and St. Eustatius functioned as a slave-trade depot almost without interruption, although with varying degrees of intensity. As has been shown in connection with the WIC slave trade, St. Eustatius continued to function as a conduit to and from the French islands, particularly in time of war, when the French were unable to supply their own nearby colonies.44 The number of slave arrivals documented for the free trade in Table 9.7 were certainly not the only ones disembarked there. Some of the Dutch free-trade slave ships for which the destinations are not known must have taken their slaves to St. Eustatius and the neighboring Dutch possessions of Saba and St. Martin. This author's estimates for that category are indicated in the Adjustment column of Table 9.7, and estimates for the unaccounted destinations are presented in Tables 9.8 and 9.9. It is unfortunate that no better account can be given of the slave ships with unknown destination, but the dearth of records for this period simply allows no other choice but to make calculated estimates. Nor does this 44.
Van de Voort, pp. 138 and 150; Goslinga, Netherlands Antilles, p. 82.
The era of the free trade
225
Table 9.8 Free trade slave ships without verified destination Years
1730-1734 1735-1739 1740-1744 1745-1749 1750-1754 1755-1759 1760-1764 1765-1769 1770-1774 1775-1779 1780-1784 1785-1789 1790-1795 Total
Destination unknown Ships Slaves 28 7,020 31 8,207 29 7,830 28 7,760 25 6,435 17 4,260 21 5,734 11 2,450 17 3,828 3 4
Not to Surinam
Ships
1,075
5
8 8 1
2,112 1,632 300
Total 7,020 8,207 8,080 8,117 6,735 5,424 6,862 2,450 2,452 2,452 1,375
1 1 1 3 3
820
a
Slaves
250 357 300
1,164 1,128
685
685
8
1,675
2
520
2,195
227
57,959
26
7,763
65,542
Source: Appendix 2, and Postma Data Collection. Note: a These ships stopped or were sighted at Surinam but they sailed on without landing slaves. Their destination has not been verified.
Table 9. 9 Estimates for unknown :slave destinations Years 1730-1734 1735-1739 1740-1744 1745-1749 1750-1754 1755-1759 1760-1764 1765-1769 1770-1774 1775-1779 1780-1784 1785-1789 1790-1795
Total 7,020 8,207 8,080 8,117 6,735 5,424 6,862 2,450 5,940 2,452 1,375
Surinam 400 400 400 400 500 500 500 500 250 250
St. Others Curacao Essequibo Eustatius Berbice Demerara 1,000 3,920 1,000 350 350 1,500 4,007 1,500 400 400 1,500 4,180 1,000 500 500 500 1,000 1,000 4,217 500 500 500 1,000 3,235 500 500 500 500 500 2,174 750 500 500 750 2,862 750 750 500 750 250 1,450 250 250 250 750 750 2,440 500 500 500 250
250
250
250
250
250
250
250
685
2,195
250
Source: Appendix 2 and Table 9.8.
250 250 250 250
952 875 435 695
226
The Dutch in the Atlantic Slave Trade
approach account for all the Dutch free traders and their slaves. Some free traders undoubtedly took their human cargoes to colonies not administered by the Dutch, even if this was against regulations. Just as the British and French occasionally sold slaves in Dutch colonies, as was the case in 1749 at St. Eustatius and in the Guiana colonies at other times, so Dutch slavers would penetrate foreign markets when it was to their advantage. Such landings were not the rule, and were illegal, yet they were not as likely reported in WIC or other Dutch documents. The Spanish Caracas coast undoubtedly continued to attract Dutch slavers, particularly during the early years of the free trade when their markets were still limited, and some of the slave shipmasters may well have had experience there as interlopers. During the 1730s MCC ships were trading actively with the Caracas coast as well as Cuba, and because these ships were generally selling textiles rather than slaves it is quite likely that the established contacts were subsequently ulitized for the slave trade, for which there was precedence during the WIC monopoly years.45 In addition the French islands were attractive markets when war prevented their own nationals from supplying them. St. Thomas has been mentioned a number of times as a potential slave market, and a list of ships landing slaves there contains names of captains that suggest Dutch ethnicity, even if the names of the ships did not. Santo Domingo has also cropped up in correspondence of the MCC as a possible slave market. There were many Dutch planters residing on the islands of St. Thomas, St. Croix, and St. John, and much Dutch capital was invested in these islands as well as on Grenada, Tobago, Dominica, and St. Vincent.46 All of these potential destinations remain quite conjectural as far as slave deliveries were concerned, but collectively they may account for free-trade slavers whose destinations remain a mystery. Finally, it is also possible that a number of the free traders destined for the slave trade did not complete their assignments, were lost at sea, or limited their trading voyage to the two-way Afro-European trade, as has already been established for the first decade of the free trade. This last consideration leads this author to conclude that any error in the estimated number of slaves carried by Dutch free traders is likely to be on the high side. 45. 46.
The early MCC activities in the Spanish colonies will be confirmed by Dr. C. Reinders Folmer in her still incomplete dissertation on the MCC. Unger II, pp. 4, 9, and 13; MCC, vol. 1569, p. 15; Van de Voort, pp. 106-8.
10 The slaves: their treatment and mortality
The slaves are the principal subjects in this study, yet so little is known of them except as groups and statistics. Only on very rare occasions was the name of an individual slave known, such as the slave, Ettin, who led an uprising as detailed in Chapter 7. They were generally identified by a number burned on their skin, either an individual number or one that identified them with the ship on which they sailed or the company that purchased them. Slaves were seen and treated as objects of potential economic utility, which was also the primary reason for their enslavement. If the lot of the slave seemed cruel it should be remembered that this was an age in which life was often cruel and cheap. The slaves came from different cultures and a race different from their European owners, which were used as rationales to justify this inhumane system at a time when slavery was disappearing in Europe. The slave trade was not only a grueling experience for African black slaves but also for European white sailors, who were often forced to participate in the system out of economic necessity, and many of them paid with their lives. The white sailors who survived their slaving voyage at least had a degree of freedom slaves lacked. And even if they had few economic options they would not have wished to exchange their position with the slaves, who had little to look forward to but unquestioned obedience and hard labor for the remainder of their short lives.
Accounting for the slaves The slaves transported across the Atlantic were labeled by various terms. In addition to slave\ the term head was widely employed in the slave trade. The latter is still used in reference to cattle, which might suggest how slaves were valued at that time. Unlike English, the Dutch language distinguishes between the human head as hoofd and that of an animal as kop, and it was ironically the latter term that designated slaves and cattle. It should be pointed 227
228
The Dutch in the Atlantic Slave Trade
out, however, that Dutch and English employed the same word, hands, to describe the crew of a ship. The term Negro was also widely used by the Dutch in reference to slaves; Negro appears to be almost synonymous with slave. A slave ship was often labeled a neger schip, or Negro ship. The Dutch employed the term blacks (zwarten), generally in reference to free blacks, although this term was also employed as a synonym for the word Negro. A point of interest is that the Dutch used a special name for a consignment of slaves: an armazoen (human cargo, in English), whereas a cargo of merchandise was called a cargazoen. A very common designation for slaves, particularly in the trade with the Spanish colonies or the asiento trade, was pieza de India, literally a piece of India. In translations the Dutch would often substitute for this the word leverbaar, or deliverable, slave, or they might simply use the term pees, or piece. A pieza de India was not an individual but essentially a measure of potential labor. Thus, younger slaves were counted as fractions of piezas. In the asiento trade, cargo accounts would often include fractions, which might produce difficulties in determining the number of human beings this might represent. From the ship, Adrichem, for example, 355 slaves were sold at Curasao in 1708 which were counted as 3472/3 piezas de India. In many accounts, however, both figures were indicated.1 The expression pieza de India alluded to a healthy slave, male or female, between the ages of fifteen and thirty-six, who was "without major blemish . . . good in health, not blind, lame, or broken," according to one asiento contract. Those slaves above and below this age group could be counted as fractions of one-half, two-thirds, or as other fractional values. According to asiento contracts of 1683 and 1699 the age groups of eight to twelve and three to seven counted as two-thirds and one -half piezas, respectively. Infants below the age of three were kept and sold with the mother.2 Discrepancies between the number of human beings and piezas de India could vary greatly from one slave ship to another. Before the seventeenth century fewer slaves outside the specified age limits were purchased by the WIC, perhaps due to the asiento contracts, but in the next century the number of children in the human cargoes increased. There were exceptions in both periods and these were often singled out in correspondence for that very fact. Two WIC slavers, the Brandenburg and the Joanna Maria (1688), carried large numbers of young children, in excess of 30 percent of the total human cargo. The standards determining what constituted a pieza de India 1. Curtin, Atlantic Slave Trade, p. 22. See also Chapter 2 concerning piezas de India, and Appendix 19 for a comparison of the two correlative sets of statistics. 2. See Appendix 3, which is a translated copy of an asiento contract; NAA, no. 1352; WIC, vol. 783, contract 5/3/1683; WIC, vol. 68, doc. 9/27/1687.
T h e slaves: their treatment and mortality
229
could also vary from one place to another. Asiento agents at Curasao, for example, would often apply a more stringent examination of the slaves than the WIC traders in Africa, resulting in financial losses and complaints by the WIC directors. As is illustrated in Appendix 19, the average discrepancy between human beings and piezas de India was slightly less than 9 percent. Of fifty-two slave consignments for which comparative records have been unearthed the average head count was 316; the average piezas in this same group came to 289^ The slaves who did not measure up to the standards of the asiento contracts were generally referred to as macrons, or manquerons, and occasionally they were also referred to as malingers. These less-valued slaves were either sold at a lower price locally, or they were sold to private traders and transshipped to various Caribbean locations. At one point the WIC at Curasao insisted that macrons were to be reexamined and if they still failed to meet asiento requirements they could be sold to the Spanish at about two-thirds of the value of a pieza de India. Sometimes macrons were kept at Curasao, but they were also shipped to St. Eustatius and to the Guiana coast. Even Tobago has been mentioned as a possible destination, but the majority were undoubtedly smuggled to the Spanish Main by private traders. In 1687 the Curasao WIC directors were ordered to send a whole cargo of 500 macrons to Surinam, although the fulfillment of this order has not been verified.4 Because slaves were taken to the West primarily for the purpose of performing hard labor, it was to be expected that a majority of them were males in the prime of their lives. Asiento contracts always stipulated a two-to-one male-to-female ratio, and this became a practice for Surinam and the other slave markets. Male slaves were nearly always sold at a higher price than women, which may have been an added incentive for the slave traders to prefer men to women slaves. In 1706 WIC authorities cautioned not to delay a ship's departure from Africa for the sole reason of getting the proper twoto-one gender ratio. Women slaves came to be in greater demand during the eighteenth century, particularly younger females of childbearing age. As early as the 1680s there were requests for young women, particularly from the Loango-Angola region, for Curasao, presumably for the Spanish colonial markets.5 By 1728 slave traders at Curasao expressed their preference for women in no uncertain terms: "It is more profitable for the company (WIC) to send women rather than negro men, especially since the Spanish spare 3. W I C , vol. 206, pp. 177 and 206. See Appendix 19. 4. W I C , vol. 831, pp. 27 and 242; W I C , vol. 834, pp. 144 and 288; W I C , vol. 1026, pp. 934 and 139. 5. W I C , vol. 833, p. 340; W I C , vol. 834, pp. 190 and 152-3; W I C , vol. 55, cor. 11/17/1706; W I C , vol. 835, pp. 142 and 174; W I C , vol. 1138, cor. 9/19/1710.
230
The Dutch in the Atlantic Slave Trade Table 10.1 Slave gender and age ratios Ships
Total
Males (%)
Females (%)
23
4,072
2,293 (56)
1,779 (44)
WIC 1680-1699 1700-1709 1710-1719 1720-1729 1730-1739
8 35 17 14
5
3,314 16,115 6,819 5,161 3,157
2,267 10,855 4,720 3,872 2,035
Total
79
34,566
23,749 (69)
Free trade 1734-1749 1750-1759 1760-1769 1770-1779 1780-1802
7 18 26 37 10
2,093 5,095 7,884 9,382 2,897
Total
98
27,351
16,176 (59)
11,175 (41)
200
65,989
42,218 (64)
23,771 (36)
To Brazil 1637-1645
Grand total
1,454 3,008 4,485 5,496 1,733
(68) (67) (69) (75) (64)
(69) (59) (57) (59) (60)
1,047 5,260 2,099 1,289 1,122
(32) (33) (31) (25) (36)
10,817 (31)
639 2,087 3,399 3,886 1,164
(31) (41) (43) (41) (40)
Youths
1 180 (5) 1,778 (ID 724 (11) 627 (12) 103 (3)1
3,412 (10)
423 987 1,870 2,370 618
(2) ! (19) (24) (25) (21)
6,268 (23)
Source: Appendixes 19 and 20, and van den Boogaart and Emmer, pp. 365-66. Notes: Signifies percentage of young slaves between the ages of 3-15 (these figures are based on a smaller sample than those for gender). Based on only a few consignments and therefore not very meaningful.
no money for women 15-20 years old, a n d . . . these can be bought for less on the Guinea Coast."6 In spite of these encouragements, no increase in the female ratio was noticeable until the second half of the eighteenth century. As Table 10.1 shows, the male-to-female ratio in the WIC slave trade remained quite constant, and very close to the stipulations of the asiento contracts, even though the bulk of the slaves were going to the Guiana colonies after 1700. During the initial stages of the WIC involvement in the traffic to Brazil, company directors did not give any instructions as to gender preference, and the result was a gender ratio favoring males by 56 to 44 percent. Similar male-to-female ratios occurred again after 1760.7 6. WIC, vol. 208, p. 507. 7. Van den Boogaart and Emmer, pp. 365-6.
The slaves: their treatment and mortality
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Table 10.2 Gender and age groups in sample slave population Men WIC 1680-99 1700-09 1710-19 1720-39 Total Free trade 1734-49 1750-59 1760-69 1770-79 1780-1802
665 7,899 3,321 3,904
Women (%)
Boys
(%) (53) (58) (60) (61)
404 3,946 1,524 1,718
127 1,379 522 515
15,789 (61)
1,178 2,379 3,344 4,080 1,315
(56) (47) (43) (44) (47)
(33) (29) (27) (27)
Girls (%) (10) (10) (9) (8)
Sample (%)
53 375 202 215
Ships
(4) (3) (4) (3)
1,249 13,599 5,569 6,352
3 26 14 13
7,592 (27)
2,543 (8)
845 (3)
26,769
56
492 1,729 2,670 2,932 928
276 629 1,141 1,416 382
(13) (12) (14) (15) (13)
147 (7) 358 (7) 729 (9) 954(10) 236 (8)
2,093 5,095 7,884 9,382 2,897
7 17 25 36 9
(24) (34) (34) (31) (32)
12,332 (47)
8,751 (32)
3,844 (13)
2,424 (8)
27,351
94
Grand total 28,121(52)
16,343(30)
6,387(12)
3,269 (6)
54,120
150
Total
Source: Appendixes 19 and 20.
The age factor played a similar role to that of gender in the slave trade. The number of children and youths transported from Africa by Dutch slavers remained fairly steady until the free-trade period, when their numbers increased. In the Brazil trade 13 percent were counted as youths, and these percentages remained about the same for the remainder of the WIC trade, although individual human cargoes might vary considerably. During the first decades of the free trade the number of young slaves increased to 20 percent and it reached a peak during the 1770s, when about a quarter of the slaves were below the age of fifteen. This does not take into consideration the very young children and infants who remained with their mothers. There are only sporadic references to these little ones, and a meaningful statistical assessment of them is therefore out of the question. For at least two WIC ships, it was noted that each had seven babies on board, but most other recorded cases listed fewer infants. One exceptional situation occurred in 1734, when the WIC slaver, Rusthof, was reported to have had approximately 100 infants on board, in addition to the 716 adult slaves and youths. But this was a very unusual case, with female slaves outnumbering males by more than two to one. The middle passage of the Rusthof took more than three months and the length of the voyage contributed to the fact that nearly
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The Dutch in the Atlantic Slave Trade
half of the slaves died. We may assume that the vast majority of the babies did not survive the middle passage either.8 Records were not always kept of infants, because their economic value was questionable to the owners, although on at least one occasion a death affidavit was made out for an infant. The opposite was true for young and mature slaves. Careful accounts were kept of the purchase and sale of the slaves, including the date, price, and place of purchase. Before a WIC slaver could set sail from Africa, the captain and officers had to sign consignment papers (cognossement), detailing the slave cargo. When a WIC slave died it was not only noted in a special death register but an additional death affidavit had to be signed under oath by at least two of the company's officers, declaring they had seen the body of the deceased. Obviously, this was not done for the sake of human interest, but rather to ensure economic efficiency for the company and to prevent mismanagement and theft. In 1680 and again in 1717, the WIC management sent special instructions to Curasao for the maintenance of careful and detailed records of company-owned slaves.9
Accommodation and feeding Because the Dutch ships used for the slave trade were regular freight ships temporarily refurbished for human transport, one can imagine that the middle passage was far from comfortable for the involuntary passengers. This was aggravated by the fact that as many slaves as possible were crowded between decks. Slaves slept on hard boards, and they were apparently naked. The ship's carpenters constructed special platforms or galleries, which were so close together that the slaves were not even able to sit upright. They were stacked like loaves on a shelf, with "not so much room as a man has in his coffin," as one English writer described the accommodations aboard slave ships. According to one Dutch physician-historian, Dr. M. A. van Andel, each slave had barely 15 cubic feet of space on board, with women having slightly more space than men. These conditions varied, of course, depending on the size and style of the ship and the crowding of a particular slave consignment. As a result of overcrowding, the lower-deck areas, where the slaves were housed, tended to get unbearably hot and foul smelling. Ventilation was generally so inadequate that some captains had additional ports installed during the voyage. On one occasion at least, it was reported that 8. WIC, vol. 200, p. 230; WIC, vol. 1140, Doc. 86; WIC, vol. 1141, docs. 33, 35 and 36. For the Rusthof statistics see Appendix 19. 9. WIC, vol. 832, cor. 10/30/1680; WIC, vol. 206, p. 280. See Appendixes 21, 22 and 23 for copies of these documents; WIC, vol. 180, p. 192.
T h e slaves: their treatment and mortality
233
several slaves suffocated when bad weather forced the hatches to remain closed for an extended period of time. It is not surprising that ship logs would refer to the slave quarters simply as slavegaaten, or slave holes. To make matters worse, most male slaves appear to have been chained together, whereas women, children, and the infirm were kept in separate quarters on the upper deck and were spared the indignity and discomfort of the shackles.10 Weather permitting, slaves were frequently taken to the upper deck for fresh air and exercise, regarded as essential for their health and thus their salability. For this reason each slave ship had drums on board and sometimes other African musical instruments as well, to accompany the dancing, that slaves were often forced to perform with the threat of a whip. WIC ships had special orders to purchase drums in Africa for these dances or exercises. Each afternoon, weather permitting, slaves were washed with sea water, and at this time they might also be checked for signs of illness by the ship's doctor. The slaves' hair was periodically cut to keep it very short for hygienic purposes. Bad weather could prevent most of these recommended activities and also force the ports and hatches to be closed, thus aggravating the unhygienic situation between decks. This was frequently the case with the earlier cited slaver, Vergenoegen, while still on the Loango coast, although the weather became much more congenial after the ship weighed anchor and set sail for the West.11 While the slaves were on the upper deck, their quarters below were periodically cleaned, depending on weather and other factors. The living quarters were disinfected with vinegar, or lemon juice, or possibly with fermented palm wine, while incense and gunpowder were burned to combat bad odors. Several trusted slaves might be employed as aids in such tasks. Women in particular may have been drafted for the preparation of the meals. Lavatory facilities were sparse and inconvenient. Overboard leaning privies were constructed on the upper deck for daytime use. Buckets were used as privies during the night at special locations between decks, which added to the suffocating stench of slave ships.12 The slaves were fed twice a day, at about nine o'clock in the morning and at five in the afternoon. The Dutch factor, Willem Bosman, claimed that it was three times a day, but he did not sail on a slave ship and he may have merely said this to bolster his claim that the Dutch treated their slaves 10. 11. 12.
M. A. Van Andel, "Geschiedenis der Geneeskunde," Nederlands Tijdschrift voor Geneeskunde, vol. 75 (1931), pp. 624-5; Hezemans, pp. 36-7. See also the log of the Vergenoegen, ECMMR, folder 47; WIC, vol. 1140, cor. 6/29/1721. Unger, I. p. 153; Van Andel, p. 629; Hezemans, pp. 37-8; ECMMR, folder 47. Hezemans, p. 38; WIC, vol. 55, cor. 10/30/1717; ECMMR, folder 47; Unger I, p. 154; D. Schoute, "Geschiedenis der Geneeskunde," Nederlands Tijdschrift voor Geneeskunde, vol. 92 (1948), p. 3650.
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234
Table 10.3 Provisions for a consignment of 400 slaves Amount 1800 5
Measure pounds 0.5 aam
Unit price / 18.00 18.00
2 3
0.5 aam pounds
22.00 28.00
800 320
pounds zakken (bags)
7.00 4.50
160 300 1 12
zakken pounds barrel gross
3.00 20.00
Equivalents 1 aam = ca.
Product
Bacon Grain brandy
Total price / 324.00 57.10
155 liter
.70
French brandy 1 oxhead = ca 230 liter Biscuit 1 zak = ca. 2 bushels or 80 dm3 Tamarinden a bunch Total
Vinegar Hard bread barley Peas Dates Tobacco Pipes
44.00 84.00 56.00 1,440.00 480.00 60.00 90.00 4.10 / 2,640.00
Source: Van Brakel, p. 82; for measurements, see: W. Staring, Maten, Gewichten en Munten.
better than other Europeans. The basic diet consisted of barley and dried peas or beans (Dutch records used the now obsolete term paardebonen), as is confirmed by the food list for a consignment of 400 slaves listed in Table 10.3. Three times a week the slaves had a ration of ship biscuits, regarded as a delicacy; at other times they received a shot of brandy or were given pipes and tobacco to smoke for a treat. Bacon, peppers, and palm oil were used to give flavor to the cooked staples, and supplemental food was often also bought in Africa, including for example millet, citrus fruit, coconuts, melequete peppers, etc. The accounts of the slaver, Quinera (1709), show that the following items were purchased in Africa as victuals for slaves: 300 chickens, 13 pigs, 6 cattle, 7 amen palm oil, and 38 cases of millet. Such a list may not be typical, however, and would undoubtedly vary according to the availability and quality of food brought from Holland, as well as the available supplies at the African ports. 13 In spite of careful planning for provisions by the slave traders, there were often scarcities and spoilage in food and water. Slaves always suffered terribly as a result. Several incidents have been reported in which the death toll became exceptionally high or the slaves were in very poor shape at the end 13.
Unger I, p. 153; Unger II, p. 55; Van Andel, p. 629; Hezemans, p. 39; RLLM, Radermacher, folders 558-88; WIC, vol. 54, pp 4 and 13; WIC, vol. 486, p. 138; WIC, vol. 832, p. 588; WIC, vol. 834, pp. 288, 253 and 307; WIC, vol. 180, p. 186.
T h e slaves: their treatment and mortality
235
of the voyage because of such shortages. This was particularly true when uncooperative winds or other factors prolonged the middle passage. Water shortages in particular could pose a serious problem, and it was therefore always carefully rationed. As a rule, slaves were given water to drink twice daily, with or after their meals, and sick or especially weak slaves might be given an extra drink of water when it seemed advisable. It has been estimated that slaves received about a quart of water a day. On these long sea voyages water was very likely to spoil; in fact, it seems to have gone through cycles of going bad and curing itself again. The water taken aboard in Africa was regarded as inferior to that obtained in Holland. When American ports were reached and fresh water became available, however, the slaves were only gradually weaned from the old African water to the new supplies.14
The cycle of suffering and death In this study we meet the slaves only from the moment they became the property of European slave traders on the African coast until the time they were sold to their new masters in the Americas. The agony in the process of enslavement started for many of the slaves with war or a slave raid. This must have been a most traumatic rupture of kinship ties for people to whom family was so crucial. The long march to the coast, tied together in singlefile coffles and often burdened by heavy loads of merchandise, can only have added to their despair. Little is known with certainty of the details of these early stages, nor of the number of slaves who succumbed before the coast was reached. At any rate, that part of the slaves' suffering is beyond the scope of this book. Without having experienced the condition of slavery it is impossible to understand the ordeal to which the slaves were subjected. At best one can only attempt to comprehend it. The humiliating and painful process of being branded and sold to strange-looking and strange-behaving "pink" people, seeing an ocean for the first time, and then being carried by a small boat to a larger one anchored offshore can only have worsened the misery of the slaves. The process of boarding a ship, being taken through heavy surf in a small boat, and being hoisted aboard the slave ship must have been a frightening experience. It caused death by drowning for a number of slaves. Once crowded in this ship with other victims, whose fate they shared but whose languages were often incomprehensible, most slaves must have been bewildered. Then, after seeing the mainland disappear and after months of sailing to some unknown destination, without land in sight for what must 14.
Van Andel, p. 632; Unger I, p. 154.
236
The Dutch in the Atlantic Slave Trade
have seemed an endless voyage, the new land must have been both a welcome and a haunting sight. Disembarking, receiving new clothes (or simply a rag to cover their genitals) and better food, and being able to walk around may well have been a heartening experience for many of the slaves. But the auction block, another encounter with the branding iron, and additional physical examinations must have returned them to their nightmare. The experiences in the middle-passage stages of the journey and the toll on lives will be examined in greater detail. Of those enslaved Africans who survived the often long march to the coast, many died before embarking on European ships. It has been suggested that only 60 percent of the enslaved reached the coast alive and an additional 10 to 12 percent died before embarkation. The evidence for such claims is highly speculative, however, and the answer to that problem may always remain a mystery. On the African coast the surviving slaves came in contact with Europeans and Africans who were infected with diseases to which the new arrivals had not developed an immunity. The "white man's grave," the Guinea coast so dreaded by Europeans, posed a threat to Africans from the interior as well. Added to the danger of contracting some strange disease were the squalor of their accommodations and the uncertainty of their future. The initial sight of the ocean and the rumors of "white savages" who might eat them may have been traumatic enough to rob them of the will to live or to fight off illness.15 The process of being sold to Europeans must been very dehumanizing as well as painful to the slaves. Being sold involved humiliating physical examinations, into which an eighteenth-century Dutch handbook for slave traders provides considerable insight. To check hearing and speaking ability the slave was forced to scream. To avoid buying older slaves, the captains were advised to check the teeth of the slaves, examine their hair, and test the firmness of women's breasts. The buyers were warned against the various tricks of the sellers, such as rubbing and greasing the bodies of slaves, and shaving, plucking, and painting gray hair. All such tricks and others the slave captains used when marketing the slaves on the other side of the ocean. 16 Willem Bosman described this ordeal of the slaves as follows: When these slaves come to Fida, they are put in prison all together, and when we treat concerning buying them, they are all brought out together in a large Plain; where, by our Chirurgeons, whose Province 15.
Philip D. Curtin, "The White Man's Grave: Image and Reality, 1780-1830," Journal of British Studies, (1961), vol. 1, pp. 94-110; Philip D. Curtin, "Epidemiology and the Slave Trade," Political Science Quarterly, (1986), vol. 83, p. 205; De Marree, vol. 2, p. 248; Joseph C. Miller, "Mortality in the Atlantic Slave Trade: Statistical Evidence on Causality," Journal of Interdisciplinary History (1981), vol. 11, p. 413. 16. Gallandat, p. 432.
The slaves: their treatment and mortality
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it is, they are thoroughly examined, even to the smallest Member, and that naked too both Men and Women, without the least Distinction or Modesty. Those which are approved as good are set on one side; and the lame or faulty are set by as Invalides, which are here called Mackrons. These are such as are above five and thirty Years old, or are maimed in the Arms, Legs, Hands or Feet, have lost a Tooth, are grey-haired, or have Films over their Eyes; as well as all those which are affected with any Veneral Distemper, or with several other diseases.'7
Once the property of Europeans, the slave was subjected to the painful ordeal of being branded with a red-hot iron. All WIC slaves had to be branded before they were allowed to board a company slave ship, because it was feared that crew members might otherwise exchange them for less expensive slaves and pocket the difference in price. One slaver described the scene in vivid terms: " . . . the yard reeking with the smell of burning flesh," and the air filled with "cries of agony and terror."18 Bosman described the scene in less dramatic terms: "In the mean while a burning Iron, with the Arms or Name of the Companies, lyes in the Fire; with which ours are marked on the Breast...; but we yet take all possible care that they are not burned too hard, especially the Women, who are more tender than the Men." 19 When these slaves arrived in the Western Hemisphere they were usually branded again. After 1687 WIC slaves of a particular ship arriving at Curasao were all branded with the same number or letter, and at varying parts of the body (shoulders, chests, or arms) in order to distinguish among them. The scars were subsequently used as identifications for various purposes. Free traders also branded their slaves, but they may have given each slave a successive number based on the order of his or her purchase, because that is how they were identified in the log. A description of these practices and procedures is in Appendix 8.2° During the WIC monopoly trade, slaves often had to wait in confinement for many weeks or even months before a company slave ship arrived. On the Slave Coast the slaves were generally kept in barracoons or stockades (tronks, the Dutch called them), unroofed but fenced areas on the beach, until their embarkation. At Elmina on the Gold Coast, some of the storage space was set aside for housing slaves, as the castle there was not built with 17. Bosman, Description, p. 364. 18. WIC, vol. 484, p. 45-6; NBKG, vol. 233, cor. 1/20/1700; WIC, vol. 25, min. 8/5/1699; Averil Mackenzie-Grieve, Last Years of the English Slave Trade; Liverpool, 1750-1807 (London: Putnam, 1941), p. 122; WIC, vol. 68, cor. 9/27/1687; WIC, vol. 69, p. 60; WIC, vol. 617, p. 436; MCC, vol. 1571, cor. 3/29/1767. 19. Bosman, Description, p. 364. See Appendix 8 for a description of "branding." 20. WIC, vol. 617, p. 436; WIC, vol. 1148, doc. E; MCC, vol. 1571, cor. 3/29/1767; Hudig, p. 38.
238
T h e Dutch in the Atlantic Slave Trade
the slave trade in mind. This area was nevertheless dubbed the slave hole or dungeon, and it could accommodate 300 slaves, although as many as 400 were often packed into it.21 Many slaves lost their lives in these storage areas; forty-three died at Ouidah in 1724 and eighty at Epe in 1735. The Dutch exported approximately 1,200 and 1,800 slaves from this Slave Coast region during these respective years, which would put the death rate of the waiting period at about 4 percent. At Elmina slaves were put to work during the waiting period because this was regarded as better for their health than just sitting in confinement. Their treatment at Elmina is explained in Appendix 21. One WIC director on the Gold Coast expressed his concern about the unpredictable arrival of slave vessels and the possible consequences as follows: "(I) recommend that you space the arrival of ships better for we cannot purchase large numbers of slaves if no ships are on the (African) coast or due to arrive, because if slaves have to wait a long time they run a great risk of dying and also cost a great deal to feed."22 Sometimes slaves were embarked even though the ship was not ready to clear the port, because the fresh air on the water was better for their health than the stale air of the slave hole. Death affidavits prepared by the record-conscious WIC officials also throw some light on the preembarkation mortality rates. Although the numbers are not complete, they do confirm that mortality among waiting slaves could occasionally be very high. In 1705, for example, 95 slaves died out of a group of approximately 650 boarded at Elmina, which is a 15 percent mortality rate. For one eight-month period (1734-5) a t l e a s t fi% death affidavits have been preserved, and for the years 1728 and 1729 at least ninety-five such documents have been unearthed. During these last two years the WIC exported between 3,000 to 4,000 slaves from the Guinea coast, which would put the average death rate for the waiting period at nearly 3 percent, assuming all deaths had been accounted for in the surviving documents. For the year 1725, however, only twenty-five death affidavits have been located, which would be barely above 1 percent of the slaves exported by the WIC during that year. Because no complete set of mortality statistics are available, one is left to conjecture; for the WIC slave trade a 3-5 percent preembarkation death rate would not be an unrealistic estimate. 23 For the free trade these figures are undoubtedly lower because these ships came in larger numbers 21. 22. 23.
WIC, vol. 487, p. 35; NBKG, vol. 7, min. 1/27/1737. WIC, vol. 486, pp. 491-2; WIC, vol. 488, pp. 92-4; NBKG, vol. 24, cor. 6/25/1774; NBKG, vol. 6, min. 3/22/1730; WIC, vol. 55, cor. 3/30/1705; WIC, vol. 180, p. 192. See also Appendix 21 about the Elmina "slave hole." WIC, vol. 107, pp. 322-41; WIC, vol. 99, pp. 199-205. Most of the death affidavits are located in WIC, vols. 107 and 108; see Appendix 23 for a sample.
The slaves: their treatment and mortality
239
and boarded their slaves shortly after their purchase. Nevertheless, their African and European vendors at times may have retained the slaves before a willing buyer arrived. Moreover, the slaves paid for the shorter waiting period in a much longer coasting time on board the free-trade slave ships. The middle passage, or the crossing of the Atlantic, has generally been viewed as the most awful stage of the slaves' experience. This stage generally included a period of coasting, described in Chapters 6 and 7. The uncertainty, discomfort, deprivation, and suffering in general must have been awful indeed. It is therefore not surprising that several slaves took their own lives when they had the opportunity. The diseases and mortality on the middle passage will be dealt with in greater detail later. With the arrival at their destination in the West, the torturous experiences during the preceding months did not end the trail of death and suffering for the slaves. Complications from the suffering of the preceding months often resulted in many more deaths after arrival in the West, and after their sale to new owners the slaves entered the new disease environment of the Western Hemisphere.24 As noted in Chapter 8, ships often had to wait several days after arrival before they were allowed to disembark their human cargo. When a contagious disease was discovered aboard a slave ship this waiting period could turn into several weeks. One slave captain complained that the waiting period would make the slaves listless and the crew restless, and that many slaves died because of the lack of activity. Of thirty-four WIC ships in a sample of 101 that reported harbor deaths, an average of five slaves a consignment died between arrival and disembarkation. The reported deaths fluctuated between one and fifteen, although several ships may have been spared such losses, and the records of others have not been located. When the reported harbor deaths are correlated with middle-passage mortality rates and the total number of slaves in the resulting sample, the harbor death rate comes to nearly 1 percent, as is shown in Table 10.4.25 Some of the casualties mentioned above may have been included in the mortality rates of the middle passage, but this would not apply to slaves who died shortly after their landing. After their disembarkation, the slaves were often getting more and better food, more exercise, and in general improved treatment as they were being prepared for the auction block. They generally needed this recuperation as many slaves were too sick to be sold immediately. Approximately 25 percent of the slaves that landed in Curasao, as shown in Appendix 17, were either categorized as macrons or were too sick to be sold at the first examination after disembarkation. Nevertheless, at this time the slaves suffered the indignity of one or more physical examinations and in 24. 25.
See Curtin, "Epidemiology," on disease environments. WIC, vol. 1138, cor. 6/26/1706 and 9/22/1706; WIC, vol. 1140, doc. 74; Appendix 19.
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The Dutch in the Atlantic Slave Trade Table 10.4 Postdisembarkation mortality, 1700-1739 Slave sample
Mortality Middle passage Postlanding
Harbor deaths (%) of total
17,804
3,171 (17.8)
168 (0.94)
Postlanding deaths (%) of Total
20,762
3,799 (18.3)
525 (2.53)
111,129
18,787 (16.9)
Aggregate WIC mortality 1700-1739
Source: Appendixes 1, 2 and 19.
most cases another branding. During this waiting period, which lasted on average a couple of weeks but sometimes much longer, as in the case of the asiento slaves, many more slaves would die, especially when the preceding middle passage had been long or very taxing on the slaves. In the sample cited above, thirty-four consignments reported slave deaths of from two to fifty-four, an average of 15 per consignment. Some of the most disastrous cases are not included in these statistics. The ship, Brandenburg, in 1700, for example, lost 130 of its 450 slaves on the middle passage, and of the survivors 64 more died within a period of ten months after disembarkation at Essequibo. In 1727 the Rustoj'had a large consignment of 684 slaves, 74 of whom died on the middle passage, but an additional 263 died within four months after arrival at St. Eustatius. Another 148 slaves could not be sold at that time because of persistent illness. As shown in Table 10.4, the death rate after landing and before the slaves were sold amounted to another 2.55 percent after registering a 1 percent loss in the harbors and a generous 18 percent mortality rate on the middle passage.26 As will be shown below, the death rates in the free trade tended to be slightly lower than in the WIC traffic. In contrast to the middle passage, the postdisembarkation mortality statistics are scanty, especially for the free-trade period. For those slaves who faced another voyage, as the vast majority sold at Curasao and St. Eustatius, the chances of survival must have been reduced even further. The whole issue of postembarkation mortality remains vague given the limited data at hand, and it is beyond the scope of this study. But the sparse data presented here illustrate that the Africans who got caught in the Atlantic slave trade faced death at every stage of their ordeal and, on the average, must have had a very short life expectancy.27 26. WIC, vol. 1026, pp. 26, 36, and 44; WIC, vol. 619, pp. 373 and 388; Appendix 19. 27. WIC. vol. 206, doc. 85. See also Table 10.3 and Chapter 8.
The slaves: their treatment and mortality
241
Causes of death on the middle passage Mortality on the middle passage of the Dutch slave trade is quite well documented, as are the causes of death. Officers on slave ships kept a special list for diseased slaves, identifying them by their purchase number, sex, age group, and presumed cause of death. Several of these lists have been preserved. As already noted in Chapter 7 (see Table 7.5), a number of slaves died as a result of slave revolts; however, this did not involve large numbers except in a few cases such as the Middelburgs Welvaren (1751) and the Vtgilantie, which had most of their slaves killed as a result of slave uprisings. Apart from revolts, individual attempts to escape from slave ships occurred quite often, but as a rule they resulted either in the slaves' recapture or their being consumed by the sharks that often accompanied ships in tropical waters. Many of these attempts at jumping overboard might in fact be regarded as suicide by drowning. Suicide was also attempted by other means, such as self strangulation, and it was not uncommon for slaves to refuse to eat. As a rule, slave ships carried instruments to pry open the mouth of such slaves to force-feed them. One slave was so determined in his hunger strike that the following was reported about him: "This afternoon a man slave died who refused to eat, no matter what I tried. He bit so hard on the 'mouth screw' that the teeth fell out Fellow slaves acknowledged that he was so stubborn that he would rather be dead than eat."28 In the WIC traffic at least twenty-eight cases of suicide, mostly by jumping overboard, have been identified among the deaths in forty-two slave consignments. This represented nearly 1 percent of the deaths in this particular sample. At least eighteen missions listed suicides as a cause of death, and on one voyage four suicides were reported. A number of deaths were reported as accidents, such a "fell in the water," and while some of these may have been genuine accidents, others may have been caused by slaves as an expression of resistance. One can imagine that the miserable circumstances of the slaves, particularly among the men who were chained together, might have led to conflicts among the slaves themselves. Rarely were such incidents the cause of death, but in one tragic case a slave reportedly died as a result of "his testicles (being) bitten off," which must have been done by another slave, presumably as a result of a fight with his partner in chains.29 Another phenomenon bordering on passive suicide was that after embarkation certain slaves became listless and lost the will to live. Such slaves might have lost their appetites and thus were more susceptible to nutrientdeficient diseases. Lethargic behavior was most common among slaves from 28. 29.
Hezemans, pp. 39-40 and 48. Hezemans, p. 48; WIC, vol. 202, p. 205; WIC, vol. 1152, doc. 71 and 79.
242
The Dutch in the Atlantic Slave Trade
the Bight of Biafra coastal region, a reason why they were less attractive to European slave merchants. One woman slave was reported to have "died of grief shortly after her newborn baby died. Other slaves were emotionally unable to stand up to the ordeal and became so imbalanced mentally that they were categorized by the ship authorities as having gone "crazy." This was the case with two slaves, a man and a woman, on the ship, Koning van Portugal, in 1702. Asiento agents promptly returned the slaves to the WIC, and their subsequent fate was not reported. In the earlier mentioned sample of forty-two slave consignments the death causes of twenty slaves were described as mentally or emotionally disturbed, usually simply dubbed crazy, and many others must have been in that state but managed to survive the middle passage. Thomas van Serat, captain of the Nieuwe Post in 1716, abandoned five of his slaves on the African coast because they were thought to be so disturbed mentally or physically so handicapped as to be worthless. It should be pointed out, however, that such cruel practices were the exception rather than the rule, or at least such incidences have rarely been found recorded.30 In a few instances large numbers of slaves died as a result of shipwrecks. The worst recorded case in this category undoubtedly was the sinking of the WIC slaver, Leusden, on January 1, 1738. After a relatively quick Atlantic crossing of less than six weeks, bad weather caused the ship to be grounded near the mouth of the Marowin River, on the eastern Surinam coast. According to a report signed by surviving crew members, the stranded ship slowly tilted on its side and the crew closed the hatches so the slaves were locked below decks, where they drowned or suffocated during that day and the following night. The slaves had apparently managed to loosen their chains, and made valiant efforts to get to the upper deck, but to no avail. Only fourteen slaves survived the ordeal because they happened to be on deck doing chores. The crew excused their callous action on grounds that if they had let the slaves out pandemonium would have broken out and no one would have survived because the life boats could barely carry the crew and the few slaves that were on the upper deck. The seventy-three surviving crew members and fourteen slaves managed to reach Paramaribo on January 4, 1738, where the surviving slaves were sold. The consignment consisted of 714 plus 2 privately owned slaves, thus the total casualties on this voyage came to 702. Detailed records of the casualties on the middle passage were obviously lost, but given the quick crossing and the absence of any reference to unusual mortality during the voyage, we may assume that between 600 to 700 slaves died as a result of the shipwreck. It was a human catastrophe 30.
WIC, vol. 205, pp. 640-3.
The slaves: their treatment and mortality
243
in no uncertain terms, but to the WIC directors it must have been seen primarily as an economic disaster.31 Some slaves had their lives shortened as a result of harsh treatment by slave-ship crews, although this was invariably against instructions, which demanded good treatment in order to safeguard the investment of the owners. The killing of rebellious slaves was often brutal and in many cases unwarranted, as was shown in the case of the Middelburgs Welvaren in 1751 (see Chapter 7). Exploitation of slaves by crew members was against regulations and, if it occurred, was probably not recorded. When slaves were singled out to do chores various unfulfilled promises may have been made. One slave, who served as a slave foreman (bombaas) on the ship, Adrichem, in 1712 was allowed to stay on the return with the ship to Holland. What happened to him afterward is not known, but this was certainly an exception to the rule of selling all the slaves in the West. Sexual favors were undoubtedly demanded from slaves by crew members, and although the crew were threatened with severe punishment for such actions, the existence of the regulations tends to confirm their occurrence. The female slave quarter was often referred to as the whore hole (hoeregat), perhaps a reference arising from the imaginations of sexually deprived sailors as well as actual sexual activity. Captains of slave ships frequently had privately owned male or female companions, which usually were sold along with other slaves at the end of the middle passage. Considering the rough lot of crew members and their frequent escape into heavy drinking, slaves must occasionally have become victims of the situation. On a few occasions at least, the officers of slave ships were reprimanded for harsh treatment of slaves, which allegedly had led to excessive death rates. A careful scrutiny of MCC papers produced records of a few slaves dying as result of brutal treatment by crew members, but these appear to have been exceptions. This author is left with the impression that though the whole ordeal was indeed bad, sadistic acts against slaves were the exception rather than the rule.32 Morbidity and care of the sick Most of the deaths on the middle passage were the result of diseases. Table 10.5 lists the most common illnesses that occurred on Dutch slave ships 31. 32.
WIC, vol. 1140, docs. 165 and 172; WIC, vol. 206, p. 189; SS, vol. 265, p. 4. See Table 10.10 below. For slave ship instructions see WIC, vol. 54, 12/24/1690, WIC, vol. 832, p. 376-8. Unger I, p. 154; Hezemans. pp. 44 and 47; WIC, vol. 560, pp. 11 and 35; WIC, vol. 835, p. 79; WIC, vol. 1137, cor. 7/30/1704; WIC, vol. 1141, cor. 1/4/1738; WIC, vol. 204, p. 538; Priester, pp. 107-12.
The Dutch in the Atlantic Slave Trade
244
Table 10.5 Causes of death among the slaves Slaves in sample Aggregates 20,653 Diseases (Dutch equivalents) Dysentery (loop, dysentery, "persing") Smallpox (kinderpokken, pokken) Scurvy (scheurbuyk) Tuberculosis (teering) Long illness (langdurige ziekte) Sudden death (schielijck, subiete dood) Heart attack (hartvangh) Illness (ziekte, natuurlijke ziekte) Fevers (koorts, hevige coors, etc.) Dropsy (hydrope, waterzucht, 't water) Epilepsy (stuypen, vallen, syncope etc. Suicide (overboord, hangen, niet eten) Accident (verwonding, in water gevallen) Mental/emotional (gek, dol, kwaad, mal) Respiratory (hoesten, benauwdheid, etc.) Pleurisy (pleuris) Reproductive/venereal (craam, venus) Parasitic worms Blindness Sleeping sickness Miscellaneous (koudvuur, abcess, klapoor, colyck, litergus, verlamming, etc.) Total
Deaths 3,563
% 173
1,200 540 524 270 39 244 44 260 116 67 36 28 19 20 13 14 21 10 6 2 90
33.7 15.1 14.7 7.6 1.1 6.8 1.2 7.3 3.3 1.9 1.0 0.8 0.5 0.6 0.4 0.4 0.6 0.3 0.2 0.1 2.5
3,563
100
Frequency 42 41 19 19 20 11 22 7 15 23 22 13 18 11 7 6 5 7 3 1 1 25
Source: Appendix 29. Note: Terms employed by the doctors are noted in parentheses.
during the eighteenth century. The care of the sick slaves and crew members on slave ships was entrusted to one or a few ship surgeons (chirurgijns) of the barber-surgeon tradition, who as a rule had been trained as boys in a one-to-two-year apprenticeship. They had been trained to deal primarily with trauma cases, such as gunshot wounds, ulcers, and amputations, and to apply bleeding procedures. They knew little or nothing about internal medicine, the diseases that were rampant on slave ships. Not until 176970 was a training school for ship surgeons established, in Rotterdam, shortly before the Dutch slave trade experienced its steep decline, too late to have an impact on the Dutch slave trade. Twentieth-century experts have claimed that the contents of the surgeon's medicine box may have been more harmful than beneficial to crew members and slaves alike.33 33.
Van Andel, pp. 618 and 633.
T h e slaves: their treatment and mortality
245
Given the limited knowledge of the medical profession in general and of the ship surgeons in particular during the pre-nineteenth-century years, one must treat the list of mortality causes in Table 10.5 with reservations. All they could do was observe and write down the external symptoms a diseased slave manifested prior to death. For example, they frequently noted that a slave died of dropsy (waterzucht) when retention of fluids had caused enlargement of the victim's abdomen, without knowing that malfunctioning of the liver was caused by parasitic worms. High fevers could be observed, but apparently no attempt would or could be made to determine a cause unless it was obvious, as in the case of smallpox.34 Dysentery, or loop as it was generally called by the Dutch surgeons, was undoubtedly the biggest killer among the slaves. It was listed as the cause of death for more than one-third of the 3,565 slaves who died on the fortytwo slaving voyages included in the sample in Table 10.5; all but one of the slaving voyages were plagued by this illness. It was essentially a bacterium or amoeba-induced infection of the intestines, causing loose and frequent bowel movements, vomiting, severe abdominal pains and headaches, and it was frequently accompanied by high fevers. Ulcerated intestines would often lead to loss of blood, which gave rise to the description bloody flux (rode loop). In the crowded and unhygienic quarters on the slave ships, it was passed on readily to other persons through close contact or shared food or water, and it could easily turn into a deadly epidemic. It could devastate a human cargo, as happened on several occasions, and there was little the ship's surgeon could do to combat it.35 Smallpox was the second most deadly disease among slaves after they entered the new disease environments on the coast and aboard the slave ships. Unlike Europeans who developed an immunity to this disease during childhood, Africans were often devastated by it. Once smallpox was brought aboard by a slave it spread rapidly to others. Smallpox killed more than 15 percent of the slaves and manifested itself on nearly half of the ships in the sample.36 Another dreaded illness with a heavy death toll was scurvy. It caused the death of nearly 15 percent of the slaves, and it occurred on eighteen of the forty-two consignments in the sample just cited. Its symptoms were severe pains of joints and limbs, physical weakness, bleeding and blackening of 34. 35. 36.
I.D.R. Bruyn, "Chirurgijnsarbeid en VOC-Beleid," M.A. Thesis, Leiden University, 1986, pp. 8-12 and 72. Mannix and Cowley, p. 121; Hezemans, p. 46; Bruyn, "Chirurgijns," pp. 13-14; see also Table 10.4. From the record it is not clear whether the disease was of the chicken pox (varicella) or the smallpox (variola) variety. Professor G.W. Bruyn, of the University of the Leiden Medical School, has been most helpful by providing advice on sorting out the causes of death reported by ship surgeons.
246
The Dutch in the Atlantic Slave Trade
gums, and loss of teeth, and it culminated in the inability to move and ultimately death if not arrested. Scurvy was induced by a dietary deficiency of vitamin C, which was often lacking in the dried and salted diets of long ocean voyages. During its final years in the traffic WIC slave ships still suffered heavily from scurvy. Most of the ninety-two deaths on the Amsterdam (1725) resulted from this disease, as many as 150 slaves succumbed to scurvy on the Beekesteyn (1731), and it was a major cause of death on the voyage of the Leusden in 1735. Prior to the eighteenth century the cause of this disease was not understood and it was therefore a scourge among sailors, but early in that century maritime specialists became increasingly aware that citrus fruit was an excellent preventative and cure for scurvy. A WIC directive of 1732 stated that all slaves should be given lemon juice as a preventative and cure, because "experience has taught us that it is an infallible medication against scurvy." There is evidence that as early as 1700 slaves on WIC ships were given lemons for the prevention of scurvy. In spite of this knowledge, however, it continued to be a significant cause of death among slaves throughout the eighteenth century. As late as 1773 the slaves on the free trader, Nooitgedacht, suffered severely from scurvy.37 Deaths caused by scurvy occurred sometimes surprisingly soon after slaves were boarded, which is indicative of poor nourishment in Africa. This phenomenon has been noted in other studies, and it has been said that much of the middle-passage mortality was more the result of bad treatment and malnourishment in Africa than aboard European ships. Deaths resulting from scurvy would certainly lend credence to such an argument, and so might mortality resulting from tuberculosis. In these cases, however, proper nutrition aboard the ships could have cured scurvy, while the putrid conditions between decks would have greatly exacerbated tuberculosis. There is no doubt that conditions prior to the middle passage influenced the mortality rates, but this study does not confirm that mortality rates dropped as the voyage progressed (see Figure 10.1).38 Unbearably hot and humid and devoid of fresh air, a slave ship must have been an ideal breeding place for germs. It is therefore no surprise that a large number of slaves died of respiratory illnesses. On the basis of the available evidence it is difficult to determine what the real causes of some of the fevers were but pneumonia, although never mentioned by the surgeons, must have killed several slaves. Many fatal diseases were simply referred as illness, or as a "mean" illness. Tuberculosis, then generally known as consumption (teering), was also cited as a cause of death on half of the slave 37. W I C , vol. 1154, p. 334; W I C , vol. 1140, cor. 7/13/1731; W I C vol. 1141, doc. 111; W I C , vol. 8, p. 192; W I C , vol. 55, cor. 9/20/1732; SS, vol. 415, 4/25/1773; W I C , vol. 1146, doc. 23; Hezemans, p. 46. 38. Miller, pp. 409-18.
The slaves: their treatment and mortality
247
Figure 10.1 Middle passage mortality cycle (Deaths perlO-day periods - expressed in percentages of slaves in transit) 4%
4%
3%
3%
2%
2% 3.33
b 1% ,,,
1.74
,33
0.91
108 J
1.21
1.49
0
1.42
1.31
Days
1.85
1%
*
10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100 110 120 130 140 Days
Source: Appendix 17.
ships in the sample. The all-inclusive lingering illness may in fact have included tuberculosis as well as other long-lasting illnesses. Heart attacks (hartvangh) are frequently listed as a cause of death among the slaves, but the simple label sudden death occurs even more frequently on the mortality lists. These two combined accounted for about 7 percent of the deaths in the WIC sample. These quick and inexplicable deaths mystified the surgeons, although they may well have been heart failures or strokes resulting from dehydration and a lack of essential nutrients. 39 Smallpox and dysentery were feared chiefly because they were so contagious and could develop into epidemics, which could also be spread to the settlement colonies. Various efforts were made by ships' surgeons to cure illnesses among the slaves and prevent epidemics. Although rarely mentioned in the records, bleeding was apparently practiced to combat smallpox, but this procedure might have increased rather than decreased the death rate. When possible, the sick were separated from the other slaves, with mats provided 39.
Van Andel, pp. 632 and 634; Hezemans, p. 46.
248
T h e Dutch in the Atlantic Slave Trade
for their comfort. To effect a cure, dysentery-infected slaves were fed baked beans (paardebonen) mixed with palm oil. A mixture of beans and rice was also used as a binding agent, but there is no indication that these measures had positive results. During the 1680s, and before the link between scurvy and fresh foods was understood, a recommended cure for this disease was tamarind syrup mixed with water and honey.40 The higher sugar content of such remedies might well have provided temporary invigoration, but the long-term effect is doubtful and cannot be verified from the records.
Mortality during the middle passage The ocean crossing, or middle passage, was one of the shorter legs of the triangular trade but it has been most closely associated with slave mortality. This is partly due to the dreadful experience of so many human beings crowded into the sailing vessels, facing the perils of storms, the equatorial calms, shortage of food and water, and other calamities. William Wilberforce, the English antislavery activist, once said: "never can so much misery be found condensed in so small a place as in a slave ship during the middle passage."41 What also contributed to the notoriety of the middle passage is the fact that better statistics have been kept and preserved of this part of the slave-trade cycle. Strictly speaking, the middle passage refers to the actual crossing of the ocean, from the time of departure from Africa to the landing in the West. Statistics on mortality for the middle passage, however, generally start from the moment the slaves were taken on board until the time they disembarked. As was already shown in Chapters 6 and 7 (see Table 7.1), the coasting period was often longer than the actual ocean crossing. Free traders in particular often spent many months along the African coast before they had acquired their human cargo and were ready to start the Atlantic crossing. In such situations many a slave died while the slave ship was still in sight of the African coast. According to calculations based on fifty-eight MCC slave ships (see Appendix 18), an average of nearly 5 percent of the slaves died before their ship set sail for the West. With a free-trade slave mortality rate of 13.8 percent in this sample, this meant that about one-third of the slaves dying aboard free-trade ships passed away before the ocean crossing had started.42 40. 41. 42.
See Curtin, "Epidemiology," pp. 190-216. Hezemans, pp. 46-7; Table 10.4; WIC, vol. 1138, p. 192; Kenneth F. Kiple, The Caribbean Slave; A Biological History (New York: Cambridge University Press, 1984), p. 21. Kiple, p. 57. Hezemans, pp. 49-51; Appendix 18.
The slaves: their treatment and mortality
249
Table 10.6 Coasting and ocean crossing mortality compared Catagories
Mortality
Duration coasting
%of
WIC trade (1675-1738) Free trade (1730-1803)
Mortality
%of
deaths
Duration crossing
%of
total
%of
total
deaths
100 days
3.2
18
80 days
14.3
82
200 days
4.8
30
67 days
11.4
70
Source: Appendix 1, 2, 16, 17, 18, and Table 7.1.
In the WIC trade the coasting period was much shorter, approximately ioo days compared to 200 days in the free trade (see Table 7.1), and the coasting mortality rates were correspondingly lower. Based on a sample of fifty-five WIC voyages (see Appendixes 16 and 17), approximately 3.5 percent of the slaves boarded died before leaving Africa. With an overall mortality rate of nearly 17.5 percent in the sample, this meant that nearly onefifth of the dying slaves succumbed while still on the African coast (see Table 10.6). 43
An assessment of the slave mortality for the middle passage as a whole, including the coasting time, is far less conjectural because of an abundance of statistical evidence for the WIC as well as the free trade. Losses per ship ranged from zero to nearly all of the slaves. At least two consignments have been found recorded without a single middle-passage casualty. Special notice in correspondence, however, illustrates the rarity of such occurrences. As Tables 10.7 and 10.8 show, the overall death rate for the WIC came to nearly 16 percent and for the free trade to nearly 14 percent, producing a combined death rate of 14.8 percent. The lower mortality rates for the free trade might be explained by its added experience, faster ships, and smaller consignments. It should be mentioned that the mortality statistics cited here are based on the total data base used in this study, and these include several estimates along with verified cases. But because qualitative evidence and comparisons with other voyages of the same ships were available and seemed to provide a sound basis for estimates, all cases have been included in these calculations. Mortalities based on known cases tend to be only slightly higher, but they are weighted by the fact that catastrophes were more likely to be reported than ordinary situations. These mortality figures for the middle 43.
See Appendix 1.
250
The Dutch in the Atlantic Slave Trade Table 10.7 Mortality in the WIC slave trade Average cargo
%
364
Slaves 178,417
1675-1679 1680-1689 1690-1699 1700-1709 1710-1719 1720-1729 1730-1739
21 73 46 56 45 78 47
8,650 35,598 23,044 27,996 20,979 37,793 24,361
412 488 501 500 466 485 518
1,330 5,165 3,001 4,459 3,559 5,955 4,814
15.4 14.5 13.0 16.1 17.0 15.0 19.8
Guinea coast
203
99,001
488
16,247
16.4
Loango coast
77
42,228
548
5,378
12.7
Ships WIC total
490
Deaths 28,323
of total 15.9
Source: Appendix 1.
passage are in line with the 15 percent that marine-insurance companies anticipated as an average death rate during the free-trade period. 44 In general, there is a trend toward declining death rates with the passing of time, except for a few decades when some catastrophic cases raised the averages. During the first major phase of the Dutch slave trade to Brazil, mortality rates reached nearly 18 percent. And when one considers the shorter distance of the middle passage to Brazil compared to the Caribbean area, the relative mortality figures for Brazil are therefore considerably higher than those of the Dutch slave trade in later years. Lack of experience with human cargoes must have contributed to these high death rates. It is tempting to think that added experience in the traffic resulted in a drop of the mortality rates from 18 percent (1630-50) to 16 percent (1675—1738) to 14 percent (1730-1803), respectively. A comparison between the free trade and the WIC is confused by the offsetting facts that the WIC had a shorter coasting period (100 to 200 days) but a longer ocean crossing (80 to 66 days).45 Percentages can be deceiving, and it is therefore valuable to translate these figures into what demographers call true mortality, which is the number of persons dying per year, in a population of 1,000 persons. In a premodern society, a stable population could sustain a mortality rate of 40/1,000/year, with an upper limit of 50/1,000/year before such a population would decline. Based on a WIC sample of 116 slave missions with an 18.7 percent mortality 44. 45.
Van Andel, p. 624; See also Table 10.8. Van den Boogaart and Emmer, pp. 366-7. See Table 9.1 for voyage duration.
The slaves: their treatment and mortality
251
Table 10.8 Mortality in the Dutch free trade Slaves
Average cargo
Deaths
% of total
815
250,451
307
34,626
13.8
1730-1739 1740-1749 1750-1759 1760-1769 1770-1779 1780-1789 1790-1803
62 140 150 191 182 46 44
19,169 46,879 48,676 59,867 52,110 13,304 10,446
309 334 324 313 286 289 237
3,108 6,645 6,810 8,119 6,911 1,816 1,217
16.2 14.2 14 13.6 13.3 13.7 11.7
Guinea coast
374
108,866
299
15,138
13.9
Loango coast
170
57,475
338
6,925
Category
Ships
Free trade total a
12
Source: Appendix 2. Note: dThis also includes the cargoes for which African origins are not documented.
rate during the middle passage, the true mortality rate came to 649/1,000/ year. (The time factor is supplied by the duration of the crossing plus 25 days, or 25 percent of the average coasting time, which adds up to 105 exposure days.) With all other things equal, such a population would die out in about a year and a half. For the free trade the figures are significantly lower. Unger's study of the MCC, which includes 108 slaving missions, can be translated into a true mortality rate of 393/1,000/year, as is shown in Table 10.9. A much smaller sample of twenty-two slaving missions during the final years of the Dutch slave trade produces a true mortality rate of 493/1,000/year. There is a significant drop in both percentage and true mortality rates from the WIC trade in spite of the much longer exposure period (105 to 116 days) to the free trade. The rising mortality rates at the end of the Dutch slave trade are difficult to explain. The sample is rather small, and a few cases of unusually high death rates could easily have skewed the results. It should also be kept in mind that the MCC mortality rates are lower by a few percentage points than the free trade in general. The overall true mortality rate for the free trade should be in the vicinity of 450/1,000/ year. In spite of these variations, the true mortality rates in all of these categories are appallingly high when compared to the rates in the traditional societies from which the slaves originated.46 46.
Miller, pp. 389ff; Roland Pressat, Demographic Analysis (Chicago: Aldine-Atherton, 1972); original French edition, 1961, pp. 30 and 71; Appendixes 1 and 2. The 25 percent of
2
The Dutch in the Atlantic Slave Trade
52
Table 10.9 Categories of true mortality Crossing days
Coast daysa
True mortality
18.66
80
+ 25
648/1,000/year
3,750
12.06
62
+ 50
393/1,000/year
863
15.14
62
+ 50
493/1,000/year
13.9
62
+ 50
453/1,000/year
%
Categories
Sample
Deaths
61,470
1,146
31,095 5,699
of deaths
WIC
1685-1739 MCC
1730-1803 Free trade 1784-1803 Free trade General b
Sources: Appendixes 1 and 2 , and Table 7.1; linger II, pp. 50 and 62. Notes: aUpward adjustment for the coasting period (see text). Aggregate statistics for the Dutch free trade.
On the basis of forty well-preserved mortality lists of the WIC trade during the early eighteenth century, it is possible to chart the pattern of dying during the middle passage, as is shown in Figure IO.I. The ocean crossing has been divided into stages of approximately ten days each. The diagram shows an elevated rate of mortality during the first ten days, when nearly 4 percent of the slaves who left Africa died. For fifty days the death rates remained quite stable at around 1.5 percent, but then started to rise. They exceeded 5 percent after 100 days and then remained high but irregular, perhaps because of the declining size of the sample (see Appendix 17). The unusually high death rate at the beginning of the ocean crossing was the result of at least two factors. Captains often decided to commence the ocean crossing when they had the desired human cargo or when boarded slaves started dying at a higher than normal rate. In the latter case, if there was space for additional slaves and merchandise to purchase them, captains often bought slaves at higher prices and with less consideration for the quality and health of the slaves. There seems to have been an expectation that the open ocean was healthier than the coastal waters, as illustrated with the slaver, Vergenoegen, in Chapter 7. That expectation was certainly confirmed by a decline of mortality rates shortly after departure, as is shown in the diagram in Figure 10.1. There were tremendous fluctuations in middle-passage mortality between individual consignments; in extreme cases, none died or nearly all of the slaves died. The reason for this is that the slave trade was a very complex the coasting time was derived from the fact that the majority of the slaves were generally purchased during the final stages of the coasting period.
T h e slaves: their treatment and mortality
253
and risky business with a variety of unpredictable forces that could influence its outcome. Poor planning and management can be added to the perils of the ocean crossing. The leading cause of catastrophic death rates was epidemic diseases, which could be brought aboard by a single slave. One of the reasons for the physical examinations was to avoid such catastrophes. In the crowded conditions aboard a slave ship, once an epidemic struck there was little the crew of a ship could do but hope for the best. The duration of the middle passage is a more decisive factor in explaining mortality, as is illustrated in Figure 10.1. Statistical evidence of the Dutch slave trade clearly shows that the longer the middle passage the larger the death rate was likely to be, and other scholars have demonstrated the same for other European nations. Other factors, particularly the dramatic results from epidemics and shipwrecks could override the effects of voyage duration, as is shown in Table 10.10. With the lengthening of the middle passage, food and water supplies were likely to become exhausted, which would tend to exacerbate illness or any other existing problem on the crowded ship. When the WIC directors warned against overcrowding the slave vessels, they were chiefly concerned for the adequacy of the food supply rather than for the density of human bodies, as was clearly stated in the new WIC policy in 1702.47 The significance of the duration of the middle passage is further illustrated by the discrepancy in mortality rates between consignments obtained on the Guinea coast compared to those from the Loango region. The latter showed consistently lower death rates, both in the WIC and in the free trade, although Loango is farther from the Caribbean than Guinea. As was discussed in Chapter 8, the western winds and currents along the Guinea coast made it necessary for ships to sail east and south to Cape Lopez (above Loango) before they could pick up the eastern winds suitable for the Atlantic crossing. These ships had to cross the equator twice with their cargo of slaves, thus lengthening their crossing by an average of several weeks at least. The WIC slave ships that took their cargoes to St. Eustatius generally had lower death rates, but this was also because they usually obtained their slaves on the Loango coast rather than in Guinea.48 Table 10.11 displays the distribution of slave mortality in two different ways and compares the figures for the WIC and free trade in both categories. On the left, consignments are grouped together in order of their percentage 47.
WIC, vol. 54, cor. 12/18/1702; WIC, vol. 832, pp. 133-4 and 323; Herbert S. Klein and Stanley L. Engerman, "A Note on Mortality in the French Slave Trade in the Eighteenth Century," in H. Gemery andj. Hogendorn, eds., The Uncommon Market (New York: Academic Press, 1979), pp. 263-70. 48. Curtin, Atlantic Slave Trade, p. 279; Johannes Postma, "Mortality in the Dutch Slave Trade, 1675-1795," in H.A. Gemery and J.S. Hogendorn, eds., The Uncommon Market (New York: Academic Press, 1979), p. 252.
254
The Dutch in the Atlantic Slave Trade Table 10.10 Consignments with catastrophic mortality rates
Ships
Year
Crossing days
Cargo
Deaths
716
702 485 408 307 344 254
%
Primary cause
WIC Leusden Petronella Alida Leusden Stad en Lande Nieuwe Post Carolus Secundus Vigilantie Rusthof Adrichem Moscow Stad en Lande Emmenes Acredam
1737 1722 1735 1732 1718 1708 1677 1733 1715 1706 1735 1718 1727
Free trade Baskenburg M'burgs Welvaren Watervliet Surinam Welvaart Belisarius Neptunis 2 Cioede Verwachting Nicolaas Nooitgedacht /eemercuur Jonge Jan Neptunis
1744 1750 1747 1773 1771 1748 1767 1757 1772 1789 1763 1785
525 a
93
120
165
183
687 439 535 425
400 a
200 a
719 717 582 760 718
345 344 271 349 270
?
?
250 a
230 a
265
238
Shipwreck 98 92 Lengthy crossing Scurvy 59 Scurvy 70 64 Lengthy crossing Illness 60 ?? 50 Food shortage 48 Illness 48 47 Lengthy crossing Scurvy 46 ?? 38 Exploded; no survivors
Shipwrecked 92 Slave revolt 90 9? 63 250 a 400 a 73 Lengthy crossing 220 a 300 a Grounded 84 194 230 53 Lengthy crossing 200 a 380 a Shipwrecked 88 200 228 Illness 66 179 270 Scurvy 89 140 a 157 ?? 64 174 272 ?? 51 190 a 370 a Exploded during slave i*evolt; 8 survived
Source: Appendixes 1 and 2, and Postma Data Collection. Note: a These are estimates.
of slave losses; on the right, they are listed according to the number of deaths per consignment. With its larger slave consignments, the WIC exhibited more catastrophic losses than the free trade. This is true in percentages as well as in actual deaths per voyage. The percentage rates may be more meaningful, although they may conceal rather significant losses in large consignments. In both the WIC and free trade, 59 percent of the voyages suffered mortality rates between 10 and 20 percent. One should keep in mind, however, that these figures are inflated by the inclusion of the estimated cases. In reality, several of the unverified cases would have been placed in higher or lower ranges.
The slaves: their treatment and mortality
255
Table 10.11 Distribution of slave mortality Deaths as percentage of consignments % deaths 0-4 5-9 10-14 15-19 20-24 25-29 30-34 35-39 40-49 50 +
WIC ships 26 54 142 71 33 11 5 7 9 8
Free trade ships 32 173 354 138 55 33 15 4 5 12
Range of mortality per consignment Deaths per consignment 0-4 5-9 10-14 15-19 20-29 30-39 40-49 50-59 60-69 70-79 80-89 90-99 100-199 200 +
WIC ships
Free trade ships
4 5 14 12 28 27 17 43 32 77 20 13 60 15
7 15 28 30 140 164 165 134 58 25 13 10 19 7
Source: Appendixes 1 and 2.
The average consignment for WIC slavers was much larger than in the free trade, as is shown in Tables 10.7 and 10.8. These last tables also point to the fact that slave ships sailing from Loango, compared to the Guinea coast, had lower mortality rates but also significantly larger slave consignments. This discrepancy is largest in the WIC trade, but this was largely due to the small special assignments that all sailed from the Gold Coast (see Chapter 6). These small ships actually experienced lower mortality rates, which may be attributed to their extremely short coasting period.49 These statistical variations allude to the issue of crowding in slave ships. Crowding has long been thought to constitute an important factor in slave mortality, and there is no doubt that the inhumanly crowded conditions aboard slave ships spread disease and contributed to high death rates. The difference between the so-called tight packers and loose packers, a distinction made by slave traders themselves in separating those who used every available inch of space to increase their human cargo from those who were slightly more concerned about the comforts of the slaves, may not have been critically significant in slave mortality. In either case, the crowding was severe enough to ensure the spread of diseases. On the other hand, excessive crowding could contribute to food and water shortages. The WIC directors seemed to have been convinced that tight packing would increase the death rate, 49.
Appendixes 1 and 2, and Tables 10.7 and 10.8.
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256
Table 10.12 Crowding /mortality comparison _____
Consignments Average Total Average Period compared Sample cargo mortality deaths _________ __
High mortality Low mortality Free trade 1739-1803 High mortality Low mortality
% deaths
11,676 7,743
687 455
2,008 1,341
118 79
17.2 17.3
9,261 6,416
356 247
1,443 905
56 35
15.6 14.1
26
Source: Appendixes 1 and 2.
and they warned their captains against such practices. Recent studies have suggested that the duration of the middle passage was a far more significant variable in mortality than crowding.50 The declining mortality rate from WIC trade to free trade seems to suggest that increased space might have been a contributing factor. Unfortunately, the absence of tonnage statistics for WIC slave ships make a valid comparison with free-trade ships impossible. Instead, a comparison between the least and most crowded conditions for the same ships on different voyages is shown in Table 10.12. Only those consignments with a significant discrepancy have been included. There was virtually no difference in WIC mortality rates between the most and least crowded consignments for the same ships. The more crowded consignments in the free trade had a slightly higher death rate (1.5 percent) than the least crowded ones. This comparison suggests that crowding was not a crucial mortality factor in the Dutch slave trade. It should be noted, however, that the WIC slavers experienced increased mortality among the slaves during the 1730s, when their captains were obviously increasing the size of their slave cargoes for the same ships. Aging of the slaving fleet, epidemics, or other factors may have been responsible for this, but extreme crowding may also have been a contributing factor to the increased mortality rates at that time. Overcrowding was clearly a factor in slave-trade mortality, but if excessive crowding contributed extensively to increased mortality rates remains an enigma that may never be clearly understood. 50.
WIC, vol. 55, cor. 11/23/1733; WIC, vol. 832, p. 323; Mannix and Cowley, pp. 105-6; Postma, "Mortality," pp. 243-62.
The slaves: their treatment and mortality
257
Table 10.13 Gender/age mortality ratios
Total
Gender/age ratios Mortality Men Children3 Men Children3 Women Women Deaths
WIC
Total 19,907 % of total (100) % of category Avg. per cargo 538
11,789 (59)
5,885 (30)
2,233 (11)
3,527 (17.7)
13,462
6,007
4,373
3,082
1,425
(100) % of total % of category Avg. per cargo 281
(45)
(33)
(23)
(10.6)
17,796 10,258 (53) (31)
5,315 (16)
4,952 (16)
Free trade Total
Aggregate 33,396 (100) % of total % of category
2,187
942
398
(18.6)
(16)
(17.8)
814
390
221
(13.6)
(8.9)
(7.2)
3,933
1,710
670
(17)
(13)
(12)
Source: Appendixes 19 and 20. Note: aChildren refers to the ages 4 to 14 approximately.
Sex and age ratios in mortality Slave-trade mortality affected men and women with different degrees of severity. Data from Dutch archives provide us with an adequate sample to make meaningful comparisons of the mortality rates between age and gender groups. Table 10.13 presents the statistics from ninety-six slave consignments, including a total sample of over 36,000 slaves of whom 5,647 died. In the free trade in particular, men died at a significantly higher rate than women, whereas for the WIC the discrepancy was less pronounced. Young people between the ages of three and fifteen died at about the same rate as women. The free-trade sample had a far higher proportion of women and youths than the WIC; this may explain why the death rate was far lower for the free trade. It has also been noted that women tended to die more promptly than men from scurvy, but with smallpox it was the opposite. There appears to be no medical explanation for these discrepancies.51 51.
The medical aspects of the Dutch slave trade were also examined by A. Neeser-van Houten and MJ. Eijgenraam in the Leiden Seminar, and this is how the gender discrepancy with these two diseases was brought to my attention.
258
The Dutch in the Atlantic Slave Trade
In general, the differences in mortality rates between males and females can in part be explained as a natural phenomenon, which is that women are simply better equipped by nature to survive under adverse circumstances. That the young people, who were predominantly males, fared much better than men and equal to women may be explained by the fact that they often enjoyed the same treatment as women; they were housed better and had more freedom, which may have given them a stronger desire to live. Women must have had a big share in the care of the young, which may also have resulted in a greater sense of purpose. Quite likely they assisted in the preparation of food and may thus have had access to better food rations. Finally, women as well as young people may simply have been accustomed to a greater degree of servitude than men were, giving them more stamina to survive the humiliations and hardships of enslavement. Given the hardships, it is surprising that not more slaves succumbed to the ordeal of being forcibly moved from the Old World to the New World. A true mortality rate of about 450/1,000/year is traumatic by any standard. And this does not include the deaths that occurred during the waiting period on the African coast before embarkation, in the Western harbors, and during the waiting period between disembarkation and sale of the slaves. When estimates for these stages are added to middle-passage mortality, the aggregate death toll was slightly over 20 percent for the WIC and close to 20 percent for the free-trade traffic. Adding to this, the deaths resulting from slave raids in Africa and travel to the African coast, and the mortality resulting from the seasoning process after slaves were sold in the West, the death toll must have been staggering indeed. If the African phase alone killed 40 percent of the slaves (see footnote 15) between capture and sale to Europeans, the overall loss to the enslaved population may well have reached 70 percent before the survivors were adjusted to life in the Western Hemisphere.
11 Finances, marketing, and profitability
During the past two centuries, the slave trade has come to be equated with gross immorality. However, it is often assumed that those who engaged in it must have had very compelling motives. Racial prejudice is often thought to be the principal motive for slave traders, but it is more likely that racism came to the fore as a consequence of the ever-growing and sharper socioeconomic disparity between blacks and whites that arose out of slavery.1 A more convincing argument for explaining motives for participation in the traffic is the generous profits that it produced. Slave-trade literature has frequently pointed to specific slaving voyages that were extremely profitable. Only recently has the subject of slave-trade profitability been subjected to a systematic evaluation. But before the profits can be assessed a whole array of related financial factors needs to be explored.
Financial configurations in the traffic The slave trade was a complex business. Not only because it was unusual in that it dealt with human beings as a commodity, but also because it was stretched over a wide area and involved many different societies and cultural and economic systems. It was therefore quite appropriate that one scholarly study labeled it the uncommon market, even though the slave trade was a very common practice in its time.2 The financial complexity started in Europe, for not only did every participating European nation bring its own system of currency, weights, and measures, but the small Dutch Republic used at least two monetary systems in accounting. Flemish pounds were used as a system of account in the province of Zeeland while the rest of the country used guilders. Neither of 1. This is one of the theses of Basil Davidson's book, Black Cargoes; see pp. 5-10. 2. Henry A. Gemery and Jan S. Hogendorn, eds., The Uncommon Market (New York, Academic Press, 1979) p. 19. 259
260
The Dutch in the Atlantic Slave Trade
these monetary units were divided decimally before 1795. Furthermore, the Dutch employed a variety of now defunct measuring units. On the African coast there existed an even greater variety of mediums of exchange and measuring units. And since neither African nor European merchants were willing to sacrifice their own familiar practices, the confusing situation spawned still more systems of exchange from concrete to fictitious measures of value. One of the results of this confusing situation was the development of a sophisticated form of bartering in the Afro-European trade. Because large quantities of merchandise were continually exchanged, certain standard values evolved, consisting of commercial items prominent in a given region. Thus, cloth and iron bars were used as a standard of value in the Senegambia region, and iron and copper bars were used as a standard in the Bight of Biafra. Cowrie shells, generally shipped to Europe from the Maldive Islands by the Dutch East India Company, were widely used as a standard value as well as a currency on the Slave Coast.3 Gold, the principal export commodity from the Gold Coast for many centuries, provided a standard measure of value for that region. On the Slave Coast slaves were occasionally used as a measure for value and services. The expense of repairing the WIC lodge at Ouidah, for instance, was estimated at twelve to fourteen slaves; this presumably alluding to the commercial value of that number of slaves. Duties paid at Jakin in the year 1724 were expressed in terms of seventeen slaves, but the account added that the obligation was met through a quantity of Dutch textiles equal to the commercial value of that many slaves. Masters of slave ships frequently listed their expenses incurred for water and food in terms of the number of slaves that could have been purchased for the European goods expended on such services. The slave ship, Adrichem, for example, boarded 512 slaves, but it listed the cost price as 527.5 to include the expenses for services involved in the embarkation of the slaves.4 For the purpose of facilitating the trade in Africa and assuring for themselves a comfortable margin of profit, Europeans also developed the fictitious standard of value known as the ounce trade. This measure developed from the practice called sorting, consisting of an assortment of European merchandise that was valued as a trade ounce. The ounce was used as a basic measure of value in the gold trade, as it still is, but the Europeans tried to exploit the Africans by creating a measuring unit that in fact included a 3. 4.
Polanyi and Rotstein, pp. 140, 165, and 168; Sundstrom, pp. 66 and 73-4; Daaku, p. 157; Curtin, Atlantic Slave Trade, Chapter 6; Wyndham, p. 70; Marion Johnson, "The Cowrie Currencies of West Africa," Journal ofAfrican History, vol. 11, no. 1 (1970). WIC, vol. 180, pp. 26, 37, 124 and 182; WIC, vol. 486, p. 492; WIC, vol. 1024, docs. 20 and 36ff.
Finances, marketing, and profitability
261
markup (an avance the Dutch called it), often as high as 100 percent of the price of the European merchandise. In 1675 the WIC price guide in Africa called for a markup of 50 percent. Europeans often raised the prices much higher, a practice the Dutch called cladden, creating all kinds of problems between African and European merchants. Of course, the Africans quickly caught on to these European tricks, but the practice did establish a duality of ounce values that was subsequently distinguished by the terms of a gold ounce and a trade ounce. When prices were given in ounce values, as was often the case in the WIC price guides, it can generally be assumed that they referred to trade ounces, which through its elasticity and fluctuations made any relationship between the prices meaningless. WIC directors rejected the method of cladden and reminded their subordinates in Africa that such practices would in fact lead to a loss of their commercial credibility with the Africans. As a result, the Dutch may well have applied these sorting practices with greater restraint than other Europeans, for during the 1730s they differentiated between the gold and trade ounce values on a six to five ratio, a modest 20 percent markup. In 1726 WIC servants were complaining that African merchants were manipulating the system to their own advantage by buying slaves for gold and afterward selling them again for a larger number of ounces in European goods. Both sides could thus manipulate the system to their advantage.5 If the ounce system was basically a European creation the Europeans also had to be able to calculate in terms of African units of values. As is shown in Table 11.1, the African measures for cowries and gold were well known and used by Europeans. Prices for slaves in the WIC price guide were generally expressed in terms of trade ounces, but on the Slave Coast they were also listed in terms of cowries. On the Gold Coast the Dutch frequently employed the African monetary unit called benda, which came in a large and a small denomination. The small benda equaled the value of approximately two ounces of gold, and was also known as the coastal benda. It was used widely by the WIC in listing prices on the Guinea coast for African export commodities as well as for European merchandise. 6 In the Western Hemisphere, financial arrangements were under the control of Europeans, but they were nevertheless very complex because such a variety of measures were involved. The most common monetary unit used in the asiento trade was Spanish reals, which were commonly minted in the form of pieces of eight reals, also known as pesos. These silver coins were coveted by Europeans because they were widely used as currency in the 5. 6.
Polanyi, pp. i4off, 155, and 162-4; Ratelband, p. XCIV; NBKG, vol. 7, min. 8/8/1732; NBKG, vol. 237, instr. 9/22/1731; WIC, vol. 107, p. 3; WIC, vol. 831, p. 87; WIC, vol. 54, cor. 9/27/1699 WIC, vol. 102, p. 31; Ratelband, pp. 15, 32, and 63.
The Dutch in the Atlantic Slave Trade
262
Table 11.1 Comparative measures and currencies, and money of account Approximate values in the period of 1650-1790 Unit IMark
Metal/symbol (gold)
Subunit 2 =
8 ounces 1 ounce
1 Benda 1 Benda
(gold) (gold)
1 Ducat
(gold)
1 Piece of eight (silver)
Subunit 3 = 128 ackeys (or engels) = 16 ackeys
(small or coast) (large)
Guilder value = / 320:00:00
=
65:00:00 81:00:00 5:00:00
=
8 reals 1 real
== 48 stuivers = 6 stuivers
2:00:00
1 Guilder
(/)
20 stuivers 1 stuiver
= 320 penningen = 16 penningen or "duyten"
1:00:00
1 £ Flemish
(£F)
20 schelling 1 schelling
= 240 grooten = 12 grooten
6:00:00
1 £ Sterling
(£)
-
20 shillings 1 shilling
= 240 pence = 12 pence
12:00:00
Source: McCusker, pp. 290-2; Posthumus, vol. I, p. LIV; Ratelband, pp.15, 32, 63, 183, 186, 190; WIC, vol. 560, pp. 5 , 8, 14, 498-9.
trade with Asia. The quality of these coins was frequently in dispute, and the WIC always insisted on true, or (volwaardige), pieces of eight, as minted in the years 1650 to 1660. The WIC authorities as a rule insisted on being paid in pieces of eight, and the slave prices at Curasao were nearly always quoted in that currency rather than in guilders. During the first decade of the eighteenth century, WIC agents were grudgingly taking gold ducats (dubbloenen and pistoletten) in payment for slaves. These were of slightly less value than pieces of eight, but having no choice they rationalized that such payments were "better than getting stuck with the slaves." At times cash was so scarce, as was the case in 1701 with the slave ship, Quinera, that slaves were sold on two conditions: in bills of exchange for "weighty" pieces of eight or in bottomry (bodemerij), which was a form of mortgage on the ship and a method of payment accompanied by exorbitant interest rates, and therefore strongly discouraged by the WIC. As a rule, pieces of eight were actually delivered by the asientists to Curasao and from there shipped to Europe. Heavily armed WIC ships would often carry large quantities of this currency to Holland, although bullion and currency were also carried in
Finances, marketing, and profitability
263
smaller quantities by many WIC ships returning to the metropole. On one occasion pirates robbed the WIC ships Elisabeth and Rotterdam of 10,000 pieces of eight. Bills of exchange were also used in the asiento, and occasionally the asientists received slaves on credit. These practices seem to have been used only if control over the coveted asiento slave contracts was in danger; hard cash was always preferred. In 1684 a compromise pay schedule was worked out whereby the WIC agents at Curasao would get one-third of the price for slaves delivered paid in cash, one-third paid by the asiento agents in Holland, and the remaining third paid in colonial or Spanish produce. As was discussed in Chapter 2, payment problems were endemic to the asiento trade and was a major reason for the frequent interruptions in these commercial arrangements.7 The use of Spanish pieces of eight was apparently widespread throughout the Caribbean region, for they were also used in the St. Eustatius slave trade. During the WIC period slave prices were always cited there in terms of this monetary unit, although tropical agricultural produce such as sugar and cocoa were generally shipped back to Holland, presumably in payment for slaves. During the second half of the eighteenth century, however, St. Eustatius became such an international market that several other currencies were also accepted as legal tender. 8 In the Dutch settlements on the Guiana coast the guilder was the dominant price measuring unit, and slave prices were nearly always cited in such terms. A distinction was made, however, between Dutch guilders and Surinam guilders, with the latter generally about 20 percent less in value. As was pointed out in Chapter 8, the planters in these colonies were often heavily indebted to investors in Holland, and with the passing of time the plantations increasingly came to be owned by absentee landlords. This meant that slaves were frequently paid for, at least in part, by bills of exchange. Due to this often unsteady financial structure, such bills of exchange were often not honored by the listed creditor, which had an effect similar to a bounced check in modern banking. The penalties for such faulty bills of exchange were very high, sometimes as much as 25 percent of the value of the bill. By the middle of the eighteenth century the credit shortage had become so severe in Surinam that the Society of Surinam introduced a type of paper money (kaartengeld), which led to even greater chaos in financial matters. 9 7. John J. McCusker, Money and Exchange in Europe and America, 1600-1775 (Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 1978), pp. 290-3; WIC, vol. 200, p. 240; WIC, vol. 617, p. 150; WIC, vol. 560, pp. 5, 8, 14 and 498; WIC, vol. 832, p. 192; WIC, vol. 833, pp. 155-6 and 231-3; WIC, vol. 617, pp. 150 and 159; Ratelband, p. 243. 8. McCusker, p. 292. See also Chapter 8 on St. Eustatius. 9. WIC, vol. 1141, cor. 4/10/1733, 5/10/1733, and 4/21/1738; WIC, vol. 1138, cor. 7/3/ 1708; SS, vol. 415; Van de Voort, p. 99.
264
The Dutch in the Atlantic Slave Trade Table 11.2 WIC slave prices
Period Africa Price category 1675-1699 1700-1709 1710-1719 1720-1729 1730-1738 Total averages
Curasao High Low
St. Eustatius High Low
/ 35 45 59 83
PS 123 105 105 102
F8 50 60 69 90
F8
94
P8 190 213 235 79
57
108
69
94
79
Surinam Guyana Auction Contract f / / 210 237 189 247 265 240
210
250 239 168 200
275 236
Source: Appendix 24. Notes:/ = Dutch guilders; F8 = Pieces of eight.
Pricing the slaves As was the case with the asiento trade, securing payment for delivered slaves was often also a serious problem in Surinam and the other Guiana colonies. Various payment schemes were developed in order to keep the settlements supplied with slaves and, at the same time, to keep the slave vendors satisfied. When the WIC monopolized the slave trade, the company tried to control and keep the prices stable, particularly on the African coast, where they used the mechanism of the price guide for that purpose. The system worked only as long as the slave prices on the international market remained fairly stable, which was the case until the early part of the eighteenth century. 10 Tables 11.2 and 11.3 show the broad outlines of slave price trends, and Appendixes 24 and 25 illustrate fluctuations of prices in greater detail. In Africa, for many years, the WIC price guide kept the purchase price for a prime male slave at forty guilders. That rate was already common during the 1640s in the traffic to Brazil, and it was not until the end of the seventeenth century that market conditions slowly forced prices upward, as is shown in Appendix 24. Table 11.4 lists the WIC purchase guide for 1676. Suggested slave prices were listed at forty guilders, but they were often purchased for less, particularly when the lower prices for women and children were incorporated in the average price. The suggested price apparently alluded to the most common unit, a pieza de India, and the price for women piezas was also kept at a lower rate. In the price guide of 1727 the variance was as much as eighty ackeys for men compared to forty-eight for women. Nine years later purchases for the ship Delft show the differential at eighty 10.
Curtin, in his Atlantic Slave Trade, p. 270, also claims that the price of slaves remained relatively low before 1750.
Finances, marketing, and profitability
265
Table 11.3 Slave prices and profits, 1740-1795 (Prices listed in guilders)
Period
Purchases in Africa Total Average Slaves price pricea
1740-1749 1750-j759 1760-1769 1770 1779 1780-1795
3,013 5,535 7,138 9,920 2,439
82 94 123 158 162
248,083 522,191 877,422 1,571,194 394,354
2,430 4,976 5,816 9,349 1,955
217 236 307 347 487
527,568 1,175,821 1,786,192 3,242,593 951,660
28,045
129
3,613,244
24,526
313
7,683,834
Total
Sales in the West Total Average proceeds pricea Slaves
Source: Appendix 25. Note: a These figures are rounded off to the nearest full guilder.
Table 11.4 Partial WIC price table of the year 1676 Commodity Gold Slaves Ivory Wax Hides Gum Copper Millet Feathers
Per unit Mark Pieza de India Pound (lb) 100 lbs Piece 100 lbs 100 lbs 100 lbs Bundle
Unit price / 320:00 40:00 0:15 40:00 0:30 9:00 4:00 6:00 0:03
Source: WIC, vol. 831, p. 341. Note: f = Dutch guilder. and fifty-six ackeys, respectively (see Table 11.5). A woman slave with a healthy young child, however, might sell for a higher price. Prices fluctuated in response to supply and demand, and the price differential between the sexes tended to decrease during the eighteenth century as females and youthful slaves came to be in greater demand. In 1788 the difference in purchase price was cited as slightly more than 10 percent, or thirteen compared to eleven "ounces" of merchandise.11 After a long period of stability in slave prices in Africa, the WIC price 11. RLLM, vol. 1, p. 558. See also Table 11.3. NBKG, vol. 233, inst. 5/3/1701; NBKG, vol. 85, docs. 8/10/1718 and 9/7/1718; WIC, vol. 10, p. 885; RLLM, LX-447, doc. 5/ 15/1788; VWIS, vol. 1203, P- 5°- See also Appendix 24.
266
The Dutch in the Atlantic Slave Trade Table 11.5 Slave prices in Africa for the ship Delft in 1736
Type of slave Male slaves: piezas de India Female slaves ' Woman slave with infant Boys: 2/3 piezas de India Girls: 2/3 Girls: 1/2 "
Price in ackeys 80 56 64 53 42 28
a
Price in guilders 100 70 80 66 53 35
Source: a WIC vol.110, p. 885. See also Table 11.1 and accc)mpanyine text. Note: There were 16 ackeys to the ounce. If trade ounces are the measure here (half the value of gold), then an ackey would be worth 20 percent less than a guilder (see Table 11.1).
guide was adjusted upward in 1690. This may have been the result of increasing European competition and conflict among the major European colonial powers. In 1713 there was again a need to raise the prices of slaves on the WIC price guide, and by 1721 slave prices on the African coast had nearly doubled from what they had been during most of the seventeenth century.12 During the 1730s the Dutch free traders joined the WIC slavers on the African coast, and the upward movement in prices seems to have been halted. In fact, during that decade, prices may even have dropped. And during the 1740s average prices were not much above those of two decades earlier. By the early 1750s, however, purchase prices passed 100 guilders and they rarely dropped below that mark again. Average prices continued to go up during the next decades until, by the last decade of that century, individual slaves were often purchased in Africa for around 200 guilders.13 Slave prices were always erratic, in Africa as well as in the West, because they were influenced by so many different factors. The price data listed in Appendixes 24 and 25 are averages drawn from either whole consignments or large groups of slaves bought or sold at a given period of time. They illustrate these fluctuations on both sides of the Atlantic. The commercial value of a slave consignment or group of slaves could be influenced by the following factors in a plantation colony: local demands, spacing of slave-ship arrivals, ability to invest, time of year, weather and condition of the crops, world prices of commodities produced by the planters, and expansion or contraction of the settlement in question. In the transit markets of Curasao 12. WIC, vol. 54, cor. 11/3/1690; WIC, vol. 55, cor. 11/9/1713; Van den Boogaart aid Emmer, p. 364. See also Johannes Postma, "West African Exports and the Dutch West India Company, 1675-1731," Economisch en Sociaal-Historisch Jaarboek, (1973), vol. 76,
13.
PP- 53-74See Appendixes 24 and 25.
Finances, marketing, and profitability
267
and St. Eustatius, there were also international factors, such as contracts with third parties and relations with other nations. War and peace were always significant in influencing theflowof the slave trade as well as the prices, because they influenced the safety of the seas and the price of maritime insurance. If several slave ships arrived in close succession on the same African coastal region the price was likely to rise because of the competition, but the opposite would result if few slavers were in attendance. The reverse would be the case in the seller markets in the Western Hemisphere. For these various reasons a quantitative analysis of prices with scientific exactness is virtually out of the question. However, the statistical data presented in Appendix 24 provide a guide to general price trends. In addition to the various price-influencing forces and the confusion due to variations in currency, there were still other factors to blur the record on slave prices. For most of the Western markets, it was necessary to create at least two price columns, one for prime slaves and one for inferiorly priced groups. In the asiento trade at Curagao, prime slaves always brought the highest prices, the remaining macrons were sold at auctions for much less. In 1701 the WIC slaver, Guide Vrijheid, for example, sold 113 macron slaves at Curasao for an average price of sixty-seven pesos before sailing on with its remaining 482 piezas de India to Veracruz. That same year, the ship, Croonvogel, sold its macrons at Cartagena for an average of seventy-five pesos while its piezas de India sold for 114 pesos. When the asiento was not functioning, prime slaves could also be put on the auction block, thus raising the average price of such transactions considerably. A similar situation applies to St. Eustatius, with the exception that prices always tended to be lower there than at Curasao. At Surinam the price might vary considerably if slaves were sold on contract individually selected, or if a whole consignment was sold at the auction block.14 The price paid for slaves fluctuated also in accordance with the region of origin of the slaves. Slaves from the Loango-Angola coast and the Bight of Biafra were generally purchased at lower prices than the slaves from the Guinea coast. This is clearly indicated in the free-trade purchasing prices shown in Table 11.6. Slaves from this region were obtained at 13 percent less than on the Guinea coast, and this discrepancy is carried over to the other side of the ocean, where the slaves of the consignments from Loango produced prices on average 20 percent less per slave. This may, incidentally, also account for the price difference between Curasao and St. Eustatius in the WIC trade, because a larger proportion to St. Eustatius came from the Loango region. The price guide in 1718 also differentiated prices between the upper coast, to the 14. WIC, vol. 366, p. 530; WIC, vol. 1146, doc. 39.
268
The Dutch in the Atlantic Slave Trade Table 11.6 Prices and profits by region, 1740-1795
Region
Slaves
Average price a
Profit/lossb
Guinea Loango Africa mixed
17,967 9,035 1,512
/135 118 95
/ 2,214 8,064 -6,672
69 24 7
Curasao Guyana Surinam St. Eustatius Mixed
2,657 3,242 14,732 2,226 2,143
233 391 309 277 334
13,902 8,358 2,280 -3,012 -3,222
10 12 61 7 10
Ships
+ /- c 45/24 15/9 111
1/3 9/3
37/24 3/4 3/7
Source: Appendixes 24 and 25. Notes: aSlave prices, profits, and losses are listed in guilders. Average losses are preceded by (-). c Number of consignments with profits ( + ) and losses (-).
west of Elmina, and the eastward lower coast, where prices were approximately 20 percent less.15 Unfortunately, the price data of the African coast are inadequate to make a regional distinction beyond qualitative observations, at least not before the free-trade period. Thus far, this price assessment has focused on the WIC slave trade, but the record of slave prices in the free-trade period is no less complex. In his examination of MCC records, Unger has demonstrated the erratic pattern of prices in the West Indies. He pictures the ups and downs and the unpredictability of slave prices even more dramatically than is shown in the statistical analysis attempted here. On the whole, it is clear that slave prices were rising during the free-trade period, at least until a peak was reached around 1770. During the credit crisis that started in 1773, prices dropped, but they started to go up again during the mid-1780s, when there was a revival of the Dutch slave trade, as will be discussed in Chapter 12.16 In order to get an idea of the financial value of a slave, a comparison of contemporary prices is presented in Table 11.7. Table 7.2 has already presented some wage ranges for the period 1682 to 1802. Both tables confirm that wages and prices remained quite stable during the years of the Dutch slave trade, in contrast to the rising slave prices. 15.
NBKG, vol. 85, doc. 8/10/1718 and 9/7/1718; NBKG, vol. 233, doc. 5/3/1700; RLLM, LX-447, doc. 5/15/1788. See also Appendix 25. Regional variation of profitability will be discussed later in this chapter. 16. Unger II, pp. 72-82.
Finances, marketing, and profitability
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Figure 11.1 Prices of slaves in the Dutch slave trade (Five-year averages in guilders)
600 500 400
Legend Curasao • Surinam Guyana * * * * St. Eustatius •Africa
500 400
300
300
200
1675
1700
1725
1750
1775
1795
Source: Appendixes 24 and 25.
Table 11.7 Comparative consumer retail prices, 1650-1795 Periods 1650-1674 1675-1699 1700-1724 1725-1749 1750-1774 1775-1795
Meat pr.lb 0.19 0.18 0.19 0.19 0.20 0.18
Sugar pr.lb 0.53 0.27 0.33 0.30 0.35 0.37
Butter pr.lb 0.39 0.34 0.33 0.34 0.35 0.38
Pigs
Cows
21.33 23.79 23.46 29.41 32.53 41.83
82.24 63.14 71.31 82.99 81.85 105.73
Source: Posthumus, vol. II, pp. 248-53, 360-5, 494-9, and 664-5. Note: Prices are given in guilders and are rounded off in decimals. They are averages derived from bulk sales to health care institutions in Amsterdam, Leiden, and Utrecht.
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The Dutch in the Atlantic Slave Trade Market conditions at Curasao and St. Eustatius
The slave-trade operation at the island of Curasao was largely based on the asiento trade with the Spanish mainland, as has been described in Chapter 2. The asientos stipulated prices as well as conditions under which slaves were to be examined and turned over to the new owners. The WIC had several plantations on the island to grow food for the slaves while in transit, and these places also provided shelter and constructive labor when large numbers of slaves were kept waiting for transfer to the asiento owners. In addition, macrons, or rejected slaves, often found a home on these company plantations. The island's economy could not accommodate all of the macrons, and many of them were therefore shipped to other Caribbean islands or illicitly to the Spanish mainland. The frequent interruptions in the asiento operation also produced periodic surpluses of slaves, which had to be disposed of elsewhere if the WIC directors were to avoid economic disaster. Thus, an alternative slaving operation developed at Curasao alongside that of the asiento, one that functioned on a smaller scale and more along the lines of free-market practices.17 This alternative slave market spawned the growth of a sizable community of slave traders, who operated from Curasao and distributed slaves from the island to various locations in the West Indies. This development also brought the slave-auction block to Curasao, at first essentially for the disposal of the macrons but later also for other slaves as the asiento trade experienced increasing stagnation and ultimately departed from Curasao. While the WIC establishment at Curagao greatly lamented the termination of the asiento trade during the late seventeenth and early eighteenth centuries, their superiors in Holland expected the slave market at Curasao to continue to flourish through the open-market system. Thus, they ordered their subordinates at Curasao in 1688 not to drop the slave prices below the one hundred pesos the asientists had paid. This price was already significantly below the price slaves had drawn during the peak period of the Coymans' asiento earlier that decade, and the WIC was forced to drop slave prices in the years to come.18 Selling slaves through public auctions had been a disputed practice at Curasao for many years. For obvious reasons, the early auctions of the macron slaves had drawn significantly lower prices than the asientists were paying for prime slaves. In the free market WIC authorities in Holland usually insisted on selling their slaves through auctions, and some Curasao WIC agents preferred the method of selling slaves individually {uit de hand, 17. WIC, vol. 831, p. 242; WIC, vol. 200, p. 316, and WIC, vol. 206, pp. 99-100 list several such slave dealers. See also Chapter 2 for a discussion of the Curasao operation. 18. WIC, vol. 834, pp. 349-50; WIC, vol. 69, p. 180. See also Appendix 24.
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"by hand," the Dutch called it) to local traders. The auction method was unpredictable, of course, causing prices to fluctuate considerably and giving each party at one time or another a chance to claim that his method was preferable. In the wake of the demise of the asiento trade, Curasao's commercial establishment declined greatly and this contributed much to squabbles and infighting among local WIC personnel. Pricing of slaves and methods of sale were important issues in these conflicts. Competition from other Caribbean islands that made slaves available for the region, especially Jamaica and St. Thomas, also contributed to the demise of Curasao as an important center of the slave trade. 19 As was pointed out in Chapter 8, the island of St. Eustatius replaced Curasao as a slave-trading depot during the 1720s. As at Curasao, St. Eustatius began to cultivate a significant number of private slave traders who, along with local WIC officials, operated a busy slave market that supplied nearby islands as well as faraway Spanish colonies. The focus was on the French islands, however, and the market quickly dried up when during the end of the decade the French authorities forced an end to the importation of slaves from St. Eustatius. As was the case with Curasao, by flooding the Caribbean markets with slaves, the English also harmed the Dutch in St. Eustatius.20 At St. Eustatius, slaves were traded primarily through individual transactions between WIC officials and middlemen merchants; auctions were held but they were much less significant than those in Surinam and Curasao. Slave prices were at about the same level as at Curasao, perhaps slightly lower. The upper and lower ranges of slave prices were less pronounced because, in the absence of the asiento, the distinction between piezas de India and macrons as separate categories had become blurred. The same trend is true for Curasao after the asiento trade declined. Slave price data for St. Eustatius are preserved only for the crucial decade of the 1720s. For Curasao, price statistics are available for a longer period, but for both islands these statistics are very scarce for the free-trade period. 21 To find buyers for their slaves at St. Eustatius, the WIC had to extend credit, in this case to planters under foreign sovereignty; however, WIC officials were ultimately unable to collect. At Curasao, credit to middlemen merchants had also been a problem and this constituted an even greater problem in the plantation colonies on the Guiana coast. Thus, the days of St. Eustatius as a prolific center of the slave trade were dramatic but shortlived. The island continued to function as a conduit for trade in the Car19. WIC, vol. 68, cor. 5/23/1689; WIC, vol. 200, pp. 288, 294, and 316; WIC, vol. 202, p. 179; WIC, vol. 205, p. 380; Goslinga, "Curasao," p. 22. 20. WIC, vol. 619, pp. 380 and 388; WIC, vol. 249, pp. 528 and 549. 21. See Appendix 24.
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T h e Dutch in the Atlantic Slave Trade
ibbean, reaching its height during the 1770s, when it produced significant profit for the WIC, but by then its emphasis was no longer on the slave trade.22 The markets of the plantation colonies Meaningful comparative price statistics on the slave trade are available beginning only in the early decades of the eighteenth century, when Surinam became the chief center for the Dutch trade. Data for Surinam after 1740 are available for comparison; these data include West Indian prices for specific slave consignments listed in Appendixes 24 and 25. As shown in Chapter 8, the Dutch settlement on the Suriname River experienced considerable difficulty in getting started. Obtaining new settlers from Europe and new slaves from Africa were some of its primary problems. In 1677 the WIC appointed a commissioner for the slave trade with the task of examining the methods of slave importation for Surinam. A few years later it was agreed that all imported slaves should meet the same qualifications as those of the asiento trade. The charter of the Society of Surinam, issued in 1682, included several references to both the selling and financing of the newly imported slaves, and the WIC received a monopoly as well as the obligation to supply the colony with an "adequate" number of slaves. Planters were allowed to make special contracts with the WIC for the delivery of a stipulated number of slaves, and they could make private purchases or purchase slaves at an auction held after each human cargo arrived. Payment for contracted slaves was in cash or otherwise guaranteed, but slaves purchased at auction could be paid for in three installments at six-month intervals, thus providing credit up to eighteen months. Contracted slaves were assigned to their owners by lot.23 Satisfying the Surinam settlers with an "adequate" number of slaves seemed to have been an impossible task for the WIC, fraught as it was with numerous disputes. Planters were repeatedly delinquent in the payments of debts incurred by slave purchases. When overdue slave debts reached high levels the WIC retaliated by refusing to import more slaves, a decision that hurt the company as well as the planters. Planters complained that the price of sugar had gone down, or gave other excuses to explain their delinquency. Correspondence to Holland in 1721 spoke of these "bad and sorrowful times," when "low sugar prices bring many plantations to ruin." The WIC 22. W I C , 203, pp. 74-5; W I C , vol. 619, pp. 138, 340, and cor. 12/23/1722 and 12/2/1726. 23. W I C , vol. 831, pp. 366 and 439-42; W I C , vol. 68, cor. 9/27/1687 and 10/23/1688; W I C , vol. 834, p. 190; S G , vol. 5773, 1705; W I C , vol. 1138, cor. 8/25/1706; SS, vol. 113 contains a copy of the charter.
Finances, marketing, and profitability
273
revoked the credit stipulations of the charter and limited payment for slaves to cash or granted credit for three months only. As a consequence, few planters were willing or able to buy, and to the detriment of the WIC the price of slaves dropped. A similar situation took place in 1706 and occurred again in the early 1730s.24 Much of the credit problem can be traced to the early years, when Surinam developed an economic monoculture of sugar. Even when coffee was added as a significant second product during the 1730s, the colony remained vulnerable to the price fluctuations of these staple products, and also to the seasonal nature of these crops. Slave ships often had to leave without return freight or wait many months before the crops were ready. WIC ships tried to return on each slave ship a significant portion of the value of the slave cargo they had delivered, although waiting for the crops might become too costly. Many free traders chose to return in ballast, with water and sand as cargo. Cash was rarely available to planters, and they had to pay for their slaves with sugar and other agricultural commodities, or increasingly with bills of exchange.25 In time a number of modifications were introduced in the Surinam slavetrade practices, although the charter of 1682 was constantly reiterated as the authoritative basis for the traffic. It seemed as if the eighteen-month credit-payment plan had been extended to two years during the first decade of the eighteenth century, and some sources even refer to three-year terms. Planters regularly demanded longer terms, and at one point six years was put forth as reasonable. But in 1736 the WIC suddenly shortened the credit for slave purchases to a maximum of six weeks. This was during the final stages of the company monopoly. The planters protested bitterly and invoked the charter of the colony. The conflict between planters and the WIC was not resolved until 1741, and by that time free traders were allowed to sell slaves in the colony while the WIC had withdrawn from the traffic.26 A majority of the slaves disembarked at Surinam were sold at the auction block, a method stipulated by the charter and most commonly used when the WIC supplied the colony with slaves. There was a gradual shift away from using the auction method, however, after free traders entered the Surinam market. Unger has calculated for the MCC trade that more than 54 percent of the slaves went via the auction block but that individual sales (uit de hand) became dominant after 1770. In the majority of slave-ship 24. W I C , vol. 833, p. 308; W I C , vol. 1137, cor. 7/30/1704; W I C , vol. 1138, cor. 6/8/1714, 9/22/1706 and 6/15/1707; W I C , vol. 1140, docs. 24, 46, 190, 196, 225, and 229; VWIS, vol. 975, cor. 4/9/1713. 25. W I C , vol. 1138, cor. 6/31/1706, 4/1/1710, 5/3/1710, and 3/26/1712; W I C , vol. 1139, cor. 7/20/1719; W I C , vol. 1140, cor. 4/12/1726 and doc. 91. 26. W I C , vol. 1141, docs. 117-70, W I C , vol. 1142, docs. 20-31; W I C , vol. 1138, cor. 6/8/ 1714 and 4/16/1715; W I C , vol. 1026, p. 93.
274
The Dutch in the Atlantic Slave Trade
landings more than one method was used to sell slaves. During the period of the WIC monopoly many slaves were sold by previously agreed contract in which the price was set in advance. For several years the contract prices for prime slaves were set at 210 guilders and then raised to 250 guilders by 1712. The slaves involved in these sales were distributed to their new owners by lot. The lot system sometimes erupted into a scandal, as it did in 1702, when the governor demanded first choice. Many slaves were sold individually, letting the prospective buyer select slaves from the recently arrived consignment and then negotiating the price with the company authorities or the captain of the slave vessel. Such slaves obviously tended to be more expensive, although the auction prices could fluctuate considerably depending on the market. WIC authorities favored contract sales, and they may have used the method to raise prices in general.27 A reminder that slaves never had any choice in the matter of their ownership is hardly necessary. Occasionally, four different methods were used to sell slaves, as is demonstrated in the case of the WIC slaver, Christina, in 1705. Of the 421 slaves brought over alive, 34 were sold on contract, n o individually, 273 at the auction block, and 4 were exchanged for other slaves who were then apparently sold at auction. Contract selling seems to have disappeared with the increased competition for slaves at the end of the WIC monopoly. Free traders sold slaves either individually or by auction, with the former method gradually gaining favor.28 Slave prices steadily rose at Surinam during the eighteenth century. At the beginning of the century contract prices were 21 o guilders a slave; auction prices must have fluctuated slightly below or around the same amount. As shown in the price series in Appendixes 24 and 25, there may have been an increase or decline here and there, but on the whole the trend was steadily upward. Auction prices remained generally below 250 guilders a slave, until the later 1720s, when prices first exceeded 300 guilders a slave. Then they tended to slacken, and in some auctions during the 1730s the average price dropped below 200 guilders again. Around 1750 there was a sudden rise in slave prices. The governor of Surinam explained the development in his journal: Captain Daniels (of the Muscovische Galey) sells his slaves, which are Cormantins (Gold Coast), individually for 450 guilders for men and 400 for women, and he is adamant about selling for no penny less. He says that there were about 300 French slave ships on the (African) coast, who drove the price up to 500 guilders. A shocking price for a time 27. 28.
WIC, vol. 69, pp. 165 and 169; WIC, vol. 1137, cor. 11/18/1702; WIC, vol. 1138, cor. 3/26/1712; WIC, vol. 836, pp. 276 and 292; WIC, vol. 783, doc. 25; SS, vol. 131, pp. 13-27; Unger II, pp. 69-70. WIC, vol. 1138, doc. 10.
Finances, marketing, and profitability
275
when (colonial) products bring so little and credit is lacking. However, we can't keep going without bringing in slaves, even if they should cost 1,000 guilders.29
After a significant drop during the early 1760s, prices jumped above 500 guilders in 1765. This was followed by a drop in prices during the remainder of that decade, but a new high of nearly 600 guilders was reached in 1771. The latter must have been an exceptional situation, for prices continued to fluctuate between 300 and 400 guilders during the 1770s, despite the financial crisis that began in 1773.30 As was shown in Chapter 8, much of the prosperity and growth of the colony of Surinam during the middle of the eighteenth century resulted from rather reckless investment schemes. Increasingly, slaves were purchased on credit. The burden of indebtedness was shifting from the WIC to Dutch investors and to small slaving companies. The introduction of paper money during the 1760s added to the financial chaos. In 1777, Surinam planters alone owed the MCC in excess of 185,000 guilders on delinquent slave debts. Payments for slaves were made less in cash, or even tropical produce, as evidenced by an inordinate number of slave ships returning home in ballast, and increasingly with bills of exchange. This was particularly the case during the period 1766 to 1773. Many planters remained deeply in debt and others saw their plantations being confiscated by their creditors. The Anglo-Dutch War of 1780 finished what the financial crisis had started, plunging Surinam into a long period of economic decline and virtually ending Dutch participation in the Atlantic slave trade on any significant scale.31 Conditions and slave-trade practices in the neighboring colonies in what is present-day Guyana resembled those in Surinam, but the scale of the Surinam operation greatly outstripped its neighbors. For many decades, most of Guyana's slaves were obtained by contract or small shipments via Surinam and Curasao. Prices of slaves tended to be higher in Guyana and deliveries less reliable than in Surinam. To extend this comparison further, prices in Surinam were high when compared with both Curasao and St. Eustatius during the same period. In the plantation colonies, however, slaves were sold directly to the planters, whereas middlemen merchants were involved in the process at Curasao and St. Eustatius.32 As shown in Table 11.6, profitability in the MCC trade varied from one market area to another. For reasons difficult to explain the MCC ships taking slaves to Curasao made the largest profits, although the company directed less than 10 percent of its ships there. The Guyana colonies also 29. 30. 31. 32.
SS, Vol. 409, 8/1/1750. See Appendix 24. MCC, vol. 1567, p. 127; Van de Voort, pp. 78-82, 97, and 164-89. See Chapter 8 and Appendix 24.
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T h e Dutch in the Atlantic Slave Trade
were quite profitable, and this may have been the result of contracting slave deliveries beforehand. Surinam, which attracted the majority of the MCC slaves, produced modest but steady profits. The St. Eustatius trade was unprofitable, as was the trade with multiple destinations, which often included this island. Apparently, St. Eustatius was a market of last resort, to which slave captains sailed only when prices elsewhere were not to their liking. Slave ships with mixed destinations were already an indication that the slave market was troubled and the prices low. Similar conclusions can be drawn for the markets of origin in Africa. Ships obtaining their slaves from wide-ranging areas ended up with the greatest losses; in fact, all eight of the recorded cases with mixed origins registered losses. The surprising fact is that the ships trading in the Loango region were the most profitable. This may explain why the Dutch kept sending a large number of ships to this region, even though the Bantu-speaking slaves from there were not in great demand in the Dutch colonies.33
Profits and losses Profitability is one of the most complex problems in the Atlantic slave trade. A comparison of average purchase and sale prices suggests handsome gains by the slave traders, and the legend developed and was perpetuated by the antislavery literature that the traffic was rewarded with excessive profits.34 Enlightenment-generated morality could apparently not conceive of such inhumane activities unless high financial returns were its reward. As a result, it is often overlooked that during the eighteenth century and before, the slave trade was generally thought of as just another commercial activity, albeit a rather risky one. Profits in the slave trade can be calculated in various ways. One can evaluate the purchase and sale of a few slaves or the transactions surrounding a single consignment, and get results as indicated in price tables discussed earlier. The activities of a company engaged in the traffic for a given period of time is another way of assessing profits. One can also look at the whole economic system, such as a national or imperial economy of which the trade was an integral part, and develop a formula that shows the contribution of the slave trade to that economic system. Various approaches will be explored below. For the WIC trade it is virtually impossible to calculate profits and losses for individual slaving voyages, as not a single complete financial account has 33. 34.
See Chapter 5 on African origins. For a general evaluation of slave trade profits see Roger Anstey, The Atlantic Slave Trade and British Abolition, 1760-1810 (London: Macmillan Press, 1975), pp. 38-41.
Finances, marketing, and profitability
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survived. Comparing purchase and sale prices can be misleading because the cost of outfitting a ship for a one- to two-year voyage was substantial. In addition to the depreciation of the ship, the food for crew and slaves, and the wages of crew and officers, there was a whole array of other expenses. Various passes had to be purchased to sail the wide range of water and coastal areas of the triangular voyages. Expenses could vary greatly, and depended on the weather, length of voyage, market variations, and international political conditions. Maritime insurance, for example, could rise precipitously in times of international political tension. Most of the slaveship insurance policies issued in Rotterdam during the period 1721 to 1792 ranged from 6 to 9 percent, although at the beginning and the end of this period they tended to be higher yet. In 1677 insurance rates for the WIC slave trade ranged from 10 to 15 percent; however, Holland was still at war with France at that time.35 In Africa slavers encountered a variety of special expenses. They included payments (often referred to as customs or dashes) to rulers and chiefs, in order to earn their permission and cooperation in the trade in a given area. Then there were payments to African brokers for assisting in the commercial transactions. Often there were fees or markups for middlemen, as was the case with WIC officials during the free-trade period. Wages and fees had to be paid to guards, announcers, carriers, and rowers, who ferried slaves to the slave ships. Water and firewood had to be purchased and ferried to the ships; for a slave consignment of several hundred, these were substantial undertakings. As mentioned in Chapter 10, in addition to the food brought from Europe, a wide range of victuals were purchased in Africa, which had to be carried to the beach and ferried to the ships. Once across the ocean and arriving at the port of destination, similar expenses were incurred. Fees for the visitation of the medical officers of the colony and for auctions were added to the list of expenses. In most colonial markets a fee was charged, called slavegeld at Curasao, for bringing a slave ashore. The incidental expense account for the ship, Rusthof, in 1730 amounted to more than 1,500 guilders, and did not include provisions bought in Africa.36 The triangular slave trade entailed special expenses lacking in most other maritime trade. The human cargo was exceptionally sensitive to "spoilage," diseases, and death, as was discussed in Chapter 10. Special insurance was required, and twice the decks had to be modified in order to accommodate the variation of the cargoes. This not only required extra equipment, boards, chains, and other tools required for housing and controlling the slaves, but 35. 36.
WIC, vol. 332, pp. 5 and 89. See also GAR, Archief der Maatschappy van Assurantie, vols. 215-28 for maritime insurance rates. WIC, vol. 1140, pp. 176-7; WIC, vol. 566, p. 223; MCC, vol. 431, p. 66ff; MCC, vol. 808.
278
The Dutch in the Atlantic Slave Trade
also extra personnel to make the necessary modifications. And, again, slave ships required a significantly larger crew than ordinary merchant ships. Without the benefit of consistent data on WIC slaving voyages, it is impossible to make a meaningful and reliable financial evaluation of the WIC slave trade. The best one can do is to make an assessment of how the company fared in general, particularly after 1662, when the slave trade became its dominant commercial branch. During the later 1720s various efforts were made to collect and analyze the WIC's financial status, possibly in preparation for the renewal of the charter due in 1730. The complex and confusing picture that emerged showed that the company was not in good financial health, and that the slave trade could not rescue it. Since 1675 the WIC had received state subsidies of over one million guilders, and in 1728 it had a debt of nearly four million. The company had shown some resiliency from 1723 to 1725, when profits were recorded and investments could be made again, although this new image may in part have been the result of changes in bookkeeping. The loss of monopoly over the slave trade during the next decade confirmed the WIC's inability to make the slave trade a profitable business.37 The free trade in the eighteenth century lends itself better to a profits assessment of individual slaving missions than the WIC slave trade. This is due to the excellent preservation of MCC records and to the nature of accounting, whereby the books of each single voyage were closed after the completion of a mission, rather than rendering an annual account. Unger's collection of MCC records, which are reprinted with corrections in Appendix 25, shows that the profits of Dutch free traders were amazingly low. The overall profitability of 100 MCC slaving voyages was slightly lower than 3 percent, which means an annual gain of at most 2 percent on the investments. Of these 100 voyages, no fewer than 41 registered losses. As shown in Table 11.8, some of these losses could be rather large, but were offset by other voyages with significant profits. The majority of the slaving missions, 54 percent, registered gains in the range of 5 to 10 percent. The great risk of the traffic, resulting in a wide range of profits and losses, is clearly evident in the MCC record.38 MCC profits were surprisingly low indeed, lower than the 6 to 7 percent calculated for the French and English slave trade, and one wonders why the company remained in this business. It must be noted, however, that most of the MCC losses were during the initial and final stages of its involvement in the slave trade, and these negative rates coincided with significantly higher 37. 38.
The Rademacher and Van Citern collections are valuable in the evaluation of WIC finances. RLLM, folders, 564-5, 575 and 591; VCC, no. 6, p. 278. See also Chapters 6 and 9 on the transition to the free trade. Anstey, p. 75. See also Appendix 25 and Unger II, pp. 86-92.
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Table 11.8 Profit ranges per slave consignment, 1740-1795 Ships V. Johanna Cores Vergenoegen
% Profits 88 37
12 Ships 20 Ships 34 Ships 47 Ships 14 Ships 21 Ships 7 Ships 4 Ships
30 + 20 + 10 + 5 + 5 + to 5-
Geertruyda & Christina Grenadier
% Losses
Years 1759 1787
10 + 20 + 30 + 37 48
1784 1749
Source: Appendix 25.
mortality rates, as is shown in Table 11.9. (The WIC also had high death rates during its final years in the slave trade. In both situations, rising mortality rates may have been a factor in deciding to abandon the traffic.) During the period 1750 to 1780 alone, the MCC managed an overall profit margin of 5.6 percent, which was reasonable and more in line with that of the French and English experience. Furthermore, it should be noted that the MCC bookkeeping was done in such a manner that unsold commodities obtained in Africa and the West were registered at purchase prices when the books were closed, which means that profits were probably higher than calculated by Unger.39 On the other hand, these MCC statistics do not include the ships that were lost at sea, such as the six captured by the English during the 1780s, which would further reduce the company's profits from the slave trade. But even if an assessment of profitability of individual slaving ventures shows erratic and low financial gains, there was always the gambling mentality to keep slave traders going; the next venture could produce better results. Also, one needs to look at the larger picture to gain an appreciation of profitability in the slave trade. The slave trade was, after all, a part of a larger system that involved plantations, settlements, and national economies. Many of the merchants involved in the slave trade also owned plantations 39.
For a more recent assessment of MCC bookkeeping see: C. Reinders Foliner-van Prooijen, "De Middelburgse Commercie Compagnie; Reglement en Praktijk, 1720-1729," M.A. thesis, Leiden University, 1985.
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The Dutch in the Atlantic Slave Trade Table 11.9 Profits in the MCC slave trade, 1740-1795 Values in pound Flemish3
Years 1740-1749 1750-1759 1760-1769 1770-1779 1780-1795
Ships 12 19 25
35 9
1750-1780 84 Profit (%) Average Total 100 Profit (%)
Average per cargo Outlays Proceeds
Profits Total Average
10,988 12,852 15,342 16,899 23,170
10,783 14,206 16,192 17,502 21,896
-2,452 25,737 21,266 21,095 -11,467
15,433
16,295
68,094
-204 1,355
Cargo averages Slaves Deaths
-1,274
301 277 275 261 271
58 29 33 28 54
862
288
31
284
37
855 590
(5.6) 15,596 16,137 1,559,564 1,613,743
54,179 541 (2.88)
Source: Appendix 25. Note: a A pound Flemish equaled 6 guilders (see Table 11.1).
in Surinam, and they knew that unless fresh slaves were brought from Africa their other investment would suffer. This is illustrated by the slaving firm, Coopstad and Rochussen of Rotterdam, and also by repeated requests written by West Indian planters.40
The slave trade and the economy at large The slave trade was inextricably tied to the slave system, and to the plantation economies of the New World. It is quite conceivable that investors were willing to lose money on the slave trade if they could profit from their plantations. But to assess the profitability of the Surinam colony, for example, would be a major investigation that is outside the scope of this study. It is perhaps sufficient here to illustrate how many persons not directly involved in the slave trade nevertheless benefited from it. One does not need to go as far as the ground-breaking thesis of Eric Williams, who asserted that the Atlantic slave system was a cornerstone of the industrial revolution. However, one can certainly agree that the financial implications of the slave trade were spread far and wide.41 One needs to realize that the accounts of slaving missions were limited 40. 41.
See the HAR inventory at the Gemeente Archief at Rotterdam. See Anstey, Chapter 2, for an evaluation of the so-called "William's Thesis."
Finances, marketing, and profitability
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to the firm that financed the undertaking. They do not include financial benefits such as wages to crew members of the ships, which were actually subtracted as an expense on the company ledgers. If one estimates that on the average a slave ship had fifty to sixty crew members, and that an average of ten to thirty slave ships were in action at any given time, it would mean employment for 1,000 to 1,200 men during the years 1662 to 1780, and a smaller work force for several decades before and after that period. No large business, but for a country with a population of less than two million it was not to be ignored. As was discussed in Chapter 7, wages of sailors were low but captains and other officers serving on slave ships received generous salaries and special bonuses, and in addition made profits from private trade. There is no evidence of Dutch slave captains becoming wealthy from the traffic, as was the case with the earlier cited French captain, Van Alstein, but such cases may well surface when the personal involvement in the slave trade is carefully studied.42 Others benefiting from the slave trade were WIC personnel and agents of free-trade companies stationed in Africa and the West. After 1700 the WIC establishment in Africa became very much geared to the slave trade and it, like the slave-ship officers, often drew bonuses and engaged in private or illicit trade that added to their retirement opportunities in the Dutch Republic. The same is true for the asiento trade, which caused the WIC establishment at Curasao to become largely dependent on the slave trade. Moreover, ranking asiento officials earned a commission on the sale of slaves. Similar practices operated at Surinam and other slave markets.43 As with the captains, the risks to the lives of those colonial officials were enormous; if they died prematurely their earnings were enjoyed by their heirs. One way or another, such funds ended up in the national economy of the Dutch Republic. Several other persons gained financial benefits more indirectly from the slave trade. The slave ships had to be built, each mission had to be provisioned with food and the tools of the trade, and above all merchandise had to be manufactured and marketed for the trade with Africa. This must have produced many jobs for the Dutch textile and firearms shops, as well as many other workshops. Furthermore, the agricultural commodities raised by slave labor and purchased for slaves produced profits and jobs in Dutch refineries and processing plants. These finished products had to be transported and marketed again. In summary, the slave trade was an important 42.
43.
The payment of bonuses for delivery of slaves fluctuated significantly and is therefore difficult to assess. For evidence of such bonus payments, as well as private and smuggle trade see the following: WIC, vol. 823, pp. 238-40; WIC, vol. 833, pp. 70 and 320; WIC, vol. 835, pp. 137 and 157-835; WIC, vol. 832, p. 150. WIC, vol. 68, p. 38, and doc. 5/23/1689; WIC, vol. 619, p. 138.
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The Dutch in the Atlantic Slave Trade
link in the economy of the Dutch colonial empire, particularly in the Atlantic region. The goods obtained in the West in exchange for slaves varied with time and place; these back-haul goods, or retours, as the Dutch called them, were an important concomitant of the slave trade, and they became significant in the overall Dutch economy. An extensive assessment of their nature and significance is beyond the scope of this book; however, a brief summary will have to suffice here. It all started with sugar products in the slave trade to Brazil, and sugar continued to be a major commodity among the shipments from the West until the end of the Dutch slave trade. Silver currency at Curagao, the socalled pieces of eight from the Spanish colonies, became a coveted means of payment for slaves, although some agricultural commodities were also accepted as payment for slaves. Sugar products appear to have been the primary exchange items for slaves at St. Eustatius. In Surinam and the other Guiana settlements sugar was also the major item used as payment for slaves. As the eighteenth century progressed, other agricultural commodities, such as cocoa, cotton, coffee, and indigo, were added to the list. Periodically, salt was obtained in the West Indies and shipped to Europe. Other curious items prominent in the returning slave ships were wood products, such as stockvishout from Curagao and letterhout from Surinam. These items were not very valuable, and they seemed to have functioned in part as ballast to fill the holds when more valuable commodities were not available. Curasao also produced hides, and lemon juice was exported in small quantities from Surinam.44 A slave ship did not necessarily carry the commodities purchased for the slaves it had delivered. Sometimes, when currency or bills of exchange were obtained, the ship had room to carry freight for private individuals or businesses. In the busy two-way shipping traffic between Surinam and the Dutch Republic it often occurred that a WIC slaver carried commodities for the Society of Surinam or for private planters, and other ships might bring home the sugar for outstanding slave debts. Information about 184 return cargoes has been collected, and of these 65 returned to Holland merely in ballast and 50 had a token or limited cargo. A total of 69 ships, or about 40 percent had a full cargo in their holds. As might be expected, the vast majority of the near-empty ships sailed during the peak of the Dutch slave trade, when the demand for slaves was high and speed was essential; 51 of the 65 ships returning to Europe in ballast only sailed during the years 1766 to 1773. Before and after this peak period slave ships generally brought back a con44.
WIC, vol. 200, pp. 5, and 273; WIC, vol. 202, pp. 368 and 464. See also Van de Voort's Westindische Plantages.
Finances, marketing, and profitability
283
siderable amount of commodities from the West.45 The commodities returned on the last leg of the triangular trade must have produced profits to the slave traders as well as to the Dutch economy. Determining the profitability from the slave trade and from the West Indian slave system is illusive, and perhaps unachievable. Although this study has concentrated on numerous financial benefits from the slave system, others have pointed to the investment losses and bankruptcies, the feasible consequences of the capitalist system. During the two decades of 1753 to 1773, Dutch financiers invested approximately sixty million guilders in Surinam. The capital invested was poorly used, buying more slaves but failing to cultivate new soil, and it culminated in a financial debacle and contributed to the trend toward absentee landlordism. Dutch free-trade policies did little to stimulate their West Indian economies, quite in contrast to the British, who protected their West Indian sugar industries to benefit more from their West Indian investments. In the long run, the Dutch experiment with plantation slavery was a financial failure, and their share in the Atlantic slave trade dropped prematurely.46 The next chapter focuses on the final years of the Dutch slave trade. 45. 46.
See Appendix 2. P.C. Emmer, "Suiker-goud en slaven; de Republiek in West Afrika en West Indie, 16741800," in Overzee; NederlandseKoloniale Geschiedenis, I$QO—IQJ$ (Haarlem: Van Dishoeck,
1982), pp. 150-5.
12 The end of the Dutch slave trade 1781-1815
Crucial changes were taking place in the Dutch slave trade during the decade of the 1770s. At the beginning of the decade the traffic reached an all-time high, but as an economic recession struck, in 1773, Dutch slaving activity declined significantly. The diplomatic fallout of the American Revolution, which put additional strains on Atlantic shipping, also had a retarding effect on the Dutch slave trade. In 1780 the Dutch Republic openly chose the side of the American colonies and got involved in a war with Great Britain, bringing the Dutch slave trade to a temporary halt.
The final decades of the Dutch slave trade The Fourth Anglo-Dutch War (1780-4) was disastrous for the Dutch Republic. British naval power far outdistanced the Dutch navy. The still large Dutch merchant marine was relatively unprotected, and numerous Dutch ships were captured and confiscated by the enemy. The capture of at least twelve Dutch slave ships during the years 1780 to 1783 has been verified, and the fate of at least three other slavers is uncertain, but they were undoubtedly captured as well. The MCC alone lost at least six slave ships to the British. Several Dutch colonial territories were taken over by Great Britain, including the settlements in Guyana and the island of St. Eustatius, which had initially played a prominent role in supplying the American rebels.1 Table 12.1 gives a statistical display of the much-reduced volume of the Dutch slave trade during its final years. It shows that the traffic continued, but at a greatly reduced rate. The Anglo-Dutch War brought the Dutch slave trade temporarily to a halt. The Dutch outfitted only one slave ship in 1781 and that ship was captured the following year on the African coast. 1. Unger II, p. 53; Appendix 2. For the role of St. Eustatius see J.F.Jameson, "St. Eustatius in the American Revolution," American Historical Review, vol. 8 (1903), pp. 683-708. 284
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285
Table 12.1 Slave allocations, 1780-1803 From Africaa Years 1780-1784 5,905 1785-1789 7,399 1790-1795 9,240 1802-1803 1,206 Total
23,750
To Surinam 1,856 2,423 3,605 1,087 8,971
To Demerara 840 2,793 1,177 4,810
Other Unknown dest. destinations 1,334 975 865 1,566 2,195 2,900
4,035
Total imports 5,005 6,081 8,543 1,087 20,716
Source: Appendix 2. Note: a The figures in this column correspond with American arrival dates, which may vary from African departure dates.
Not a single slave was landed in the West by Dutch ships during the year 1783. Most of the ships dispatched early in the war were captured by the British. But the Dutch did not abandon the slave trade; even before the war officially ended in 1784, preparations were underway for its resumption. In 1783 six slaver ships left Holland and five more followed in 1784, and at that greatly reduced volume the traffic continued for the remainder of the decade. Efforts were made to expand the traffic during the early 1790s. In 1793 the slave trade reached a minor peak when Dutch ships transported nearly 3,000 slaves across the Atlantic, but it turned out to have been only a temporary revival because the turmoil that would render the Dutch slave trade impossible was already set in motion.2 In 1795 the disruptive period of war and revolution also enveloped the Dutch Republic, which was renamed the Batavian Republic, modeled on the revolutionary French First Republic. In alliance with France the Dutch became embroiled in a war with Great Britain, which dominated the oceans, and the Dutch slave trade was forced to a complete halt. Actually, when hostilities had started between various European powers in 1792, Dutch maritime activities had already experienced its negative effects. In 1793 only three ships and in 1794 only two ships were dispatched on slaving missions. After getting directly involved in the hostilities in 1795, the Dutch participation in the Atlantic slave trade came to a complete halt. When the Treaty of Amiens in 1802 made the seas safe again for a short period, the Dutch slave trade experienced a short-lived and final revival. Slightly more than 1,200 slaves were landed in Surinam during the two years, 1802-3. The resumption of war in 1803 removed the Dutch completely from the Atlantic See Appendix 2.
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T h e Dutch in the Atlantic Slave Trade
slave trade, and the reasons why the traffic was not resumed after the Napoleonic era are discussed below.3 The limited revival of the slave trade during the 1780s and early 1790s resulted from pressures and decisions in Holland and the colonies. Planters in the colonies and absentee landowners in Holland continued to clamor for fresh shipments of slaves, and certain merchants in Holland and Zeeland also wished to see the slave trade rekindled. Many a pamphlet was written during these years containing a variety of proposals on how to revive the traffic. In 1784 pressure was put on the States General to end the payment of premiums and lastgeld payments to the WIC for the right to purchase slaves in Africa. Various requests from planters in Guyana were submitted to Dutch governmental authorities in order to increase the importation of slaves. The WIC, particularly the WIC officials in Africa, were often blamed for the malaise in the Dutch slave trade. They, with many Dutch slave traders, tended to blame foreign competitors, especially the Americans and the Danes. The Dutch planters would have welcomed foreign slave vendors if they had been allowed to sell slaves in the Dutch colonies. A proposal supported by the Provincial Assembly of Zeeland stated that the colonies required 8,000 slaves annually and that a fleet of thirty slave ships was necessary to carry these slaves. The debate reached a climax in 1789, and in November of that year the States General issued a set of new regulations that were meant to stimulate the Dutch slave trade. The preamble to the regulations reads in part: Since the trade with the West Indies is one of the most important branches to provide a livelihood for many subjects of this country... and as long as no one has thought of a method to provide the colonies with the necessary hands to do the labor, the 'Negro trade' cannot be separated from the growth and prosperity of these colonies, as well as the commerce that results from them.4 Thus, the States General tried to ease the restrictions and encourage the slave trade in its final hour. Recognition payments and other duties on the traffic were eliminated, which deprived the WIC of a crucial source of income. Only Dutch ships were allowed to purchase slaves from the Dutch forts in Africa and deliver them to the Dutch colonies. The slave merchants seemed to have won the day, and the WIC was dissolved two years later when its charter expired. But an act of the States General could not guarantee the revival of the Dutch slave trade. This was clearly demonstrated a few months later by the lawyer of the WIC, D.I. de Kempenaar, who produced a detailed proposal for the reinvigoration of the Dutch slave trade. De 3. 4.
Van de Voort, pp. 197-213. AW-1895, no. LX-447; VWIS, vol. 1184, cor. 2/24/1787; Unger I, pp. 163-8.
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Kempenaar argued that the colonies required 12,000 slaves annually, and the only way to accomplish such a feat was a concerted cooperative effort between merchants and officials in Europe, Africa, and the West Indies. His proposal almost seems like a restoration of the original WIC operation during the monopoly period. The Zeeland merchant, Johannes Louissen, head of a very prominent slave-trade firm during the free-trade period, added his advice in a pamphlet that same year. Among other things, he advocated that Dutch slave traders be awarded premiums for delivering slaves to the colonies. He was willing to allow foreigners to participate in supplying Dutch colonies with slaves, but at considerable disadvantage compared to subjects of the Dutch Republic. Another elaborate plan for the revitalization of the Dutch slave trade was presented in 1791 by Cornelis van der Oudermeulen, an international merchant who was also a director of both the Society of Surinam and the Dutch East India Company. Complete with statistics on recent slave deliveries, West Indian slave populations, and the needed replacement and growth of such populations, van der Oudermeulen's stressed the need for consultation and cooperation between merchants and administrative officials. He repeated many of the suggestions already made by de Kempenaar and Louissen, but he went further by placing the need for slaves in the framework of patriotism. No part of his ambitious plan was implemented in its entirety; however, it may well have helped to stimulate the final resurgence of the slave trade in 1792-3. Later, in 1814, van der Oudermeulen made one last effort to defend the value and necessity of the slave trade if the Dutch colonies were to flourish again.5
The markets during the final years With the exception of a significant reduction in volume, the last decades of the Dutch slave trade continued the free-trade practice that had been developed since 1730. Zeeland continued to dominate the trade with nearly two-thirds of the traffic. Amsterdam remained the second most important center of Dutch slave traders, while Rotterdam retained a mere fraction of the trade. Other Dutch ports had ceased to participate in the traffic during these final decades. Slave ships and consignments continued to decrease in size, averaging only 230 slaves after 1780. Average mortality rates for the middle passage amounted to 12.8 percent during these final decades, slightly lower than for the free trade in general. The regulations of 1789, including 5.
RLLM, Lelyveld, doc. 112, 113, 116, and 118; AW-1895, no. LX-447; VWIS, folder 1172; Unger I, pp. 168-71.
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The Dutch in the Atlantic Slave Trade
an order for better accommodations for the slaves, may have been a cause for the declining size of slave cargoes as well as declining death rates. 6 On the African side there were also only minor changes from the previously evolved pattern. A smaller share of the slaves were obtained from the Loango region during these final years; its share was less than 25 percent, whereas previously it had been about a third of the total. Notable in this last phase of the Dutch slave trade was the larger than usual number of ships that recorded Elmina as their African port of departure. This may well have been caused by the termination of premiums for purchasing slaves at the Dutch trading stations in 1789. All WIC merchants stationed in Africa were now free to participate in the slave trade without paying the premium of twenty guilders a slave, and without the director-general having a monopolistic role in this trade. Because the Dutch trading stations were all concentrated on the Gold Coast, this coastal region must have become much more attractive for Dutch slave traders.7 Surinam remained the dominant market in the West for the Dutch slave vendors. As shown in Table 12.1, the colony absorbed nearly half of the slaves carried by Dutch vessels after 1780. The new market of significance was the relatively young settlement on the Demerara, in present-day Guyana. After Surinam it became the most important market in the Dutch slave trade during these final years. Moreover, it is quite possible that a significant percentage of the slaves of which the destinations are not known also ended up in Demerara. All the other traditional Dutch slave markets in the West declined in significance after 1780. Only one shipment of slaves was recorded for St. Eustatius, and Curasao received only portions of consignments. Two slave cargoes were taken to Berbice, and three others distributed their cargoes among various Guyana settlements. Essequibo is not specifically mentioned among the slave importers, but its close proximity to Demerara may well have meant that a share of those slaves ended up in Essequibo. 8 Although the preceding figures and trends accurately reflect the Dutch involvement in the Atlantic slave trade, they do not represent the entire slave importation for these Western markets during these final years of the traffic. During the Fourth Anglo-Dutch War (1780-4), and continuing at a reduced rate afterward, all of the traditional Dutch markets were purchasing slaves from foreign vendors. This is well established for the Guyana settlements, which the English occupied during the early 1780s, and where a significant 6. 7. 8.
Unger I, p. 170. Van der Oudermeulen claimed that only two of the fifty-one slaving voyages in the 1783-1790 period originated in Rotterdam, whereas Zeeland claimed thirtyone and Amsterdam eighteen missions. AW-1895, no. LX-447; NBKG, vol. 14, min. 4/15/1790. See also Appendix 2. See Table 12.1 and Appendix 2.
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planter population was of English extraction. Surinam had long allowed American ships to import horses, food, and other provisions into the colony. After 1780 some of these ships were also bringing slaves, albeit in small numbers. St. Eustatius had long been an international market. An analysis of extensive shipping to the island before the English takeover in 1780 shows that many slaves were brought and traded there by ships of the interCaribbean, or the Heine vaart. There was considerable interest to reestablish St. Eustatius in that role after the last Anglo-Dutch War. Nearby St Martin obtained its slaves generally from St. Eustatius, and Curasao merchants were even encouraged to purchase slaves there and sell them on the Spanish mainland.9 The illicit importation of slaves into Dutch colonies was of modest proportion before 1795; however, after they fell under British control during the Napoleonic Wars (1799-1815) they became regular markets for British slave traders. It has now been well established, for example, that during the two British protectorate periods (1799-1802 and 1804-16), Surinam was for all practical purposes incorporated into the British Empire and was adequately supplied with slaves by British ships. Post-1795 Surinam is a subject beyond the scope of this study; the focus here is the Dutch share in the slave trade.10
The abolition of the Dutch slave trade The long period of warfare from 1795 to 1815 weaned the Dutch away from the slave trade. Slave merchants in Holland undoubtedly had either retired or found other occupations when peace finally returned and the Dutch could freely sail the oceans again. But perhaps the most important factor that precluded the resumption of the Dutch slave trade was that both Great Britain and the United States had in 1807 passed legislation prohibiting the slave trade from Africa by their subjects. But all of these factors combined would not have stopped certain Dutch merchants from resuming the traffic if the Dutch government had not followed the example of the British at the conclusion of the Napoleonic era. As mentioned, in February 1814 van der Oudermeulen urged the resumption of the Dutch slave trade on the grounds that it was a necessity for 9.
See the Governor's journals, SS, vols. 416-17, and the correspondence from Surinam, SS, vols. 2i2ff. For St. Eustatius see: VWIS, no. 1184, cor. 1/13/1791, 2/2/1791, and
10.
For this subject see: R. Chander, "Slavenhandel in de periode 1789 tot 1826: Suriname op de grens van twee eeuwen," M.A. thesis, Leiden: Leiden University, 1988.
11/13/1791.
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The Dutch in the Atlantic Slave Trade
the resurgence of the Dutch colonies. His appeal must have had a limited audience, for it was totally ignored by governmental authorities. In June of that same year the newly proclaimed King Willem I (formerly Stadtholder Willem V) by royal decree forbade further Dutch participation in the slave trade.11 What was the reason for such drastic action, and why was there no apparent opposition to it from Dutch merchants? As prince regent, Willem I had spent several years in England in exile, and it was with the support of the British government that the prince was allowed to return to Holland in November 1813, when Napoleon was driven back to France. It is not clear whether the new king's motive was humanitarian or political. There is no doubt, however, that the issue of the slave trade was linked to the political settlement that followed the Napoleonic Wars. The British government clearly wanted to stop the slave trade in Africa. It failed to bring the French, Portuguese, and Spanish in line immediately, but with the Dutch they had persuasive weapons at their disposal. The new Dutch king wished to regain the lost overseas colonies from British control, and he also counted on British support for the creation of a greatly enlarged Dutch kingdom at the Congress of Vienna. Thus, it could be said that Willem I was beholden to the British foreign office. Therefore his abolishment of the slave trade was an easy means of pleasing his British benefactors. Rather than being forced into the abolition decree by the British, the king's action could best be explained as a clever and pragmatic move. And the results were not disappointing, because the Dutch achieved nearly all their objectives. In the end, only Cape Town in South Africa and the three plantation settlements in Guyana were permanently left under British control.12 The abolition of the Dutch slave trade involved several political actions in addition to the royal decree of June 1814. In August 1814, after considerable negotiation the Dutch and British signed a bilateral agreement that confirmed the abolition decree and secretly made territorial commitments to the Kingdom of the Netherlands. At the Congress of Vienna, June 1815, these agreements were affirmed and the territorial adjustments made public. An additional bilateral British-Dutch accord was signed in May 1818, which regulated the suppression of the illicit slave trade. At the core of this agreement were the mutual visitation rights of each other's ships, suspected of slave trading, and the establishment of mixed courts at Sierra Leone and Surinam. These courts were to deal with violators of the abolition laws. At 11. 12.
AW-1895, no. LX-447. P.C. Emmer, "Engeland, Nederland, Afrika en de Slavenhandel in Negentiende Eeuw," Economisch-en Sociaal-Historisch Jaarboek, vol. 36 (1973), p. 184. See also GJ. Renier, Great Britain and the Establishment of the Kingdom of the Netherlands (The Hague: Nijhoff, 1930).
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this point the chief legislative body of the Netherlands, the Second Chamber, got involved in the issue. It debated and approved the legal measures that determined how violators of the abolition decree were to be punished. The outcome of the debate was a foregone conclusion, which may reflect the attitude toward the abolition of the slave trade in the Netherlands in 1818. The Second Chamber voted 87 to 5 to approve the proposed legislation. The debate in the chamber had been nearly unanimous in praise and approval of the royal decree of 1814; even the few legislators voting negatively did so only because they opposed certain elements of the bill. Dutch legislators expressed themselves clearly against the slave trade, quite a shift from the previous decade. In 1797 the National Assembly of the Batavian Republic had debated the issues of slavery and slave trade in connection with the formulation of a new constitution, but at that time there was still so much disagreement on the issue that the slave trade was simply not mentioned in the new constitution. A number of legislators, particularly Pieter Vreede, used their oratorical skills to persuade their colleagues to abolish the slave trade then, but his efforts were to no avail. Not that the Dutch were an exception to the rule at this time. England and the United States were still actively engaged in the slave trade, and did not decide to end their participation till 1807. O n ty Denmark had decided to terminate the traffic in the near future.13
Attitudes toward the slave trade In the foregoing paragraphs the attitude of Dutch public officials in respect to the slave trade has been sampled, but how did public opinion and special interest groups relate to the practice? In contrast to England, France, and the United States, there is a notable absence of any major abolitionist movement in the Netherlands. Such movements are generally recognized as products of the eighteenth-century Enlightenment, which directed public attitudes toward a more humane and rational society and had spawned many humanitarian reforms. These changes in attitude had certainly not by-passed Holland, but they had not produced a popular movement that focused on the abolition of the slave trade. Most of the eighteenth-century Dutch literature that dealt with the slave trade and slavery was apologetic; it tended to condone and defend the slave trade. All the arguments used elsewhere, such as biblical endorsement, were also displayed by Dutch writers. Most expressed the belief that the blacks 13.
Emmer, "Slavenhandel Negentiende Eeuw," pp. 180-4. Credit is due to M.E. van Bellen, of the Leiden Seminar (1986-1987), for putting the issue of the Dutch abolition in proper perspective with the political settlement of 1814-1815.
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The Dutch in the Atlantic Slave Trade
were much better off in the colonies as slaves than as free men in Africa. Others argued that Africa could not feed all its people anyway, making forced emigration a blessing in disguise. Some went so far as to claim that slaves were often grateful for the passage provided by European ships and that slave traders tried and often succeeded in keeping families together rather than tearing them apart. The best that such apologists could do for the slaves was to urge better treatment by their owners. The slave-trade handbook by Gallandat (1769) also made suggestions for improvement of the slaves's lot, although this could be interpreted as being as much for economic efficiency as for humanitarian deeds.14 The regulations concerning the slave trade, passed by the States General in 1789 and aimed at expanding the Dutch slave trade, did in fact include provisions to improve slave accommodations aboard slave ships, and this seems to have been based on humanitarian motives. Such action may well have been stimulated by Gallandat's handbook. A few economic branches of the Dutch Association of Sciences (Hollandse Maatschappij van Wetenschappen) were critical of flagrant advocacy of the slave trade in 1777. In that year, the national leadership of the organization had organized an essay contest on the subject: "Whoever uses a copper covered bark ship in the slave trade from Guinea should receive a gold medal." A number of local branches of the organization (Haarlem, Zwolle, and Deventer) found this subject in such poor taste that they protested loudly enough to have the national leadership withdraw the subject. In subsequent years there were no protests against other subjects dealing with plantations and slavery in the West Indian colonies.15 Perhaps the earliest Enlightenment-influenced publication with anti-slavery overtones by a Dutch author was a doctoral dissertation by Cornelis Spencer in 1779. As was customary then, the publication was in Latin and could hardly have reached a wide audience. Not until after 1790, the year the wellknown Dutch writer, Betje Wolff, translated the influential French abolitionist book by Benjamin Frossard into Dutch, was there a significant change in attitude and an increase in abolitionist writings in the Dutch language. But even then the abolitionist publications were generally by anonymous writers, an indication that their position had not yet attained popularity. As late as 1797 Jan van Geuns wrote an abolitionist tract under the pseudonym Philaletus. But others, like progressive minister Bernardus Bosch, openly expressed their astonishment that Christians participated in the slave trade. 14. A Barrau, "De waare staat van de slavendandel...," in Bijdragen tot het Menschelijk Geluk, (1790), vol. 3, pp. 353-4 and 370-371; Gallandat, pp. 6-7; Vrijmoedige gedachten (Amsterdam, 1795). Credit is due to Roselien Sewnarain-Soerdjbali for examining the Dutch literature that dealt with attitudes toward slavery and the slave trade in a paper for the Leiden Seminar (1986-1987). 15. Emmer, "Slavenhandel Negentiende Eeuw," pp. 181-182.
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Pieter Paulus, another Dutch writer, expressed himself strongly against the abuses of the slave trade and, in a major publication (which was later translated into French) he called openly for its abolition.16 In 1794 the poetess, Petronella Moens, was so inspired by the French abolition of slavery that she wrote a poem in honor of the event. Four years later it was included in a publication of a collection of her poetry. Other poems on the subject of slavery were to follow early in the nineteenth century. Worth mentioning in this connection is a poem written by an unknown author in 1775 and published a few years later in the Dutch publication, De Vaderlander. It called slavery dramatically into question in the following manner: The liquid put in your coffee cup is no longer water, but tears I say: It is the blood and sweat of those unfortunates in whom a white soul lives, rather than in the bodies of their tormentors.17 This poem may well have been inspired by ideas from the abolitionist movement in England, which actually sponsored boycotts of sugar consumption in order to protest the use of slave labor in producing it. But in Holland such sentiments were apparently isolated expressions, hardly noticed by the general public. At least, they did not result in an abolitionist movement that tried to halt the Dutch participation in the Atlantic slave trade. It was not until the 1840s, several decades after the last Dutch slave ship had sailed, and long after the Dutch government had outlawed the Dutch slave traffic, that an abolitionist movement developed in the Netherlands. But this movement was directed against the system of slavery, which continued to operate in the Dutch West Indies until its abolition in 1863.18 The fact that the Dutch slave trade had drastically decreased by the end of the eighteenth century, and was concentrated in one of the isolated corners of the country (Zeeland), may have been primary reasons why no movement against the traffic developed. By contrast, many Dutch subjects and a significant element of the country's economy continued to be wedded to the plantation system in the West. Abolishing the slave trade, but not the system 16.
17. 18.
C. de Jong, "The Dutch Press Campaign against the Negro Slave Trade," Mercurius (Pretoria, 1973), pp. 27-9; A.N. Paasman, Reinhart: Nederlandse literatuur en slavernij ten tijde van de Verlichting (Amsterdam: Nijhoff, 1984), pp. 113-5; "De Proeve eener verhandeling...," in Bijdragen tot het menschelijk geluk, vol. 4 (1790), pp. 49-88; B. Bosch, "De Slavenhandel," in Leerzame Praat-al vote. 46-8 (1791), pp. 361-84; Emmer, "Slavenhandel Negentiende Eeuw," p. 181. P. Moens, Vruchten der eenzaamheid (Amsterdam: Saakes en Tiel, 1798), pp. 24-7; De Vaderlander, vol. 1 (Amsterdam, 1776-1779), pp. 343-44. De Jong, p. 42; Mannix and Cowley, p. 182; Anstey, pp. 255-85.
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The Dutch in the Atlantic Slave Trade
of slavery, may have been a compromise that satisfied the minorities that felt strongly about this issue, without getting large segments of the population involved. After slavery was abolished in the British Empire in 1830, including British Guyana next door to Surinam, the Dutch population also increasingly became involved in this movement of social reform, albeit belatedly.
Summary and conclusions For most of the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, the Dutch were active participants in the Atlantic slave trade. Their initial involvement was sporadic and incidental, but after their capture of northern Brazil, the Dutch became seriously interested in the traffic. Not until their capture of a firm foothold on the African coast in 1637 did their new-found interest produce significant results. Brazil was clearly the catalyst in the Dutch slave trade. After the decline and loss of this colony in 1654, the Dutch involvement in the slave traffic was tenuous for a few decades, until new markets for slaves were located in the West. The next important market for Dutch slave vendors were the Spanish colonies on the American mainland, primarily Venezuela, Colombia, and Mexico. After smuggling slaves into these colonies during the decade of the 1650s, the WIC obtained a major share in the legalized asiento trade in 1662. For the next thirty years this company dominated the slave trade to Spanish America, and thereafter continued to have an indirect and vacillating share in this traffic until about 1717. The Dutch also made efforts to market slaves in other European settlements in the West, but that proved to have limited success. Only the French periodically needed the Dutch vendors when war prevented them from supplying their own colonies. During the second half of the seventeenth century the Dutch had established or conquered a number of plantation colonies on the Guiana coast, which also needed to be supplied with slaves. Initially, the numbers of slaves shipped there were few compared to the asiento traffic, because the demand and the ability to pay for slaves was limited, and the more lucrative asiento trade was favored by the WIC. But after the Surinam settlement was established on a firm footing in 1682, it became an increasingly important slave market. Particularly after the loss of the asiento, Surinam became the most important slave market for the Dutch. Only during the 1720s did the island of St. Eustatius, having replaced Curasao as the Dutch slave depot in the Caribbean, briefly become a more important market for slaves than Surinam. But after 1726 Surinam clearly became the dominant Dutch slave market in the West. The other Guiana settlements, Berbice, Essequibo, and Demerara, also remained insignificant compared to Surinam.
The end of the Dutch slave trade
295
Table 12.2 Aggregate Dutch slave exports from Africa Years
WIC trade
Documented
1600-1645 1646-1664 1665-1674 1675-1699 1700-1709 1710-1719 1720-1729 1730-1739 1740-1749 1750-1759 1760-1769 1770-1779 1780-1795 1802-1803a
30,182 11,039 43,412 66,692 28,596 20,575 38,580 24,911
1600-1803
263,987
1665-1795
Adjusted
Free trade Documented Adjusted
3,000 2,500
500 5,500 3,500 4,500 3,000
22,500b
19,169 47,574 49,362 59,501 51,095 22,544 1,206
1,416 2,912 1,706
250,451
6,034
Total 33,182 13,539 43,912 72,192 32,096 25,075 41,580 44,080 47,574 50,778 62,413 52,801 22,544 1,206
Annual average
721 713 4,391 2,888 3,210 2,508 4,158 4,408 4,757 5,078 6,241 5,280 1,409
603
542,972
2,659
495,730
3,784
Source: Tables 5.1, 5.6 and 12.1. Notes: *No Dutch slaving during the years 1796-1802, as a result of warfare. Includes 14,000 for the interloper trade.
In terms of slave-trading practices, the Dutch slave trade can be divided into a period of monopoly trade by the WIC, from 1621 to 1734, and the free trade from 1730 until 1803. A brief period of overlapping methods has caused some difficulty in assessing the volume of the traffic. As is shown in Table 12.2, the WIC shipped approximately 273,000 slaves from Africa. During the WIC period, an undetermined number of Dutch interlopers penetrated the WIC monopoly area. Although their interest was primarily in the African gold trade, the number they added to the volume of the Dutch slave trade has been estimated at about 14,000. Dutch free traders, although operating for a shorter duration, exported approximately 257,000 slaves from Africa. This rise in annual average shipments is in line with the rapid growth of the Atlantic slave trade in general during the eighteenth century, as is illustrated in the diagram in Figure 12.1. The Dutch slave trade reached its peak during the early 1770s. In 1773 a financial crisis rocked the Dutch economy. It also had serious consequences for the Dutch plantation societies in the West and greatly undermined the planters' ability to purchase slaves. While these economic dislocations were still undermining the Dutch slave trade, international tensions flowing from
Figure 12.1 The Dutch slave trade and the combined Atlantic traffic, 1630-1805 (In 1,000 per year) 90 80 70 60 50 40 30 20
a
The Atlantic slave trade (20 year annual averages)
The Dutch slave trade b (5 year annual averages)
WIC traffic 1630
1650 a
1675
1700
1725
Source: Curtin, pp. 116, 119, 216 and 234. b Tables 1.1,5.1, 5.6, 12.1, 12.2, and Appendixes 1 and 2. Note: The WIC slave trade ended in 1738.
1750
1775
1800
T h e end of the Dutch slave trade
297
the American revolt against the British complicated the Dutch slave trade further, and brought it to a temporary halt during the early 1780s. Although several efforts were made to revive the traffic, the Dutch were never able to regain a significant share of the Atlantic slave trade. Except for a brief revival in 1802-3, the Dutch slave trade had for all practical purposes come to a halt in 1795. The Dutch slave trade can be categorized as a true triangular commercial enterprise. Principally European manufactured goods, supplemented with some Asian luxury textiles, were shipped from Holland to Africa, where they were exchanged for slaves. After the slaves were delivered in the West Indies or the Guianas, the ships were as a rule laden with tropical agricultural commodities, which were taken to the Dutch Republic for processing and distribution. In the asiento trade via Curasao, silver currency was also an important commercial item in return for slaves. The chartered company, the Dutch WIC, played a crucial role in the Dutch slave trade. Not only did it monopolize the traffic for more than a century, but it continued to be instrumental in the trade as an administrative facilitator and a commercial link in the free trade. Because of its long history, the WIC's surviving documents are crucial to an understanding of the Dutch slave trade. The company maintained trading stations on the African coast as well as in the Caribbean, and it held a one-third partnership in the Society of Surinam as well. Whenever and wherever the slave trade was a significant part of the WIC's activities, the company had special agents appointed to specialize in the slave trade. On the African coast a symbiotic relationship between European merchants and administrators and African merchants and political authorities developed. The promise of economic profit kept these relationships functioning. The Dutch held a clearly condescending attitude toward Africans and did little to advance their development and enlightenment; however, they did have a healthy respect for the abilities of African merchants. Although wars and slave raids were an integral part of the process of obtaining slaves in Africa, Dutch officials worked to maintain peace with Africans in order to facilitate commerce. Slaves were obtained through ordinary commercial channels from African merchants at various points on the African coast. Approximately 70 percent of the slaves shipped by the Dutch originated from the Guinea coast, and the remainder from the Bantu-speaking west-central coast of Africa. Figure 12.2 provides a visual sketch of slave origins. The Dutch East India Company obtained some slaves on the East African coast, but these were not shipped across the Atlantic, and are therefore not included in this study. During the seventeenth century the slaves purchased on the Guinea coast came primarily from the Slave Coast, but after 1700 the Gold Coast became an increasing
Figure 12.2 African origins of the slaves Seventeenth
1630-1651
century
1675-1699
1658-1674
Loango 39%
Guinea 55% Gold Coast 18%
Slave Coast 41%
Blafra 9%
Eighteenth
1700-1738
Senegal 2%
Senegal 5%
Gold Coast 5%
Loango 25%
Angola 45%
Slave Coast 52%
century
1781-1803
1740-1780 Windward Coast 43%
Slave Coast 42% ^ Blafra 1% A
Blafra
Blafra 3%
vory Coast 2%
Gold Coast 40%
^ Slave Coast 1%
Loango 26%
Windward Coast
Mixed 4% Loango 36%
Gold Coast 19%
Gold Coast 28%
Source: Table 1.1, 5.2 - 5.5, and 5.7 - 5.8. Note: The percentages in the chart for 1740-1780 are rather speculative.
Loango 23%
The end of the Dutch slave trade
299
Figure 12.3 Regional Dutch participation in the slave trade WIC 1675-1738
Free trade 1730-1803
Zeeland Amsterd arr
28%
L Maze ^14%
Stad en Lane 13%
I
^ w7N. Kwartier
/
9%
A
•m 1
tterdar- Region 12%
'Onmgen 0%
Zeeland 77%
Ar 37%
Source: Tables 6.2 and 6.3.
target for Dutch slave ships. After the free trade began during the 1730s, the Ivory Coast also became an important supplier of slaves. The Gold Coast remained, however, a primary source of slaves for the Dutch. They obtained very few slaves from either Senegambia or the Bight of Biafra. The breakdown of the separate regions on the Guinea coast cannot be determined with accuracy. The accompanying diagram provides, in some cases, only approximations. If there was a center of slave-trade activities in the Dutch Republic, as Liverpool in England and Nantes in France, it was without doubt the island of Walcheren in the province of Zeeland. The centers of Dutch slaving activities were in the twin towns of Middelburg and Vlissingen, especially after the free trade started in the 1730s. Earlier, during the WIC monopoly, Amsterdam played the leading role in the slave trade, followed by the Zeeland towns. Rotterdam followed Amsterdam and Zeeland as a third slaving center in Holland. Other towns, such as Hoorn, Enkhuysen, and Delft, participated in the traffic during the WIC period, but they are rarely mentioned in the documents during the free-trade period. Figure 12.3 sketches the regional Dutch participation in the traffic. The Dutch got involved in the slave trade in order to supply their newly acquired plantation colony in Brazil during the 1630s. Two decades later the Spanish colonies, via Curasao and through the asiento contracts, became the chief market for Dutch slave traders. By the end of the seventeenth century the Dutch plantation societies on the Guiana coast were also demanding slaves. During the eighteenth century Surinam became the principal target of the Dutch slave trade, as shown in Table 12.3 and Figure 12.4. The setdements in present-day Guyana were also supplied with slaves by
300
The Dutch in the Atlantic Slave Trade Table 12.3 Aggregate slave destinations in the Dutch slave tradea Dutch Spanish Guyana Antilles0 America0 Misc.bc
Periods
Brazil
Surinam
17th cent. (%)
26,500 (19.1)
27,000 (19.4)
3,500 (2.5)
7,000 (5)
64,000 (46)
11,000 (7.9)
139,000 (100)
18th cent. (%)
162,000 (51)
38,500 (12.2)
10,000 (3.2)
77,500 (24.5)
29,000 (9.2)
317,000 (100)
19th cent.
1,000
Total % of total
Total
1,000
26,500
190,000
42,000
17,000
141,500
40,000
457,000
(5.8)
(41.6)
(9.2)
(3.7)
(30.9)
(8.7)
(100)
Source: Tables 1.1, 2.2 - 2.4, 8.2 - 8.5, and 9.2-9.9. Notes: aThe figures in this table are rounded off to the nearest 500. b Shipped to markets that were not under Dutch jurisdiction. °The numbers for these regions are rather speculative, and they refer to the ultimate destination of the slaves rather than their first port of disembarkation.
the Dutch, and the island of St. Eustatius became a significant slave market during the 1720s. The number of slaves retained in the Dutch Antilles remains quite uncertain, and the destination to foreign markets is highly speculative. Little is known about the slaves, the principal victims of the traffic and the focus of this subject. Only on very rare occasions has the name of a slave crossing the Atlantic been recorded; they were generally remembered as a number on a specific slave ship. The slaves obviously deplored their lot, and they rebelled against it in many ways, such as attempting escape, committing suicide, and even engaging in mass resistance. Virtually all of the revolts ended in failure, however, and many slaves and some crew members died in the process. The experience of slaves in transit to their new homes in the Western Hemisphere can hardly be described with any sense of accuracy; it must have been like an unending nightmare. The experience has been likened to the concentration camps in Nazi Germany, except that the Africans' enslavement was motivated by economic profit and not by racial hatred or genocide. Beyond the discomforts of confinement aboard the slave ships, slaves were by and large fed adequately and treated prudently by the standards of the time and the circumstances. There were, of course, exceptions to these generalizations, but these were often noted with disapproval by
Figure 12.4 American destinations in the Dutch slave trade Seventeenth
1630-1649
century
1650-1674 Surinam 8%
Mixed 5%
Spanish Main 20% Guyana 2%
Curagao 42% Surinam 30%
Others 15%
Curagao 55%
Spanish Main 6%
Brazil 95%
Eighteenth
1700-1738
century
1780-1803
1740-1779
Surinam 40%
Others 6% Curagao 22% Surinam 62%
Guyana 12%
Spanish Main 3% Surinam 48%
Span.Main (Illicit) 18%
Guyana 9% St. Eustatlus 12%
Source: Tables 1.1, 2.2 - 2.4, 8.2 - 8.5, and 9.2 - 9.7.
St. Eustatius 6%
Curagao 7% St. Eustatius 8% Others 11%
Guyana 37%
302
T h e Dutch in the Atlantic Slave Trade
authorities in slave-trade companies. Efforts at reasonable treatment were not so much motivated by humaneness as from the desire for profits; only a well-looking slave would fetch a good profit in the West. Many slaves died during this process of transition. Mortality on the middle passage was approximately 15 percent in the Dutch slave trade, slightly higher than calculated for many other European slave vendors. Mortality rates were erratically affected when serious contagious epidemic diseases occurred. Deaths in the free trade were on average a few percentage points below the earlier WIC trade; the WIC had a lower mortality rate compared to the trade to Brazil earlier in the seventeenth century. Added experience and the use of faster and smaller ships may have been the main reasons for the decline in the free-trade death rates. If profits were the principal motive for participation in the slave trade, many investors and entrepreneurs must have been sorely disappointed. Even more than other branches of cross-ocean commerce, the trade in human beings was beset with unpredictable variables, which sometimes produced big profits but often also staggering losses. One can only estimate that the return on investments in the Dutch slave trade may have averaged approximately 5 percent. This does not take into account the indirect profits through wages of maritime and commercial personnel, nor the benefits drawn though the slave plantation system in the West. Except for specific towns, as Middelburg, the slave trade by itself can hardly have made much of an impact on the domestic Dutch economy, but as an integral part of the total Dutch economic system it cannot be ignored. As Figure 12.1 illustrates, the Dutch played a relatively minor role in the overall Atlantic slave trade; the total number of slaves carried by them must have been approximately 5 percent of the total. By exporting nearly 550,000 slaves from Africa, and landing nearly 460,000, the Dutch ranked fourth in the Atlantic slave trade. Great Britain, Portugal (in combination with Brazil), and France transported the lion's share of the traffic, landing a combined total of about 8.6 million, or almost 90 percent of the total. But compared to Portugal, which must have carried approximately 35 percent of the Atlantic traffic, the Dutch were involved for a relatively short time. During the years of active Dutch participation (ca. 1630-1795), they must have been carrying approximately 7.5 percent of the total, and at their peak (ca. 1760-1773) they may have carried close to 10 percent of the traffic. Their aggregate share also dropped because they hardly participated at all in the nineteenthcentury slave trade.19 Did the Dutch at any time dominate the Atlantic slave trade? Yes, for 19.
These estimates are extrapolated from Lovejoy, pp. 483 and 497; and Curtin, Atlantic Slave Trade, p. 268.
The end of the Dutch slave trade
303
brief spells during the seventeenth century, when the volume of the trade was still relatively small. When the Dutch were supplying northern Brazil with slaves, particularly during the period 1636 to 1648, they were undoubtedly the most prominent in the traffic. After they gained the asiento trade in 1662, they may also have dominated the trade for the next thirteen years. And again, when they totally dominated the asiento trade, particularly during the years 1 6 8 6 - 9 , t n e Dutch may well have been the largest Atlantic slave vendors.
Appendixes
1. Slave-ship data in the WIC trade, 1675-1738
308
2.
Slave-ship data of the free trade, 1730-1803
320
3.
Asiento contract of 1667
349
4.
Annual old-WIC slave traffic, 1657-1674
354
5. WIC slave-ship assignments and documented traffic, 1675-1732
355
6.
Documents carried by a slave ship i n i 7 6 i
362
7.
Guidelines for the slave trade at Ouidah
363
8.
Instructions for a slave-ship captain of the MCC
366
9.
Slave-trade passes issued to Dutch free traders
369
10.
Slave-trade companies and brokers
371
11.
Fees received for slaving permits, 1729-1791, from WIC trienninal accounts
372
12.
Guinea coast origins of slaves on free-trade ships
373
13.
Slave-ship captains sailing for the WIC
377
14.
Slave-ship captains in the free trade
382
15.
African coasting time in the WIC trade
388
16.
Slave mortality in coasting and middle passage in the WIC trade
389
Coasting, middle-passage mortality cycles (A); Mortality cycle on the middle passage. Deaths in ten-day periods (B).
390
17.
304
Appendixes 18.
305
Coasting, mortality, crowding, and efficiency in the MCC slave trade
392
19.
Gender, age, and mortality among WIC slaves, 1680-1739
395
20.
Slave gender, age, and mortality ratios, 1734-1803
399
21.
Instructions for the slave supervisor at Elmina
402
22.
A slave-ship consignment affidavit
404
23.
Attestation or death certificate
405
24.
Average WIC slave prices, 1676-1738
406
25.
MCC free-trade prices and profits, 1740-1795
407
26.
Production and exports of Surinam, 1740-1793
411
Appendixes 1 and 2 Notes and sources.
The following two appendixes list essential data on documented Dutch slave ships for the 1675 to 1802 period. Ships are listed in alphabetical order, with multiple missions in chronological order. Appendix 1 includes a total of 370 slaving missions, sailing in the 1675 to 1738 period under the auspices of the WIC, except for six interloper ships that are identified with a + sign. The A sign at the end of some ship names indicates that they were special assignments authorized by the WIC authorities in Africa. Appendix 2 includes a total of 840 slaving missions for the free-trade period from 1730 to 1802. Additional and more specialized data for some of these slaving voyages are given in subsequent appendixes. Key to abbreviations and explanatory notes In some instances, the names of the ships listed in the first column, "Ships," have been abbreviated to save space. For example, Amsterdam and Middelburg have occasionally been listed as A'dam and M'burg. The documents frequently misspelled or gave different variations in spelling of names. For the sake of consistency, the most frequently used or simplest rendition of the name has been employed in the lists. The next column "Hoi." indicates the missions' port or region of origin in the Dutch Republic. The following abbreviations have been employed: AM — Amsterdam; Z = Zeeland province; M = Maze (Rotterdam region);
306
Appendixes
NK = Noorder Kwartier (Holland north of Amsterdam); SL = Stad en Lande (The Groningen/Friesland region). African coastal regions, uAf.," where the slaves were obtained, are listed with the following abbreviations: GG = Guinea Coast (without detailed specification); GS = Senegambia; GC = Gold Coast; SC = Slave Coast; GM = Guinea mixed; GB = Bight of Biafra; A = Loango-Angola; M = G + A mixed. Ports of destination in the Western Hemisphere, "Am.," are listed with the following abbreviations: SM = Spanish mainland; C = Curasao; SE = St. Eustatius; GG = Guiana region; GB = Berbice (Guiana); GE = Essequibo (Guiana); S = Surinam; GS = Mixed-Guiana and Surinam GD = Demerara (Guiana); SI = sighted or stopped at Surinam, but took its slaves to an unverified destination. The following three columns list data on slaves: the numbers boarded in Africa, deaths on the middle passage, and disembarkations, respectively. A punctuation period that precedes data indicates that the data is documented and verified; the remaining figures are estimates. The following five columns list dates, by year, month, and day, as indicated in the headings. When years only are listed, they may have been inferred from other verified dates. Captains of slave ships are listed by codes that are identified in Appendix 13. A second column identifies the replacement when a captain died during the slaving mission. Ship types are listed under the heading "Ship" by the following abbreviations: F = fregat; B = barque; Fl = fluit; Br = brik; H = hoeker; S = snauw; Y = yacht; P = pinas; G = galjoot; Hb = hekboot. The column headed "Sp." indicates unusual or special circumstances that occurred during the slaving mission. The following abbreviations are employed: u = uncertain fate; w = shipwrecked with slaves or on home voyage; b = shipwrecked or captured; c = captured by enemy; s = stranded; d = disqualified in Western port; r = slave revolt; k = extremely high death rate. Appendix 2 has the following additional columns: The carrying capacity of the ship is listed under the heading "Last." A last measured approximately two metric tons. The column headed " C " indicates the nature of the backhaul, or return cargo, employing the following abbreviations: b = in ballast; c = full cargo; s = partial cargo. The column headed "Sale" lists the manner by which slaves were sold in the Americas, indicated by the following abbreviations: C = sale by prior contract; I = individual sale; A = auction; M = mixed sales.
Appendixes
307
The final column lists the free-trade companies that sponsored the specific slaving mission. Appendix 10 explains the abbreviations and gives additional details on these firms. Sources The information listed here is obtained from such a large variety of sources that individual listings would enlarge and confuse the appendix immensely. Nearly all the archival collections listed in the bibliography have contributed data. Specific sources and additional information about these slaving missions are part of the Postma Data Collection, which can be consulted by request. The possessives in names, like van (v), de (d), van de (v/d), and ter (t) have occasionally been left out, or they have been abbreviated as indicated. The names Zondernaam (no name), at the end of Appendix 1, were slave ships whose names could not be verified. The following ship names are abbreviated in Appendix 2: Cornelia Christoffelina, Essequibo Vriendschap, Guineese Vriendschap, Jonge Matheus en Catharina, and Surinaamse Vriendschap.
Appendix 1 Slave-ship data in the WIC trade, 1675-1738 Ships
o 00
Acredam Acredam Acredam Acredam Acredam Acredam Acredam Acredam Acredam2 Adrichem Adrichem Adrichem Adrichem drichem sdrichem Adrichem Africa Africa Africa Africa2 Agatha Agatha Aletta Maria Aletta Maria Alida Amsterdam Amsterdam Amsterdam Amsterdam2 Amsterdam2 Amsterdam2
P or t s Hoi. Af. Am. AM NK SL AM NK AM SL AM Z Z Z Z Z Z
SC SC SC SC SC SC GC A GC SC A SC A SC SC A
NK WG AM WG SL Z AM AM AM AM NK AM WG
A SC GC GC GS
S S S S S S
's
s c s c c s s c c s GE GM S SP
SC SC
s s
A GC GC
s c s
In
slave
s Died Land
.596 .590 .704 .650 .606 .455 .643
.117 .120 .119 .96 .159 .108 .37
.479 .470 .585 .554 .447 .347 .606
580 .613 .713 .611 .717 .540 .719 550 450 450 .372 .195 .166 .184 400 525 330 .522 580 .483 525 .423 .466
100 .150 . 8 .40 .344 . 10 .108 75 50 75 50 15 .15 . 10 60 75 30 . 11 80 .53 70 .95 .178
480 .463 .705 .571 .373 .530 .611 475 400 375 322 180 .151 .174 340 450 .300 .511 500 .430 .455 .328 .288
Left Holland 1712 1715 1716 1718 1720/10/15 1723/1/8 1724/8/14 1726/4/15 1727/2/10 1708 1710 1711 1714/7/14 1716 1718 1720/2/15 1675/5/18 1678/ 2/ 2 1688/ 7/20 1709 1714 1716 1674/ 5/24 1676/ 4/14 1685 1705 1707 1709 1719 1723/9/15 1726/ 1/15
Arrival America
Left America
Return Holland
1713/6/24 1715/9/19 1717/10/7 1719/2/19 1721/4/2 1723 1725/5/10
1713/11/10 1715/12/20 1717/12/30 1719/6/26 1721/6/23 1723/9/19 1725/7/ 2
1714/2/12 1716/4/8 1718 1719/7/18 1721/8/4 1724/11/17 1725/9/11
1714 1716 1718 1719 1721 1724/ 3/02 1725/11/18
1728 1708/8/3 1710 1712/1/23 1715/4/2 1717/2/6 1718/11/16 1720 1675/12/12 1679 1689 1710/4/15 1714/12/20 1717/1/19 1674 1677 1686 1706/6/20 1707/11/16 1710/1/13 1719 1724/6/23 1726/4/27
1728 1708/11/27 1710/9/16 1712/ 5/ 2 1715/ 6/ 7 1717/4/16 1719/ 1/15 1721 1676 1679/12/11 1689/3/ 4 1710 1715/ 4/ 4 1717 1675 1677 1686 1706/8/20 1708/2/20 1710 1719/10/22 1724/9/27 1726/7/10
1729 1708/12/15 1711 1712 1715 1717 1719/5/26 1721 1676/3/18 1680 1689/10/10 1710 1715 1717 1675 1677 1686/6/29 1707 1708/3/23
1729 1709 1711 1712 1716 1717/10/07 1719 1721 1676/4/15 1680 1690
1720/3/28 1725/3/21 1726/9/3
1720 1725 1726
Left Africa
Captain Sp. 1 2 Ship 508 700 507 506 505 503 504 502 501 W 510 511 509 509 512 512 513 514 U
1715/10/13 1718 1675 1677/7/5 1686/10/23 1707 1708
R 596 516 603 517 508 508 518 519 520
C FL F
Amsterdam2 Amsterdam2 Amsterdam2 Annaboa ~ Appolonia Arent Axim^ Beekesteyn Beekesteyn Beekesteyn Beekesteyn Beekesteyn Beekesteyn Beekesteyn Berkendam ~ Beschermer Beschermer Beschutter Beschutter Beurs Amsterdam Beurs Amsterdam Beurs Amsterdam Beurs v Amsterdam Blyswyk Bosbeek Bosbeek Bosbeek Bosbeek Brandenburg Brandenburg Brandenburg
AM AM NK WG Z Z WG AM AM NK NK AM AM WG AM
AM AM AM Z SL Z Z WG Z Z Z Z
GC
s
GG GC BB SC GC A A A SC GC GC SC GC SC A GC GC SC A A SC SC SC
s c s c c
SC SC SC
SE SE
s s s s s c
SP
s s s c c s s
GB GB GE GE S S
.459 450 380 110 345 .515 .139 700 .722 .442 .507 .755 .866 .705 170 .576
. 1 65 50 40 93 70 .56 140 .85 .191 .89 .238 .258 .103 20 . 11
.458 385 330 70 252 445 .83 .560 .637 .251 .418 .517 .608 .602 150 .565
.768 .809 .650 .653 .708 .512 .494 350 200 300 .381 .563 .409 .564
.23 .69 .82 .38 .80 .25 .50 50 78 45 .78 .154 .38 .54
.745 .740 .568 .615 .628 .487 .444 300 .122 255 .303 .409 .371 .510
1727/ 8/15 1728/10/26 1731 1699 1686/1/24 1691/6/3 1710 1721/7/23 1723/1/8 1725/3/19 1728/5/30 1730/4/15 1732 1735 1731 1700 1702 1735/5/30 1738 1702/1/14 1704 1706 1690/9/29 1708 1713 1715 1716 1718 1726/8/15 1729/6/18 1732
1727 1729 1732 1700/6/22 1686 1691/11/24 1710/7/10 1722 1723 1726/5/29 1728/10/30 1731/2/18 1733/6/8 1735/12/15 1732 1700/8/7
1728/1/18 1729 1732/8/16 1700/10/25 1686/12/1 1692/1/10 1710/9/30 1722 / 4/ 4 1723 /9 /20 1726/7/10 1729/3/2 1731/7/12 1733/8/14 1736/3/25 1732/ 9/15 1700/10/25
1728/3/17 1730 1732/12/26 1701 1687 1692 1711 1722/8/6 1724/3/20 1726/9/3 1729 1731/11/8 1733/12/30 1736/6/18 1733 1701
1728 1730 1733 1701 1687 1692 1711 1722 1724 /5/26 1727/4/7 1729 1732 1734 1736 1733 1701
1735/11/8 1738/12/25 1702/8/1 1704 1706 1691/4/19 1709/4/8 1714 1715 1716 1718/8/13 1727 1730/1/28 1732/12/14
1735/12/27 1739/2/14 1702/10/8 1705/ 1/ 5 1706/10/16 1691/10/8 1709/6/3 1714 1715/12/15 1717 1718/12/17 1727 1730/4/27 1733/1/30
1736 1739/5/30 1703 1705/2/15 1707 1691 1709 1714 1716 1717 1719 1727 1730/7/13 1733/5/10
1736 1739 1703 1705 1707 1692 1710/11/24 1715 1716 1717
521 522 523 701 524 525 526 526 501 527 528 529 530 521 531 536 532
Y
C
1728 1730/9/18 1733
533 534 535 523 538 539 537 540
C
503 541 542
W
545 703 546
R
Appendix 1 (cont) Slave-ship data in the WIC trade, 1675-1738 Ships Brandenburgl Brigdamme Carolus Secundus Carolus Secundus Casteel Curasao ~ Casteel Elmina ~ Casteel Elmina^ Casteel Souburg^ Catharina Catharina Christina Catharina Christina Christina Christina Christinal Churf. Brandenburg Churf. Brandenburg Clara Comps. Welvaren ^ Coning David Coning Portugal Coningin Hester Coningin Hester Coningin Hester Cormantyn Cormantyn Cornelia Croonvogel Croonvogel Croonvogel Croonvogel Croonvogel
P or t s Hoi. Af. Am. Z Z
SC A GC SC AM GS Z GC WG GC WG AM SC NK GC AM SC SC GC AM A SC
z
AM WG
SC A
AM AM SL Z
SC SC A SC A SC
AM
M AM SL Z
SC SC A SC
GE S
c c c c c
GE S C S S S S S
c c c c c s c s c c c c s s
SP
In
slave
.456 .594 .425 .490 220 .171 .1% .188 570 .540 .509 .513 .548 525 .500 .541 525 .89 .600 .536 .500 525 .625 .539 .539 230 550 550 550 .570 .566
s Died Land .131 .80 .254 .32 20 .13 . 13 . 0 76 .33 100 .27 .127 75 .131 41 75 .23 90 .108 .22 75 .126 .36 79 30 65 75 65 .41 .71
.325 .514 .171 .458 200 .158 .183 .188 .494 .507 409 .486 .421 450 .369 500 450 .66 510 .428 .478 450 .499 .503 460 200 485 475 .485 .529 .495
Left Holland 1699/2/2 1695/8/14 1707/8/8 1710 1676 1704 1708 1699 1697/12/17 1706 1708/4/30 1703/5/10 1705 1684/12/13 1685 1686 1693 1719 1682 1707 1684 1691/11/9 1713 1688/1/30 1686 1675 1691 1694/6/27 1695/12/19 1697/11/17 1700
Left Africa 1699/7/21 1696 1707/11/30 1710/10/5 1676/7/27 1704/10/12 1708/9/19 1700 1698 1706/12/31 1709/9/6 1703 1705/10/25 1685 1685 1687 1693/11/5 1719 1683 1707/7/24 1685 1692 1714 1689 1686/12/8 1676/1/14 1692 1695 1696 1698 1700
Arrival America
Left America
1699/11/ 4 1696/ 3/29 1708/2/15 1710/12/7 1676 1704/12/12 1708/11/18 1700/10/15 1698 1707/3/11 1709/12/30 1704/ 1/13 1705/12/29 1685 1685/11/15 1687/ 6/23 1694 1720/ 2/18 1683 1707/10/31 1685/ 3/16 1693 1714/ 9/17 1689/ 4/20 1687 1676 1692/ 6/ 5 1695 1696/11/23 1699 1700/ 9/28
1700 1696/7/3 1708 1711 1677 1705 1709 1700/12/6 1699 1707 1710/3/22 1704/4/4 1706/3/28 1686 1685/12/24 1687 1694 1720 1683/7/20 1708 1685/4/18 1693 1775 1690/3/9 1687 1676/6/27 1692 1695 1697/4/8 1699/9/16 1700
Return Holland 1700 1708 1711 1677 1705 1709 1701 1699 1707 1710 1704 1706 1686 1686 1687 1694 1720 1683 1708 1685 1693 1775 1690 1687 1676/8/20 1693 1695 1697 1699 1701
Captain Sp. 1 2 Ship 543 544 547 548 549 679 551 552 550 514 553 554 553 532
C
F
703 692 557 556 558 560 704 705 514 629 633 FL 629 563 556 561 591
Debora Amerantia Delft Delft Delft Delft Delft2 Delft2 Dolphijn + Dolphyn Duynbeek Duynenburg Duynenburg Duynenburg Duynenburg Duynvliet Duynvliet Duynvliet Duynvliet Duynvliet Duynvliet Duynvliet Duynvliet Duynvliet Eendragt Eendragt Eendragt Eendragt Elmina ^ Emmenes Emmenes Emmenes
NK M M M M M M
Z Z Z Z Z Z Z Z Z AM NK
A
s
A A GC SC
c
SC A A A SC A GC
GC SC GG GC
Z Z
WG AM Z SL
A GC SC SC SC
s s
SE C SE C C
GE SE GE M GB S GB GB C C C C S
c c s
700 300 300 .286 300 .618 .571 450 525 525 525 .542 .473
85 50 50 .61 50 .124 .110 50 75 75 75 .50 .74
.615 250 250 .225 250 .494 .461 400 450 450 450 .492 .399
325 .340 200 .385 300 .362 .360 .370 .375 525 550 550 .781 .300 .563 .718 .335
51 .27 79 .168 45 .32 .10 .30 50 75 100 100 .15 .23 .104 .270 . 11
.274 .313 .121 .217 255 .330 .350 .340 325 450 450 450 .766 .277 .459 .448 .324
1692/7/27 1721/1/15 1723/4/15 1726/1/13 1728/12/28 1733 1735 1700 1677 1722/3/3 1700 1702/3/14 1704 1707 1720/11/1 1722/5/15 1724/3/15 1725 1728/9/30 1731 1733 1734 1736 1675 1684 1687 1691/1/3 1722 1714 1717 1719
1693 1722 1724 1726 1729 1733/11/8 1736/7/13 1701 1678/3/12 1722 1701 1703 1705/8/26
1693/ 4/15 1722 1724 1726/12/31 1729 1734/ 1/ 1 1736/10/9 1701/ 8/15 1678 1723 1701 1703/ 3/ 7 1705/11/17
1693/8/2 1722 1724 1727 1730 1734/4/29 1737/1/15 1701 1678 1723 1701 1703 1706
1693 1722 1724 1727/8/25 1730 1734 1737 1701 1678/9/1
514
1701 1703 1706
509 509 509
1721 1723/5/1 1724 1726/3/24 1729 1732/1/26 1733/9/21 1735/8/14 1737/6/30 1675/10/26 1685 1687 1691 1723 1715/3/9 1717/11/23 1719
1721/10/17 1723/5/24 1724/12/23 1726/5/25 1729 1732/3/19 1733/12/13 1735 1736 1676 1685/ 4/13 1688 1691/ 8/27 1723/ 7/15 1715/6/10 1718/3/27 1720/ 1/ 1
1722 1723/7/22 1725 1726 1730 1732 1734/4/15 1736 1737 1676/5/20 1685 1688/7/19 1692/4/3 1723/8/11 1715 1718 1720/3/28
1722 1723 1725 1727 1730 1732 1734 X 1736 1737 1676/7/02 1685 1688 1692 1723 1716 1718 1720
564 564 565 565 701
w
566 567 617 568
516 569 570 648 506 571 572 540
w
Appendix 1 (cont) Slave-ship data in the WIC trade, 1675-1738 Ships Emmenes Emmenes Emmenes Engelenburg ^ Europa Europa Europa Europa Eva Maria Eva Maria Eva Maria Eva Susanna^ Faam Fida~ Fortuyn Fortuyn Geertruyd Galey Geertruyd Galey Geertruyt Gelderland ~ Gele Ruyter Gele Ruyter Gele Ruyter Gideon Gideon Gideon Gideon Goud Brackhont ^ Goude Leeuw Goude Leeuw Goude Poort
P ort s Hoi. Af. Am. SL SL SL WG M
SC SC GC GC
Z Z
SC A
NK NK WG Z WG Z Z M M AM WG NK NK
A A GC SC GC A
BB GC SC A
M M M
SC A SC
SL SL Z
SC SC
S S S C C C C S
s c s
SP
c
GE
s c s c c c s
GE C
s
In
slave
s Died Land
.208 .176 .657 .153 525 600 .471 .500 525 560 .644 .217 .505 .257 275
.20 .18 .76 .17 75 90 . 7 .26 65 72 .44 .31 .66 . 15 58
.188 .158 .581 .136 450 510 .464 .474 460 .488 .600 .186 .439 .242 .217
525 525 .373 .146 525 590 525 .650 .482 600 600 .248 550 550 500
75 75 .84 . 5 75 36 125 150 72 100 72 .20 75 150 54
450 450 .289 .141 450 .554 400 500 410 500 .528 .228 475 400 .446
Left Holland 1720/11/1 1723/1/8 1725/1/19 1716 1677/5/3 1680 1687 1689/3/26 1693/4/7 1697/12/16 1700 1725 1700 1715 1701 1703 1721/8/15 1724/10/15 1684/5/6 1715 1684 1686 1690/11/15 1680 1688 1697/5/1 1698/11/28 1696 1683 1688 1696/7/15
Left America
Return Holland
1721/12/5 1723/12/15 1725/10/15 1725 1716/12/10 1716/9/3 1678 1678 1682 1681 1687/10/30 1688/2/21 1689/11/21 1689 1694 1694 1698 1698 1701 1701/ 11 8 1725/12/22 1726/2/23 1700/12/8 1701/3/28 1715/12/14 1716/2/9 1702 1702/ 5/22
1722/3/16 1724/3/15 1726/2/6 1717 1678 1682/4/28 1688 1690/6/21 1694 1699 1701 1726 1701 1716 1702
1722 1724/6/06 1726/5/13 1717 1679 1682 1688 1690 1694 1699 1702 1726 1701 1716 1702
1722 1725 1684/12/5 1716/4/12 1685 1686 1691 1681 1688/8/14 1688 1699 1697 1684 1688 1697
1723 1725 1685 1716 1685 1687 1692 1682/3/2 1689 1698 1700/7/15 1697 1685 1689 1697
1723 1726 1685 1717 1686 1687 1693 1682/5/13 1689 1689 1701 1698 1685 1689/6/15 1698
Left Africa
Arrival America
1721
r~3
Captain Sp. 1 2 Ship 573 575 576 577 514 578 547 580 580 581 582 583 585 W
1722 1725 1685/2/ 5 1716/6/7 1685 1686/11/16 1692 1682 1688 1688 1700/ 4/24 1697/ 6/16 1684 1689 1697/ 7/20
586 587
F
FL FL 588 632 FL FL 590 633 591
Goude Poortl Goude Put Goude Put Goude Put Goude Put Goude Put Goude Put Goude Putl Goude TVger Goude TVger Goude Winthont Goude Winthont Graaf v Laarwijck Griffioen Groot Bentveld Groot Bentveld Groote Apollo Groote Tyger Grote Africaan Grote Africaan Grote Africaan Guntersteyn Guntersteyn Guntersteyn Guntersteyn Guntersteyn Helena ~ Helena ~ Helena ~ Henricus Hollandia
Z Z
z z z z z z z z
A A GC GC SC SC GC SC A
S SE S S S
s s s s
AM AM Z AM AM AM AM AM AM NK M M M WG WG AM
SC A SC GC SC SC
SC SC A SC SC A GC GC GC SC
SP SE C C S C
c s s s s
SE C S
s c
300 .390 .610 .550 .475 .550 .629 500 .906 600 525 525 .488 450 600 .767 .448 .452 525 525 525 .541 600 .538 .5% .644 .250 .250 .200 525 .533
40 .26 .68 .19 .37 .29 . 17 154 .176 75 75 75 .113 70 100 .95 68 .57 75 75 75 .111 171 .108 .146 .46 40 .54 .20 75 73
260 .364 .542 .531 .438 .521 .612 .346 .730 525 450 450 .375 380 500 .672 380 .395 450 450 450 .430 .429 .430 .450 .598 210 .196 .180 450 460
1674/9/15 1724/9/3 1726/8/31 1728/9/9 1731 1733 1735 1697/12/27 1684 1686 1689/12/17 1691/1/3 1699 1674/8/13 1725/5/17 1728/1/22 1698 1705/3/19 1680 1682 1684/12/18 1714 1716 1717 1719 1722/6/13 1727 1728 1734 1681 1686
1675 1725 1727/ 2/26 1729/11/17 1731/12/25 1734 1736/8/25 1698 1685/7/24 1687 1690 1691 1700/4/30 1675 1726 1728/6/19 1699/5/21 1705/8/26 1681 1683 1685 1714/10/9 1716 1718/8/5 1720/8/15 1723 1728/1/31 1729 1735/6/16 1682 1687/4/3
1675 1725/ 6/28 1727/3/21 1730/1/14 1732/3/5 1735/ 2/17 1736/10/31 1699/1/15 1685/11/15 1687 1690 1692 1700 1675 1726 1728/8/25 1699 1705/12/29 1681 1683 1685 1714/12/19 1716/12/16 1718/12/15 1720/11/24 1723/ 6/11 1728 1729/ 5/29 1735/8/11 1682/ 3/ 8 1687
1675 1726/1/16 1727/6/26 1730/4/25 1732/6/3 1735/5/16 1737/2/23 1699/9/16 1686/1/10 1687 1690 1692 1700/9/17 1675 1727 1729 1699 1706/3/28 1682 1683/12/24 1686 1715/4/9 1717 1719/2/17 1721/3/1 1723/7/22 1728 1729 1735/11/22 1682 1687
1675 1726/2/22 1727/ 9/05 1730 1732 1735 1737 1699 1686 1688 1690 1692 1701 1676 1727/7/11 1700 1706 1682 1684 1686 1715 1717 1719 1721 1723/9/24 1728 1730 1736 1682 1688
502 502 502 502 502 546 592 693 589 514 504 530 508 532
540 595 596 597 597 598 599 600 534
w
Appendix 1 (cont) Slave-ship data in the WIC trade, 1675-1738 Ships Honaert Huys Nassau Huys te Loirheim Huys ter Laan Jaager ^ Jager + Joanna Maria Johanna Magtelt Johannes de Doper Jonge Alexander Jonge Alexander Jonge Alexander Jonge Daniel Jonge Daniel Jonge Daniel Jonge Daniel Jonge Daniel Jonge Daniel Jonge Jagher ~ Jonge Willem Justitia Justitia Koninck Salomon Koninck Salomon Korte Prins + Leusden Leusden Leusden LeusdeN Leusden Leusden
P o r ts Hoi. Af. Am. AM AM WG ZL
SC SC BB GC SC
A A AM A M M M
C C S C C SE C C
s GB
Z Z NK Z Z Z M ZL AM AM AM AM AM
SC GC GC GC A SC A SC A A GC SC GC GC GM
GE S S GB C S S S
c s
SE SE SE M SE S
s
In
s lave
.584 .525 .485 500 .136 .400 .550 650 .952 300 300 300 430 450 .375 .461 .469 .500 .177 .594 .740 .673 550 .508 400 525 .562 .605 .747 .748 .708
s Died Land . 7 125 .182 50 . 12 .50 80 55 .99 50 50 50 60 50 .69 .61 .58 .84 .15 .138 .161 .177 75 .53 60 75 .101 .70 .76 .66 .72
.577 400 .303 450 .124 .350 470 .595 .853 250 250 250 370 400 .306 .400 .411 .416 .162 .456 .579 .496 475 .455 340 450 .461 .535 .671 .682 .636
Left Holland 1711 1679 1686/1/4 1675/1/8 1699 1718 1686 1711 1696/5/15 1722/4/15 1725/9/15 1727/3/15 1725 1728 1731 1733 1735 1738 1687 1737 1706 1707/12/13 1683 1686/1/5 1718 1720/6/6 1721/12/21 1723/10/20 1725/8/5 1727/11/30 1729/3/21
Left Africa 1711 1680/3/14 1686/7/10 1675/10/26 1699/9/23 1718 1687 1711 1697 1723 1726 1728 1726 1729 1731/8/1 1734/2/12 1735/12/24 1738 1688 1737 1706/12/24 1708/6/16 1684 1686/6/16 1719 1721 1722/5/20 1724/3/12 1725/11/1 1727/8/22 1729/8/30
Arrival America
Left America
Return Holland
1711/12/ 7 1680/5/5 1686/9/16 1676/1/13 1699 1719/ 4/15 1687/ 5/23 1711/12/27 1697/ 2/22 1723 1726 1728 1726/ 4/26 1729 1731/10/14 1734/5/15 1736/4/23 1739/ 1/22 1688/ 8/28 1738/ 1/4 1707/2/6 1708/8/10 1684 1686/8/19 1720 1721/3/3 1722/9/19 1724/5/15 1726/1/20 1727/11/1 1729/11/16
1712 1680 1687/1/11 1676/3/18 1700 1719 1687 1712 1697/7/6 1724 1726 1728 1726 1729 1732 1734/7/25 1736/7/4 1739 1688 1738/4/21 1707/5/3 1708/9/18 1684 1686/10/2 1720 1721 1723/1/12 1724/8/16 1726/4/22 1728/2/27 1730/2/25
1712 1680/10/05 1687 1676/4/15 1700 1719 1687 1712 1697 1724 1727 1729 1726 1730 1732 1734 1736 1739 1689 1738 1707
Captain Sp. 1 2 Ship
601 602 FL 706 603 Y 604 L 699 605 606 553 570 G G G P 607 P P 608 P 608 P 608 P 609 611 612 W 612 691 1685 R 1686/12/8 707 691 1720 613 504 1721 1723/3/06 504 1724/10/02 504 1726/6/07 616 1728/5/22 616 1730 618
Leusden AM Leusden SL Leusden SL Leusden SL Levant Margarita Catharina NK WG Maria (Vrouw) ^ Z Mercurius Middelburgh Z Morgenster AM Morgenster AM Moscow (Stad) AM Moscow (Stad) SL Nieuwe Post M Nieuwe Post Nieuwenhoven Z Nieuwenhoven Z Orangieboom NK Petronella Alida Phenix Z Phenix Z Phenix AM Philippus Johannes Z Piershil M Piershil M Poelwijk 1 ~ WG Poelwyk Poelwyk Poelwyk AM Poelwyk Portugaalse Handelaar
A SC SC GC A A GC SC A
s s s s
SC SC SC A
s
SC
s
A A GC SC
A SC
SP
c
GB C C GE C C S
SE SE M S
GE C C S GE C
.629 .715 .687 .716 460 .443 .166 540 525 525 .499 .582 .572 .559 .535 250 250 .488 .525 .771 .590 .783 .510 250 250 200 350 350 .282 210 .525
.76 .52 .408 .700 60 .57 .30 80 50 75 .36 .271 .82 .46 .344 40 40 60 .485 .25 .80 .181 .15 35 25 31 50 50 .30 41 75
.553 .663 .279 . 16 400 .386 .136 460 475 450 .463 .311 .490 .513 .191 210 210 428 .40 .746 .510 .602 .495 215 225 .169 300 300 .252 .169 450
1730 1732 1734 1737 1701/9/2 1700 1733 1680 1693/3/24 1687 1690/5/20 1705/11/16 1709 1715 1717/8/15 1721/8/15 1723/6/15 1682 1721/8/17 1722/10/22 1725/1/19 1727 1706 1723/9/15 1726/8/15 1692 1677/12/21 1680 1682/8/28 1690 1686
1731/6/13 1733/3/25 1735/8/29 1737/11/19 1702 1701 1734/4/15 1681/2/28 1694 1688 1690/12/22 1706/9/16 1710/10/15 1715 1718 1722 1724 1682/12/21 1722 1723 1726 1728/10/15 1707/2/28 1724 1727 1692 1678/11/25 1681 1683/5/15 1690 1687/2/1
1731/8/12 1733/6/17 1735/12/29 1738/1/27 1702 1701/11/20 1734/5/21 1681 1694 1688 1691/3/24 1707/1/15 1710/12/7 1716/ 2/ 9 1719/ 1/21 1722 1724 1683/3/24 1722 1723/12/21 1726/4 2 1729/1/14 1707/5/13 1724 1727 1692/12/31 1679 1681 1683 1691 1687
1731/12/24 1732 1734 1733/9/3 1736 1736 1702 1702 1735 1681 1694 1688/8/5 1691/7/24 1707 1710 1716 1719/4/15 1722 1724
1703 1702 1735 1682 1695 1688 1691/10/05 1707/6/01 1711 1716 1719 1723 1724
1723 1724/6/28 1726/8/3 1729 1707 1725 1727 1693 1679 1682/2/19 1683 1691 1687
1723 1724/10/20 1726/9/25 1729 1708 1725 1727 1693 1679 1682 1683/11/01 1692 1687
R
521 530 675 618 694 619
K W
621 622 602 556 661 U 623 583
K W
625 000 626 626 626 583
Y 627
589
Appendix 1 (cont) Slave-ship data in the WIC trade, 1675-1738 Ships Postillion * Prins Willem Profeet Daniel Profeet Daniel Pynenburg Pynenburg Pynenburg Pynenburg Quinera Quinera Quinera Quinera Quinera Rachel Rachel Rachel Rachel Rachel Rode Leeuw Roomse Keyser Roomse Keyser Roosenburgh + Rotterdam Rotterdam Rotterdam Rusthof Rusthof Rusthof Rusthof Rusthof Salamander
P o r ts Hoi. Af. Am. Z Z
GC A
AM AM
SC A
AM AM SL AM AM AM AM AM ZL AM AM Z M M Z Z Z Z Z AM
GC A SC A GC SC SC SC SC SC A A A SC SC A A A A SC GC
S C SP
c s c
GE GS C C
s c c
M C
s c c s s c
ST C
SE SE SE S S
In
S lave s Died Land
204 510 .600 600 470 400 400 .348 525 .499 618 .547 .530 .512 550 .534 .620 .419 .480 581 550 .390 .450 450 .499 .661 .481 .684 .664 .719 500
29 60 90 90 44 50 37 68 50 .83 50 .179 .66 75 75 .36 90 .88 .56 70 75 60 60 60 69 .103 .22 .74 .120 .345 75
.175 .450 510 510 .426 350 .363 280 475 .416 .568 .368 .464 437 475 .498 530 .331 .424 .511 475 330 390 390 430 .558 .459 .610 .544 .374 425
Left Holland
Left Africa
1688 1675 1685 1687/10/8 1694/8/12 1697/12/15 1702 1704 1697/5/8 1700 1703/7/25 1705 1708 1691/1/3 1693/4/19 1697/5/1 1698 1700/10/5 1688 1691/8/15 1693/7/30 1709/1/7 1675 1682/8/28 1685/9/23 1721/5/15 1724/3/10 1726/4/20 1730/2/15 1732 1674/8/15
1688 1676 1685/10/4 1688 1695 1698 1703 1705/10/4 1698 1701 1704 1706/3/23 1709/2/12 1691/4/19 1694 1697 1699/4/4 1701 1689 1692 1694 1709 1676 1683 1685/12/8 1722 1725 1727 1730 1733/11/21 1675
Arrival America
Left America
Return Holland
1689/ 1/15 1676 1685 1688 1695/ 4/ 7 1699 1703/ 4/26 1705/12/8 1698 1701/ 9/11 1704/ 6/17 1706/5/25 1709/5/12 1691/11/9 1694 1698/1/29 1699 1702/ 1/24 1689/ 4/ 5 1692 1694 1710 1676 1683 1686 1722/11/10 1725/ 4/23 1727/ 4/16 1730/11/20 1734/3/1 1675
1689/5/19 1677 1686 1688 1695/9/22 1699 1703 1706 1699 1701 1704 1706 1709 1692 1694 1698/6/19 1699 1702 1689 1693 1694 1710 1676 1683 1686 1723/4/19 1725/8/15 1727 1731/3/17 1734/6/13 1675
1689 1677 1686 1689 1695 1700 1703 1706 1699 1702 1705 1707 1710 1692 1695 1698 1700 1702 1689 1693 1695 1710 1677/1/06 1684 1686 1723 1725/11/18 1728 1731 1734 1676
Captain Sp. 1 2 Ship 697 628
F F
C
629 532 582 631 632 633 633 539 634 539 635 636 633
F F F F
C
R 556 709
L
708 638
L
639 640 641 695 642 546 643 644 652
Salamander Samaritaan Sara Sara & Maria ~ Sem Galey Sem Galey Sem Galey Seven Gebroeders Son (Vergulde) Son (Vergulde) Son (Vergulde) Son (Vergulde) Sonnesteynl ^ Sonnesteyn2 Sonnesteyn2 Sonnesteyn3 Sonnesteyn3 St. Alida St. Andries St. Andries St. Clara St. Clara St. Clara St. Claral St. Francis Xavier St. Jago~ St. Jan St. Jan St. Jan St. Laurens^ St. Laurens^
SL Z
SC A
S
WG SL SL
SC
Z SL AM SL M WG AM AM AM AM AM M
BB SC SC A SC BB
c s c c c
SC GC
SE
SL SL SL
A SC SC
Z WG AM AM SL SL AM
A SC SC SC A GC GC
S
SC SC
c
SP
s s s c c
SP
s s s s
.485 525 525 .173 400 400 350 200 .369 .513 .694 .559 .103 600 .587 .627 600 600 .563 545 550 .517 .584 525 525 .200 525 .500 500 .162 .171
.66 75 75 23 60 60 150 30 .54 .134 .135 .142 .37 75 ? 0 .70 100 90 .83 68 75 .66 .132 75 75 35 75 . 9 75 . 13 .27
.419 450 450 150 340 340 . 0 170 .315 .379 .559 .417 .66 525 . 0 .557 500 510 .480 .477 475 .451 .452 450 450 165 450 .491 425 .149 .144
1687/7/29 1687/11/29 1687 1687 1722/8/15 1725/1/15 1726/9/15 1674 1701/5/3 1703/1/22 1704 1707 1714 1722/5/15 1724/2/10 1725/11/23 1729/9/4 1685 1715 1717 1707/5/31 1709 1711 1692 1680/10/24 1707 1680 1683 1685/8/15 1733 1735
1688/1/15 1688/7/20 1688 1688/2/10 1723 1725 1727 1675 1701/7/20 1703/8/26 1705 1707/9/2 1715 1723 1724/9/3 1726/3/7 1730 1685/10/3 1716/4/23 1718 1708 1710/8/3 1712/9/2 1693 1681 1708 1681/2/28 1684 1687 1734/4/15 1736/2/14
1688/4/12 1688 1688 1688 1723 1725 1727 1675 1701/12/11 1703/11/6 1705/10/12 1707/12/30 1715/ 9/21 1723 1724 1726/5/9 1730 1685 1716/6/13 1718 1708 1710/10/12 1712/11/26 1693 1681 1708 1681 1684/ 4/ 9 1687 1734/6/8 1736/6/17
1688/8/11 1689 1688 1688 1724 1726
1688 1689
1675 1702 1704 1706 1708 1715 1723
1676 1702 1704 1706 1708 1716 1723
1727/3/1 1731 1686 1716/7/21 1719 1709 1711 1713 1693 1682
1727/5/17 1731 1686 1716 1719 1709 1711 1713 1694 1682
1682 1684 1688 1734/8/8 1736
1682 1684 1688 1734 1737
1688 1724 1726
652 674 560
653 561 556 654 647 655 684 656
657
645 645 692 646 647 665
629 514 617 651
Appendix 1 (cont) Slave-ship data in the WIC trade, 1675-1738 Ships St. Marcus St. Pieter Stad & Lande Stad & Lande Stad & Lande Stad & lande Stad & Lande StadhouderFriesland Steenhuysen Steenhuysen Steenhuysen Steenhuysen Steenhuysen Surin. Koopman s'Graveland Tholen ~ Tholen ~ Vergulde Vryheyt Vergulde Vryhyt + Vigilantie Vliegent Hert + Vlissings Welvaren ~ Vogel Phenix Vogel Phenix Vogel Phenix Vreede Vreede Vriendschap Vrye Zee Vryheyt Vryheyt
P or t s Hoi. Af. Am. AM SL SL NK NK M M M M M AM AM AM Z WG A ZL ZL SL
SC A GC SC SC GM GC GC A GC GM GM GC SC A GS
A A A
A A GM AM NK
SC SC
C S C S
s s
GE SE S
s s s c
SE GE C C SE C ST C C S GS C S C C
c
In
s lave
s Died Land
.585 .28 90 600 .751 .76 .779 .177 .439 .307 .760 .349 .800 .88 .106 .10 .780 .88 .789 .102 .645 .83 .625 .53 .800 .25 550 67 .517 .16 .90 .10 .150 .20 .694 .23 400 50 400 ?200 60 480 .194 . 0 525 75 525 75 300 7150 75 550 .437 . 10 .393 .72 550 75 .521 71 .520 .80
.557 510 .675 .602 .132 .411 .712 .96 .692 .687 .562 .572 .775 .483 .501 .80 .130 .671 350 ?200 .420 .194 450 450 ?150 475 .427 .321 475 450 .440
Left Holland 1713 1679 1726/9/2 1728/9/30 1731 1734 1736 1697 1723/8/20 1725/11/25 1728/4/7 1730 1736/1/3 1679 1724/10/31 1675/4/15 1687 1700 1718 1676 1706 1715 1675 1677 1680 1679 1683 1703 1689/12/17 1680 1682
Left Africa 1713/11/21 1680 1727/5/16 1729/5/27 1732/4/29 1735/2/17 1737 1698 1724 1726 1729/2/12 1731/9/28 1736/12/19 1680 1725 1675/10/28 1688/7/15 1701 1718 1677 1707/1/28 1716 1675/10/25 1677 1681 1680 1684 1704/2/20 1690 1681/3/28 1683/2/8
Arrival America
Left America
Return Holland
1714/1/19 1680 1727/6/28 1729/8/10 1732/8/1 1735/4/19 1737/ 6/24 1698/ 5/ 5 1724/ 9/19 1726/10/ 2 1729/4/4 1731/12/14 1737/2/13 1680/11/17 1725/ 9/28 1676 1688 1701/ 3/9 1719/ 4/15 1677/ 4/22 1707 1716/ 3/13 1676 1677/12/25 1681/10/12 1680/ 4/22 1684/ 8/29 1704/5/9 1690 1681 1683
1714/6/15 1681 1727/8/23 1729 1733/3/9 1735/7/15 1737 1698 1725/3/29 1727/3/28 1729/7/4 1732/4/4 1737 1681 1726/4/22 1676 1688 1701 1719 1677 1707 1716 1676
1714 1681 1727/10/01 1730 1733 1735 1738 1699 1725/5/11 1727/6/02 1729 1732 1737 1681 1726/6/07 1676/6/12 1689 1701 1719 1677 1708 1716 1676 1680/2/06 1682 1680 1685 1705 1691 1682 1683
1682 1680 1685/2/18 1704 1691 1681 1683
Captain Sp. 1 2 Ship 511 FL 575 575 529 522 659 660 658 616 662 688 683 683 534 546 696
K
F F F F F
F F
664 680 RC 665 505 516
578 547 585 697
Vryheyt Vryheyt Vryheyt2 Vryheyt2 Vryheyt2 Vryheyt2 Vryheyt2 Vryheyt2 Vryheyt2 Waartwyk Waartwyk Waartwyk Wakende Craen ~ Wapen v Amsterdam Wapen v Amsterdam Wapen v Holland Wapen v Holland Wapen v Holland Wapen v Zirickzee Wapen v Zirickzee Welvaren West Souburg ~ West Souburg ~ Westindisch Huys Westindisch Huys Winthont Winthont Zondernaaml Zondernaam2
SL AM NK NK AM AM AM AM NK SL WG AM M M M
AM WG WG SL AM Z Z
SC GC GC A
C GB SE S
GC SC GC
S S S
SC GC GC SC
S
SC SC A SC SC SC GC SC SC SC SC
s c c c s c c s
GS GE C SP C S GS SE
525 520 450 .419 450 525 .647 .605 .670 500 .433 .493 .190 525 525 .664 500 .712 .508 525 425 .200 .200 .540 .762 .555 .495 .350 200
75 70 50 .44 70
75 .104 .42 .31 75 .90 .55 .15 75 75 .211 61 .150 .24 75 55 30 .30 .70 .115 .24 .30 130 25
450 450 .400 .375 380 450 .543 .563 .639 425 .343 .438 .175 450 450 .453 .439 .562 .484 450 370 170 .170 .470 .647 .531 .465 220 175
1683 1686 1721/2/15 1723/5/13 1726/6/10 1729/4/8 1731 1733 1735 1726/1/15 1729 1731 1705 1684 1686 1700 1702/4/26 1704 1685 1687 1682 1681 1683 1698 1700 1698 1700/12/16 1694 1697
1684 1687 1721/12/25 1724 1727 1730 1732/6/25 1734/5/30 1736/6/25 1726 1730 1732/9/3 1706/9/9 1685 1687 1701 1702 1705 1686/2/14 1688/10/13 1683 1682/2/8 1684 1698/12/1 1700/12/7 1699/9/23 1701 1695/6/9 1699
1684 1687 1722/1/31 1724/12/30 1727/ 7/21 1730 1732/8/24 1734/8/1 1736/8/14 1726 1730/12/25 1732/11/18 1706/11/30. 1685 1688 1701/6/27 1702/11/29 1705/5/10 1686 1689 1683/1/17 1682 1684 1699 1701/3/9 1699/12/1 1701/9/24 1695 1698/9/16
1685 1687 1722 1725/6/18 1727/9/25 1731 1732/12/26 1734/10/20 1737/11/12 1727 1731 1733/4/24 1707 1686 1688 1701 1703 1705/7/25 1686 1689 1683/6/30 1682 1685 1698 1701 1700 1702/3/14 1695 1698
1685 1688 1722 1725/8/27 1728/1/17 1731 1733 1735 1737 1727 1731 1733 1707 1686 1688/7/19 1702 1703 1706 1687 1689 1683 1683 1685 1699 1701 1700 1702 1696 1698
666 HB 667 668 698 529 R
657 657 617 675 675 670
Y
669 548 548 583 672 C 673 674
681 676 677 678 682 594
U
Appendix 1 Slave-ship data in the WIC trade, 1675-1738 Ships
o 00
Acredam Acredam Acredam Acredam Acredam Acredam Acredam Acredam Acredam2 Adrichem Adrichem Adrichem Adrichem drichem sdrichem Adrichem Africa Africa Africa Africa2 Agatha Agatha Aletta Maria Aletta Maria Alida Amsterdam Amsterdam Amsterdam Amsterdam2 Amsterdam2 Amsterdam2
P or t s Hoi. Af. Am. AM NK SL AM NK AM SL AM Z Z Z Z Z Z
SC SC SC SC SC SC GC A GC SC A SC A SC SC A
NK WG AM WG SL Z AM AM AM AM NK AM WG
A SC GC GC GS
S S S S S S
's
s c s c c s s c c s GE GM S SP
SC SC
s s
A GC GC
s c s
In
slave
s Died Land
.596 .590 .704 .650 .606 .455 .643
.117 .120 .119 .96 .159 .108 .37
.479 .470 .585 .554 .447 .347 .606
580 .613 .713 .611 .717 .540 .719 550 450 450 .372 .195 .166 .184 400 525 330 .522 580 .483 525 .423 .466
100 .150 . 8 .40 .344 . 10 .108 75 50 75 50 15 .15 . 10 60 75 30 . 11 80 .53 70 .95 .178
480 .463 .705 .571 .373 .530 .611 475 400 375 322 180 .151 .174 340 450 .300 .511 500 .430 .455 .328 .288
Left Holland 1712 1715 1716 1718 1720/10/15 1723/1/8 1724/8/14 1726/4/15 1727/2/10 1708 1710 1711 1714/7/14 1716 1718 1720/2/15 1675/5/18 1678/ 2/ 2 1688/ 7/20 1709 1714 1716 1674/ 5/24 1676/ 4/14 1685 1705 1707 1709 1719 1723/9/15 1726/ 1/15
Arrival America
Left America
Return Holland
1713/6/24 1715/9/19 1717/10/7 1719/2/19 1721/4/2 1723 1725/5/10
1713/11/10 1715/12/20 1717/12/30 1719/6/26 1721/6/23 1723/9/19 1725/7/ 2
1714/2/12 1716/4/8 1718 1719/7/18 1721/8/4 1724/11/17 1725/9/11
1714 1716 1718 1719 1721 1724/ 3/02 1725/11/18
1728 1708/8/3 1710 1712/1/23 1715/4/2 1717/2/6 1718/11/16 1720 1675/12/12 1679 1689 1710/4/15 1714/12/20 1717/1/19 1674 1677 1686 1706/6/20 1707/11/16 1710/1/13 1719 1724/6/23 1726/4/27
1728 1708/11/27 1710/9/16 1712/ 5/ 2 1715/ 6/ 7 1717/4/16 1719/ 1/15 1721 1676 1679/12/11 1689/3/ 4 1710 1715/ 4/ 4 1717 1675 1677 1686 1706/8/20 1708/2/20 1710 1719/10/22 1724/9/27 1726/7/10
1729 1708/12/15 1711 1712 1715 1717 1719/5/26 1721 1676/3/18 1680 1689/10/10 1710 1715 1717 1675 1677 1686/6/29 1707 1708/3/23
1729 1709 1711 1712 1716 1717/10/07 1719 1721 1676/4/15 1680 1690
1720/3/28 1725/3/21 1726/9/3
1720 1725 1726
Left Africa
Captain Sp. 1 2 Ship 508 700 507 506 505 503 504 502 501 W 510 511 509 509 512 512 513 514 U
1715/10/13 1718 1675 1677/7/5 1686/10/23 1707 1708
R 596 516 603 517 508 508 518 519 520
C FL F
Amsterdam2 Amsterdam2 Amsterdam2 Annaboa ~ Appolonia Arent Axim^ Beekesteyn Beekesteyn Beekesteyn Beekesteyn Beekesteyn Beekesteyn Beekesteyn Berkendam ~ Beschermer Beschermer Beschutter Beschutter Beurs Amsterdam Beurs Amsterdam Beurs Amsterdam Beurs v Amsterdam Blyswyk Bosbeek Bosbeek Bosbeek Bosbeek Brandenburg Brandenburg Brandenburg
AM AM NK WG Z Z WG AM AM NK NK AM AM WG AM
AM AM AM Z SL Z Z WG Z Z Z Z
GC
s
GG GC BB SC GC A A A SC GC GC SC GC SC A GC GC SC A A SC SC SC
s c s c c
SC SC SC
SE SE
s s s s s c
SP
s s s c c s s
GB GB GE GE S S
.459 450 380 110 345 .515 .139 700 .722 .442 .507 .755 .866 .705 170 .576
. 1 65 50 40 93 70 .56 140 .85 .191 .89 .238 .258 .103 20 . 11
.458 385 330 70 252 445 .83 .560 .637 .251 .418 .517 .608 .602 150 .565
.768 .809 .650 .653 .708 .512 .494 350 200 300 .381 .563 .409 .564
.23 .69 .82 .38 .80 .25 .50 50 78 45 .78 .154 .38 .54
.745 .740 .568 .615 .628 .487 .444 300 .122 255 .303 .409 .371 .510
1727/ 8/15 1728/10/26 1731 1699 1686/1/24 1691/6/3 1710 1721/7/23 1723/1/8 1725/3/19 1728/5/30 1730/4/15 1732 1735 1731 1700 1702 1735/5/30 1738 1702/1/14 1704 1706 1690/9/29 1708 1713 1715 1716 1718 1726/8/15 1729/6/18 1732
1727 1729 1732 1700/6/22 1686 1691/11/24 1710/7/10 1722 1723 1726/5/29 1728/10/30 1731/2/18 1733/6/8 1735/12/15 1732 1700/8/7
1728/1/18 1729 1732/8/16 1700/10/25 1686/12/1 1692/1/10 1710/9/30 1722 / 4/ 4 1723 /9 /20 1726/7/10 1729/3/2 1731/7/12 1733/8/14 1736/3/25 1732/ 9/15 1700/10/25
1728/3/17 1730 1732/12/26 1701 1687 1692 1711 1722/8/6 1724/3/20 1726/9/3 1729 1731/11/8 1733/12/30 1736/6/18 1733 1701
1728 1730 1733 1701 1687 1692 1711 1722 1724 /5/26 1727/4/7 1729 1732 1734 1736 1733 1701
1735/11/8 1738/12/25 1702/8/1 1704 1706 1691/4/19 1709/4/8 1714 1715 1716 1718/8/13 1727 1730/1/28 1732/12/14
1735/12/27 1739/2/14 1702/10/8 1705/ 1/ 5 1706/10/16 1691/10/8 1709/6/3 1714 1715/12/15 1717 1718/12/17 1727 1730/4/27 1733/1/30
1736 1739/5/30 1703 1705/2/15 1707 1691 1709 1714 1716 1717 1719 1727 1730/7/13 1733/5/10
1736 1739 1703 1705 1707 1692 1710/11/24 1715 1716 1717
521 522 523 701 524 525 526 526 501 527 528 529 530 521 531 536 532
Y
C
1728 1730/9/18 1733
533 534 535 523 538 539 537 540
C
503 541 542
W
545 703 546
R
Appendix 1 (cont) Slave-ship data in the WIC trade, 1675-1738 Ships Brandenburgl Brigdamme Carolus Secundus Carolus Secundus Casteel Curasao ~ Casteel Elmina ~ Casteel Elmina^ Casteel Souburg^ Catharina Catharina Christina Catharina Christina Christina Christina Christinal Churf. Brandenburg Churf. Brandenburg Clara Comps. Welvaren ^ Coning David Coning Portugal Coningin Hester Coningin Hester Coningin Hester Cormantyn Cormantyn Cornelia Croonvogel Croonvogel Croonvogel Croonvogel Croonvogel
P or t s Hoi. Af. Am. Z Z
SC A GC SC AM GS Z GC WG GC WG AM SC NK GC AM SC SC GC AM A SC
z
AM WG
SC A
AM AM SL Z
SC SC A SC A SC
AM
M AM SL Z
SC SC A SC
GE S
c c c c c
GE S C S S S S S
c c c c c s c s c c c c s s
SP
In
slave
.456 .594 .425 .490 220 .171 .1% .188 570 .540 .509 .513 .548 525 .500 .541 525 .89 .600 .536 .500 525 .625 .539 .539 230 550 550 550 .570 .566
s Died Land .131 .80 .254 .32 20 .13 . 13 . 0 76 .33 100 .27 .127 75 .131 41 75 .23 90 .108 .22 75 .126 .36 79 30 65 75 65 .41 .71
.325 .514 .171 .458 200 .158 .183 .188 .494 .507 409 .486 .421 450 .369 500 450 .66 510 .428 .478 450 .499 .503 460 200 485 475 .485 .529 .495
Left Holland 1699/2/2 1695/8/14 1707/8/8 1710 1676 1704 1708 1699 1697/12/17 1706 1708/4/30 1703/5/10 1705 1684/12/13 1685 1686 1693 1719 1682 1707 1684 1691/11/9 1713 1688/1/30 1686 1675 1691 1694/6/27 1695/12/19 1697/11/17 1700
Left Africa 1699/7/21 1696 1707/11/30 1710/10/5 1676/7/27 1704/10/12 1708/9/19 1700 1698 1706/12/31 1709/9/6 1703 1705/10/25 1685 1685 1687 1693/11/5 1719 1683 1707/7/24 1685 1692 1714 1689 1686/12/8 1676/1/14 1692 1695 1696 1698 1700
Arrival America
Left America
1699/11/ 4 1696/ 3/29 1708/2/15 1710/12/7 1676 1704/12/12 1708/11/18 1700/10/15 1698 1707/3/11 1709/12/30 1704/ 1/13 1705/12/29 1685 1685/11/15 1687/ 6/23 1694 1720/ 2/18 1683 1707/10/31 1685/ 3/16 1693 1714/ 9/17 1689/ 4/20 1687 1676 1692/ 6/ 5 1695 1696/11/23 1699 1700/ 9/28
1700 1696/7/3 1708 1711 1677 1705 1709 1700/12/6 1699 1707 1710/3/22 1704/4/4 1706/3/28 1686 1685/12/24 1687 1694 1720 1683/7/20 1708 1685/4/18 1693 1775 1690/3/9 1687 1676/6/27 1692 1695 1697/4/8 1699/9/16 1700
Return Holland 1700 1708 1711 1677 1705 1709 1701 1699 1707 1710 1704 1706 1686 1686 1687 1694 1720 1683 1708 1685 1693 1775 1690 1687 1676/8/20 1693 1695 1697 1699 1701
Captain Sp. 1 2 Ship 543 544 547 548 549 679 551 552 550 514 553 554 553 532
C
F
703 692 557 556 558 560 704 705 514 629 633 FL 629 563 556 561 591
Debora Amerantia Delft Delft Delft Delft Delft2 Delft2 Dolphijn + Dolphyn Duynbeek Duynenburg Duynenburg Duynenburg Duynenburg Duynvliet Duynvliet Duynvliet Duynvliet Duynvliet Duynvliet Duynvliet Duynvliet Duynvliet Eendragt Eendragt Eendragt Eendragt Elmina ^ Emmenes Emmenes Emmenes
NK M M M M M M
Z Z Z Z Z Z Z Z Z AM NK
A
s
A A GC SC
c
SC A A A SC A GC
GC SC GG GC
Z Z
WG AM Z SL
A GC SC SC SC
s s
SE C SE C C
GE SE GE M GB S GB GB C C C C S
c c s
700 300 300 .286 300 .618 .571 450 525 525 525 .542 .473
85 50 50 .61 50 .124 .110 50 75 75 75 .50 .74
.615 250 250 .225 250 .494 .461 400 450 450 450 .492 .399
325 .340 200 .385 300 .362 .360 .370 .375 525 550 550 .781 .300 .563 .718 .335
51 .27 79 .168 45 .32 .10 .30 50 75 100 100 .15 .23 .104 .270 . 11
.274 .313 .121 .217 255 .330 .350 .340 325 450 450 450 .766 .277 .459 .448 .324
1692/7/27 1721/1/15 1723/4/15 1726/1/13 1728/12/28 1733 1735 1700 1677 1722/3/3 1700 1702/3/14 1704 1707 1720/11/1 1722/5/15 1724/3/15 1725 1728/9/30 1731 1733 1734 1736 1675 1684 1687 1691/1/3 1722 1714 1717 1719
1693 1722 1724 1726 1729 1733/11/8 1736/7/13 1701 1678/3/12 1722 1701 1703 1705/8/26
1693/ 4/15 1722 1724 1726/12/31 1729 1734/ 1/ 1 1736/10/9 1701/ 8/15 1678 1723 1701 1703/ 3/ 7 1705/11/17
1693/8/2 1722 1724 1727 1730 1734/4/29 1737/1/15 1701 1678 1723 1701 1703 1706
1693 1722 1724 1727/8/25 1730 1734 1737 1701 1678/9/1
514
1701 1703 1706
509 509 509
1721 1723/5/1 1724 1726/3/24 1729 1732/1/26 1733/9/21 1735/8/14 1737/6/30 1675/10/26 1685 1687 1691 1723 1715/3/9 1717/11/23 1719
1721/10/17 1723/5/24 1724/12/23 1726/5/25 1729 1732/3/19 1733/12/13 1735 1736 1676 1685/ 4/13 1688 1691/ 8/27 1723/ 7/15 1715/6/10 1718/3/27 1720/ 1/ 1
1722 1723/7/22 1725 1726 1730 1732 1734/4/15 1736 1737 1676/5/20 1685 1688/7/19 1692/4/3 1723/8/11 1715 1718 1720/3/28
1722 1723 1725 1727 1730 1732 1734 X 1736 1737 1676/7/02 1685 1688 1692 1723 1716 1718 1720
564 564 565 565 701
w
566 567 617 568
516 569 570 648 506 571 572 540
w
Appendix 1 (cont) Slave-ship data in the WIC trade, 1675-1738 Ships Emmenes Emmenes Emmenes Engelenburg ^ Europa Europa Europa Europa Eva Maria Eva Maria Eva Maria Eva Susanna^ Faam Fida~ Fortuyn Fortuyn Geertruyd Galey Geertruyd Galey Geertruyt Gelderland ~ Gele Ruyter Gele Ruyter Gele Ruyter Gideon Gideon Gideon Gideon Goud Brackhont ^ Goude Leeuw Goude Leeuw Goude Poort
P ort s Hoi. Af. Am. SL SL SL WG M
SC SC GC GC
Z Z
SC A
NK NK WG Z WG Z Z M M AM WG NK NK
A A GC SC GC A
BB GC SC A
M M M
SC A SC
SL SL Z
SC SC
S S S C C C C S
s c s
SP
c
GE
s c s c c c s
GE C
s
In
slave
s Died Land
.208 .176 .657 .153 525 600 .471 .500 525 560 .644 .217 .505 .257 275
.20 .18 .76 .17 75 90 . 7 .26 65 72 .44 .31 .66 . 15 58
.188 .158 .581 .136 450 510 .464 .474 460 .488 .600 .186 .439 .242 .217
525 525 .373 .146 525 590 525 .650 .482 600 600 .248 550 550 500
75 75 .84 . 5 75 36 125 150 72 100 72 .20 75 150 54
450 450 .289 .141 450 .554 400 500 410 500 .528 .228 475 400 .446
Left Holland 1720/11/1 1723/1/8 1725/1/19 1716 1677/5/3 1680 1687 1689/3/26 1693/4/7 1697/12/16 1700 1725 1700 1715 1701 1703 1721/8/15 1724/10/15 1684/5/6 1715 1684 1686 1690/11/15 1680 1688 1697/5/1 1698/11/28 1696 1683 1688 1696/7/15
Left America
Return Holland
1721/12/5 1723/12/15 1725/10/15 1725 1716/12/10 1716/9/3 1678 1678 1682 1681 1687/10/30 1688/2/21 1689/11/21 1689 1694 1694 1698 1698 1701 1701/ 11 8 1725/12/22 1726/2/23 1700/12/8 1701/3/28 1715/12/14 1716/2/9 1702 1702/ 5/22
1722/3/16 1724/3/15 1726/2/6 1717 1678 1682/4/28 1688 1690/6/21 1694 1699 1701 1726 1701 1716 1702
1722 1724/6/06 1726/5/13 1717 1679 1682 1688 1690 1694 1699 1702 1726 1701 1716 1702
1722 1725 1684/12/5 1716/4/12 1685 1686 1691 1681 1688/8/14 1688 1699 1697 1684 1688 1697
1723 1725 1685 1716 1685 1687 1692 1682/3/2 1689 1698 1700/7/15 1697 1685 1689 1697
1723 1726 1685 1717 1686 1687 1693 1682/5/13 1689 1689 1701 1698 1685 1689/6/15 1698
Left Africa
Arrival America
1721
r~3
Captain Sp. 1 2 Ship 573 575 576 577 514 578 547 580 580 581 582 583 585 W
1722 1725 1685/2/ 5 1716/6/7 1685 1686/11/16 1692 1682 1688 1688 1700/ 4/24 1697/ 6/16 1684 1689 1697/ 7/20
586 587
F
FL FL 588 632 FL FL 590 633 591
Goude Poortl Goude Put Goude Put Goude Put Goude Put Goude Put Goude Put Goude Putl Goude TVger Goude TVger Goude Winthont Goude Winthont Graaf v Laarwijck Griffioen Groot Bentveld Groot Bentveld Groote Apollo Groote Tyger Grote Africaan Grote Africaan Grote Africaan Guntersteyn Guntersteyn Guntersteyn Guntersteyn Guntersteyn Helena ~ Helena ~ Helena ~ Henricus Hollandia
Z Z
z z z z z z z z
A A GC GC SC SC GC SC A
S SE S S S
s s s s
AM AM Z AM AM AM AM AM AM NK M M M WG WG AM
SC A SC GC SC SC
SC SC A SC SC A GC GC GC SC
SP SE C C S C
c s s s s
SE C S
s c
300 .390 .610 .550 .475 .550 .629 500 .906 600 525 525 .488 450 600 .767 .448 .452 525 525 525 .541 600 .538 .5% .644 .250 .250 .200 525 .533
40 .26 .68 .19 .37 .29 . 17 154 .176 75 75 75 .113 70 100 .95 68 .57 75 75 75 .111 171 .108 .146 .46 40 .54 .20 75 73
260 .364 .542 .531 .438 .521 .612 .346 .730 525 450 450 .375 380 500 .672 380 .395 450 450 450 .430 .429 .430 .450 .598 210 .196 .180 450 460
1674/9/15 1724/9/3 1726/8/31 1728/9/9 1731 1733 1735 1697/12/27 1684 1686 1689/12/17 1691/1/3 1699 1674/8/13 1725/5/17 1728/1/22 1698 1705/3/19 1680 1682 1684/12/18 1714 1716 1717 1719 1722/6/13 1727 1728 1734 1681 1686
1675 1725 1727/ 2/26 1729/11/17 1731/12/25 1734 1736/8/25 1698 1685/7/24 1687 1690 1691 1700/4/30 1675 1726 1728/6/19 1699/5/21 1705/8/26 1681 1683 1685 1714/10/9 1716 1718/8/5 1720/8/15 1723 1728/1/31 1729 1735/6/16 1682 1687/4/3
1675 1725/ 6/28 1727/3/21 1730/1/14 1732/3/5 1735/ 2/17 1736/10/31 1699/1/15 1685/11/15 1687 1690 1692 1700 1675 1726 1728/8/25 1699 1705/12/29 1681 1683 1685 1714/12/19 1716/12/16 1718/12/15 1720/11/24 1723/ 6/11 1728 1729/ 5/29 1735/8/11 1682/ 3/ 8 1687
1675 1726/1/16 1727/6/26 1730/4/25 1732/6/3 1735/5/16 1737/2/23 1699/9/16 1686/1/10 1687 1690 1692 1700/9/17 1675 1727 1729 1699 1706/3/28 1682 1683/12/24 1686 1715/4/9 1717 1719/2/17 1721/3/1 1723/7/22 1728 1729 1735/11/22 1682 1687
1675 1726/2/22 1727/ 9/05 1730 1732 1735 1737 1699 1686 1688 1690 1692 1701 1676 1727/7/11 1700 1706 1682 1684 1686 1715 1717 1719 1721 1723/9/24 1728 1730 1736 1682 1688
502 502 502 502 502 546 592 693 589 514 504 530 508 532
540 595 596 597 597 598 599 600 534
w
Appendix 1 (cont) Slave-ship data in the WIC trade, 1675-1738 Ships Honaert Huys Nassau Huys te Loirheim Huys ter Laan Jaager ^ Jager + Joanna Maria Johanna Magtelt Johannes de Doper Jonge Alexander Jonge Alexander Jonge Alexander Jonge Daniel Jonge Daniel Jonge Daniel Jonge Daniel Jonge Daniel Jonge Daniel Jonge Jagher ~ Jonge Willem Justitia Justitia Koninck Salomon Koninck Salomon Korte Prins + Leusden Leusden Leusden LeusdeN Leusden Leusden
P o r ts Hoi. Af. Am. AM AM WG ZL
SC SC BB GC SC
A A AM A M M M
C C S C C SE C C
s GB
Z Z NK Z Z Z M ZL AM AM AM AM AM
SC GC GC GC A SC A SC A A GC SC GC GC GM
GE S S GB C S S S
c s
SE SE SE M SE S
s
In
s lave
.584 .525 .485 500 .136 .400 .550 650 .952 300 300 300 430 450 .375 .461 .469 .500 .177 .594 .740 .673 550 .508 400 525 .562 .605 .747 .748 .708
s Died Land . 7 125 .182 50 . 12 .50 80 55 .99 50 50 50 60 50 .69 .61 .58 .84 .15 .138 .161 .177 75 .53 60 75 .101 .70 .76 .66 .72
.577 400 .303 450 .124 .350 470 .595 .853 250 250 250 370 400 .306 .400 .411 .416 .162 .456 .579 .496 475 .455 340 450 .461 .535 .671 .682 .636
Left Holland 1711 1679 1686/1/4 1675/1/8 1699 1718 1686 1711 1696/5/15 1722/4/15 1725/9/15 1727/3/15 1725 1728 1731 1733 1735 1738 1687 1737 1706 1707/12/13 1683 1686/1/5 1718 1720/6/6 1721/12/21 1723/10/20 1725/8/5 1727/11/30 1729/3/21
Left Africa 1711 1680/3/14 1686/7/10 1675/10/26 1699/9/23 1718 1687 1711 1697 1723 1726 1728 1726 1729 1731/8/1 1734/2/12 1735/12/24 1738 1688 1737 1706/12/24 1708/6/16 1684 1686/6/16 1719 1721 1722/5/20 1724/3/12 1725/11/1 1727/8/22 1729/8/30
Arrival America
Left America
Return Holland
1711/12/ 7 1680/5/5 1686/9/16 1676/1/13 1699 1719/ 4/15 1687/ 5/23 1711/12/27 1697/ 2/22 1723 1726 1728 1726/ 4/26 1729 1731/10/14 1734/5/15 1736/4/23 1739/ 1/22 1688/ 8/28 1738/ 1/4 1707/2/6 1708/8/10 1684 1686/8/19 1720 1721/3/3 1722/9/19 1724/5/15 1726/1/20 1727/11/1 1729/11/16
1712 1680 1687/1/11 1676/3/18 1700 1719 1687 1712 1697/7/6 1724 1726 1728 1726 1729 1732 1734/7/25 1736/7/4 1739 1688 1738/4/21 1707/5/3 1708/9/18 1684 1686/10/2 1720 1721 1723/1/12 1724/8/16 1726/4/22 1728/2/27 1730/2/25
1712 1680/10/05 1687 1676/4/15 1700 1719 1687 1712 1697 1724 1727 1729 1726 1730 1732 1734 1736 1739 1689 1738 1707
Captain Sp. 1 2 Ship
601 602 FL 706 603 Y 604 L 699 605 606 553 570 G G G P 607 P P 608 P 608 P 608 P 609 611 612 W 612 691 1685 R 1686/12/8 707 691 1720 613 504 1721 1723/3/06 504 1724/10/02 504 1726/6/07 616 1728/5/22 616 1730 618
Leusden AM Leusden SL Leusden SL Leusden SL Levant Margarita Catharina NK WG Maria (Vrouw) ^ Z Mercurius Middelburgh Z Morgenster AM Morgenster AM Moscow (Stad) AM Moscow (Stad) SL Nieuwe Post M Nieuwe Post Nieuwenhoven Z Nieuwenhoven Z Orangieboom NK Petronella Alida Phenix Z Phenix Z Phenix AM Philippus Johannes Z Piershil M Piershil M Poelwijk 1 ~ WG Poelwyk Poelwyk Poelwyk AM Poelwyk Portugaalse Handelaar
A SC SC GC A A GC SC A
s s s s
SC SC SC A
s
SC
s
A A GC SC
A SC
SP
c
GB C C GE C C S
SE SE M S
GE C C S GE C
.629 .715 .687 .716 460 .443 .166 540 525 525 .499 .582 .572 .559 .535 250 250 .488 .525 .771 .590 .783 .510 250 250 200 350 350 .282 210 .525
.76 .52 .408 .700 60 .57 .30 80 50 75 .36 .271 .82 .46 .344 40 40 60 .485 .25 .80 .181 .15 35 25 31 50 50 .30 41 75
.553 .663 .279 . 16 400 .386 .136 460 475 450 .463 .311 .490 .513 .191 210 210 428 .40 .746 .510 .602 .495 215 225 .169 300 300 .252 .169 450
1730 1732 1734 1737 1701/9/2 1700 1733 1680 1693/3/24 1687 1690/5/20 1705/11/16 1709 1715 1717/8/15 1721/8/15 1723/6/15 1682 1721/8/17 1722/10/22 1725/1/19 1727 1706 1723/9/15 1726/8/15 1692 1677/12/21 1680 1682/8/28 1690 1686
1731/6/13 1733/3/25 1735/8/29 1737/11/19 1702 1701 1734/4/15 1681/2/28 1694 1688 1690/12/22 1706/9/16 1710/10/15 1715 1718 1722 1724 1682/12/21 1722 1723 1726 1728/10/15 1707/2/28 1724 1727 1692 1678/11/25 1681 1683/5/15 1690 1687/2/1
1731/8/12 1733/6/17 1735/12/29 1738/1/27 1702 1701/11/20 1734/5/21 1681 1694 1688 1691/3/24 1707/1/15 1710/12/7 1716/ 2/ 9 1719/ 1/21 1722 1724 1683/3/24 1722 1723/12/21 1726/4 2 1729/1/14 1707/5/13 1724 1727 1692/12/31 1679 1681 1683 1691 1687
1731/12/24 1732 1734 1733/9/3 1736 1736 1702 1702 1735 1681 1694 1688/8/5 1691/7/24 1707 1710 1716 1719/4/15 1722 1724
1703 1702 1735 1682 1695 1688 1691/10/05 1707/6/01 1711 1716 1719 1723 1724
1723 1724/6/28 1726/8/3 1729 1707 1725 1727 1693 1679 1682/2/19 1683 1691 1687
1723 1724/10/20 1726/9/25 1729 1708 1725 1727 1693 1679 1682 1683/11/01 1692 1687
R
521 530 675 618 694 619
K W
621 622 602 556 661 U 623 583
K W
625 000 626 626 626 583
Y 627
589
Appendix 1 (cont) Slave-ship data in the WIC trade, 1675-1738 Ships Postillion * Prins Willem Profeet Daniel Profeet Daniel Pynenburg Pynenburg Pynenburg Pynenburg Quinera Quinera Quinera Quinera Quinera Rachel Rachel Rachel Rachel Rachel Rode Leeuw Roomse Keyser Roomse Keyser Roosenburgh + Rotterdam Rotterdam Rotterdam Rusthof Rusthof Rusthof Rusthof Rusthof Salamander
P o r ts Hoi. Af. Am. Z Z
GC A
AM AM
SC A
AM AM SL AM AM AM AM AM ZL AM AM Z M M Z Z Z Z Z AM
GC A SC A GC SC SC SC SC SC A A A SC SC A A A A SC GC
S C SP
c s c
GE GS C C
s c c
M C
s c c s s c
ST C
SE SE SE S S
In
S lave s Died Land
204 510 .600 600 470 400 400 .348 525 .499 618 .547 .530 .512 550 .534 .620 .419 .480 581 550 .390 .450 450 .499 .661 .481 .684 .664 .719 500
29 60 90 90 44 50 37 68 50 .83 50 .179 .66 75 75 .36 90 .88 .56 70 75 60 60 60 69 .103 .22 .74 .120 .345 75
.175 .450 510 510 .426 350 .363 280 475 .416 .568 .368 .464 437 475 .498 530 .331 .424 .511 475 330 390 390 430 .558 .459 .610 .544 .374 425
Left Holland
Left Africa
1688 1675 1685 1687/10/8 1694/8/12 1697/12/15 1702 1704 1697/5/8 1700 1703/7/25 1705 1708 1691/1/3 1693/4/19 1697/5/1 1698 1700/10/5 1688 1691/8/15 1693/7/30 1709/1/7 1675 1682/8/28 1685/9/23 1721/5/15 1724/3/10 1726/4/20 1730/2/15 1732 1674/8/15
1688 1676 1685/10/4 1688 1695 1698 1703 1705/10/4 1698 1701 1704 1706/3/23 1709/2/12 1691/4/19 1694 1697 1699/4/4 1701 1689 1692 1694 1709 1676 1683 1685/12/8 1722 1725 1727 1730 1733/11/21 1675
Arrival America
Left America
Return Holland
1689/ 1/15 1676 1685 1688 1695/ 4/ 7 1699 1703/ 4/26 1705/12/8 1698 1701/ 9/11 1704/ 6/17 1706/5/25 1709/5/12 1691/11/9 1694 1698/1/29 1699 1702/ 1/24 1689/ 4/ 5 1692 1694 1710 1676 1683 1686 1722/11/10 1725/ 4/23 1727/ 4/16 1730/11/20 1734/3/1 1675
1689/5/19 1677 1686 1688 1695/9/22 1699 1703 1706 1699 1701 1704 1706 1709 1692 1694 1698/6/19 1699 1702 1689 1693 1694 1710 1676 1683 1686 1723/4/19 1725/8/15 1727 1731/3/17 1734/6/13 1675
1689 1677 1686 1689 1695 1700 1703 1706 1699 1702 1705 1707 1710 1692 1695 1698 1700 1702 1689 1693 1695 1710 1677/1/06 1684 1686 1723 1725/11/18 1728 1731 1734 1676
Captain Sp. 1 2 Ship 697 628
F F
C
629 532 582 631 632 633 633 539 634 539 635 636 633
F F F F
C
R 556 709
L
708 638
L
639 640 641 695 642 546 643 644 652
Salamander Samaritaan Sara Sara & Maria ~ Sem Galey Sem Galey Sem Galey Seven Gebroeders Son (Vergulde) Son (Vergulde) Son (Vergulde) Son (Vergulde) Sonnesteynl ^ Sonnesteyn2 Sonnesteyn2 Sonnesteyn3 Sonnesteyn3 St. Alida St. Andries St. Andries St. Clara St. Clara St. Clara St. Claral St. Francis Xavier St. Jago~ St. Jan St. Jan St. Jan St. Laurens^ St. Laurens^
SL Z
SC A
S
WG SL SL
SC
Z SL AM SL M WG AM AM AM AM AM M
BB SC SC A SC BB
c s c c c
SC GC
SE
SL SL SL
A SC SC
Z WG AM AM SL SL AM
A SC SC SC A GC GC
S
SC SC
c
SP
s s s c c
SP
s s s s
.485 525 525 .173 400 400 350 200 .369 .513 .694 .559 .103 600 .587 .627 600 600 .563 545 550 .517 .584 525 525 .200 525 .500 500 .162 .171
.66 75 75 23 60 60 150 30 .54 .134 .135 .142 .37 75 ? 0 .70 100 90 .83 68 75 .66 .132 75 75 35 75 . 9 75 . 13 .27
.419 450 450 150 340 340 . 0 170 .315 .379 .559 .417 .66 525 . 0 .557 500 510 .480 .477 475 .451 .452 450 450 165 450 .491 425 .149 .144
1687/7/29 1687/11/29 1687 1687 1722/8/15 1725/1/15 1726/9/15 1674 1701/5/3 1703/1/22 1704 1707 1714 1722/5/15 1724/2/10 1725/11/23 1729/9/4 1685 1715 1717 1707/5/31 1709 1711 1692 1680/10/24 1707 1680 1683 1685/8/15 1733 1735
1688/1/15 1688/7/20 1688 1688/2/10 1723 1725 1727 1675 1701/7/20 1703/8/26 1705 1707/9/2 1715 1723 1724/9/3 1726/3/7 1730 1685/10/3 1716/4/23 1718 1708 1710/8/3 1712/9/2 1693 1681 1708 1681/2/28 1684 1687 1734/4/15 1736/2/14
1688/4/12 1688 1688 1688 1723 1725 1727 1675 1701/12/11 1703/11/6 1705/10/12 1707/12/30 1715/ 9/21 1723 1724 1726/5/9 1730 1685 1716/6/13 1718 1708 1710/10/12 1712/11/26 1693 1681 1708 1681 1684/ 4/ 9 1687 1734/6/8 1736/6/17
1688/8/11 1689 1688 1688 1724 1726
1688 1689
1675 1702 1704 1706 1708 1715 1723
1676 1702 1704 1706 1708 1716 1723
1727/3/1 1731 1686 1716/7/21 1719 1709 1711 1713 1693 1682
1727/5/17 1731 1686 1716 1719 1709 1711 1713 1694 1682
1682 1684 1688 1734/8/8 1736
1682 1684 1688 1734 1737
1688 1724 1726
652 674 560
653 561 556 654 647 655 684 656
657
645 645 692 646 647 665
629 514 617 651
Appendix 1 (cont) Slave-ship data in the WIC trade, 1675-1738 Ships St. Marcus St. Pieter Stad & Lande Stad & Lande Stad & Lande Stad & lande Stad & Lande StadhouderFriesland Steenhuysen Steenhuysen Steenhuysen Steenhuysen Steenhuysen Surin. Koopman s'Graveland Tholen ~ Tholen ~ Vergulde Vryheyt Vergulde Vryhyt + Vigilantie Vliegent Hert + Vlissings Welvaren ~ Vogel Phenix Vogel Phenix Vogel Phenix Vreede Vreede Vriendschap Vrye Zee Vryheyt Vryheyt
P or t s Hoi. Af. Am. AM SL SL NK NK M M M M M AM AM AM Z WG A ZL ZL SL
SC A GC SC SC GM GC GC A GC GM GM GC SC A GS
A A A
A A GM AM NK
SC SC
C S C S
s s
GE SE S
s s s c
SE GE C C SE C ST C C S GS C S C C
c
In
s lave
s Died Land
.585 .28 90 600 .751 .76 .779 .177 .439 .307 .760 .349 .800 .88 .106 .10 .780 .88 .789 .102 .645 .83 .625 .53 .800 .25 550 67 .517 .16 .90 .10 .150 .20 .694 .23 400 50 400 ?200 60 480 .194 . 0 525 75 525 75 300 7150 75 550 .437 . 10 .393 .72 550 75 .521 71 .520 .80
.557 510 .675 .602 .132 .411 .712 .96 .692 .687 .562 .572 .775 .483 .501 .80 .130 .671 350 ?200 .420 .194 450 450 ?150 475 .427 .321 475 450 .440
Left Holland 1713 1679 1726/9/2 1728/9/30 1731 1734 1736 1697 1723/8/20 1725/11/25 1728/4/7 1730 1736/1/3 1679 1724/10/31 1675/4/15 1687 1700 1718 1676 1706 1715 1675 1677 1680 1679 1683 1703 1689/12/17 1680 1682
Left Africa 1713/11/21 1680 1727/5/16 1729/5/27 1732/4/29 1735/2/17 1737 1698 1724 1726 1729/2/12 1731/9/28 1736/12/19 1680 1725 1675/10/28 1688/7/15 1701 1718 1677 1707/1/28 1716 1675/10/25 1677 1681 1680 1684 1704/2/20 1690 1681/3/28 1683/2/8
Arrival America
Left America
Return Holland
1714/1/19 1680 1727/6/28 1729/8/10 1732/8/1 1735/4/19 1737/ 6/24 1698/ 5/ 5 1724/ 9/19 1726/10/ 2 1729/4/4 1731/12/14 1737/2/13 1680/11/17 1725/ 9/28 1676 1688 1701/ 3/9 1719/ 4/15 1677/ 4/22 1707 1716/ 3/13 1676 1677/12/25 1681/10/12 1680/ 4/22 1684/ 8/29 1704/5/9 1690 1681 1683
1714/6/15 1681 1727/8/23 1729 1733/3/9 1735/7/15 1737 1698 1725/3/29 1727/3/28 1729/7/4 1732/4/4 1737 1681 1726/4/22 1676 1688 1701 1719 1677 1707 1716 1676
1714 1681 1727/10/01 1730 1733 1735 1738 1699 1725/5/11 1727/6/02 1729 1732 1737 1681 1726/6/07 1676/6/12 1689 1701 1719 1677 1708 1716 1676 1680/2/06 1682 1680 1685 1705 1691 1682 1683
1682 1680 1685/2/18 1704 1691 1681 1683
Captain Sp. 1 2 Ship 511 FL 575 575 529 522 659 660 658 616 662 688 683 683 534 546 696
K
F F F F F
F F
664 680 RC 665 505 516
578 547 585 697
Vryheyt Vryheyt Vryheyt2 Vryheyt2 Vryheyt2 Vryheyt2 Vryheyt2 Vryheyt2 Vryheyt2 Waartwyk Waartwyk Waartwyk Wakende Craen ~ Wapen v Amsterdam Wapen v Amsterdam Wapen v Holland Wapen v Holland Wapen v Holland Wapen v Zirickzee Wapen v Zirickzee Welvaren West Souburg ~ West Souburg ~ Westindisch Huys Westindisch Huys Winthont Winthont Zondernaaml Zondernaam2
SL AM NK NK AM AM AM AM NK SL WG AM M M M
AM WG WG SL AM Z Z
SC GC GC A
C GB SE S
GC SC GC
S S S
SC GC GC SC
S
SC SC A SC SC SC GC SC SC SC SC
s c c c s c c s
GS GE C SP C S GS SE
525 520 450 .419 450 525 .647 .605 .670 500 .433 .493 .190 525 525 .664 500 .712 .508 525 425 .200 .200 .540 .762 .555 .495 .350 200
75 70 50 .44 70
75 .104 .42 .31 75 .90 .55 .15 75 75 .211 61 .150 .24 75 55 30 .30 .70 .115 .24 .30 130 25
450 450 .400 .375 380 450 .543 .563 .639 425 .343 .438 .175 450 450 .453 .439 .562 .484 450 370 170 .170 .470 .647 .531 .465 220 175
1683 1686 1721/2/15 1723/5/13 1726/6/10 1729/4/8 1731 1733 1735 1726/1/15 1729 1731 1705 1684 1686 1700 1702/4/26 1704 1685 1687 1682 1681 1683 1698 1700 1698 1700/12/16 1694 1697
1684 1687 1721/12/25 1724 1727 1730 1732/6/25 1734/5/30 1736/6/25 1726 1730 1732/9/3 1706/9/9 1685 1687 1701 1702 1705 1686/2/14 1688/10/13 1683 1682/2/8 1684 1698/12/1 1700/12/7 1699/9/23 1701 1695/6/9 1699
1684 1687 1722/1/31 1724/12/30 1727/ 7/21 1730 1732/8/24 1734/8/1 1736/8/14 1726 1730/12/25 1732/11/18 1706/11/30. 1685 1688 1701/6/27 1702/11/29 1705/5/10 1686 1689 1683/1/17 1682 1684 1699 1701/3/9 1699/12/1 1701/9/24 1695 1698/9/16
1685 1687 1722 1725/6/18 1727/9/25 1731 1732/12/26 1734/10/20 1737/11/12 1727 1731 1733/4/24 1707 1686 1688 1701 1703 1705/7/25 1686 1689 1683/6/30 1682 1685 1698 1701 1700 1702/3/14 1695 1698
1685 1688 1722 1725/8/27 1728/1/17 1731 1733 1735 1737 1727 1731 1733 1707 1686 1688/7/19 1702 1703 1706 1687 1689 1683 1683 1685 1699 1701 1700 1702 1696 1698
666 HB 667 668 698 529 R
657 657 617 675 675 670
Y
669 548 548 583 672 C 673 674
681 676 677 678 682 594
U
Appendix 2 Slave-ship data of the free trade, 1730-1803 Ship name Abraham Abraham Achtienhoven Achtienhoven Achtienhoven Achtienhoven Achtienhoven Achtienhoven Achtienhoven Achtienhoven Achtienhoven Achtienhoven2 Achtienhoven2 Achtienhoven2 Achtienhoven2 Achtienhoven2 Active Fleishing Adrana Maria Adriana Petronella Adriana Petronella Adriana Petronella Adriana Petronella Adriana Petronella Africa Africa Africa Africa Africa Africa
Slave! Ports Hoi. Af. Am. In Died Land
Z Z
z z z z z z z z z z z z z z z z z z z z z
M M M M M M
A A A A A A
Left Holland
250 40 210 1764/2/25 250 50 200 1766 375 100 275 1730/12/11 375 35 340 1733/01/28 375 75 300 1734/05/09 375 65 310 1737/04/25 375 35 340 1739/04/13 375 55 320 1740/11/17 375 25 350 1742/09/03 375 45 330 1744/10/15 375 40 335 1746 400 40 360 1747 400 80 320 1750/09/15 400 100 300 1752/07/15 400 70 330 1754/08/15 400 30 370 1756/05/15 150 10 140 1791 S 230 30 200 1748 S 370 34 .336 1758/06/15 s 360 43 .317 1760/05/15 GB 350 50 300 1762/05/15 S 360 41 .319 1763/12/19 s 325 25 .300 1765/11/15 300 80 .220 1753/03/15 300 60 240 1755/11/15 300 20 280 1757/09/15 275 35 240 1759/05/15 275 60 215 1760 c 250 25 225 1763/10/29
Left Africa 1764 1768 1731 1733 1735 1738 1740 1741 1743 1745 1746 1748 1751 1753 1755 1757 1792 1749 1759 1761 1763 1764 1766 1754 1756 1758 1760 1761 1764
Arrival America
Left America
1764 1768 1732 1734 1735 1738 1740 1741 1743 1745 1747 1748 1751 1753 1755 1757 1792 1749/09/16 1759/05/27 1761/07/09 1763 1765/02/20 1766/08/17 1754 1756 1758 1760 1762 1765
1765 1769 1732 1734 1736 1738 1740 1742 1743 1745 1746 1749 1752 1754 1756 1757 1792 1749 1759/09/07 1761/10/01 1763 1765 1766/10/17 1755 1757 1759 1760 1762 1765
Return Last Holland 1766/01/17 1769/05/15 1732/09/11 1734/08/27 1736/05/13 1738/10/06 1740/08/18 1742/03/05 1743/11/20 1745/11/15 1746 1749 1752/04/15 1754/06/15 1756/03/15 1757/09/15 1793 1750 1759/12/15 1762/02/15 1763 1765/07/01 1767/02/15 1755/07/15 1757/06/15 1759/05/15 1760/09/15 1762/09/15 1765
Cap. Sale Sp 1 2 Ship C Firm AK AK JG
310 001 60 002 60 60 60 60 60 60 60 60 70 70 003 70 70 003 70 004 005 6 007 007 007 007 52 008 52 009 52 009 52 52 52
IG
A A A A b
JSZ JSZ JSZ JSZ JSZ H&M H&M H&M H&M H&M H&M
Africa Africaan Africaan Africaan Africain Afrikaan Afrikaan Afrikaanse Galey Afrikaanse Galey Afrikaanse Galey Afrikaanse Galey Afrikaanse Galey Afrikaanse Galey Afrikaanse Galey Afrikaanse Galey Afrikaanse Galey Algemene Welvaart Amazantha Amazantha Amazantha America2 America2 America2 Amerika Amerika Amphitrite Andries Anna Catharina Anna Catharina
Z AM AM AM M Z AM Z Z Z Z Z Z
z z z z z z z z z z
GG S GG S S GG S GG SE
GG GG
GG
A A A
AM GG A Z Z Z A
260 210 260 320 300 300 300 300 300 300 S .341 S .330 325 350 300 325 GD 270 300 300 300 S 260 s 260 GB 270 S 145 S 175 S 250 450 S 300 300
40 35 30 20 30 40 40 40 40 40 .70 .66 50 50 30 75 40 90 20 20 30 19 62 15 25 100 120 24 50
.220 .175 .230 .300 .270 260 260 260 260 260 .271 .264 275 300 270 250 .230 210 280 280 .230 .241 .208 .130 .150 .150 330 .276 250
1765/11/11 1741 1743 1745 1766/10/15 1789/10/15 1791/09/15 1735/09/21 1737/05/16 1738/11/25 1740/10/26 1742/05/24 1743/10/21 1745/09/10 1748/08/01 1750 1787/08/05 1731/01/18 1735/02/01 1738/04/26 1763/03/09 1764/11/16 1766/04/06 1743 1745 1764 1731/04/07 1769/06/15 1770/12/02
1767 1742 1744 1745 1767 1790 1792 1736 1738 1739 1741 1743 1744 1746 1749 1751 1788/10/11 1731 1736 1739 1763 1765 1767 1744 1746 1765 1732 1770 1771
1767/08/08 1742/12/01 1744/08/12 1746/07/12 1768 1790 1792 1736 1738 1739 1741/07/20 1743/03/21 1744 1746 1749 1751 1788/12/11 1732 1736 1739 1764/02/28 1765/06/27 1767/06/17 1744/11/17 1746/08/29 1765/08/22 1732 1770/04/12 1772
1767/09/11 1743/02/19 1744/11/28 1746/10/01 1768 1791 1793 1736 1738 1740 1741 1743/06/15 1744 1746 1749 1752 1788/12/26 1732 1736 1740 1764/05/11 1765/08/23 1767 1745/03/20 1746 1766/02/27 1732 1770/05/25 1772
1767/10/02 1743 1745 1746 1768 1791 1793 1737/01/24 1738/07/21 1740/05/15 1742/01/15 1743/08/07 1744/11/09 1747 1749 1752/03/15 1789 1732/09/09 1736/06/13 1740/03/21 1764/07/21 1765/11/15 1767/11/02 1745 1747 1766 1733/03/23 1770/07/15 1772/02/20
52 010 Oil 012 012 101 101 65 65 65 65 65 65 65 65 65
013 014 014
cA cA sA cA
JZZ JSZ JSZ JSZ C&R
F F F F Cr F cC F F F F F
MCC MCC MCC MCC MCC MCC MCC MCC MCC FC RS AS
015 016 55 017 55 55 A 71 018 19 b 71 020 K 71 020 B 021 021 94 B A 022 23 71 024 b 71 024 71 028
JZZ JZZ JZZ
AD H&L H&L
Appendix 2 (cont) Slave-ship data of the free trade, 1730-1803 Ship name Anna Catharina Anna Catharina Anna Galey Anna Galey Anna Galey Anna Galey Anna Maria Anna Maria Anna Maria Anthony Ewout Anthony Ewout Anthony Ewout Anthony Ewout Armina Elisabeth Aurora Aurora Aurora Aurora Aurora Aurora2 Avontura Galey Avontura Galey Avontura Galey Avonture Avonturier Baskenburg Belisarius Berbice Verlangen Beyerland
Slaves Ports Hoi. AAf. Am. In Died Land Z Z AM AM AM AM
Z Z Z Z
A A
S S C S S M S S S S S S S GB GS SE S
GG GG GG GG GG A A A A GG A A GG GG GG GG S
275 265 264 230 200 280 330 320 310 320 330 300 250 .120 .318 .319 .260 .326
35 35 40 30 54 19 30 33 28 30 30 50 50 .11 .6 .10 .11 .42
240 230 224 200 .146 .261 300 287 282 290 300 250 200 .109 .312 .309 .249 .282
Z Z Z Z Z 275 25 .250 M Z 275 40 235 Z 275 40 225 Z 325 75 250 Z GG S AM GC GD 325 25 .300 250 230 .20 Z GB .230 .194 .36 Z AM 250 20 230 Z
Left Holland 1772/10/20 1774/10/28 1745 1746 1749 1751 1763 1766 1768 1761/10/15 1763/06/21 1764/10/07 1766/04/06 1774 1771/10/24 1773/12/14 1776/04/19 1779/01/03 1780/10/28 1787/12/24 1741/10/28 1743/08/19 1745/02/15 1771/12/05 1785/12/22 1743/09/07 1771/01/13 1789/11/15 1731/05/08
Left Africa 1773 1775 1746 1747 1750 1752 1764 1767 1769 1762 1764 1765 1767 1775 1772 1774 1776 1779 1 1789 1742 1744 1 1773 1786/11/04 1744 1771 1732
Return Last Holland
Arrival America
Left America
1773 1775/09/16 1746/03/18 1747/12/19 1750/06/16 1752/06/03 1764/10/24 1767/03/29 1769/05/23 1762/07/15 1764/04/05 1765/07/08 1767/08/01 1775/05/30 1772/12/01 1775/02/02 1777 1779/11/15
1773 1775 1746/06/07 1748 1750/09/11 1752/07/29 1765 1767/05/01 1769/07/28 1762 1764/05/11 1765/08/22 1767/10/20 1775 1773 1775 1777 1780
1773/12/02 1776/0607 1746 1748 1750 1752 1765 1767 1769 1763/02/15 1764/07/20 1765/12/11 1768/03/02 1776 1773/04/21 1775/09/14 1777/06/04 1780/05/29
1789/04/23 1742 1744
1789 1743 1744
1789 1743/04/11 1744/10/12
Cap. Sale Sc> 1 2 Ship C Firm
71 028 sA 025 26 027 c 027 cA 027 116 c 116 30 c 030 A 55 032 33 A 033 bA 033 bA 033 034 35 r F 97 036 F 97 036 F 97 F 97 037 F c 97 038 w 75 03940 ]Br
1773/05/11 1773/07/02 1773/09/01 120 041 042 1787 1787/01/05 1787 043 1744/07/23 72 044 1771/11/30 045 1791 1733/06/05 49 046 1733 1733
H&L H&L
JSZ JSZ JSZ JSZ
MCC MCC MCC MCC MCC C&R AL AL AL b B&S C s wDMW w vdN AD
Beyerland Beyerland Beyerland Beyerland Brandenburg Burggraaf Burggraaf Burggraaf Carolina Medioburg. Carolina Medioburg. Carolina Medioburg. Carolina Medioburg. Carolina Medioburg. Carolina Medioburg. Carolina Medioburg. Casteel Souburg Catharina Galey Catharina Galey Catharina Hendrina Christoffel Christoffel Christoffel Christoffel Christoffel Clasina Petronella Clasina Petronella Concordia Concordia Concordia
Z Z
z z z z z z z z z z z z z
M M Z Z Z Z
z z z z
275
35
250 30 GG GS .226 .24 275 65 775 15 275 20 GS 350 43 GS 350 36 GS 350 52 GS 360 46 340 40 SI 330 50 GG GE 340 40 290 33 GC S GC C .556 .96 GC c .460 .60 400 50 A s 440 40 400 50 A s 400 28 A s 230 30 A s 250 50 A s 350 20 A s 270 90 375 65 375 65 375 65
1734/10/28 240 1737/10/21 1739/07/06 220 1741/01/23 .202 1791/06/16 210 1730/12/15 260 1733/05/01 255 1735/10/27 .307 1762/12/07 .314 1764/10/08 .298 1766/08/07 .314 1768/04/03 .300 1769/11/15 .280 1771/11/18 .300 1774/01/02 .257 1752 .460 1742 .400 1747 350 1774 .400 1759/06/15 350 1760 .372 1762/09/15 .200 1764/07/30 .200 1766/07/10 .330 1764 .180 1766 310 1732/06/22 310 1734/11/08 310 1737/01/24
1734 1738 1740 1742 1792 1732 1735 1736 1763 1765 1767 1768 1770 1772 1774 1753 1743/12/15 1748/03/01 1775 1760 1761 1763 1765 1767 1765 1767 1733 1735 1737
1734 1738 1740 1742 1792 1732 1735 1736 1763 1765 1767 1769 1770 1772/12/10 1774/11/29 1753/07/24 1743 1748 1775 1760/03/19 1762 1763/07/16 1765/11/03 1767/10/07 1765/09/08 1767/07/29 1734 1735 1738
1735 1739 1740 1742 1793 1732 1735 1737 1764 1765 1767 1769 1771 1773 1775 1754/02/01 1743 1748 1776 1760/07/04 1762 1763/11/10 1766 1768/01/08 1765 1767/10/09 1734 1736 1738
1735/04/03 49 BW 1739/04/27 49 IG 1740/07/18 49 IG IG 1742/12/05 49 H 1793/09/05 MCC 1733/02/14 50 047 RS MR 1735/11/10 50 048 AS 1737/03/29 50 B&S 1764/07/06 99 049 B&S 1766/04/15 99 049 1767/11/12 99 049 B&S B&S 1769/08/15 99 049 B&S 1771/05/15 99 B&S 1773/05/20 99 065 B&S 1775/06/09 99 050 1754 cA 051 310 1743 311 1749 118 052 C&R 1776 A TW 1760/09/15 60 053 TW 1762/06/15 60 053 A TW 1764 80 054 55 A TW 1766/04/15 80 055 A TW 1768/04/17 80 055 56 A 057 58 1766 cA 1767 059 JG 1734/06/13 69 060 1736/04/19 69 1738/06/02 69 FG
Appendix 2 (cont) Slave-ship data of the free trade, 1730-1803 Ship name Concordia Concordia Concordia Concordia Concordia Concordia2 Conordia2 Concordia2 Concordia2 Cornelia Cornelia Christoffel Cornelia Christoffel Cornelia Christoffel Cornelia Christoffel Cornelia Christoffel Cornelia Christoffel Cornelia Christoffel Cornelia Christoffel Cornelia Christoffel Cornelia2 Diagne Johanna Diagne Johanna Dirk Apolonia Dirk Apolonia Dirk Apolonia Dirk Apolonia Dirk Apolonia Dirk Apolonia Dolphijn
Slaves Ports Hoi . Af. Am. In Died Land Z Z
z z z z z z z
z z z z z z z z z z z z z z z z z z z
375 375 375 375 375 400 400 400 400 GG SI 320 300 300 300 300 300 300 300 300 300 GG GD 175 GG GS 290 GG GE 290 A SI 525 A SI 540 400 A 450 A s 460 A s 350 A s 326
65 65 65 65 65 50 60 90 50 40 45 45 50 45 50 50 45 40 50 25 32 21 25 32 50 50 60 90 20
310 310 310 310 310 350 340 310 350 .280 255 255 250 255 250 250 255 260 250 .150 .258 .269 .500 .508 350 400 .400 .260 .306
Left Holland 1738/08/18 1740/06/02 1742/03/22 1744/04/15 1745 1747 1750 1752/07/15 1755/04/15 1763 1732/04/12 1735/01/09 1736/10/27 1738/07/14 1740/04/11 1741/12/11 1743/06/17 1745/01/15 1746 1788/09/11 1767/03/11 1768/09/16 1757/06/15 1759/09/15 1761 1763/03/07 1765/09/14 1767/07/17 1747
Left Africa 1739 1741 1743 1745 1746 1748 1751 1753 1756 1764 1733 1735 1737 1739 1741 1742 1744 1745 1747 1790/02/16 1767 1769/06/15 1758 1760 1761 1763 1766 1768 1748
Arrival America
Left America
1739 1741 1743 1745 1746 1748 1751 1754 1756 1764/07/13 1733 1735 1737 1739 1741 1742 1744 1745 1747 1790/06/26 1767/12/18 1769/08/26 1758/02/20 1760/05/30 1762 1764 1766/08/02 1768/11/13 1748/07/11
1740 1741 1743 1745 1746 1748 1752 1754 1756 1764 1734 1736 1737 1739 1741 1743 1744 1746 1748 1790 1768 1770 1758 1760 1762 1764 1766/10/17 1769/02/14 1748/09/27
Return Last Holland 1740/03/14 1741/10/20 1743/07/22 1745/06/15 1746 1749 1752/03/15 1754/06/15 1756/09/15 1764 1734/03/11 1736/04/26 1738/01/17 1739/09/03 1741/07/16 1743/03/11 1744/08/13 1746/03/15 1748 1790 1768/07/06 1770/05/15 1758/07/15 1760/1015 1762/06/15 1764/06/15 1767/03/13 1769/05/09 1748
Cap. Sale Sp 1 2 Ship C Firm
69 69 69 69 69
MA FC JG
061 062 064
FC
FC
61 100 100 70 70 70 93 93 93 60
063 066 066 0 067 067 067 067 068 069
bA b s
JZZ GH GH TW TW TW TW TW TW
Dolphijn Dolphijn Dolphijn Dolphijn Dolphijn Dolphijn Dolphijn Domburg Domburg Domburg Drie Gebroeders Drie Gebroeders Drie Gebroeders Drie Gezusters Drie Gezusters Drie Gezusters Duynvliet Duynvliet Eendragt Eendragt2 Eenhoorn Eenhoorn Eenhoorn Eenhoorn Eenhoorn2 Eenigheid Eenigheid Eenigheid Eensgezindheid
Z Z
z z z z z z z z
M M M Z Z Z
Z Z Z Z Z Z
z z z z
315 35 .280 320 40 280 GG S 280 34 .246 GG s 320 41 .279 GC s 280 30 .250 GC s 300 30 .270 GG s 300 26 .274 s 520 57 .463 A s 580 73 .507 A s 470 50 420 SC s 380 60 .320 GG s 410 40 .370 GG GB 400 40 360 GZ s .234 .23 .211 GG SE .405 .14 .391 GG C 400 50 350 S 390 51 .339 450 120 330 GG 250 40 210 250 30 220 250 30 220 250 60 190 s 260 34 .226 GG GS .326 .33 .293 GG M .256 .67 .189 A S .315 .62 .253 A GG S
1749 1750/08/15 1751 1752/06/15 1753/11/15 1756/01/15 1757/09/15 1744/11/16 1748 1763 1762/12/15 1764/10/15 1766/10/15 1755/08/13 1757/06/24 1761/12/15 1741 1743 1730/12/17 1779/10/27 1747 1749 1751/01/15 1752/10/15 1765/07/15 1761/10/01 1763/08/14 1766/02/08 1780/11/29
1749 1751 1751 1753 1754 1756 1758 1745 1749 1763 1763 1765 1767 1756 1758 1762 1741 1744 1731
1750/01/28 1751 1751/10/13 1753/03/13 1755/02/10 1756/12/22 1758/09/18 1745/10/05 1749/04/03 1763/07/22 1764/03/05 1765/11/16 1768 1756/06/23 1758/03/22
1750/04/13 1751 1752/01/08 1753/06/02 1755/05/13 1757/03/03 1759/01/17 1745/12/28 1749/08/19 1763/11/10 1764/06/01 1766/03/14 1768 1756/08/20 1759
1742 1744/12/30 1732
1742 1742 1745/05/06 1745 1732 1733/02/01
1748 1750 1751 1754 1766 1762/05/10 1764 1767 1781/07/02
1748 1748 1750 1750 1752 1752 1754 1754 1766/06/01 1766 1762/07/04 1762/12/17 1764/12/29 1765 1767/05/27 1767/07/31 1781/08/13
1750 1751 1752 1753 1755/06/30 1757/06/15 1759 1746/04/13 1749 1764 1764 1766 1768 1756/10/21 1759/11/04
1749 1750 09/15 1752 1754/12/15 1766 1763/03/26 1765/08/08 1767/11/09
60 60 60 60 60 60 60
94 94 94 61 61 61
069
sA
069 069 069 069 069 70 071 0 072 073 074 F 074 F F 075 076 S 077 S 077 s
s s
078 80 079 80 55 55 55 081 55 082 083 89 084 89 085 086
A A
JTW
s A DMW c A DMW A DMW A C&R A C&R C C&R A r MCC MCC b MCC WIC c A WIC MCC b H&L
Aw
JCH MCC s s r MCC s c A MCC H c
Appendix 2 (cont) Slave-ship data of the free trade, 1730-1803 Ship name
Slaves Ports Hoi. Af. Am. In Died Land
Z Eerste Edele Z Eerste Edele Z Eerste Edele Z Eerste Edele Elisabeth M Elisabeth M Elisabeth M Elisabeth Sophia Z Elisabeth Sophia Z Elisabeth Sophia Elisabeth2 M Z Epaminond'as Essequibo Vriendsch. Z Z Europa Z Europa Z Europa Z Europa Z Europa Z Europa AM Francois Catharina Z Francois Pieter Z Francois Pieter M Frans Will em M Frans Willem Frans Willem M Frans Willem M Frans Willem M Frans Willem M M Frederika Sophia
z
GC S A S GG s GG s GG s GG A s A s A s GC s GC s
GG GG
s
GG GG GC GG A
s s s s s s s s
285 275 300 270 460 550
35 60 20 34 60 50
250 .215 .280 .236 .400 .500
260 20 .240 280 50 .230 260 30 230 280 30 .250 .200 .50 .150 320 45 275 300 50 250 300 50 250 300 20 280 275 25 250 275 35 240 275 75 200 290 37 .253 300 60 240 275 25 250 305 30 .275 320 30 .290 330 28 .302 330 27 .303 310 35 .275 260 33 .227 340 64 .276
Left Holland 1751/12/15 1753/08/15 1755/08/15 1757/09/15 1772 1776 1780 1764/11/16 1766/07/27 1768/08/28 1790/03/07 1785/02/12 1743/12/15 1754/06/15 1756/06/15 1758/07/15 1760/05/15 1762/05/05 1766/09/22 1747 1754/04/15 1756/08/15 1756 1758/12/15 1760/08/15 1761/12/15 1763 1765 1769/07/11
Left Africa 1752 1754 1756 1758 1773/07/25 1777 1765 1767 1769 1791/04/30 1785/10/24 1744 1755 1757 1759 1761 1763 1767 1747 1755 1757 1757 1759 1761 1762 1764 1765 1770
Arrival America
Left America
Return Last Holland
Cap. Sale Sp 1 2 Ship C Firm
1753 1753 54 087 1753 1754/09/12 1754/12/02 1755/03/15 54 087 1756/11/05 1757 1757/05/15 54 032 1758/12/01 1759/04/06 1759/09/15 54 032 1773/09/18 1774/02/11 1774 106 010 1777/06/04 1777 106 010 1777 106 089 1765/11/16 1766 1766/04/15 79 091 1767/09/03 1768/03/18 1768/04/25 79 091 1769/11/27 1770/02/24 1771 79 091 1791/07/27 1791/11/04 1792 090 092 1785/12/26 1786 1786 1745 1745/04/15 1745 1755 1756/04/15 53 095 1756 1757 1758/02/15 53 081 1757 1760/03/15 53 081 1759 1759 1762/02/15 53 081 1761 1761 1764 70 081 1763 1763 1768/10/15 70 311 1768 1768 097 1747/11/30 1748/03/11 1748 1756 1756/04/15 57 098 1755 1757 1758/02/15 57 1757 1757/10/20 1758 1758/12/15 62 099 62 099 1759/09/13 1760 1759 62 100 1761/04/20 1761/06/27 1761 62 100 1762/09/12 1762/12/30 1763 1764/07/06 1764 58 100 1765 58 010 1766/02/06 1766/04/25 1766 101 1770/06/01 1770/07/14 1770
b A A C&R C&R b C&R A DMW kDMW DMW b
c
H
SR JZZ JZZ JZZ JZZ JZZ JZZ
S
C&R C&R s C&R s C&R s C&R s s A C&R H&M b A A
Frederika Sophia M Z Geertruy Elisabet Z Geertruy Elisabet Geertruy Elisabet Z Z Geertruy Elisabet Geertruy Elisabet z Geertruy Elisabet z Geertruyda z Geertruyda z Geertruyda z Geertruyda z Geertruyda Catharina Geertruyda Christina z Geertruyda Christina z Geertruyda Christina z Geertruyda Christina z Geertruyda Christina z Geertruyda Christina z Geertruyda Galey Genoveva Maria z Genoveva Maria z Genoveva Maria z Genoveva Maria z Genoveva Maria z Genoveva Maria z Genoveva Maria z Genoveva Maria z Genoveva Maria z Genoveva Maria z
GG GC GC GG GG GG GG A A A A GG GG GG GG GG GG GG GG
S S
420 280 s 290 s 340 s 320 s 330 s 320 s 400 s 400 s 310 s 400 s 290 GS .261 s .321 c .289 SE .345 SE .304 s .276 s 450 315 315 315 315 315 315 GG s .265 s 310 A s 300 A s 325
20 60 30 20 30 30 60 44 40 66 60 40 .33 .38 .41 .73 .11 .131 75 40 40 40 40 35 40 .5 23 21 34
.400 .220 .260 .320 .290 .300 .280 .356 .360 .244 .340 .250 .228 .283 .248 .272 .293 .145 .375 275 275 275 275 280 275 .260 .287 .279 .291
1770/11/19 1753/09/15 1755/06/15 1757/02/15 1758/09/15 1760/07/15 1762/05/05 1756 1758/09/15 1760/03/15 1761/12/15 1774 1767/11/23 1769/11/22 1771/08/22 1774/05/09 1776/10/27 1783/08/21 1762 1731/06/02 1733/09/29 1735/08/11 1737/08/19 1740/03/07 1741/10/14 1743/06/20 1745/01/15 1746 1747
1772 1754 1756 1757 1759 1761 1763 1757 1759 1761 1762 1775 1768 1770 1772 1775 1777 1785/04/29 1763 1732/02/12 1734 1736 1738 1740 1742 1744 1745 1746 1748
1772/04/28 1754/09/01 1756/06/01 1757/12/06 1759/06/27 1761/06/24 1763/05/10 1758/01/14 1759/06/01 1761/04/08 1762/11/05 1775/07/09 1768/12/08 1770/12/03 1772/08/27 1775/06/06 1777/11/08 1785/06/29 1763/06/07 1733 1734 1736 1738 1741 1742 1744/02/10 1745/09/16 1746/12/16 1748/08/10
1772 1754/11/02 1756/08/20 1758/03/03 1759/10/12 1761 1764 1758 1759 1761 1763 1775/10/20 1769 1771/02/08 1773 1775 1778 1785 1763 1733 1735 1736 1738 1741 1743 1744/04/16 1745/12/02 1747/03/07 1748/09/27
1772 1755/01/15 1756/10/15 1758/06/15 1760/03/15 1762/12/15 1764 1758/07/15 1759/12/15 1761/10/15 1763 1776 1769/05/29 1771/04/27 1773/05/19 1776/02/22 1778/06/06 1785/08/17 1764 1733/06/06 1735/02/28 1736/08/30 1739/01/26 1741/04/24 1743/04/08 1744/06/29 1746/03/15 1747 1748
60 60 60 60 60 59 59 59 59 107 107 107 107 107 107 53 53 53 53 53 53 53 53 53 53
101 H&M 109 bA AK 109 A AK 109 AK 109 AK 110 AK A 110 AK 102 58 058 058 A A 103 c 105 MCC 106 107 F A MCC F b 068 MCC 107 F MCC F r MCC 105 F c 068 MCC F 108 MCC 104 MR 250 AS SR AS
111 111 112 112
s A c A s A S
Appendix 2 (cont) Slave-ship data of the free trade, 1730-1803 Ship name
Ports Slaves Hoi. \f. J Am. In ]Died Land
Gerardina Petronel Gezegend Zuikerriet Gezegend Zuikerriet Gezegend Zuikerriet Gezegend Zuikerriet Gezegend Zuikerriet Goed Success Goed Voornemen Goed Voornemen Goede Hoop Goede Hoop Goede Oogmerk Goede Verwachting Grenadier Grenadier Grenadier Grenadier Grenadier Grenadier Groningen Groot Prooyen Groot Prooyen Groot Prooyen Guineese Galey Guineese Galey Guineese Galey Guineese Galey Guineese Vrienden Guineese Vriendsch.
Z AM S AM S AM GG S AM GG S AM GC S GC S AM GC S Z GC S GD Z M GC Z Z GC GS S z GG z s z GG s z A s z GG GB
z
AM GC S Z s Z s Z s Z s Z Z Z GG s M GG s
300 350 350 285 330 290 300 320 320 460
40 50 50 50 44 40 30 44 12 33
260 .300 .300 .235 .286 .250 270 .276 .308 .427
175 228 .236 .304 .376 .352 .289 300 145 .225 .338 .328 .246 250 250 250 370 400
15 200 .29 .26 .56 .156 .16 40 10 .29 .67 .62 .40 25 40 25 50 70
160 .28 .207 .278 .320 .196 .273 260 .135 .196 .271 .266 .206 225 210 225 .320 .330
Left Holland
Left Africa
1731/03/02 1732 1744 1745 1747 1748 1749 1750 1752 1751 1754 1753 1755 1756 1790/10/24 1791/04/23 1792/04/30 1793/05/23 1786 1787 1788 1792/05/07 1793 1765/11/15 1767 1741/06/09 1742 1743/03/01 1743 1745/06/10 1746 1748/08/17 1749 1751/01/03 1751 1752/09/15 1753 1786/08/09 1787/02/28 1742/02/20 1742 1743/11/24 1744 1747/10/27 1748 1740/07/20 1741 1742/06/04 1743 1744/10/09 1745 1746/03/25 1747 1762 1763 1767 1768
Arrival America
Left America
Return Last Holland
1732 1745/02/15 1748/04/30 1751/01/18 1752/12/27 1754/09/04 1756/06/05 1791/06/05 1793/07/06 1787/10/25
1732 1745/05/07 1748/07/17 1751/04/17 1753/03/12 1754/11/29 1756 1791 1793 1788
1794 1767 1742/04/21 1743/11/20 1746/09/08 1749/11/23 1752 1753 1787/04/11 1742/12/22 1744/12/16 1748/08/08 1741/07/13 1743 1745 1747 1763/02/16 1768/09/26
1794 1767 1742 1744/02/22 1747/01/10 1750/03/14 1752 1754 1787 1743/03/04 1745/04/08 1748/11/10 1741 1743 1745 1747
1732/09/03 68 1745 1748 1751 1753 1755 1757 1792 1794 109 1788 109 1794 1768 1742/10/21 68 1744/05/30 68 1747/04/10 68 1750/06/06 68 1752/05/09 68 1754/07/15 68 1787 1743/06/06 68 1745/06/01 68 1749/02/08 68 1742/01/16 52 1743/11/25 52 1746/01/15 52 52 1747
1768/12/30 1769
Cap. Sale Sp 1 2 Ship C Firm 113 011 115 115 115 116 116 116 308 F 117 F 117 F 297 F 297 312 118 119 121 077 117 122 014 123 014
AD s c s c c A
H&L H&L H&L d H&L J.M Cw F C MCC F s A MCC 120 Fc A MCC Fs Ak MCC F MCC F MCC Fc Fc Fc B B B
124 126 125
C A A C
MCC MCC MCC MCC MCC MCC MCC
Ad Ca C&R
Guineese Vriendsch. Guineese Vriendsch. Guineese Vriendsch. Guineese Vriendsch. Guinese Welvaren Guide Vrijheid Guide Vrijheid Guide Vrijheid Guide Vrijheid Guide Vrijheid Guide Vrijheid Guide Vrijheid Guide Vrijheid2 Guide Vrijheid2 Guide Vrijheid2 Guide Vrijheid2 Guide Vrijheid3 Guide Vrijheid3 Guide Vrijheid3 Guide Vrijheid3 Guide Vrijheid3 Guide Vrijheid3 Guide Vrijheid3 Guide Vrijheid3 Guide Vrijheid3 Guide Vrijheid3 Haast U Langzaam Haast U Langzaam Haast U Langzaam
M M M M
GG GG GG GG GG
Z Z Z Z Z Z Z M M M Z Z Z Z Z Z Z Z Z Z Z Z Z
S 415 S 430 SI 360 S .284 S 290 290
S S S GG GG GG GG A A A GG A A A A GG GG A A
S S S S S S S S S SE M SI
s
M S
65 32 60 .6 40 40
.350 .398 .300 .278 .250 250
290 40 250 .270 .44 .226 270 24 .246 300 15 .285 290 40 .250 300 50 .250 270 45 .225 330 26 .304 270 40 .230 310 21 .289 285 35 .250 280 30 .250 285 35 .250 290 30 .260 285 35 250 360 20 .340 290 40 .250 345 45 .300 .297 .42 .256 .302 .19 .283 .327 .7 .320
1769/04/20 1770/07/05 1772/05/19 1774/04/27 1765 1731/07/19 1734/10/31 1737/09/21 1738/11/10 1740/10/03 1742/08/20 1743 1748 1750/04/09 1752 1754 1761/10/15 1763/08/14 1765/04/15 1766/09/22 1768/08/11 1769/12/29 1771/07/17 1774/02/03 1776/09/19 1779/10/06 1764/07/09 1766/11/30 1769/01/04
1769 1771 1773 1774 1766 1732 1735 1738 1739 1741 1743 1744 1749 1751 1753 1755 1762 1764 1766 1767 1769 1770 1772 1774 1777 1780 1765 1767 1770
1770/01/18 1771/04/18 1773/05/16 1775/01/27 1766/02/06 1732 1735 1738 1739 1741/07/20 1743/05/30 1744/10/26 1749 1751/12/01 1753/11/23 1755/07/30 1762/12/01 1764/05/25 1766/01/28 1767/10/09 1769/06/14 1770/08/24 1773 1775/02/08 1777/06/13 1780/07/26 1765/09/06 1768/01/05 1770/03/04
1770/02/24 1771/06/07 1773 1775 1766/04/02 1733 1735 1738 1740 1741 1743/08/20
1770 1771 1773 1775 1766 1733/02/07 1735/11/28 1738/09/25 1740/02/05 1742/01/22 1743/11/04
1749 1752/03/10 1754/03/13 1755/11/01 1763/02/08 1764 1766/03/14 1768/01/08 1769/07/14 1770/09/21 1773 1775 1778 1780 1765 1768 1770/05/08
1749 1752 1754 1756/05/15 1763 1764/09/23 1766/05/15 1768/04/16 1769/09/16 1770/11/25 1773/08/02 1775/07/15 1778/03/08 1766/03/12 1768/07/11 1770/06/27
125 125 125 125 127 55 128 55 55 55 55 129 55 129 55 129 50 50 50 59 79 79 79 79 79 79 79 79 79 99 99 99
130 130 131 133 135 136 136 136 136 136 136 136 137 083 134 134
b b
C&R r C&R C&R C&R A IR AK AK A
s Ad S C&R C&R Sc S c A C&R C&R 132 S A DMW 136 S A DMW S A DMW S A DMW Sb DMW DMW S DMW S S DMW S DMW cDMW S F MCC F MCC F b MCC
Appendix 2 (cont) Slave-ship data of the free trade, 1730-1803 Ship name Haast U Langzaam Haast U Langzaam Haast U Langzaam Haast U Langzaam Haast U Langzaam Helena Helena Hermina Elisabeth Hermina Elisabeth Herstelder Herstelder Hof Pauwenburg Hof Pauwenburg Hof v Zeeland Hoop Hoop Hoop Hoop Hoop Hoop2 Hoop3 Hoop3 Hoope Hougly Galey Huys Brandenburg Huys ter Mee Huys ter Mee Huys ter Mee Huys ter Mee
Slaves Ports Hoi. Af. Am. In ]Died Land Z Z
z z z z z
M M Z Z
Z Z Z
z z z z z z z z z z z
A A GG GG GG GG GG
GE .400 SE .329 SE .262 S .281 GD .373 310 SI 310 170 180 GG S GG GE 350 GG SI 340 290 290 A C .318 275
.12 .16 .13 .18 .69 40 40 20 35 50 40 40 40 .50 35
.388 .313 .249 .263 .304 270 .270 150 145 300 .300 250 250 .268 240
GG
GG SI GG SI GG s
s
275 275 360 290 360 320 300
75 200 55 220 20 .340 90 200 60 .300 33 .287 30 270
280 240 260 230
20 40 30 30
GG GG GG GG
s s s s
.260 .200 .230 .200
Left Holland
Left Africa
1770/11/19 1771 1772/10/21 1773 1775/04/06 1776 1777/06/06 1778 1779/08/29 1780 1773/12/08 1774 1777/01/25 1777 1773/07/13 1774 1775/11/04 1776 1768/09/13 1769 1771/07/17 1772 1745 1745 1747 1747 1732/06/24 1733/04/01 1731/09/07 1732 1734/08/25 1735 1736/07/26 1737 1737/09/08 1738 1739/10/01 1741 1762 1763 1778/09/15 1779 1783/08/19 1784/12/07 1766 1766 1732/10/11 1734 1780/07/12 1782 1763/08/14 1764 1765/09/26 1766 1767/09/21 1768 1769/07/04 1770
Arrival America
Left America
1771/08/19 1773/09/30 1776/03/06 1778/03/29 1780/09/02 1775 1777/11/08 1774 1776/11/02 1770/01/31 1772/08/24 1746 1748 1733 1732 1735 1737 1739 1742 1763/06/09 1779/07/05 1785/04/04 1767/02/15 1734
1771 1774 1776 1778/07/03
1764/12/21 1766/12/13 1768/08/10 1770/05/16
Return Last Holland 1772/04/12 1774/04/05 1776/06/17 1778/09/20
99 99 99 99 99
Cap. Sale Sp 1 2 Ship C Firm 134 139 108 108 108 140 140
1775/07/13 1778/07/15 1775 141 1777 1770/08/25 108 278 1773/06/20 108 278 1746 1748 1734/05/07 77 1733/06/04 55 143 1735/05/05 55 143 1737/08/16 55 144 1739/05/14 55 145 1742/10/29 55 1763 146 1780/05/23 148 1785 080 1767 030 1735/02/21 149 1765/06/01 84 041 1765 1767 1767/05/30 84 041 1768/10/01 1769/02/22 84 041 1770/06/29 1770/09/13 84 041
1775 1778 1775 1777 1770 1772 1746 1748 1734 1733 1735 1737 1739 1742 1763 1779 1785 1767 1734
F F F F c F c
F
MCC MCC MCC MCC MCC DMW DMW C&R C&R H&L H&L
MCC r
MV MV JC MV H&L H&L
JG b H&H JVN A JVN A JVN A JVN b
Huys ter Mee Huys ter Mee Huys ter Mee Huys ter Mee Ida Agatha Indiaan Industry Isabella Maria Jacoba Maria Jacoba Maria Jacobina Jan Elisabeth2 Jan Elisabeth2 Jan & Elisabeth Jan & Elisabeth Jan & Elisabeth Jan & Elisabeth Jan & Elisabeth Jan & Elisabeth Jan & Elisabeth Jan & Elisabeth Jan & Elisabeth Jan & Elisabeth Jan & Jacob Jan & Jacob Joan Cornelis Joan Cornelis Joan Cornelis Johanna
Z Z
z z z M Z Z Z Z
z z z z z z z z z z z z
M M M M
GG GG GG GG GG GC GG
S M
GG GG GG GG GG
s s s s s
A GC GG A
s s s s s s s s
SI SI
s s s
250 270 250 225 340 170 70 250 320 260 110 250 250 310 300 300 290 410 350 350 270 280
GG GG GC GG GG M 240 GG s 300 350 GG s 320 GG s 340 GG s 280
50 13 50 25 40 22 8 40 83 41 10 37 50 35 40 40 40 22 50 52 37 40
.200 .257 .200 .200 .300 .148 .62 210 .237 .219 100 .213 .200 275 .260 .250 .250 .388 300 .298 .233 .240
40 20 50 55 24 31
.200 .280 300 .265 .316 .249
1771/02/15 1773/07/17 1775/07/21 1778/05/04 1783 1792/02/16 1802 1772 1761/06/15 1763/08/14 1802 1765/06/29 1766/11/07 1749 1750 1752/08/15 1754/03/15 1756/01/15 1757/09/15 1760/01/15 1761/10/15 1763/08/14 1765 1775/04/06 1777/02/04 1765/11/18 1769 1770/11/17 1785/07/19
1772 1774 1776 1779 1784/04/24 1793/06/16 1803 1773/07/15 1762/05/07 1764 1803 1766 1767 1749 1750 1753 1755 1756 1758 1761 1762 1764
1772 0428 1774/06/06 1776/07/31 1779/05/22 1784/06/19 1793/08/22 1803/06/08 1773 1762/10/07 1764/12/18 1803/02/23 1766/04/24 1767/11/07 1749 1751/01/04 1753/07/26 1755/03/20 1756/12/02 1759/07/15 1761/02/06 1762/11/06 1764/08/09
1772/07/31 1774 1776 1779 1784 1793 1803 1773 1762/12/15 1765 1803 1766 1767/01/18 1750 1751/03/30 1753/10/24 1755 1757/02/12 1759 1761/04/24 1763 1764
1772/10/16 1775/01/05 1777/03/17 1779/12/20 1785 1794 1804 1774 1763/02/15 1764/07/20 1803 1766/07/25 1768 1750 1751 1754/01/15 1755/0815 1757/06/15 1759/0915 1761/06/15 1763/03/15 1765/06/01
1776 1777 1766 1771 1772 1786/05/06
1776/04/14 1778/01/07 1766 1770/07/03 1772/03/13 1786/06/29
1776 1778 1767 1770/08/03 1772/05/15 1786
1776/06/16 1778/08/20 1767 1770 1772 1787
84 84 84 84
150 bA 150 150 150 86 141 F 85 151 317 152 52 153 A 52 153 154 A 316 A 157 157 56 A 61 c A 61 155 A 61 155 61 155 Ak 61 155 61 156 A 61 156 61 156 A 61 156 156 d 137 137 089 089 158
b S
JVN JVN JVN JVN RC C&R AK AK JSZ JSZ JSZ JSZ JSZ JSZ JSZ JSZ JSZ JSZ JSZ JSZ S&D S&D H&M H&M H&M
Appendix 2 (cont) Slave-ship data of the free trade, 1730-1803 Ship name Johanna Christina Johannesburgh Johannis Jonge Adriaan Jonge Adriaan Jonge Cornelis Jonge Cornelis Jonge Dirk Jonge Dirk Jonge Hendrik Jonge Hermanis Jonge Hermanis Jonge Hermanis Jonge Issac Jonge Issac Jonge Issac Jonge Jacob Jonge Jacob Jonge Jacob Jonge Jacob
Jonge Jacob Jonge Jacob Jonge Jacob
Jonge Jacob Jonge Jacob2 Jonge Jacob2 Jonge Jan Jonge Jan Jonge Jan2
Ports Slaves Hoi. Af. Am. In Died Land Z
Z Z AM AM AM AM Z Z Z Z M M M Z Z Z Z Z Z Z Z AM AM AM AM AM
Left Holland
Left Africa
GE 115 25 .90 1772/08/29 1773 1754 S 275 40 235 1753 290 40 .250 1765 1766 GG S 250 40 210 1731/10/07 1732 250 40 210 1733/12/17 1734 1745 S 420 40 .380 1744 1747 GG S .347 .87 .260 1746 GC S 230 30 .200 1789/09/19 1790/11/15 GG S 225 25 .200 1792/04/24 1793/08/27 GC S 350 50 300 1754/05/15 1756 1747 290 40 250 1746 1749 290 40 250 1748 300 70 230 1752/01/15 1753 GG S 330 80 .250 1754/03/05 1754 GG S .470 .47 .423 1756/05/05 1757 1758 GG M .552 .38 .514 1757 250 40 210 1764/12/28 1765 1767 250 30 220 1766 GG 250 40 210 1768/12/09 1769 GG GS 250 50 .200 1770/11/15 1771 A 250 30 .220 1772/11/16 1773 GG M 250 30 220 1774/09/17 1775 GG SE 230 30 200 1777/01/24 1777 1779/06/01 1780 GG M 270 18 .252 1779 GG 1780 GG S 370 190 .180 1762 1763 A S 1765 220 50 .170 1764 1783 GG S 170 23 .147 1782 A
Arrival America
Left America
1774/01/14 1754/04/01 1766/12/16 1733 1734 1745/08/12 1747/06/06 1791/01/09 1793/11/24 1756/03/15
1774 1754 1767/04/10 1733 1735
1747 1749 1753 1755/01/02 1757/01/10 1758/08/30
1765 1768 1770 1772/02/02
1773 1775 1778 1780/04/23 1763/05/07 1765/03/09 1784/01/24
Return Last Holland 1774 1754 1767 1733/08/26 1735/05/07
1746 1747 1791 1794
Cap. Sale Sp 1 2 Ship C Firm 164 244 159
H&H A cA
50 50
166 c 166 Gb 141 F 141 F 1756/11/15 87 167 253 57 1747 1748 57 1749 1749 1753/10/15 57 168 1753 A 1755/10/15 150104 1755 A 1757/04/27 1757 150 104 1758 1759 150 104 S 1766 1766/10/15 74 S 1768 1768/08/15 74 169 S 1770/07/17 74 170 1770 S 1772/07/02 74 171 1772 S 1774/06/19 74 1774 S 1776/06/04 74 1776 1778/10/30 74 171 172 S 1778 74 S 172 c 173 c 174 1763/07/23 1763 Ak 1765 1765 071 1784/04/24 1784 175
1745/10/19 1747/08/05 1791 1794 1756/07/22
IP
AvY AvY
C&R C&R C&R MB MB MB MB MB MB MBL MB MBL
Jonge Jan2 Jonge Johannes Jonge Johannes Jonge Lambert Jonge Lambert Jonge Lambert Jonge Lambert Jonge Lambert Jonge Lambert Jonge Mattheus Ca. Jonge Pedro Jonge Pedro Jonge Pedro Jonge Pedro Jonge Pedro Jonge Pieter Galey Jonge Rombout Jonge Rombout Jonge Rombout Jonge Rombout Jonge Ruyter Jonge Ruyter Jonge Ruyter Jonge Ruyter Jonge Ruyter Jonge Ruyter Jonge Ruyter Jonge Samuel Jonge Samuel
AM Z Z Z Z Z Z Z Z Z Z Z Z Z Z Z Z Z Z Z Z Z Z Z Z Z Z Z
150 20 .130 1791/06/03 1791/10/18 280 30 .250 1776 mi 300 30 .300 1779/01/03 1779 350 25 .325 1765/12/22 1766 320 40 .280 1767/04/18 1768 340 60 .280 1768/12/09 1769 320 40 .280 1770/10/12 1771 300 50 .250 1772/09/14 1773 450 50 .400 1777/10/12 1778 .380 50 330 1766 1767/03/27 375 55 320 1733 1734 350 50 300 1735/06/06 1735 GB 350 50 300 1736/09/06 1737 375 65 310 1740/04/11 1741 375 55 320 1742/02/08 1743 275 35 240 1747 1748 GG S .356 .80 .276 1738/09/03 1739 S .296 .26 .270 1740/10/06 1741 286 26 .260 1742/07/09 1743 GG S 1743/12/15 290 40 250 1765/05/10 1766 A S 290 40 .250 1767/04/04 1768 A S 280 30 .250 1768/12/14 1769 A S 280 30 .250 1770/06/13 1771 A G D 300 30 .270 1771/12/31 1772 A SI 285 45 .240 1773/12/07 1774 GG S 240 40 .200 1776/01/16 1776 A G S 270 42 .228 1770/06/19 1771 A S 275 25 .250 1772/02/12 1772
GC GG GG A A A A A GG GC
S M S GB GB S S SI M C
1792 1777 1780 1766 1768
1739/09/25 1741/07/13 1743/05/22
1792 1777 1780 1767/01/10 1768/07/15 1770/02/24 1770/05/19 1771/11/08 1772/02/12 1773 1774/04/08 1779 1779/10/19 1767 1767 1735 1735 1736 1736/04/24 1737 1737/09/27 1741 1741/08/21 1743 1743/06/06 1748 1749 1740/02/05 1742/01/22 1741 1743/08/09 1743/10/15
1766 1768/03/29 1769/09/08 1771/03/16 1772/10/27 1774/08/27 1777/01/17 1771/04/12 1773/01/27
1766 1768/06/18 1769/10/27 1771/05/17 1773 1774 1777 1771 1773
1792/01/03 1777/04/16 1779/11/15 1766/08/29 1768/03/04 1769/12/27 1771/08/12 1773/09/12 1778/11/11
1767 1734 1736 1737/06/22
1741 1743 1748
1766/11/14 1768/08/15 1770/01/15 1771/07/08 1773/05/05 1775/05/02 1777/07/02 1771/10/08 1773/07/12
89 89 89 89 89 89
176 177 177 178 178 178 178 179 073 073 180 181
S&D S&D DMW DMW DMW DMW DMW DMW
CDC
071 071 071 74 74 74 79 79 79 79 67 67
182 182 182 182 182 182 183 183
A bA
Ak
SD SD SD SD AK AK AK AK AK AK AK MBL MBL
Appendix 2 (cont) Slave-ship data of the free trade, 1730-1803
<
Ship name Jonge Samuel Jonge Samuel Jonge Samuel Jonge Stam Jonge Stam Jonge Willem Jonge Willem2 Jonge Willem2 Jonge Willem2 Jonge Willem2 Jonge Willem2 Jonge Willem2 Keenenburg Keenenburg Keenenburg Keenenburg Kroonprins Pruisen Laarenburg Laarenburg Lammerenburg Lammerenburg Lammerenburg Lammerenburg Landlust
Lea Louisa Margarita Lust & Vlijt Maas Magdalena Maria
Slaves Ports Hoi. ,Af. Am. In Died Land
Z Z
z z z z z z z z z z
M M M M AM Z Z Z Z
A GG GG A A
S
280
SI 186 S 180 S 630 S 650
.445 .118 .189 GG M .108 M GS .163 GG GE .203 GG S GG S
S GG S
30 30 20 52 60 .108 .2 .6 .6 .18 .6
.250 .156 .160 .578 .590 .337 .116 .183 .102 .145 .197
325 49 .276 315 45 .270 GG 340 40 .300 GG 375 25 .350 200 30 170 GG M 230 20 .210 GG SI 180 30 .150 .293 .67 .226 275 25 250 A .263 .30 .233 SI 275 25 .250 AM GC 185 25 .160 AM GC 160 20 .140 AM GG 590 47 .543 AM GC 100 85 .15 450 50 400 GG Z 225 25 200
z z
s s
s s
s s s s s
Left Holland 1773/12/08 1775/09/07 1777/08/12 1757/03/15 1758/11/15 1736/12/24 1769/10/02 1771/01/15 1772/04/14 1774/06/07 1778/05/25 1780/07/18 1757 1770/08/20 1772/05/19 1775/06/20 1784/01/24 1772/03/13 1774/03/11 1739/10/01 1741/03/06 1742/06/18 1743 1788 1787/06/16 1746 1793/01/05 1770 1760/09/15
Return Last Holland
Arrival America
Left America
1774 1776 1778 1758 1759 1738/01/03 1770 1771 1773 1775 1779
1774/08/08 1776/11/23 1778/08/25 1758/03/01 1759/08/07 1739 1770/07/07 1771/08/17 1773/03/16 1776 1779/04/16
1775/01/06 1777 1778 1758/05/22 1759/12/28 1738/04/21 1770/08/03 1771/10/04 1773 1776 1779
1775/04/18 1777/0503 1779/04/13 1758/07/15 1760/03/15 1739 1770/09/30 1771/12/26 1773/07/22 1776/08/03 1779/11/21
1757 1771 1773/06/07 1776 1785 1773 1775 1740 1741 1743 1744 1789/05/16 1788/05/07 1747 1793/07/03 1771 1761
1757 1771/06/18 1773/07/11 1776/04/20 1785 1773/02/23 1775/04/06 1740/07/08 1742 1743/03/10 1744/11/10 1789/07/18 1788/07/24 1747/09/01 1793/11/14 1771/12/10 1762
1758 1771/08/09 1773 1776 1785 1773 1775 1740 1742 1743/07/03 1745 1789 1788 1748/02/10 1794 1772/05/01 1762
1758 1771 1774 1776 1785 1773/08/28 1775/10/14 1740/10/05 1742/04/19 1743/08/26 1745 1790 1789 1748 1794 1772 1762/06/15
Left Africa
67 67 67 87 87 87 70 70 70 70 70
Cap. Sale Sp 1 2 Ship C Firm 184 185 185 183 183 105 105 105 186
c
MBL MBL MBL
F F s F F F
MCC MCC MCC MCC MCC
A
u 187 187 187 187
A
190 190 188 188 189 189 117 Br 191 c A 078 000 192 H c A 193 53 194
C&R C&R C&R C&R H&L H&L AK bAk
PvH
JZZ
Magdalena Maria Z Z Magdalena Maria Z Magdalena Maria Z Magdalena Maria Z Magdalena Maria Z Magdalena Maria Magtelt Maria z Maria z Maria Elisabeth z Maria Elisabeth z Maria Galey Maria Geertruy GaleyM Maria Geertruy GaleyM Maria Geertruy GaleyM Maria Geertruy GaleyM Maria Geertruy GaleyM Maria Geertruy GaleyM Maria Geertruy GaleyM M Maria Isabella M Maria Isabella M Maria Isabella M Maria Isabella M Maria Isabella Z Maria Jacoba Z Maria Jacoba Z Maria Jacoba Z Maria Jacoba Z Maria Jacoba
GG S GG S GG GG s GG s A s A s
GC GG GG GG GG GG A
s s c s s s s s s s s s s s s s
GG
s
A GG GG GG GG GG GC
250 14 .236 1762/09/13 230 30 .200 1764/05/26 230 30 .200 1765/12/23 230 20 .210 1767/11/23 250 30 .220 1769/06/04 230 20 .210 1770/11/15 440 40 .400 1764 275 55 220 1737/07/22 275 35 240 1739/05/08 450 90 .360 1743/06/15 470 45 .425 1745 .317 27 290 1747 331 30 .301 1753 .367 .37 .330 1755/11/15 400 40 .360 1757/09/15 420 41 .379 1759 400 50 .350 1761/12/15 375 50 325 1762/12/15 350 50 .300 1764/05/22 .271 .11 .260 1768/08/08 400 30 .370 1769/09/16 420 20 .400 1770/10/02 300 60 .240 1773/03/25 310 30 .280 1774/10/20 .480 .30 .450 1745 400 50 350 1747 400 50 350 1748 300 97 .203 1749 390 40 .350 1752/01/15
1763 1765 1766 1768 1770 1771 1765 1738 1740 1744 1746 1748/06/06 1754 1756 1758 1760 1762 1763 1765 1769/04/01 1770 1771 1774/01/13 1775 1746 1747 1749 1751 1752
1763/08/27 1765/05/10 1766 1768/10/04 1770/04/08 1771/07/30 1765/10/03 1738 1740 1744/06/20 1746/04/02 1748 1754/12/03 1756/11/30 1758/06/27 1760/05/29 1762/04/27 1763 1765/08/29 1769/05/22 1770/06/16 1771/12/16 1774/04/02 1775/11/08 1746/05/29 1747 1749 1751/03/09 1753
1763/12/01 1765 1767 1768/12/30 1770/05/19 1771/09/20 1765 1739 1741 1744/08/29 1746/06/06 1748 1755/03/21 1756/04/18 1758/09/15 1760 1762/06/25 1764 1766/02/27 1769/06/23 1770/06/29 1772/02/05 1774/07/01 1776/03/16 1746/07/16 1748 1749 1751/05/15 1753
1764/02/15 1765/09/20 1767/06/25 1769/03/03 1770/07/13 1771/11/26 1766 1739/02/05 1741 1744/11/26 1746 1749 1755/06/15 1756 1758 1761 1762 1764 1766 1769 1770 1772 1774 1776 1746/02/02 1748 1749 1751/05/15 1753
70 70 70 70 70 70
194 194 195 195 195 195 196
M b A b b M A
JZZ JZZ JZZ JZZ JZZ JZZ MP J.T
77 77 77 77 77 77 77
198 198 313 199 199 199 200 104 104 104 104 010 010 010 201 201
70 70 70 70 202 70
s Ak s A A A
A A b b c s A
s
C&R C&R C&R C&R C&R C&R C&R C&R C&R C&R C&R C&R
Appendix 2 (cont) Slave-ship data of the free trade, 1730-1803 Ship name Maria Jacoba Maria Jacoba Maria Magdalena Maria2 Maria2 Maria2 Maria2 Maria2 Maria2 Maria2 Meerenburg Meermin Meermin Meermin Meermin Meermin Meermin Meermin Meeuw Meliskerke Meliskerke Mercurius Mercurius Mercurius Mercurius Mercurius Meydrecht Middachten Muscovische Galey
Slaves Ports Hoi. Af. Am. In Died Land A A GG A A A A A A GG
Left Holland
430 60 .370 1753/08/15 400 50 .350 1755/09/15 235 25 .210 1765 z s 310 41 .269 1766/02/06 z s 270 60 .210 1768/02/01 z s 270 20 .250 1769/12/29 z s 300 40 .260 1771/08/23 z c 290 30 .260 1773/04/26 SE 320 40 .280 1774/10/28 z GE 240 40 .200 1777/08/13 z AM 200 30 170 1788/08/05 Z A 350 50 300 1762/12/15 Z A S 360 32 .328 1764/05/26 Z A S 360 31 .329 1765/12/05 Z A S 300 50 .250 1767/11/23 Z A S 270 50 .220 1769/12/01 Z A S 290 30 .260 1772/03/05 Z A s 250 30 .220 1774/03/23 Z GC SI 235 15 .220 1792/02/16 z GG s .310 .32 .278 1748 z GG s 300 85 .215 1751 235 35 200 1750 z z GC s .231 .32 .199 1753/09/13 240 40 200 1755/03/15 z 230 30 200 1758/06/15 z 200 25 175 1760/07/15 z 350 40 310 1731/12/07 z 1732/01/01 z z s 300 33 .267 1743/08/19
Z Z
S S S
Return Last Holland
Arrival America
Left America
1754 1756 1766 1767 1769 1770 1772 1773 1775 1778 1789 1763 1765 1766 1768 1771 1773 1775 1793/01/04 1749 1752 1751 1754 1756 1759 1761 1733
1754/08/22 1756/07/13 1767/01/12 1767/05/23 1769/05/28 1771/01/21 1772/06/13 1774/01/27 1775/12/13 1778/07/15 1789 1763 1765/03/24 1766/10/23 1769/01/10 1771/03/02 1773/04/12 1775/05/31 1793/02/17 1749/08/09 1752/11/30 1751 1754/09/08 1756 1759 1761 1733
1754/10/25 1756 1767 1767/08/10 1769/07/14 1771/03/15 1772/09/04 1774 1776
1755/03/15 1756/12/15 1767 1767/10/19 1769/11/14 1771/05/15 1772/11/10 1774/06/29 1776/06/06
1789 1764 1765/05/10 1767 1769 1771/05/31 1773/07/02 1776/01/12 1793 1749/12/11 1753/03/07 1752 1754/11/16 1756 1759 1761 1734
1790 1764/02/11 1765/08/04 1767/05/07 1769/06/02 1771/08/05 1773/09/02 1776/04/01 1793 1750 1753 1752/03/15 1755/01/19 1756/11/15 1759/09/15 1762 1734/02/04
1744
1744/07/20
1744/09/24 1744/12/11
Left Africa
Cap. Sale Sp 1 2 Ship C Firm
70 202 70 202 195 79 089 79 189 79 189 79 189 79 197 79 197 79 197 81 81 81 81 81 81 81
48 48 48 48 48 72 68
s A A A S A Sb k Sb Sb S S S d
S&L S&L S&L S&L S&L S&L S&L
BSS 203 A BSS 203 BSS A 203 BSS 203 BSS b 203 BSS b 203 c k BSS 203 204 070 255 s A s Ak 205 MCC 112 S Ss A MCC 076 MCC 077 S MCC 206 S MCC 207 S A.C IR b 131 102 s A
Muscovische Galey Muscovische Galey Muscovische Galey M'burgs Welvaren M'burgs Welvaren M'burgs Welvaren M'burgs Welvaren M'burgs Welvaren M'burgs Welvaren M'burgs Welvaren Nehalenia Nehalenia Nehalenia Neptunis Neptunis Neptunis Neptunis Neptunis Neptunis Neptunis2 Neptunis2 Neptunis3 Neptunis3 Neptunis3 Neptunis3 Neptunis3 Neptunis4 Nicolaas Nicolaas
Z Z
S GG S GC s GG GB GC S GG s GG s A c A c A c
320 250 210 z 265 z .270 z .291 z .300 z .428 z .455 z .410 z z s 270 300 z 280 z 400 z z A s .280 z A s .309 z A s 320 z s 370 A s 385 AM s 630 Z s 380 A s 290 z z A SI 290 z A M 300 z GG s 280 300 z A SI 380 AM GG s .270 AM GC s 350
40 35 37 238 .53 .26 .45 .10 .203 .5 50 50 55 50 .80 .1 34 27 35 36 200 40 30 50 30 75 23 .179 50
.280 .215 .173 .27 .217 .265 .255 .418 .252 .405 .220 250 225 350 .200 .308 .286 .343 .350 .594 .180 250 .260 .250 .250 225 .357 .91 .300
1745 1746 1749 1749 1752/08/19 1754/12/20 1756/10/22 1758/10/20 1761/01/07 1762/08/13 1746 1749 1753/03/15 1739/07/06 1741/01/17 1742/09/27 1744/01/18 1745 1746 1744 1746/06/27 1772/10/22 1774/06/08 1776 1778/06/30 1785 1748 1756 1759
1746 1747 1750 1750 1753 1755 1757 1759 1761 1763 1747 1750 1754 1740 1741 1743/03/01 1744/08/15 1746 1747 1745 1748 1773 1775 1777 1779 1786 1749 1757 1760
1746/02/05 1747/11/25 1750/07/26 1751/02/11 1754/01/09 1755/11/27 1757/07/20 1760 1762 1763 1747/12/07 1750 1754 1740 1742/01/14 1743/04/21 1744/10/17 1746/02/16 1747/05/02 1745/05/04 1749/02/27 1773/07/25 1775/04/05 1777/04/25 1779/05/13 1786 1750/02/09 1757/07/17 1760/05/30
1746/04/15 1748/03/10 1750/11/30 1751 1754/03/23 1756 1757/10/20 1760 1762/05/04 1763 1748/03/11 1751 1754 1740 1742 1743/07/03 1745/01/09 1746/04/15
1746 1748 1751 1751/06/17 1754/06/03 1756/05/03 1758/03/18 1760/03/19 1762/04/26 1763/11/03 1748 1751 1755/07/15 1740/10/11 1742/0625 1743/09/06 1745/03/22 1746
1745/08/23 1749 1773 1775 1777 1779/07/23 1786 1750 1757/10/28 1760/07/15
1745 1749 1774/08/26 1775/08/30 1777 1779/10/10 1787 1750/08/15 1757 1760
67 67 67 67 67 67 88 59 59 59
102 102 102 208 209 209 147 147 210 209
s A s A c r MCC F s A MCC F A MCC F A MCC F MCC F MCC F w MCC
015 212 211 211 k 211 s A s 205 G Ad 153 c A 213 214 G S 039 S 039 039 s 039 S c r S 153 k 215 027 c
JSZ JSZ JSZ JSZ JSZ JSZ
TW TW TW TW TW
Appendix 2 (cont) Slave-ship data of the free trade, 1730-1803 Ship name Nicolaas Nicolaas Nicolaas Nicolaas Nicolaas Nicolaas Nicolaas Nicolaas Jan Nicolaas Jan Nicolaas Theodorus Nicolaas Theodorus Nieuwe Hoop Nieuwe Hoop Nieuwe Hoop Nieuwe Hoop Nieuwe Hoop Nieuwe Hoop Nieuwe Hoop Nieuwe Hoop Nieuwe Hoop Nieuwe Hoop2 Nieuwe Hoop2 Nooitgedacht Oldenbarneveld Oostenstax Orange Galey Oud Domburg Oud Domburg Oudekerk
<Slaves Ports Hoi. ,<\f. Am. In Died Land AM AM AM AM AM AM AM Z Z M M Z Z Z Z Z Z Z Z Z Z AM
GG GG GC A GG GG GG GG GC GG GG GG A GG GG GC GG GG GG GG GG GC GG AM GC GC A Z Z SL GG
370 350 340 270 310 300 250 200 GD.180 S 280 GB .350 M .305 SE .351 S .325 S .262 s .260 M .214 GS .268 SE .298 GS .215 GD 210 S 200 157 S S 200 S .210 S 350 400 400 c 401
S S S S S S S
32 38 44 51 30 20 62 25 .44 30 .150 .42 .13 .34 .13 .23 .39 .29 .16 .13 10 20 140 11 .24 45 60 55 51
.338 .312 .296 .219 .280 .280 .188 175 .136 .250 .200 .263 .338 .291 .249 .237 .175 .239 .282 .202 .200 .180 .17 .189 .186 .305 340 345 350
Left Holland 1760 1763 1764 1766 1768 1769 1772 1779/10/04 1783/11/03 1768/11/24 1770/10/02 1762/08/13 1764/05/26 1766/12/27 1768/08/27 1770/04/30 1772/07/03 1775/07/13 1779/02/19 1783/10/12 1784/10/12 1789/09/21 1771 1787/09/06 1794 1753 1760/06/15 1762/08/15 1748
Left Africa 1761 1764 1765 1767 1767 1770 1773 1780 1784/09/20 1770 1772 1763 1765 1767 1769 1771 1773 1776 1779 1784 1785/02/16 1790/04/21 1772/10/23 1788/05/21 1795 1754 1761 1763 1749/07/15
Arrival America
Left America
1762/01/30 1764/02/28 1765/08/21 1767/05/23 1769/04/04 1770/12/10 1773/04/04 1780 1784/12/21 1770/04/06 1772/05/20 1763/06/21 1765 1767/12/27 1769/07/18 1771/03/31 1773/11/27 1777 1779/12/27 1785 1785/05/18 1790/06/15 1773/04/23 1788/07/24 1795/07/03 1754/05/15 1761 1763 1749
1762/03/26 1764/05/11 1765/10/11 1767/08/07 1769 1771 1773/06/25 1780 1785 1770/05/25 1772 1763 1766 1768/03/05 1769 1771/05/31 1774 1777 1780 1785 1785 1790/09/28 1773 1788/11/07 1795 1754/09/21 1762 1763 1750
Return Last Holland 1762 1764 1765 1767 1769 1771 1773 1781 1785/08/16 1770 1772 1764/01/16 1766/02/19 1768/05/30 1769/12/16 1771/09/04 1774/06/14 1777/06/02 1780/05/20 1785 1285 1790 1773 1789 1796 1762/02/15 1750
82 82 82 82 82 82 82 82 82
Cap. Sale Sp> 1 2 Ship C Firm 027 I 027 A 217 c 217 217 218 219 219 c H&L 195 H&L S 220 b C&R 221 k C&R 221 52 MCC 147 S MCC 147 S 279 206 S A MCC MCC S 206 MCC 222 S b MCC 222 S MCC 222 S MCC S 223 S d MCC 224 F 186 F 165 k 071 Fc 165
225 87 226 116 227 097
c A DMW uDMW
Oudekerk Outhuysen Outhuysen Palm Boom Paulus Pelicaan Petronalla Cecilia Petronalla Cecilia Petronalla Cecilia Petronalla Cecilia Petronalla Cecilia Petronalla Cecilia Philadelphia Philadelphia Philadelphia Philadelphia Philadelphia Philadelphia Philadelphia Philadelphia Phoenix Princess Carolina Princess Royaal Princess Royaal Princess Royaal Princess Royaal Princess Royaal Princess Royaal Prins v Orange
Z Z
z
GG
AM Z Z Z Z Z Z Z Z Z Z Z Z Z Z
GC
z z z z z z z z
GC GC GG GG GG A A GG A A A A A A
GB 500 S 340 S 250 200 SI 430 GB 420 200 225 200 200 200 200 250 S .229 s .271 GS .308 s .337 s .312 .358 c .324 s 210 300 s 330 s 300 SE 305 SE 430 .350 350 310
70 27 40 20 66 40 40 45 20 20 20 30 25 .15 .18 .22 .77 .25 .29 .73 27 50 30 50 40 50 50 50 50
.430 .313 .210 .180 .364 .380 160 180 180 180 180 170 225 .214 .253 .286 .260 .287 .329 .251 .183 .250 .300 250 .265 .380 300 300 260
1757 1744/11/15 1746 1786/07/06 1758 1789/01/06 1752/09/15 1754/07/15 1756/05/15 1758/01/15 1759/09/15 1761/06/15 1750 1752/11/18 1754/09/21 1756/09/06 1758/06/24 1760/02/22 1762/04/12 1763/10/07 1793 1747 1771/01/13 1772/05/19 1774/06/08 1779/05/23 1780 1782/11/29 1734/10/16
1758 1745 1747 1787 1759 1790/04/24 1753 1755 1757 1759 1760 1762 1751 1753 1755 1757 1759 1760 1763 1764 1794 1747 1771 1773 1775 1779 1781 1783 1735
1758/12/11 1745/12/04 1747/10/30 1787 1759/02/21 1790/07/09 1754 1755 1757 1759 1761 1762 1752 1754/01/09 1755/07/11 1757/06/18 1759 1761/01/13 1763 1765 1794/08/13 1748 1771/08/12 1773/04/12 1775/05/27 1779/11/19 1781 1784 1735
1759 1745 1748/02/10 1788 1759 1790 1754 1756 1757 1759 1761 1763 1752 1754/03/23 1755 1757 1759/06/29 1761/04/11 1763 1765 1794 1748 1772 1773 1775/07/15 1780
1759 1746/05/15 1748 1788 1759 1791 1754/05/15 1756/03/15 1757/09/15 1759/06/15 1761/06/15 1763 1752/07/15 1754/06/04 1755/12/21 1757/11/12 1759/09/10 1761/07/08 1763/08/10 1765/07/14 1795 1748 1772/01/10 1773/09/07 1776 1780/05/01
1784 1735
1784 1736/01/15
228 229 230 230
A s H&H
231 232 49 233 49 49 233 49 49 49 234 60 235 60 083 60 083 60 083 60 083 60 083 80 236 80 221 237
F Fb F Fb F F F F F
MCC A MCC A r MCC A MCC MCC A MCC MCC MCC
99 99 99 99 99 99
F F Fc F F F
AK AK AK AK AK AK AK
238 056 056 136 239 239
d WIC
c
Appendix 2 (cont) Slave-ship data of the free trade, 1730-1803 Ship name
t
Prins Willem Prins Willem Prins Willem Prins Willem V Prins Willem V Prins Willem V Prins Willem V Prins Willem V Prins Willem V Prins Willem V Prins Willem V Prins Willem V Prins Willem V Prins Willem V Prins Willem V Publicola Publicola Publicola Publicola Raadhuys v M'burg Raadhuys v M'burg Raadhuys v M'burg Raadhuys v M'burg Raadhuys v M'burg Raadhuys v M'burg Raadhuys v M'burg Raadhuys v M'burg Raadhuys v M'burg Raaff
Ports Slaves Hoi. Af. Am. In Died Land Z Z
280 .310 z GG S 340 350 z S .261 z z GC S .233 z A C .348 z A S .465 z A S .478 z GG SE .306 z GG S .312 z GG s .239 z A s .340 z A s .377 z A s .313 M GC s 425 M GG s 400 M GG GB 350 M GC 350 Z 250 Z 250 Z 245 Z 255 Z 255 Z GG s .272 Z s .252 Z .281 Z 250 175 AMI S
50 .35 10 50 .15 .8 .8 .2 .4 .12 .37 .18 .7 .89 .4 55 50 50 50 25 25 20 30 30 .41 .26 .31 25 15
.230 .275 .330 300 .246 .225 .340 .463 .474 .294 .275 .221 .333 .288 .309 .370 .350 .300 300 225 235 225 225 225 .231 .226 .250 225 160
Left Holland 1749 1751/11/15 1756 1749 1751/12/11 1753/08/11 1755/05/23 1757/04/19 1759/06/20 1761/03/09 1762/11/10 1764/11/24 1767/06/09 1769/03/21 1771/06/26 1761/12/15 1763 1765/09/11 1767 1731/11/02 1734/05/28 1736/07/03 1738/02/07 1739/08/10 1741/01/20 1742/08/10 1745/06/13 1746/07/24 1791/09/24
Left Africa 1751 1752 1757 1750 1752 1754 1756 1757 1759 1761 1763 1765 1768 1770 1772 1762 1764 1766 1768 1732 1734 1737 1738 1740 1741 1743 1745 1747 1792
Return Last Holland
Arrival America
Left America
1751/02/17 1752 1758/02/01 1751 1752/10/27 1754/06/02 1756 1758/01/07 1760/01/05 1762 1763/10/20 1766/02/09 1768/05/25 1770/05/13 1772/05/25 1762/06/13 1764/12/18 1766/12/13 1768 1733 1735 1737 1739 1740 1742 1743/05/08 1746 1747 1792
1751/05/15 1752 1758 1751 1753/01/27 1754/09/02 1756 1758/04/07 1760 1763 1763/02/17 1766/04/25 1768 1770/07/07
1751 175 1758 1751 1753/04/27 1754/10/26 1756/07/30 1758/06/17 1760/06/28 1762/05/16 1764/04/14 1766/06/30 1768/10/08 1770/09/15
1762/09/17 1765/03/07 1767 1768 1733 1735 1737 1739 1740 1742 1743/07/20 1746 1748 1793
1762 1765 1767 1769 1733/11/12 1735/06/13 1737/08/24 1739/05/22 1740/10/03 1742/04/17 1743/09/30 1746/06/24 1748 1793
Cap. Sale Sp 1 2 Ship C Firm 241 240
s
240 72 72 72 72 72 72 72 79 79 79 79 79 103 103 103 103 53 53 53 53 53 53 53 53 53
242 242 242 242 242 242 242 081 081 186 243 243 243
166
F Fs A F A F F F F F A FbA F A 186 F b F d A A
F F F F F F F s F F
MCC MCC MCC MCC MCC MCC MCC MCC MCC MCC MCC MCC C&R C&R C&R C&R MCC MCC MCC MCC MCC MCC MCC MCC MCC
Ramsburg Ramsburg Ramsburg Ramsburg Ramsburg Rebecca Resolutie Rotterdam Rotterdam Rusthof Sara Henrietta Sara Henrietta Sara Maria Sara Maria Sara Suzanna Maria Sara Suzanna Maria Sara Suzanna Maria Snoek Spreeuwenburg Spreeuwenburg Spreeuwenburg Spreeuwenburg Spreeuwenburg Spreeuwenburg Spreeuwenburg Spreeuwenburg Standvastigheid Standvastigheid Standvastigheidl
Z Z
S
z z z
GG s GG s GG s GG s AM GC s M s M Z Z GG Z GG M
s
GG s AM GG M AM GG S AM GG S Z S Z A s Z GG SE Z Z Z A GS Z A S Z A S Z S Z GG S Z GG S Z GG S
280 250 290 260 230 250 350 .290 290 350 200 200 350 380 350 360 .390 460 340 340 350 310 355 355 255 260 .231 .281 270
50 25 50 46 34 34 50 .86 40 50 30 30 52 30 50 60 .42 40 40 40 50 35 40 32 43 54 .11 .25 20
.230 225 .240 .214 .196 .216 .300 .204 250 300 170 170 .298 350 .300 .300 .348 .420 .300 300 300 275 315 .313 .212 .206 .220 .256 .250
1747 1749 1751/01/15 1752/10/15 1754/10/15 1771 1753 1754 1758/12/12 1733/04/15 1772/10/10 1776/03/22 1777 1779/09/17 1773/12/08 1776/07/31 1779/03/05 1744/05/15 1754 1756/04/15 1757/10/15 1760/01/15 1762 1763/12/18 1765/12/03 1767/09/20 1790/11/24 1802/09/23 1765
1748 1750 1752 1754 1755 1772 1754 1755 1760 1734 1773 1777 1778 1780 1774 1777 1780 1745 1755 1756 1758 1761 1763 1764 1766 1768 1792/03/02 1803/06/16 1766
1748/05/26 1750 1752/03/14 1754/04/04 1755/11/14 1772/05/20 1754/06/18 1755/09/13 1761 1734 1773 1777/05/30 1778/07/05 1780/05/17 1774/09/02 1777/11/08 1780/02/12 1745/03/06 1755/05/04 1757/01/06 1759 1761 1763/09/03 1764/12/31 1766/12/11 1768/11/29 1792/05/10 1803/08/13 1766/12/30
1748/08/20 1750 1752/06/02 1754/06/12 1756 1772 1754/08/16 1756/02/19 1761 1734 1774 1777 1778 1780 1774/10/11 1778/03/24 1780 1745/06/07 1755 1757 1759 1761 1763 1765 1767/02/27 1769 1792/07/30
1748 1750 1752 1754/08/15 1756/04/15 1772 1754 1756/05/15 1761/12/15 1734/09/30 1774/08/26 1777/08/25 1779 1780 1775/04/18 1778/05/31 1780/1015 1746/03/15 1755/09/15 1757/0615 1759/09/15 1761/07/15 1763 1765/01/25 1767/05/31 1769/0528 1792/11/13
1767/04/23 1767
59 59 59 59 59
59 59
60 60 60 60
244
S A
244 244 245 246 247 248 51 249 250 077 313 125 141 251 251 251 252 253 253
s b A A C c A c C
253 253 253 253 255 315 254
AD DMW DMW A.A A.A H&L H&L H&L
c s A
JSZ JSZ JSZ JSZ JSZ A JSZ JSZ b A JSZ Fc A MCC F c MCC MCC
Appendix 2 (cont) Slave-ship data of the free trade, 1730-1803 Ship name
Ports Slaves Hoi. Af. Am. In Died Land
Surinaamse Galey Surinaamse Galey Surinaamse Vriend. Surinaamse Vriend. Surinaamse Vriend. Surinaamse Welvaart Surinaamse Welvaart Surinaamse Welvaart Surinaamse Welvaart Surinaamse Welvaart Surinaamse Welvaart Surinaamse Welvaart Surinaamse Welvaart Surinaamse Welvaart Surinaamse Welvaart Surinaamse Welvaart Surinaamse Welvaart Surinaamse Welvaart Surinaamse Welvaart Surinaamse Welvaart Surinaamse Welvaart Suriname Suriname2 Suzanna Helena Suzanna Jacoba Suzanna Jacoba Suzanna Jacoba Taamen Taamen
AM AM Z Z Z AM AM AM AM AM AM AM AM AM AM AM AM AM AM AM AM AM Z Z Z Z Z Z Z
GC S
s GG GG GG GG GG GG GG GC GC GG GG GG GG GG GG GG SC GC GG
A
s s s s s s s s s s s s s s s s s s s s s s s s s
Left Holland
280 70 .210 1742 300 20 .280 1744 325 50 275 1747 270 70 .200 1749 310 16 .294 1752/01/15 400 50 .350 1745 360 100 .260 1748 280 80 .200 1750 340 40 .300 1753 350 49 .301 1755 360 31 .329 1757 390 40 .350 1759 330 63 .267 1760 310 42 .268 1762 320 29 .291 1764 310 30 .280 1766 320 27 .293 1767 340 49 .291 1769 300 220 .80 1772 310 24 .286 1774 330 30 .300 1776 530 52 .478 1748 160 20 .140 1786/06/14 270 48 .222 1770/03/09 310 39 .271 1743/03/25 300 33 .267 1744/12/15 390 40 .350 1746 350 50 300 1739/10/16 310 40 .270 1741/12/14
Left Africa 1743 1745 1748 1751 1753 1746 1749 1751 1754 1756 1758 1760 1761 1763 1765 1767 1768 1770 1773/01/07 1775 1777 1749 1787/11/09 1771 1744 1745 1747 1740 1742
Arrival America
Left America
1743/06/01 1745/01/05 1748 1751/02/15 1753/02/13 1747/01/13 1749/05/10 1751/05/25 1754/12/04 1756/12/18 1758/07/22 1760/02/05 1761/10/12 1763/07/04 1765/06/20 1767/01/27 1768/12/16 1770/09/24 1773/05/21 1775/06/27 1777/07/26 1749/06/27 1788/01/05 1771/01/28 1744/03/25 1745/12/28 1747/08/12 1741 1742/12/22
1743/07/26 1745/02/20 1748 1751/05/15 1753/04/26 1747/03/07 1749/07/08 1751/07/16 1755 1757/04/18 1758/09/22 1760/04/04 1762/01/27 1763 1765/09/13 1767/04/03 1769 1771/02/08 1773/07/23 1775 1778/01/09 1749/11/04 1788/05/10 1771/04/26 1744/06/01 1746/03/16 1748/01/11 1741 1743/04/07
Return Last Holland 1743 1745 1749 1751/08/17 1753 1747 1749 1751 1755 1756 1758 1760 1762 1764 1765 1767 1769 1771 1773 1775 1778 1749 1788 1771/09/05 1744/08/11 1746/05/15 1748 1741/05/09 1743/06/10
Cap. Sale Sp 1 2 Ship C Firm 247 247
s s
60 60 198 s A 60 198 247 C 247 C C 247 A 027 A 027 A 027 259 A 259 259 259 c A c 259 127 127 c k 142 127 260 b k 142 260 c c 142 261 c A 256 257 A 100 262 263 235 s 235 s A 235 s A 264
s
Taamen Taamen Trompenburg TVee Gezusters TVvee Gezusters T\vee Jonge Joachims TVvee Jonge Joachims TXvee Jonge Joachims Twee Jonge Joachims Vaderland Getrouw Valkenisse Valkenisse Valkenisse Valkenisse Valkenisse Valkenisse Vergenoegen Vergenoegen Vergenoegen Vergenoegen Verrekijker Verrekijker Verrekijker Vertrouwen Vertrouwen Verwachting Verwachting Verwachting Verwagting2
Z Z AM Z Z Z Z Z Z Z
z z z z z z z z z z z z z z z z z
340 350 90 GC S GG M 270 GG M 290 310 GG S 300 GG GG GB 300 300 GG GC GD 230 S
30 50 30 37 20 23 50 40 40 40
.310 300 .60 .233 .270 .287 250 .260 260 .190
350 50 300 350 50 300 350 50 300 350 50 300 350 50 300 GC S .386 .22 .362 GC S .266 .59 .207 A S .393 .44 .352 GG S 310 29 .281 A S 270 40 .230 A 225 25 200 A 225 25 200 GC GB 170 20 .150 .95 .6 .89 GG S A S 290 40 .250 A s 330 30 .300 A s 350 50 .300 GG SE 340 40 .300
1743/09/23 1745 1792 1773/03/29 1775/04/06 1768/02/06 1769/07/15 1771/09/04 1773/05/24 1783/12/18 1735/05/19 1736/08/02 1738/10/03 1740/06/01 1742/03/22 1743/11/18 1786/06/03 1788/05/13 1793/11/20 1794 1771/04/29 1773/02/02 1777/01/25 1789/08/03 1802 1768/07/01 1769/11/11 1771/12/31 1778/04/02
1744 1746 1793/04/12 1774 1776 1768 1770 1772 1774 1785/03/23 1736 1737 1739 1741 1743 1744 1787/03/25 1789/11/06 1795/01/12 1794 1772 1773 1777 1791/05/18 1803 1769 1770 1772 1779
1744/11/04 1746 1793/06/04 1774/02/10 1776/02/28 1768/11/19 1771 1772/07/17 1774 1785/06/03 1736 1737 1739 1741 1743 1744 1787/06/07 1790/01/09 1795/02/26 1795/03/01 1772/04/06 1774 1778 1791/08/19 1803/06/14 1769/06/17 1771/01/17 1772/11/24 1779/06/29
1745/01/27 1747 1793 1774 1776 1769/02/14 1771 1773 1774 1785 1736 1737 1740 1741 1743 1745 1787/08/28 1790 1797 1795 1772/07/11 1774 1778 1791 1803 1769/07/14 1771/03/15 1773 1779
1745/04/06 1747 1793 1774/08/26 1776/06/27 1769/05/25 1771/05/15 1773/01/12 1774/10/25 1785 1736/04/30 1738/01/20 1740/03/14 1741/10/20 1743/06/21 1745/02/15 1787/11/14 1790/07/24 1797/0919 1795 1772/09/26 1774/10/06 1778 1804 1769/09/14 1771/05/22 1773/05/22 1780/05/13
s
264
107 107 107 107
265 195 195 137 137 137 163 266 267
JZZ JZZ CK CK CK CK
b
S
Fc 105 038 105 038268 F 105 60 60 60 102 91 91 91 91 95
H&H H&H H&H w RC
A
120
033 033 033 190
MCC MCC MCC
b b Fc
JSZ JSZ k JSZ H&L
Appendix 2 (cont) Slave-ship data of the free trade, 1730-1803 Ship name Verwagting2 Verwagting2 Verwagting2 Verwagting2 Verwagting3 Vigilant Vigilantie Vigilantie Vigilantie2 Vigilantie2 Vigilantie2 Vigilantie2 Vijf Gezusters Vijf Gezusters Vijf Gezusters Violivo Geertruyd Vis Vis Vliegende Faam Vliegende Faam Vliegende Faam Vliegende Faam Vliegende Tijdt Vlissingen Vlissingen Vlissingen Vlissingen Vlissingen Vlissingen
Slaves Ports Hoi. Af. Am. In Died Land M Z Z Z Z
GG GC A A GC Z GG Z GG Z GG Z GG z GC A AM GG AM GG AM GG Z Z GG Z GG Z Z GG Z GG Z GG Z Z GC Z GC Z Z GC Z GG Z GG
Left Holland
350 50 .300 1780/11/03 GD 340 40 300 1784/07/05 GD 360 29 .331 1787/12/24 SI 350 50 .300 1790/02/22 S 200 50 .150 1792/03/27 S 130 25 .105 1788 S .246 .11 .235 1778/08/09 S .267 .56 .211 1780/03/25 GD 290 40 250 1785/12/19 250 25 225 1789/04/06 M 330 36 .294 1792/01/20 S 450 50 400 1801 S 270 24 .246 1764 S 260 24 .236 1766 S 250 42 .208 1770 290 40 250 1757/05/15 GS .238 .16 .222 1774/10/28 1779/02/02 250 70 180 1753/10/15 S .281 .99 .182 1756/03/05 GE .212 .25 .187 1770/08/14 S .168 .17 .151 1772/08/28 275 75 200 1730/12/10 S 260 30 .230 1755/09/15 SI 330 30 .300 1757/05/15 300 25 275 1759/03/15 S 300 40 .260 1760/09/15 S 290 36 .254 1762/10/09 S 260 40 .220 1764/07/30
Left Africa
Arrival America
1781 1785 1789 1791/01/08 1793/07/07 1789/04/18 1779 1780 1787 1790 1793/01/25 1802 1765 1767 1771 1758 1775
1782 1785/07/15 1789/03/13 1791/02/21 1793/08/19 1789/05/30 1779/04/23 1780/10/11 1787/03/26 1791 1793/02/26 1803/01/11 1765/12/14 1767/12/04 1771/09/14 1758 1775/11/14
1754 1757 1771 1773 1732 1756 1758 1760 1761 1763 1766
1755 1757/06/22 1771/06/15 1773/11/25 1732 1756/08/28 1758/05/31 1760 1761/12/05 1763/08/08 1766/02/02
Left America
Return Last Holland
1785 1789 1791 1793 1789 1779
1786/06/17 1789 1791 1794 1790 1779/09/08
1787 1791 1793 1803 1766/03/14 1768/02/19 1772/01/18 1759 1776
1787 1791 1793 1803 1766 1768 1772 1759 1776/07/17
1755 1757/09/30 1771 1774 1732 1756 1758 1760 1762/03/12 1763/12/01 1766/05/06
1755/10/15 1758/02/05 1771/12/21 1774/06/05 1732/07/03 1757/01/15 1758/11/15 1760/07/15 1762/06/15 1764/02/16 1766/07/16
Cap. Sale Sp 1 2 Ship c Firm
95 95 190 95 270 95 270 270 273 97 271 97 272 105 251 105 274 105 275 270 283 283 283 59 102 107 276 107 034 51 205 51 205 71 108 71 108 277 52 278 52 278 52 52 278 69 278 69 278
F F F F S
u A.A
S
MCC rw MCC H&L H&L H&L
H&L H&L H&L
s
F F F
C c F A r b S S
s s A
A A A
MCC MCC MCC MCC MCC MCC CB AK AK AK AK AK AK
Vlissingen Vlissingen Vlissingen Vlissings Hooft Neg. Vogelstein Vreede Vriendschap Vriendschap Vriendschap Vriendschap2 Vrijburg Vrijheyd Vrijheyd Vrindschap Vr. Johanna Cores Vr. Johanna Cores Vr. Johanna Cores Vr. Johanna Cores Vr. Johanna Cores Vr. Johanna Cores Vr. Johanna Cores Vr. Johanna Cores Vr. Johanna Cores Vr. Johanna Cores2 Waakzaamheid Waakzaamheid Waakzaamheid Watergeus Watergeus
S 330 S 250 S 240 SI 300 155 S S 200 AM GG S 300 AM GG S 250 AM GG S 300 GG c 330 Z 300 A s 550 GD 450 Z GG S 270 Z 350 Z 320 Z GG s .282 Z A c .372 Z A c .381 Z GG s .271 Z GG s .249 Z GG s .226 Z GG GB .212 Z GC s .303 Z GG 370 Z A s 360 Z A SI 250 Z A GE .375 Z A SE .325
GG GG z GG z GG AM GC Z Z
27 34 50 40 16 20 50 20 50 30 50 50 50 70 40 70 .98 .4 .138 .68 .31 .11 .64 .44 70 60 50 .23 .10
.203 .216 .190 260 .139 180 .250 .230 .250 .300 250 .500 400 200 310 250 .184 .368 .243 .203 .218 .215 .148 .259 .300 300 .200 .352 .315
1766/11/07 1768/10/04 1771/01/13 1770/06/15 1792/07/09 1801 1770 1772 1775 1754 1731/11/04 1779 1781 1772/02/18 1751/01/15 1753/02/15 1756/02/12 1758/05/22 1760/03/27 1762/03/16 1763/12/14 1766/10/10 1769/01/04 1771/05/14 1768/01/06 1770/11/12 1772/09/12 1773/12/08 1776/03/25
1767 1769 1772 1771 1793/02/28 1802 1771 1773 1776 1755 1732 1780 1781 1773 1752 1754 1757 1759 1761 1762 1765 1767 1770 1772 1771 1771 1773 1774 1777
1767/12/27 1769/11/23 1772/02/18 1771/03/20 1793/05/05 1802/12/23 1771/04/16 1774/01/02 1776/11/28 1755/06/29 1733 1780/10/04 1782/02/22 1773/05/15 1753 1754 1757/04/26 1759 1761 1763/02/12 1765/02/28 1768/02/02 1770/01/05 1772/04/18 1771 1772/01/02 1774/01/14 1774/10/05 1777
1768/03/05 1770/02/24 1772 1771 1793 1803 1771/07/05 1774 1777/03/25 1755/10/03 1733 1781 1782 1773/07/02 1753 1755 1757/07/22 1759 1761 1763/04/02 1765/03/22 1768/04/13 1770 1772 1770 1772/05/15 1774 1775 1777
1768/06/08 1770/06/04 1772/08/06 1771/10/15 1794 1803 1771 1774 1777/07/15 1756 1733/10/06 1781
69 69 69 94
1773/09/04 1753 1755/06/15 1757/11/02 1759/09/08 1761/09/21 1763/08/01 1765/07/01 1768/06/14 1770/06/12 1772/09/29 1770/06/09 1772/07/15 1774/07/15 1775/06/09 1777/10/08
95 60 60 60 60 60 80 80 80 80 80 96 96 96
95 95 95
279 279 201 251 280 318 217 090 090 228 282 197 197 154 160 160 161
A
AK AK AK H&L
b I F Br c c
A.D c b
F MCC F MCC F MCC F MCC F MCC F 085 r MCC F bA 163 MCC F 163 MCC F 163 MCC 161 62 F b A r MCC 284 B b A kDMW DMW 061 DMW 061 134 F MCC 134 F MCC
Appendix 2 (cont) Slave-ship data of the free trade, 1730-1803 Ship name Watergeus Watergeus Watervliet Watervliet Watervliet Welmeenende Welmeenende Welmeenende Wendelina Werkendam Werkendam Werkendam West Capella West Capella West Capella West Capelia West Indische Hoop Westdorp Weyvliet Weyvliet Weyvliet Wilhelmina Wilhelmina Wilhelmina Aletta Wilhelmina Aletta Wilhelmina Aletta Wilhelmina Aletta Wilhelmina Aletta Wilhelmina Aletta
<Slaves Ports Hoi. Af. Am. In Died Land Z Z AM AM AM Z Z Z Z Z Z Z Z
z z z z z z z z z z
M M M M M M
GG S A GE S GG C GG S GG s A s GG GE
A A A A GG A GG GG
S SI SI SE
GG GG GG GG GG GG
S S
S S
s s
GB S
.380 460 420 450 400 .1% .261 .203 350 175 175 175 340 320 270 480 275 300 250 250 250 275 275 350 330 330 330 350 340
.47 23 60 50 250 .2 .22 .10 100 25 25 25 34 38 74 37 35 34 40 32 40 75 15 60 36 30 30 50 25
.323 .437 .360 .400 .150 .194 .239 .193 250 .150 150 150 .306 .282 .196 .443 240 .266 210 .218 210 200 260 .290 .294 .300 .300 300 .315
Left Holland 1778/08/01 1780/06/12 1741 1744 1746 1769/07/04 1770/09/04 1773/07/21 1731/01/13 1731/05/06 1733/09/24 1734/10/31 1770/08/04 1772/04/27 1775/07/21 1779/08/26 1788/07/29 1771/08/23 1767/02/28 1769/07/15 1765/09/27 1731/01/19 1734/07/19 1765 1767 1768/08/08 1770/03/09 1771/09/21 1773
Left Africa 1779 1780 1742 1745 1747 1770 1771 1774 1732 1732 1734 1735 1771 1772 1776 1780 1789 1772 1768 1770 1766 1732 1735 1766 1768 1769/07/10 1771 1772 1774
Arrival America
Left America
Return Last Holland
1779/05/13 1781/02/02 1743/01/18 1745/02/30 1747/07/17 1770/04/08 1771/08/19 1774/04/02 1732 1732/08/25 1734 1735 1771/07/27 1773/05/07 1776/06/10 1780/06/26 1790 1772/06/22 1768 1770/07/13 1766 1732 1735 1766/08/02 1768/02/14 1769/08/28 1771/02/06 1773/01/23 1774/11/22
1779
1779/10/27
1743/04/26 1745 1747 1770/05/08 1771/11/22 1774 1732 1733 1734 1735 1771/10/04 1773 1776 1780 1790 1772/10/09 1769 1771/04/24 1766 1732 1735 1766/08/30 1768 1769/09/29 1771/04/26 1773 1775/04/14
1743 1745 1748 1770/06/25 1772/03/04 1774/08/27 1732/07/25 1733/02/23 1734/09/31 1735/11/29 1771 1774/03/06 1777/03/17 1790 1773/01/09 1769/02/25 1771/11/07 1767/02/15 1733/02/28 1735/11/29 1766 1768 1769 1771 1773 1775
70 70 70 55 51 51 51 93 93 93 93 108 88 69 69 69 55 55
Cap. Sale Sp 1 2 *Ship C Firm 134 F F u 186 c A 285 285 Ak 286 S b 287 S b 287 287 271 S 288 r 118
253 253 253 270 204 289 154 154 154 290 290 100 100 152 152 152 152 291i
b A
c b b
A b b b
MCC MCC
MCC MCC MCC CR BW
JSZ JSZ JSZ JSZ AK HB AK AK AK
C&R C&R C&R C&R C&R r C&R
Willem Willem Alexander Willem Alexander Willem Alexander Willem Carolina Willem Carolina Willem Carolina Willem Carolina Willem Carolina Willem Carolina Willem Suzanna Wulpenburg Wulpenburg Wulpenburg Wulpenburg Wulpenburg Wulpenburg Wulpenburg Wulpenburg2 Wulpenburg2 Wulpenburg2 Zanggodin Zanggodin Zanggodin Zanggodin Zee Fortuyn Zee Mercuur Zee Mercuur Zee Nimph
Z Z
z z
M M M M M M M Z Z Z Z Z Z Z Z Z Z Z Z Z Z Z Z Z Z
GC A A GC GG A
GG A A GG A GG GG A A A GG A GG GG GC GC GG GG
310 350 S 330 S 340 s 360 s 380 s .253 s 380 c .451 475 .300 s 500 s 600 SI 400 s 300 s 400 SE 500 s 540 GB 330 s 310 s 350 .161 s .67 s .162 SE .127 GD .230 S .272 GD .174
35 275 50 300 40 .290 46 .294 50 .310 53'.327 .14 .239 60 .320 .21 .430 45 440 .32 .268 50 .450 40 .560 100 .300 66 .244 86 .314 62 .438 24 .511 50 .280 50 .270 50 .300 .11 .150 .22 .45 .9 .153 .16 .111 .15 .215 .174 .98 .6 .168
1740/10/24 1743/09/12 1745 1746 1749 1751/08/02 1753/12/15 1755/10/10 1757 1758 1772 1745 1747 1749 1752/06/15 1754/07/15 1756/04/15 1758/02/04 1768/04/17 1769/11/11 1771/05/15 1764/05/12 1768/09/28 1770/10/21 1773/04/06 1784/09/06 1787/12/07 1791/10/27 1784/10/18
1741 1744 1745 1747 1750 1752 1754/05/18 1756 1758 1759 1773 1746 1747 1750 1753 1755 1756 1758 1769 1770 1772 1766 1770 1771 1775 1785 1789/04/28 1793/04/19 1785
1742 1744 1745/12/03 1747/03/26 1750/07/02 1752/08/09 1754/07/21 1756/11/16 1758/06/01 1760 1774 1746/06/10 1747/11/18 1750/11/06 1753/08/23 1755/08/17 1757/06/04 1758/12/22 1769/01/27 1770/08/11 1772/04/29 1765 1770/01/22 1771/11/04 1775/04/15 1785/08/18 1789/07/07 1793/06/19 1785
1742 1744 1746/02/18 1747/05/16 1750 1752/11/20 1754/11/23 1757 1758 1760 1774 1746/07/16 1748/03/10 1750/08/15 1753/11/09 1755/11/01 1757 1759/04/20 1769 1770/09/04 1772/07/24 1765 1770 1772 1775 1785 1790 1793 1786
1742 1745/01/07 1746 1747 1751 1753 1755/06/15 1757 1758 1760/03/15 1774 1746 1748 1750 1753 1756/01/15 1757/09/15 1759/06/15 1769/05/28 1770/11/26 1772/10/11 1766/04/15 1770/06/12 1772/04/13 1775 1786 1790/04/28 1794/01/22 1786/06/26
79 79 79 79 79 79 149 73 73 73 73 73 73 73 90 90 90 68 68 68 68 110 110 199
s A 292 b A 292 241 A 074 c C&R 074 A C&R 074 A C&R 074 C&R 074 C&R 074 C&R H 293 C&R 211 c A TW TW 205 s TW 205 153 s A TW A TW 153 TW 153 TW 153 067 TW b 077 TW 294 b TW 262 MCC r MCC S 139 139 S I MCC 314 r MCC S 297 S H&L F k MCC 108 177 F MCC F 303 H&L
Appendix 2 (cont) Slave-ship data of the free trade, 1730-1803 Ship name Zee Nimph Zee Nimph Zee Nimph Zeeberg Zeeberg Zeeberg Zeeberg Zeeberg Zeeberg Zeelands Welvaren Zeelands Welvaren Zeelands Welvaren Zeelands Welvaren Zeelands Welvaren Zeelands Welvaren Zeelands Welvaren Zeelands Welvaren Zeelands Welvaren Zeelands Welvaren Zeeleeuw Zeelust Zeelust Zeemire Zeerust Zeevrugt Zorg Zorg
Ports Slaves Hoi. ,Af. Am. In Died Land Z Z
z z z z z z z z z z z z z z z z z
A A
GG GG GG A
GG GC GC GG GC GC GG GG A A AM GC AM GC Z GC Z AM Z GG Z GG
Left Holland
GD 400 50 .350 1787 GD 420 41 .379 1790/01/08 GD 500 20 .480 1792/10/25 230 30 200 1761/10/15 GS 230 15 .215 1765 GS 220 44 .176 1767/06/03 230 30 .200 1769/06/15 200 25 .175 1771/01/15 200 25 175 1773/03/07 310 35 275 1749 S 340 32 .308 1751 S 240 40 .200 1752/12/15 S 290 40 .250 1755/02/15 S 330 30 .300 1756/12/15 S 340 26 .314 1758/09/15 S 330 66 .264 1760/07/15 S 270 100 .170 1762/12/25 S .278 .42 .236 1765/06/06 S 260 60 .200 1767/03/11 S 250 40 .210 1773/05/23 140 20 120 1788/03/26 S 135 15 120 1791/09/08 GS 170 28 .142 1791/08/18 250 65 185 1731/03/02 250 20 230 1791/10/27 S .246 .15 .231 1777/10/15 1780/10/27
Left Africa
Arrival America
Left America
1788 1790/11/23 1793/07/04 1762 1766 1768 1770 1771 1773 1750 1752 1754 1756 1757 1759 1761 1764 1766 1768 1774 1789 1792/08/31 1792/08/24 1732 1792 1778
1788/07/13 1791/01/07 1793/08/14 1762 1766 1768 1770 1771 1774 1750 1752/04/15 1754/06/12 1756/05/02 1757/12/07 1759/07/27 1761/12/22 1764/06/16 1766/06/11 1768/03/19 1774/03/14 1789 1792/12/09 1793/01/06 1732 1793 1778/11/13
1788 1791 1793 1763 1766 1768 1770 1772 1774 1751 1752/07/29 1754/08/16 1756/07/24 1758 1759/11/08 1762/03/26 1764 1766/08/06 1768/05/18 1774/07/01 1790 1793 1793 1732 1793 1779/04/30
Return Last Holland 1789 1791 1794 1763/04/15 1767 1768/12/22 1770/08/24 1772/08/04 1774/08/14 1751/04/15 1752 1754/11/15 1756/10/15 1758/06/15 1760/0515 1762/06/15 1764/10/25 1766/10/29 1768/07/06 1774/08/29 1790 1793 1793 1732/12/11 1793 1779/07/29
Cap. Sale Sp 1 2 Ship C Firm
F 303 F 303 F 136 295 296 296 296 296 296 298 s A s A 298 298 106 s A 299 A 299 A 299 A 299 A 299 68 003 b A A 003 300 b F F 301 57 302 50 304
199 199 199 62 86 86 86 86 86 60 60 60 60 60 60 60 81 81 81
107 105 107 222
F c F
H&L H&L B&S B&S B&S B&S B&S B&S B&S JSZ JSZ JSZ JSZ JSZ JSZ JSZ JSZ JSZ JSZ BSS LBZ LBZ RC AD BZ MCC c MCC
Appendixes
349
Appendix 3 1 Asiento contract of1667
In the name of the Lord, Amen. In the year of our merciful Lord Jesus Christ sixteen hundred sixty-seven, on the sixteenth of May, appeared before me, Pieter Padthuysen, public notary for the Court of Holland, resident of Amsterdam, in the presence of the following witnesses: Mr. Johannes Rijckaert and Mr. Cornelis van Beeck(?), former council member of this city and director of the West India Company, Chamber Amsterdam. The directors of the former (Chamber) have ordered, as authorized in the meeting of the XIX (Directors of the WIC), as the first party of this (contract), and the other - Mr. Francisco Ferony, merchant in this city, as representative of Messrs. Domingo Grillo and Ambrosio Lomelin, residing at Madrid, Spain, according to legal action in Madrid before Notary Gironomo Nunes, on the nineteenth of December, sixteen hundred and sixty-three.2 As notary of the opposite side I confirm that the individuals mentioned have agreed with each other on the following contract: that the respective directors of the WIC shall dispatch from time to time a sufficient number of ships and cargoes to the coast of Africa and purchase there a total of 4,000 deliverable slaves, to wit pieces of India, and deliver these during the current year 1667 and before the end of December 1668, at the island of Curasao to the agents of the mentioned Grillo and Lomelin. When these 4,000 Negroes have been handed over to Grillo and Lomelin at Curasao before the end of December 1668, they will be paid for as stipulated below, and in addition to the 4,000 Negroes the WIC directors will be allowed an additional 500 on the same conditions and for the same price as the 4,000 Negroes. None of the aforementioned slaves may be obtained from the areas of Calabary, Del Rey, or the Cameroons, and all those (slaves) that are without major blemish, that are in good health, not blind, lame, or broken, will be counted as deliverable. The following stipulation shall be made in respect to their age. Those between the ages of 15 and 36 will be counted as deliverable, pieces of India; those from the age of 8 to 15 and 36 to 42 will be counted as three persons for two pieces of India; those below 8 and down to 4 years of age will be counted as two persons for one piece of India; those below the age of four will remain with their mothers. In respect to the gender ratios, two-thirds of the slaves delivered must be male persons, and the remaining one-third portion shall be women. Messrs. Grillo and Lomelin will not be obligated to take any more than one-third 1. KITVK, H-65, p. 68ff.
2.
Hereafter dates and numbers will be translated in numeric fashion only.
350
Appendixes
women slaves. If, however, the (WIC) directors deliver more than two-thirds male slaves, they will be paid for at a rate of seven pieces of eight per piece of India more than the regular contracted number. The earlier mentioned Messrs. Grillo and Lomelin must keep wellstocked factories on the island of Curasao for the reception and payment of contracted slaves. The factors must examine newly arrived shipments of slaves within a period of 14 days and separate the deliverable from the undeliverable. After this is done, the WIC directors will be responsible for the maintenance of the deliverable Negroes for an additional 24 days, or a total of 38 days after the arrival of each ship for both risk and maintenance without holding Messrs. Grillo and Lomelin responsible in any way. The remaining undeliverable slaves may be disposed of by the WIC, selling and transporting them, to the best interest of the company. The directors of the WIC will be responsible for the deliverable slaves after separation and beyond the stipulated 38 days, in respect to food, drink, and risk of death, for a total of 3 months. Messrs. Grillo and Lomelin will be obligated to pay for the maintenance of the deliverable pieces of India for the time after 38 days after arrival at a rate of 6 stuivers per day for a period not exceeding 3 months after arrival. If the transfer does not take place before the end of the 3 month period, conditions will be specified below. Messrs. Grillo and Lomelin will only have to pay the daily maintenance fee for slaves that die until the day of their death, and they will not be responsible to compensate the WIC for slaves that died during this period. For this reason, the Assistant Director of the WIC at Curasao shall promptly notify the factors of Grillo and Lomelin when one of the respective Negroes dies, and if the factors cannot be reached the Assistant Director shall make an affidavit of such a death, witnessed by two or three persons. After the waiting period of three months has expired without any payment being received for the separated deliverable slaves, the WIC directors may feel free to dispose of the slaves to their best advantage, instead of keeping them any longer for Messrs. Grillo and Lomelin. If, however, one of Grillo and Lomelin's ships arrives at the island of Curasao after the period of three months, the remaining separated slaves should still be turned over to Grillo and Lomelin at the contracted prices, on the condition that they pay the daily maintenance fees as stipulated, also for the days in excess of the contracted 38 days. And if requested by Messrs. Grillo and Lomelin, the WIC directors must give an accounting of the separated slaves that were disposed of otherwise. While the separated slaves are being held at Curasao the WIC directors are entitled to put the Negroes to work for the profit of the company. It is advisable that this would lead to a slight reduction of the maintenance cost
Appendixes
3 51
charged to Messrs. Grillo and Lomelin. Once the maintenance fees have been paid, the WIC is obligated to deliver the slaves immediately. Messrs. Grillo and Lomelin commit themselves to pay for each "deliverable piece Negro of India," at the time of transfer, ic^Vi quality (volwaardige) pieces of eight. This payment exempts Messrs. Grillo and Lomelin from any fees or duties that the XIX directors of the WIC would ordinarily demand for the sale of slaves. The directors of the WIC are forbidden to remove or sell any of the slaves that are set aside for the factors of Grillo and Lomelin. And the WIC directors must instruct the Assistant Director to publish and forbid, on threat of severe punishment, the population of Curasao to purchase any of the slaves from the crews of the slave ships. The WIC directors must also instruct the masters of the slave ships sailing for this contract, and not yet having left their ports, that they must under no circumstance drop anchor at any Caribbean islands, unless out of dire necessity that is approved by the entire ship's council. If such measures are unavoidable, no slaves are to be sold there or taken ashore, and if slaves should be obtained at such places a consignment must be signed by the captain of the ship and submitted to the Assistant Director at Curasao, and this shall also be communicated to the factors (of the Asiento at Curasao), and all masters of slave ships must sign their special instructions of the WIC, of which a copy follows. Furthermore, they (masters) commit themselves by special action not to act in any way against instructions, at the risk of forfeiting such slaves, their salaries, their share in ship and cargo, to the benefit of the WIC directors and Grillo and Lomelin each 50 percent, for the cost and damage suffered as a result. For the payment of any such damages and costs the masters commit their persons and their possessions. When a ship sailing for this contract is ready to depart, the WIC directors must notify the representatives of Grillo and Lomelin in this city, and report essential names, in order that they can be given instructions and communications for the factors at Curasao. This applies to ships that have not yet departed from this town; Mr. Ferony has already sent notification with the ships that left earlier. All the conflicts and problems that may arise between the Assistant Director and the factors of Grillo and Lomelin at Curasao, about the quality and quantity of Negroes, the fees and maintenance, will be resolved by four "good men," two chosen by each side, empowered if needs be to select a mediator in order that conflicts may be resolved within fourteen days. Such conflicts should not interfere with the shipment of Negroes already transferred or retard the ships of Messrs. Grillo and Lomelin beyond the reasons mentioned. Should other conflicts arise over the contract, which we hope not,
352
Appendixes
they should be forwarded here (Amsterdam) where "good men" will be appointed by both parties as mediators, or otherwise they can be nominated by the courts of this city to resolve the conflicts. Should Messrs. Grillo and Lomelin not provide adequate evidence in their defense they may be ordered to appear before the arbitrators or courts. The WIC directors must instruct the Assistant Director at Curasao to receive and treat the factors of Messrs. Grillo and Lomelin with the greatest courtesy and assist them (and also in Amsterdam) in every way necessary to carry out their duties and to maintain order and authority over their employees. To assist them to this end is required by civilized standards, and it should contribute to good relations and friendship among the contracting parties. Finally, the contracting parties agree that the mentioned Mr. Ferony, as representative of Messrs. Grillo and Lomelin, immediately after the signing of this document shall pay to the directors of the WIC the sum of 6,000 Caroli guilders, in rough silver. With that all the past disagreements and issues between the parties, brought out openly or not, of whatever nature, will be settled undisputably and cannot be brought up again by any person who makes claims. And this applies especially to the case currently before the courts here, involving Messrs. Ferony and Jean Emanuel Hugla concerning the security payment they made in anticipation of receiving 50,000 guilders. This is a promise that whatever was done, directly or indirectly, no action may be taken against them whatsoever. In confirmation of these agreements the parties involved, namely the WIC directors, commit all the effects and means of the mentioned company, and Mr. Ferony with power of attorney for Messrs. Grillo and Lomelin, commits all their personal effects and means, placing themselves before all courts and justices in good faith. Agreed upon in Amsterdam, in the presence of requested witnesses, Jan van Campen and Evert Voskuyl. Instructions mentioned in the contract above I, the undersigned , captain of the ship , sailing to the coast of Africa and to the island of Curasao, promise and commit myself to the following during this voyage. As long as the voyage is in progress I shall not engage in any individual or private trade of any type, small or large scale, direct or indirect, premeditated or unpremeditated. I shall not bring along any merchandise, secretly or openly, on any coast or along any coastline, to trade, exchange, confiscate, or to receive as bribe or present, whatever the circumstances for myself or anyone else - but only for this chamber of the chartered WIC. In addition, should I notice others engaged in such activities, I shall report this
Appendixes
353
to the authorities. All of this I promise at the risk of confiscation of any goods that I should bring or acquire, or any backhawl, and all my salary and premiums, my share in the ship and its cargo. I shall sail directly from the coast of Africa, with my purchased Negroes, to the Island (Curasao) without stopping at any of the other Caribbean islands - unless in extreme emergency and then with approval of the ship's council, and under no circumstances shall I sell slaves there or take them ashore. I promise all of this at the risk of confiscation to the benefit of the Company and the buyers of the slaves I transport, in order that these parties might be compensated for losses that my actions might bring them. As a guarantee against such losses and costs I commit my person and possessions, and sign my name, Amsterdam, this (date) Undersigned, Cum Cordat Cum Registro Quod Attestor Was signed at the Town Hall.
Appendixes
354
Appendix 4 Annual old-WIC slave traffic, 1657-1674 Slaves landed
Year3
Ships
Slaves , from Africa
1658 1659 1660 1661 1662 1663 1664 1665 1666 1667 1668 1669 1670 1671 1672 1673 1674
7 2 4 2. 3 4 3 2 1 6 19 20 11 20 11 9 8
2,050 620 1,048 800 1,500 1,750 1,450 700 600 2,600 7,448 7,862 4,900 7,730 4,550 4,167 2,855
309 106 240 100 230 220 190 105 100 340 1,182 1,214 755 1,081 691 787 397
1,741 514 808 700 1,270 1,530 1,260 595 500 2,260 6,271 6,648 4,145 6,649 3,859 3,380 2,458
Total
132
52,630
8,047
44,588
Deaths b
Notes: aThe years apply to the departure from Africa. A number of these ships .arrived in the West during the following year. Many of the cargo sizes and mortality figures were not found reported and had to be estimated. Source: The data listed in this appendix were collected by Franz Binder (see Chapter 2, note 16) from a variety of WIC documents in The Hague (ARA) and Middelburg (Provincial Archives), and also from the Notary Collection in Amsterdam (City Archives). This author is responsible for organizing the data in this fashion, and also for estimates where specific data were not supplied.
Appendixes
355
Appendix 5 The directors of the WIC made it a practice in the annual or biannual meetings to assign slaving missions to particular chambers of the company. A specific year of departure, and sometimes even a particular month, were stipulated for such voyages. The African and American destinations, and the approximate cargo sizes were generally also indicated. As a rule, such assignments followed a certain order of progression (column 3), in order to create balance and show fairness to the various chambers. Since this order was indicated in the records, starting in 1683, it provides a useful check on the completeness or incompleteness of such records. Occasionally, it appears that special assignments (marked s) were added to the regular ones, and it also seems apparent that specific assignments were scrapped when the slave trade experienced unexpected stagnation. The last column of the appendix lists the actual departures of slaving ships during the same years that the assignments were made. While the figures do not completely match up, over longer periods of time the discrepancies are limited, which lends support to the claim made in this study that very few Dutch slaving missions have remained undetected. It should be mentioned that the smaller slaving missions, which were initiated by the WIC authorities in Africa, were not included in the column of departures because they generally did not sail under the auspices of a particular chamber. The data in this appendix are gleaned from the minutes of the meetings of the X (WIC directors), the regional presiding chambers, and letters from Amsterdam to Africa. These records are located in WIC, vols. 1, 54-7, 831 — 3; and NBKG, vol. 25. See also Appendix 1.
Appendixes Appendix 5 WIC slave-ship assignments and documented traffic, 1675-1732 Ships Serial per year no. 1675
13
1676
3
1677 1678 1679
2 5
1680
8
1681
4
1682
4
1683
9
1 2 3
WIC Chamber
African origin
Amsterdam Zeeland Amsterdam Maze N.K. Zeeland S.&L. Zeeland Amsterdam Maze Amsterdam N.K. Zeeland S.&L. Maze Amsterdam
Cape Verde Argyn Elmina Angola Aja Elmina Aja Ajigola Elmina Elmina Aja Angola Aja Elmina Elmina Elmina
Amsterdam Zeeland S.&L. N.K. S. & L./A'dam N.K. Amsterdam Zeeland Amsterdam Amsterdam S. & L./A'dam Maze S. & L./A'dam Zeeland Maze N.K. Maze Zeeland Maze Maze N.K. Amsterdam Zeeland Amsterdam
Aja Ajigola Aja Loango Angola Aja Angola Aja Aja Aja Angola Angola Angola Angola Aja Aja Aja Angola Aja Aja Calabary Angola Aja Elmina
American destination Essequibo
Cargo size
Doc. ships 5
450 450 450 450 450 450 450 450 450 450 450 450 450 450 450-500 450-500 450-500 450-500 450-500 500 500 500 500 500 500 500 500
500 500 500 250-300 500 500 500
7 3 2 2
4
7
3
7
Appendixes
357
Appendix 5 (cont) WIC slave-ship assignments and documented traffic, 1675-1732 Ships Serial per year no. 4 5 0c
1684
7
1685
7
1686
8
1687
13
7 8 9 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 s s s 9 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Q
o
1688
3
9 1 2 3 4 6 7
WIC Chamber
African origin
Maze Amsterdam
Angola Aja
Zeeland S.&L. Amsterdam Amsterdam Zeeland Amsterdam Maze Amsterdam N.K. Zeeland S.&L. Maze Amsterdam N.K. Zeeland Amsterdam Amsterdam Zeeland S.&L. Maze Amsterdam N.K. Zeeland Amsterdam Amsterdam Amsterdam Amsterdam Amsterdam Maze Amsterdam N.K. Zeeland Amsterdam Amsterdam Zeeland Amsterdam Maze Amsterdam Zeeland
Angola Aja Aja Aja Angola Aja Angola Elmina Calabary Angola Calabary Aja Aiigola
Angola Aja Aja Elmina/Lay Angola Angola Aja Aja Angola Aja Angola Aja Elmina/Lay Angola Angola Angola Elmina/Lay Aja Angola Elmina/Lav Aja Angola
American destination
Cargo size
Doc. ships
500 500
Curasao Curasao Curasao Curasao Curasao Curasao
500 500 500 500 500 500 500 500 300-500 500 300-500 500 500 500 500 500 500 500 500 500 500 500 500 500 500 500 500 500
Curasao Curasao Curasao Curasao Curasao Curasao Curasao
500 500 500 500 500 500 500
Surinam Surinam Surinam Curasao Curasao Curasao Curasao Surinam Surinam Surinam Surinam Curasao Curasao Curasao Curasao
5
11
7
8
1C
358
Appendixes Appendix 5 (cont) WIC slave-ship assignments and documented traffic, 1675-1732
Ships Serial per year no. 1689 1690
2a
1691
3
1692
2 la 5
1693
1694
3 la
1695 1696
1 3
1697
7
1698
3
1699
5
1700
8
American destination
WIC Chamber
African origin
Cargo size
8
S.&L.
Aja
Surinam
500
5 9 1 2 3 4 5 8 6 7 9 1 2 6 7 8 9 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 2 1 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 1 2 3 4 5 6
Amsterdam Amsterdam Amsterdam Zeeland Amsterdam Maze Amsterdam S.&L. N.K. Zeeland Amsterdam Amsterdam Zeeland N.K. Zeeland S.&L. Amsterdam Amsterdam Zeeland Amsterdam Maze Amsterdam N.K. Zeeland S.&L. Amsterdam Zeeland Amsterdam S.&L. Maze Amsterdam N.K. Zeeland Amsterdam Amsterdam Amsterdam Zeeland Amsterdam Maze Amsterdam N.K.
Angola Aja Aja Aja Angola Aja Aja Angola Angola Aja Aja Angola Angola Angola Aja Angola Aja Angola Aja Aja Aja Angola Aja Aja Angola Aja Aja Aja Aja Angola Aja Aja Aja Angola
Curasao Surinam Curasao Curasao Curasao Curasao Curasao Curasao Surinam Curasao Curasao Curasao Curasao Curasao Surinam Curasao Surinam Surinam Surinam Surinam Curasao Surinam Surinam Surinam Surinam Surinam Curasao Surinam Curasao Surinam Curasao Curasao Cartagena Veracruz
500 500 500 500 500 500 500 500 500 500
Aja Aja Angola Aja Aja Angola
Puortobelo Cartagena Puortobelo Curasao Cartagena Cartagena
500 500 500 500 500 500 500 500 500 500 500 500 500 500 500 500 500 500 500 500 500
Doc. ships 6 2 4 5 3
5 3 2 2
5 8
4
Appendixes
359
Appendix 5 (cont) WIC slave-ship assignments and documented traffic, 1675-1732 Ships Serial per year no. 1701
2
1702
4
1703
6
1704
8
1705
5
1706
9
1707 1708
8
WIC Chamber
African origin
American destination
Zeeland S.&L. Amsterdam Zeeland Amsterdam Amsterdam Maze Zeeland Amsterdam N.K Zeeland S.&L. Amsterdam Amsterdam Zeeland Amsterdam Maze Amsterdam N.K. Zeeland S.&L.
Aja Aja Aja Angola Aja Aja Aja Aja Angola Aja Aja Angola Aja Angola Aja Aja Angola Aja Angola Aja Angola
Surinam Surinam Curasao Curasao Surinam Curasao Surinam Essequibo Curagao Surinam Curasao Surinam Curasao Curasao Curasao Surinam Curasao Surinam Curasao Surinam Curasao
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 1 2 3 4
Amsterdam Zeeland Amsterdam Maze Amsterdam N.K. Zeeland S.&L. Amsterdam Amsterdam Zeeland Amsterdam Maze
Aja Angola Angola Aja Aja Aja Aja Angola Aja Aja Aja Angola Aja
Curasao Surinam Curasao Curasao Surinam Curasao Curasao Surinam Curasao Surinam Surinam Curasao Curasao
6 7 8 9 1 2 3
N.K. Zeeland S.&L. Amsterdam Amsterdam Zeeland Amsterdam
Aja Angola Aja Aja Aja Aja Angola
Surinam Curasao Surinam Surinam Curasao Curasao Surinam
7 8 9 2 1 3 4 s 5 6 7 8 9 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 Q
Cargo size
Doc. ships 10 5
400
360
Appendixes
Appendix 5 (cont) WIC slave-ship assignments and documented traffic, 1675-1732 WIC Chamber
African origin
American destination
6 7 8 9
Maze Amsterdam N.K. Zeeland S.&L. Amsterdam
Aja Aja Angola Aja Aja Aja
Curasao Surinam Curasao Curasao Surinam Curasao
1 2 3 4 s s 5 6 s 7 8 9 1
Amsterdam Zeeland Amsterdam Maze Zeeland Amsterdam Amsterdam N.K. Zeeland Zeeland S.&L. Amsterdam Amsterdam
Angola Aja Aja Aja
Surinam Curasao Curasao/Surinam Curasao
Aja Aja Aja Aja Aja Aja Aja
Curasao Curasao Curasao Curasao Curasao Cu ragao/Su r i n am Surinam/Curasao
2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 1 2 3 4 5 6 9 s s 7 8 1 2
Zeeland Amsterdam Maze Maze N.K. Zeeland S.&L. Amsterdam Amsterdam Zeeland Amsterdam Maze Amsterdam N.K. Amsterdam Amsterdam Zeeland Zeeland S.&L. Amsterdam Zeeland
Aja Aja Aja/Angola Aja Angola Aja Aja Aja Aja/Angola Aja Elmina Aja/Angola Angola Aja Aja Aja Aja Angola Aja Aja Angola
Surinam Surinam Surinam Surinam Surinam Surinam Surinam Surinam Surinam Surinam Surinam Surinam Curasao Surinam Curasao Berbice Essequibo St. Eustatius Surinam Surinam St. Eustatius
Ships Serial per year no. 4
1709
5
1710 1711 1712
la la 4
1713
2
1714
3
1715
4
1716 1717
3a 3
1718
7
1719
3
1720
4
1721
8
5
Cargo size
Doc. ships 3
6 2 2
1 4 5
3 4 4
4 2
5
Appendixes
3(
Appendix 5 (cont) WIC slave-ship assignments and documented traffic, 1675-1732 Ships Serial per year no.
1722
8
1723 1724
3a 7
1725
9b
1729
2
1730
4
1731
3
1732
2
WIC Chamber
African origin
American destination
3 4 5 6 7 8 9 1 2
Amsterdam Maze Amsterdam N.K. Zeeland S.&L. Amsterdam Amsterdam? Zeeland
Aja Angola Angola Aja Angola Aja Angola/Aja
Surinam St. Eustatius St. Eustatius/Cur. Surinam St. Eustatius Surinam Curasao
Angola
St.Eustatius
3 4 5 6 7 8 9 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 1 2
Amsterdam Maze Amsterdam N.K. Zeeland S.&L. Amsterdam Amsterdam Zeeland Amsterdam Maze Amsterdam N.K. Zeeland S.&L. Amsterdam Amsterdam Angola Amsterdam Maze Amsterdam N.K. Zeeland S.&L. Amsterdam Amsterdam Zeeland
Elmina Angola Elmina Elmina/Aja Angola Elmina/Aja Angola Elmina/Aja Angola Angola Elmina/Aja Angola Angola Angola ?? ?? Elmina Angola Elmina Elmina
St. Eustatius St. Eustatius St. Eustatius St. Eustatius St. Eustatius St. Eustatius/Sur. St. Eustatius St. Eustatius St. Eustatius St. Eustatius Surinam (1726) St. Eustatius (1727) Surinam (1728) St. Eustatius
Elmina Elmina
Surinam Surinam
Surinam Surinam Curasao Surinam
Cargo size
Doc. ships
8
10 9
7 11 5 9
5 4
7 9
Notes: j*These estimates have been substituted for unverified assignments. After 1725, the sequence numbering appears to have little relationship to the implementation of the traffic.
362
Appendixes Appendix 6 Documents carried by a slave ship in 1761
List of documents and papers for Captain Jan van der Sluys, commanding the ship Frans Willem, to obtain slaves in Guinea and then to take them to Surinam. This list is published in J. Hudig, De scheepvaart op WestAfnka en West-Indi in de achtiende eeurv (Amsterdam: 1926), pp. 16-17. 1. Instructions for the captains from the Company (Reeders); 2. Muster roll of officers and sailors from the Rotterdam Commissioner for the Merchant Marine; 3. Certificate of registry in Dutch from the City Council of Rotterdam; 4. One in French, as above; 5. Health certificate from the City Council of Rotterdam; 6. Turkish Pass from the Admiralty of the Maze; 7. List of agents in England, in case such harbors need to be entered; 8. The Pass from the WIC directors of the chamber Maze at Rotterdam; 9. The Pass from the Society of Surinam, accompanied by a placard; 10. Manifest of the ship's cargo, numbered and marked; 11. Tonnage Certificate (Ykbrief), from the Admiralty; 12. Marine Treaty, dated 1674, between the English Crown and this state; 13. Clearance Certificate from Hellevoetsluys (near Rotterdam); 14. A list of papers (aboard?); 15. Certificate with the names of the ship owners, all subjects of this state. I acknowledge to have received the abovementioned documents and papers from the Company Coopstad & Rochussen, and promise to take good care of them and return them upon my safe return - if God grants this. Rotterdam, 13 November 1761 (signed by Jan van der Sluys)
Appendixes
363
Appendix 7 Guidelines for the slave trade at Ouidah
The following document was written by the often cited Dutch factor Willem Bosman in 1699 o r 1700.1 At that time Bosman was stationed at Elmina as second in command of the WIC establishment in Africa. Much of the previous decade he had been stationed as factor in Ouidah, and during his stay he learned much about the African slave trade. The handwritten document was found in the NBKG Collection, vol. 233, Doc. 10/3/1700. The translation places the emphasis on the content of the document, but it also tries to preserve some of the original style.
Guidelines by Willem Bosman
Guidelines according to which one may regulate the slave trade at Ouidah. Composed by the Honorable Chief Factor Willem Bosman, and currently used by the Chief Commissioner Nicolaas Pol. Slave prices have been adjusted to current levels. 1. On arrival, the captain (of the ship)2 must make certain that he gives generous presents to the king, and in addition pay the required duties, which are: To the King—six slaves, paid in cowries, plus two slaves for water; To the Chiefs (principal traders)—two slaves for all; To the Announcer—one pitcher (bekkeri) of cowries, when he announces the free market. 2. When the duties have been paid and the market announced, the captain is still not allowed to buy slaves until he has negotiated with the king. After that he is free to trade with any merchant. Try to buy the fewest possible slaves from the king, as he always demands cowries as payment, approximately 120 lbs. per slave. Although the captain cannot avoid buying a sizable number from the king, he may discontinue when prices get too high. 3. To the three or four merchants (captains or chiefs) who furnish the largest number of slaves the same price counts as with the king, but it is 1. See text Chapter 5. 2. Information in brackets has been added by the translator for clarification.
364
Appendixes
paid in (European) merchandise and not in cowries, at a rate of about Vs, V5, or V6 more than to private traders. For example: Cowries—12 pitchers (bekkens) equal 10; Graaties (a textile)—5 pieces equal 4; Servetten (a textile)— 8 pieces equal 7; Plattilios (a textile)—10 pieces equal 8. For bars (iron?), much or little is paid depending on the market. For a woman one generally pays one piece of any kind of merchandise less (than for a man). Cowries have a stable price; as with the king, a "Kopere aken" full, and the chief merchants a case.3 As a rule we also pay the Negro Assoe a little more, and because he is of great service to us and sells us many slaves we give him cowries to the value of a slave as a "custom." 4. If one trades with the English factor, the price of 95 lbs. cowries (per slave) is the rule; and if paid in goods, the same price as with the king and the chief merchants. If the captain wants to verify price levels, which continually fluctuate, the best thing to do is to see either the Negro Assoe, Captain Carte, or the interpreter Agay. The reliability of these Negroes need not be questioned. These men can also supply information regarding the charges for transporting merchandise. For these reasons it is important that captains remain on good terms with these persons. 5. Captains should carefully watch out for the thievery of the Negroes, in order that not too much gets stolen. I say "too much," since it is almost impossible to escape theft completely; at least I have never heard of such a situation. Even the rowers hired by the captain will try to steal. For this reason he must watch everyone, since theft seems to be an inherited trait of the people there. 6. The captain should try, if possible, to sell his (European) merchandise first and keep his cowries, otherwise the slave prices will rise too much. When the trade stagnates, however, and without the use of cowries no improvement can be effected, he should act as seems best for the Honorable Company, since remaining on the coast for a long time is most disadvantageous for the Company. 7. Finally, when trading has been completed, the following duties should be paid—again in cowries: one slave for the tronk (accommodation); one slave to the interpreter; one slave for those who have taken the slaves to the beach; one slave for those who have taken the merchandise from the beach to the lodge; and one to the wives of the king. From the latter we gain the following advantage. If a few slaves escape from the tronk or during transport to the beach, the king will recapture them or compensate us (for the loss). One should not always count on this, however. 3.
The meaning of these last phrases is not clear.
Appendixes
365
Also, the gifts to the king's wives cover the daily supplies for the table, making this actually the best investment. Finally, before one leaves, it is customary to give another present to the king, and also to the principal traders who have supplied large numbers of slaves. These, in addition to the daily supplies of brandy, are the expenses of the captain. If he is required to make more expenditures, he can reply that such is against the established customs and that he has no desire to introduce new practices. As a result of many French, English, and Portuguese ships, the slave prices have been going up considerably lately. [The document continues with a detailed list of merchandise and slave prices, which is difficult to read and therefore not included in this translation.!
366
Appendixes Appendix 8 Instructions for a slave-ship captain of the MCC
The following translated document clarifies the way in which captains and crews of slave ships had to conduct themselves, how they purchased the slaves, and how they were compensated for their efforts. The document is printed, and was apparently available for all MCC slave-ship officers. The name of the ship, destinations, and other additional instructions were written by hand. These latter additions have been underlined in the translation. The document was used for one of the voyages of the MCC ship De Nieuwe Hoop, which undertook at least ten slaving missions in the period of 17621786. The document is located in MCC, No. 816. Private instructions for captains and officers of the ship De Nieuwe Hoop of the Commercie Compagnie at Middelburg in Zeeland I According to article 3 of the General Instructions, you shall proceed with your voyage and as quickly as possible sail to the coast of Guinea in Africa; and after arriving there you must purchase, with the greatest care and most profitably, a high quality cargo (armazoen) of slaves. After that, sail with the slaves to Surinam in America, according to instructions given in article 9 below. Also, purchase as many ivory tusks as possible; as many a s . . . l II As mentioned in article 4 of the General Instructions, precautions should be taken that you not be attacked by Negroes or slaves. We also seriously demand that you do not permit any Negroes, slaves, or slave women to be defiled or mistreated by any of the officers or crew members. And if such should occur anyway, this should be noted in the log book, an affidavit signed, and the offender punished by the ship's council according to the offense, including confiscation of salary. Ill Also, the person(s) in command shall see to it that the slaves are treated well, properly checked, and cared for. Also, the "slave kettle"2 must be kept 1. This sentence was not completed in the document. 2. The kettle refers to the pot in which the food was prepared.
Appendixes
367
clean. Likewise, care should be taken that the doctor and supercargo check the mouths and eyes of the slaves every morning, and try to discover if anything ails them. The captain is obligated to supply the doctor with everything he needs for the slaves. IV It is our fervent intent that neither you nor any of the officers bring along any merchandise, or privately buy and sell slaves. You are ordered once more to watch carefully that everyone obey this rule; and if you discover any violation of this rule, you must note this in the ship's log, and deal with the offender appropriately. Furthermore, you should involve the ship's council in obtaining evidence and a declaration, which will be useful for us after your return, and which, through the interference of death, might otherwise no longer be available. And even if such (private trade) is undertaken for reason of improving poor trading conditions (if possible), the directors will still not tolerate it. Upon your return, you may be requested to declare, under oath, that neither you nor your officers had brought any merchandise or used this to trade in slaves; if this should turn out to be the case, the offender shall have his salary and premiums confiscated; in addition, he must pay a fine of 1,000 guilders for every slave, male or female, that he has traded; and such a person will forever be barred from serving this company, and he will legally be charged with perjury. In return, the directors promise to pay you and all officers, upon your return, for every slave (male and female) landed and sold in the Americas, a premium as follows: To To To To To
the the the the the
Captain First Mate Second Mate Third Mate Supercargo Totals
80 stuivers 24 stuivers 10 stuivers 6 stuivers 24 stuivers 144 stuivers
per per per per per per
slave3 slave slave slave slave slave
Everyone should be satisfied with this. Equal amounts shall be paid for the ivory (tanden en crevelle) as if slaves had been purchased.
The premiums mentioned above have to be paid even if no more than the cost price is obtained for slaves and backhaul. But if it turns out that, 3.
There were 20 stuivers to a guilder.
368
Appendixes
after all salaries and expenses for this ship and its cargo have been paid, a profit has been made, then, and only then, will the earlier mentioned officers receive an extra premium of 12 percent of the profits; no more, and only once for each of them. This (share of the) profit will be divided among them according to the ratio of the "slave money" (slaavegeld). And if, by some chance, the ship should experience some unusual disaster, the premium will be based on the profit still remaining. VI If it should happen that two or more ships of this company meet in the same colony, where you sell the slaves, the one that arrived there first shall sell the slaves first and then continue its voyage expeditiously. The second ship shall return the bills of exchange of both ships, unless these had been sent with another ship beforehand. VII The export of ammunition on your ship, approved by the Admiralty Council here, is permitted on the following condition: that upon your return you can prove that the ammunition, as specified on the attache among your papers, has been taken ashore in Africa and stored there. You will be required to sign, along with your officers, a written declaration of this, in order that the company can account for this at the Admiralty Council. 8 As you purchase slaves you must mark them at the upper right arm with the silver marker CC N, which is sent along with you for that purpose. Note the following when you do the branding: (1) the area of marking must first be rubbed with candle wax or oil; (2) The marker should be only as hot as when applied to paper, the paper gets red. When these (precautions) are observed, the slaves will not suffer bad effects from the branding.
Appendixes
369
Appendix 9 The table compares individually documented slaving missions with two lists of slave-trade passes issued by the WIC Free traders. Sources of the data are: AW, LX-447, VWIS, vol. 1244, and Appendix 2. See Notes below for problems or discrepancies that should be taken into consideration. Appendix 9 Slave-trade passes issued to Dutch free traders Year
Documented
1730 1731 1732 1733 1734
5 16
5-11
1735 1736 1737 1738 1739
7 6 8 9 8
1740 1741 1742 1743 1744 1745
11 12 14
L X 447 List
13 13 7 8 10
42
7 9
70
13 19-1
1746 1747 1748 1749 1750 1751 1752 1753 1754
17 17 12 16 9 13 17 17 15
1755 1756 1757 1758 1759
14 18 17 16 10
1760 1761 1762 1763
19 15 26 17
6 6 6
38
20-1
81
71
75
99
V W I S 1244 List
11 10 12 22 14 14
12 22 24e 15 27 9 16 13 9 11 18 18 16 15 15 18 15 15 19 16 27 18
80
72
78
106
27 9 17 13 9 11 18 18 16 17 15 18 15 15 19 ? 9 9
51G
34
69
80
72
80
37°
Appendixes Appendix 9 (cont) Slave-trade passes issued to Dutch free traders
Year 1764
Documented3 22
1765 1766 1767 1768 1769
20-lb 28 19 19 24
1770 1771 1772 1773 1774
29 23 21 15 15
1775 1776 1777 1778 1779
11 12 6 11 10-lb
1780
9-3b
Total
748-8
L X 447 List 26
V W I S 1244 List 29 34f 41f
110
25 21 21 22 23
112
103
30 23 21 15 15
104
50
11 13 7 11 13
55
17C 748
Source: AW, LX-447; VWIS, vol. 1244; and Appendix 2. Notes: a A few passes may not have been executed while others may not have been put into effect until the following year. The second figure lists slaving missions that were not completed. c These discrepancies between passes and completed missions were largely the result of the Anglo-Dutch War of 1780-1784. The text explains the special problems with documentation for the freetrade traffic during the 1730s. e The original document mistakenly listed 24 instead of 14. f These figures must have been an erroneous estimate.
Appendixes
371
Appendix 10 Slave-trade companies and brokers Key3 MCC C&R AK JSZ AvY A.A. A.C BSS B&S BZ CDC CK DMW FC HB H&H H&L H&M IR JCH JNV JZZ JM JT LBZ MBL PvH RC SD S&D TW vdN
Name Middelburgsche Commercie Compagnie Coopstad & Rochussen Adriaan Kroeff (Kroef and J.Martveld) Jan Swart & Zn. A. van Ys(s)el A. Almelo Abr. Claudora Boursse de Superville Sr onnm Cmith oc
de Bruyn & de Smith Brantlight & Zn Claude de Chuy Christiaan Ketner Der Moyse & v/d Woordt Furing & Co. Hans Barends Helleman & van Houte (and Hijkelenborg) Hurgronje & Louyssen Wed. A. Hamilton & Meyers I. Rochussen Jan Corn, v Hoorn Jeremias v Nederveen Jan/Jacob/Joh. de Zitter Jan Martvelt J. Tobiassen L. Brandligt & Zn. Bovil & de Loos P. van Harlingen Rietvelt & Cateau Splinter van Doom Sandry? van Dijke Jacob/Jan/Pieter Wulphert Van der Noordt
Place Middelburg
Years 1732-1803
Nr.b 146
Rotterdam Vlissingen
1748-1790 1735-1790
65 40
Vlissingen Amsterdam Rotterdam Middelburg Middelburg
1739-1778 1790-1794 1777-1781 1733-1735 1763-1777
55 2 3 1 8
1762-1795 1792-1793 1735-1736 1768-1775 1745-1780 1733-1742 1772-1774 1771-1789
15 1 1 5 32 3 1 6
1769-1795 1754-1773 1733-1736 1765-1766 1764-1780 1755-1791 1793-1794 1740-1741 1789-1793 1765-1780 1788-1789 1792-1795 1739-1744 1775-1781 1745-1787 1790-1791
32 11 2 1 8 20 1 1 2 15 1 3 4 4 26 1
Amsterdam Vlissingen Middelburg
Vlissingen Rotterdam Rotterdam Vlissingen Vlissingen Vlissingen Amsterdam Amsterdam Vlissingen Vlissingen Vlissingen Amsterdam
Source: Appendix 2; ARA, Bound Document no. 1.05.07; VWIS, Nr. 1379; and Postma Data Collection. Notes: Abbreviations as employed in Appendix 2. The number of slaving missions found documented in this study.
37 2
Appendixes Appendix 11 Fees received for slaving permits, 1729-1791 From WIC triennial accounts
Period
Receipts
Period
Receipts
1729-1731 1732-1734 1735-1737 1738-1740 1741-1743 1744-1746 1747-1749 1750-1752 1753-1755 1756-1758 1759-1761
f. 101,274 147,664 70,394 97,766 173,692 257,609 161,389 131,750 177,692 215,704 197-197
1762-1764 1765-1767 1768-1770 1771-1773 1774-1776 1777-1779 1780-1782 1783-1785 1786-1788 1789-1791
f. 258,042 281,346 280,524 259,201 178,978 120,915 48,195 28,569 62,314 22,974
Source: Triennial Accounts, WIC, Vol. 269.
Grand total
3.273.189
Appendix 1ZA Guinea coast origins of slaves on free-trade ships Places of Origin Sierra Leone Coast St. Paul R. and St. John R. Cestos R. to Cape Palmas Cavalla R. to Sassandra R. Cape Lahou Grand Bassam Assini to Axim Not Identified Windward coast totals Axim Poquefoe Akwida Butri Takoradi Secondi Shama Komenda Elmina Cape Coast Mori Anomabu Kormantin Apam Bercu Accra Keta Popo Epe
1741
1746
1753
1753
2 154 10 106 2 13
18 9 9 34 34 1 8 15
2 31 1 43 21
145"
287
128
98
3
4
2 143
1754
1755
1755
1756
1756
1757
1758
15 13 69 8 60
2
27 12
11 97 6 6 12
56 1 78 4 162
9
2 2 4 12 98 9 1 24
67
152
246
322
2
4
8 58 16 94 8 1 92
141
277
197
12
1
4
2
2
3
4
47 6 77 7
2
2 30
3 10 30 13
75
1761
1762
5 10
121
4 17 131
6 2 179 14 4 2 212 11
2 32 84
13
10
9
37
52
124
20
61
3
52
97
55
90
62
44
54
80
73
12 1 34
32
4
62
28
Gold and Slave coasts combined
102
89
141
219
90
12
64
167
130
62
15
no
91
Grand total
247
376
269
317
231
289
261
234
282
308
337
301
303
Not identified
40
Appendix Appendix izj3 Guinea coast origins of slaves in free-trade ships Places of Origin Sierra Leone Coast St. Paul R. and St. John R. Cestos R. to Cape Palmas Cavalla R. to Sassandra R. Cape Lahou Grand Bassam Assini to Axim Not identified Windward coast totals Axim Poquefoe Akwida Butri Takoradi Secondi Shama Komenda Elmina Cape Coast Mori Anomaou Kormantin Apam Bercu Accra Keta Popo Epe Not identified Gold and Slave coasts combined Grand total
1763
1763
1764
1765
1765
1765
1767
1767
1769
1769
1770
1
1
4 24
2 6
9 6 149 24 7 18
13 28 105 27 6
4 3 18 7 140 8 7
5
31 3 174
2 7 20 35 43 5 4 119
1
167
3 2 28 13 165
18 16 98 32 18
239
217
235
214
180
187
187
6
18
35
7
5
10
6 7 7
5 14 6 3 17
10
4
7
3 8 191 4 5 3
312
242
214
11 297
59 10 154 2
167
3 2
1769
175 2 4 181
0
2
6
24 5 6
1768
48
1
1
16
16
32
61
55
23
7
13 15
40 25 4 5 8
71
1
4
13 ~ ~ 0 6 3 5 9
7
T
l
7
8
0
63 9
0
4
5
6
9
3 1 2 3 0 5 2 7 3 2 3 8 2 5 6 2 9 7 3 2 5 2 5 9 2 5 0
6 7 8 2 * 0
73
6 7 2 6 2 1 8 7
260
Appendix 12C Guinea coast origins of slaves in free-trade ships Places of origin Sierra Leone Coast St. Paul R. and St. John R. Cestos R. to Cape Palmas Cavalla R. to Sassandra R. CapeLahou Grand Bassam AssinitoAxim Not identified Windward coast totals Axim Poquefoe Akwida Butri Takoradi Secondi Shama Komenda Elmina Cape Coast Mori Anomabu Kormantin Apam Bercu Accra Keta Popo Epe
1771 1 14 32 11 91 6 7 12
1771
1771
1772
7 16 47
4 6 74 3
10 32
45
174
112
160
132
3
9
34
Grand total
1773
1774
1774
3 4
2 10 7 108 8 7
14 11 120 7
142
160
8
5 59 2 6 72
11 11 87 6
115
1775
1775
1775
4 11 6 84 2 9 8 124
1776 11
37
30 6 113 4
14 134 4
13
15
168
204
114
2
71 9 139 6 3
239
6 10 8
18 29
28
118
1 12
12
169
10
27
5 2 51
6
80
27
4 40 54 47
64 10
106
Not identified Gold and Slave coasts combined
1773
2
131 14 13 2
7 12
1772
4 118 5
50
80
52
157
106
26
54
273
169
114
90
58
30
224
192
212
289
107
168
214
345
284
238
258
262
269
Appendix 12D Guinea coast origins of slaves in free-trade ships Places of origin Sierra Leone coast St. Paul R. and St. John R. Cestos R. to Cape Palmas Cavalla R. to Sassandra R. Cape Lahou Grand Bassam Assini to Axim Not identified Windward coast totals Axim Poquefoe Akwida Butri Takoradi Secondi Shama Komenda Elmina Cape Coast Mori Anomabu Kormantin Apam Bercu Accra Keta Popo Epe Not identified
1777
54 1 66 25
1777 44 3 64 6 105 12 3
1778
237
1779 94 9 55
1779 94 103 9
1780
33 25 5 2
77 23 2 11
32
15
1778 1 3 15 16 75 29 17 42
230
198
223
319
13 72 71
15 161
1778
155
226
11
105 25
1787 2
1788
42 11 149 17
6 13 69
7
20 65 33 16 1
Total 699 259 1,508 454 4,961 419 187 606
271
137
219
91
9^093
138 47 47
16
1792 3
4
8 2
14
3 12
6 112
42
154
11
63
47
103
78
17
314 10 35 74 72 40 30 34 1,682 5 149
402 97 397 91
17
101 9 152 5 47
Gold and Slave coasts combined
123
52
Grand total
284
289
154 380
16 246
48 246
75 298
395
14
103
47
51
84
4,094
333
374
184
270
175
13,187
Appendixes
377
Appendixes 13 and 14 Notes to Appendixes 13 and 14
Appendix 13 lists nearly 200 captains of slave ships who served the WIC during the years 1675 *° X739- Appendix 14 lists nearly 300 free trade captains, who commanded slave ships between 1730 and 1803. Their names are listed in alphabetical order, and by means of the accompanying codes, can be matched with the ships they commanded in Appendixes 1 and 2, respectively. The lists include the number of documented slave missions (M) for each captain, and they also indicate the voyages where as mates they replaced their deceased captains (r). Also listed are the years in which the record shows that they were active in the slave trade. For the free trade, an additional column is added for the companies the captains represented. The slaving missions listed here are often short of the total that captains undertook. Only the ones that could be documented are included, although in a series of voyages of a particular ship one could perhaps guess additional missions of a given captain. Many of these captains must also have served on slave ships in various subordinate capacities before they were given command of a ship, but that information is rarely available. It must be understood that this type of data gathering is far from precise. There were often contradictions in spelling, and on occasion names of ships and captains were simply inaccurately listed. Closer scrutiny will undoubtedly reveal such flaws, but if this list can serve as a basis for further study they will have served a useful purpose. These data are drawn from a large variety of sources, too many to mention. Sources can be verified through the Postma Data Collection.
Appendix 13 Slave-ship captains sailing for the WIC Code
Captains
Ma
Years
653 516 534 603 672 609 572 660 654 545 599 591 554 564 701 600 546 519 628 643 578 668 565 518 549
Andriesse, Jan Arrel, Jan v Baarspul, Theunis Balck, Jan Jacobsz Banckert, Joost Beeck, Simon ter Belle, Pieter Berg, Daniel Bleeker, Samuel Blok, Francois Blom, Nicolaas Bodt, Pieter J. Boer, Cornells Bolden, Christiaan Boogaart, Mathys Booms, Anthony Boonen, Cornelis Bouman, Cornelis Boute, Daniel de Bovenmans, Anthony Brasser, Matthijs L. Brouwer, Dammes Brouwer, Jan Brouwer, Sipke Brown, Jacob
1 3 3 2 1 1 rl 1 rl 1 rl 1 1 2 1 1 4 1 1 1 2 1 2 1 1
1726-27 1675-85 1734-39 1675-86 1685-86 1687-88 1717-18 1736-37 1703-04 1729-30 1722-23 1696-1701 1708-09 1726-29 1700-01 1728-29 1724-36 1723-4 1675-76 1732-33 1679-88 1723-24 1733-36 1719-20 1710-11
Code 664 667 646 580 692 606 696 560 548 676 502 604 588 510 707 569 661 674 563 544 673 627 621 633 639
Captain
Ma
Years
Bruyst, Jan Buttel, Christoffel Caagman, Claas Cagees, Nanningh Claassen, Herman Claasz., Jan Convent, Frederick Coster, Symon Crans, Pieter Credo, Jan Creeft, Benjamin Daal, Juriaan Dam, Herman Decker, Claas Dijck, Leendert J. van Doemer, Claas Dorp, Jacob P. Dronker, Jan Dullaart, Huygh Elink, Pieter Engelsman, Samuel Ens, Jacob Jansen Ephraim, ? Eyck, Michiel Joosten v Fortborgh, Jan
1 1 1 1 rl rl 1 2 r3 1
1721-22 1721-22 1709-10 1693-94 1685-86 1711-12 1675-76 1687-1708 1700-08 1698-99 1720-26 1699-1700 1697-98 1708-9 1686-87 1687-88 1705-06 1682-88 1694-95 1699-1700 1682-83 1680-81 1680-81 1686-1704 1721-22
5 1 1 1 1 1 1 r2 1 rl 1 1 1 5 1
543 699 552 539 657 635 613 566 587 691 512 682 530 652 535 507 575 503 705 521 658 596 590 710 636
Fret, Frans Genegten, Nicolaas v/d Gerrits, Jan Gessen, Arent v Gewelt, Jan Pietrsz. Gijsbertse, Pieter Gipson, Willem Gleynsen, Pieter Goed, Jan P. Goes, Willem Jansen Goethals, Pieter Goethem, Frans van Graan, Andries Groenewolt, Thomas Groot, Michiel de Groot, Pieter Haan, Gerrit de Hagerop, Rijk Harder, Job J. van Harmensz., Bruyn Hendrix, Arend Heym, Jan v/d Hidt, Cornelis v/d Hierschot, Renier van Hinke G.
1 1 1 r3 3 1 1 1 1 r2 2 1 3 1 rl 1 3 2 rl 3 1 1 1 rl 2
1699-1700 1718-19 1708-09 1703-09 1725-34 1691-92 1718-19 1722-23 1715-16 1683-86 1716-19 1694-95 1728-33 1687-88 1738-39 1715-16 1723-29 1720-21 1684-85 1727-33 1697-98 1717-18 1696-7 1729-30 1693-1701
664 681 511 683 598 520 671 574 524 607 525 694 679 704 538 622 677 528 662 595 558 605 553 557 619
Hinke, Pieter Hinneken, Jan Hoeve, Jan v/d Hoogdorp, Jan L. van Hoogen, Jan Hoop, Joost Hoop, Pieter Horst, Hendrik ter Huygen, Abraham Jacobson, Bastiaan Jacobsz., Pieter Jansen, Gabriel Jansen, Huybert Jansen, Jusua Jansen, Liendert Jansz., Pieter Jaspers, ? Jensen, Jacob Jong, Pieter de Kennis, Adriaan Kennis, Andries Keuvel, Steven Kist, Jan Klinkert, Adriaan Knoppeldoeck, Jacob P.
1 1 2 r3 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 rl 1 1 1 1 4 1 1
1700-01 1700-01 1710-14 1725-31 1722-23 1726-7 1700-01 1683-84 1691-92 1725-26 1710-11 1701-02 1676-77 1684-85 1704-05 1693-94 1700-01 1725-26 1725-26 1716-17 1719-20 1686-87 1703-07 1686-87 1700-01
Appendix 13 (cont) Slave-ship captains sailing for the WIC Code
Captain
Ma
Years
Code
632 680 577 642 568 631 645 583 625 697 536 506 567 612 586 529 638 576 594 537 618 617 551 501 547
Kock, Dirck Laey, david de Lambrechts, Andries Lankvelt, Francois v Leeck, Claas J. Leeuwen, Dirk v Leym, Jan v/d Leym, Lodewijk v/d Lit, Jan Jansen v Longmans, Claas Loo, Jan v/d Louw, Claas Maas, Simon Mercksen, Daniel Mol, Gerrit Corn. Mooylieves, Cornells Muller, Erasmus Nygh, Leendert Nyse, Jacob de Oole, Remns Outjes, Jochem Ovens, Simon Parera, Steven v Parre, Arie v/d Petts, Daniel
r2 1 1 1 1 1 2 4 1 2 1 2 1 2 1 r4 1 1 1 1 2 3 1 r3 2
1696-98 1718-19 1716-17 1726-27 1733-34 1704-05 1715-18 1704-1718 1721-22 1688-1700 1731-32 1714-17 1725-26 1706-08 1684-85 1726-32 1709-10 1725-26 1697-98 1690-91 1729-38 1731-36 1704-05 1723-24 1689-96
513 608 656 527 504 541 570 634 708 523 648 542 540 508 700 616 629 706 684 695 623 659 703 531 666
Captain Pieterse, Reyer Port, Gerrit v/d Pronk, Hans Ras, Jacob Ras, Pieter Reynders, Salomon Rijck, Willem Robertsz. Rijniersz., Wouter Robertson, Willem Roem, Symon J. Roos, Roelof Rosiers, Willem Saanen, Jan v Sas, Jurriaan Schalkendam, Andries Schamp, Jan Schepmoes, Abraham Schey, Pieter Schot, Adriaan Schouwenburg, Jean Serat, Thomas v Smidt, Jan Smith, Hendrik B. Snoek, Isaak Starr, Gerrit
Ma
Years
1 3 1 1 5 1 2 1 1 2 1 rl 3 4 rl 3 4 1 rl rl 1 rl 1 1 1
1675-76 1731-36 1714-15 1725-26 1720-26 1718-19 1691-97 1705-06 1693-95 1699-1703 1722-23 1718-19 1708-15 1705-13 1712-13 1723-28 1683-95 1686-87 1707-08 1724-25 1715-16 1734-35 1685-86 1735-36 1686-87
514 669 517 647 561 592 597 709 505 644 611 693 573 626 532 678 675 589
Stolck, Arent Gysen v/d Stoop, Pieter Storck, ? Strijd, Jan Jorisz. Stuart, Hans Swaan, Adriaan Sweeris-Seegert, H. v Tange, Anthonius Teyl, Jacob Theunissen, Willem Tromp, Jacob Turner, Ephraim Valck, Pieter S. Valee, Jacob Valies, Thomas Jan Valkenburg, Willem Velde, Daniel te Veltkamp, J.G.
6 1 1 2 2 rl r2 1 2 rl 1 2 1 3 r4 rl 3 2
1685-1714 1700-02 1705-6 1704-12 1697-1702 1735-36 1717-20 1688-89 1715-19 1732-33 1737-38 1684-1701 1720-21 1722-28 1700-06 1700-01 1729-35 1686-1700
Notes: a The number of a captain's slaving missions. The r before the missions signifies replacement captain on at least one occasion.
533 651 655 601 556 522 585 602 665 641 581 670 509 550 701 582 698 526 571
Velz., Christiaan Verdoes, Bastiaan Verhoeff, Jacob Verhoeven, Jacob Visser, Jacob Cortse Vlugt, Jan Voile, Jacob Vos, Herman Claesz. Vos, Jacob Lente Wassenaer, Hendrik Welsingh, Hendrik Wenman, Roeloff Weteringe, Cornells v/d Wijnantsen, Adriaan Wilkenson, Marinus Winterman, Antony Wit, Benjamin de Wolf, Dirk de Zitter, Jan de
1 1 1 1 r6 2 2 2 2 1 1 1 5 1 1 2 1 2 1
1735-36 1735-36 1707-08 1711-12 1685-1704 1731-35 1701-04 1679-88 1680-1707 1724-25 1725-26 1705-06 1700-15 1699-1700 1686-87 1700-03 1726-27 1720-24 1717-18
Appendix 14 Slave-ship captains in the free trade Code 204 61 155 246 86 176 68 35 67 294 104 53 231 167 101 243 71 304 140 34 103 41 39 94 14 46
Captain Andriessen, Christiaan Antheunisse, Jan Baane, Jan Corn. Baarts, Jan Baas, Isac v/d Bakker, Dirk Bakker, Johannes Barendse, R. Barends, Hans Beckman, Pieter Beekman, Godfreyd Beekman, N. Beelensdorp, Jacob Beeter, Jacob Bekker, Fred A. Bell, Jacob v/d Bevers, Anthony Blankebijl, E. Boer, Adriaan de Boer, A. de (2) Boer, Cornells de (2) Boer, Corn, de Bollaard, Hermanus Bollevaarde, J. Bonrepas, Gideon de Bon, G. de
Ma 2 3 4 1 r3 1 r6 rl
5 1 8 2 1 1 2 4 6 1 3 1 1 5 5 rl 4 1
Years 1787-93 1754-72 1749-57 1771 1780 1791 1766-76 1774 1756-68 1771 1753-65 1758-60 1758 1754 1768-71 1760-67 1737-71 1731 1770-77 1774 1761 1762-71 1771-87 1745-47 1739-44 1731
Firm AK DMW JSC
MCC TW TW C&R TW H&M C&R SD DMW B&S TW MCC
Code 260 272 196 206 262 49 240 1 8 255 162 157 73 91 26 282 27 187 244 47 64 288 58 134 312 218
Captain Boon, J. G. Boswijk, Claas Boudewijn, J. M. Bouque, Jacob Bourlick, Dirk Bouwens, Jan Bovel, Michiel Bovens, A. Bovens, D. de Bredem, Carel Breen, P. van Bree(u)n, H. van Bremer, Carel Bremer, Carl (2) Brinkman, C. Bruggeman, C. Bruyn, Arend Bruyn, Jan (Joh) de Bruyn, Michiel Buykschoot, A. G. van Carelson, A. Casna, Jan Castaleyn, Johan Chateleyn, Adriaan Churchill, Ewout Claasen, Mattheus
Ma r3 1 1 r3 2 6 r2 1 1 r3 1 2 4 3 rl 1 9 4 4 1 1 1 r4 6 1 1
Years 1774 1780 1764 1757-69 1763-70 1761-71 1748-57 1765-66 1752-53 1790 1771 1764-67 1761-77 1763-68 1745 1731 1745-63 1756-76 1746-54 1730 1732 1731 1757-64 1765-79 1765 1769
Firm MCC MCC MCC B&S AK MCC MCC JSZ DMW DMW
C&R FC C&R MCC
152 185 182 145 6 326 292 95 250 109 252 263 279 2 229 4 102 321 251 72 110 24 22 165 144 5
Clebo, Jan Clerque, Francois de Clerque, Isaac de Clijver, Jacob Codde, Claas Collenier, N.A Conwel, Jan Cornelissen, C. Cornelissen, J. Cornelisse, Simon Cornelis, Simon Cosyne, Gilles v/d Crevens, Jacobus Daal, A. Dahlbom, Claas Daling, T. E. Daniels, Abraham Dankers, Jan Dankerts, Joost Dankquart, Willem Deynoot, Jasper Dheere, C. M. Diedeloff Dijker, Willem Doos, Josua v/d Drijver, J.
5 r3 6 1 rl rl 2 1 2 5 1 rl 2 1 rl 1 6 1 5 1 2 1 1 2 1 1
1767-73 1777 1766-77 1737 1758 1765 1744-46 1754 1733 1743-59 1745 1770 1766-69 1730 1758 1747-48 1742-58 1766 1769-86 1748 1759-63 1731 1764 1786-90 1736 1758
C&R MBL AK JZZ JZZ AK AK
JZZ H&L DMW AK H&L
JSZ
107 192 201 30 66 113 143 159 313 150 291 51 316 164 300 226 37 208 112 38 245 60 310 125 141 217
Drijver, Willem Duyker, Gerrit Edebool, Carsten Eggers, M. Ende, Jacobus v/d Engelsen, Joris Eversen, Huybrecht Everse, Hans Eyndlijk, E. Forbes, Izak Fransen, Jacob Fraser, David Fredericks, M. Frijben, L.R. Galen, Josua Galle, J. Garcon, A. J. Gerritsen, Jacob Gerritsen, Job Goodwill, R. Goosen, F. Graaf, P. de Graan, Andries Grim, Jan Grim, Jochem Groeff, Maguus
r2 rl 3 r3 2 1 2 1 1 4 rl r2 1 1 1 1 1 1 r4 3 1 rl 1 r7 5 4
1771 1793 1770-75 1765-68 1766-69 1731 1730-35 1765 1747 1770-79 1774 1752-56 1802 1772 1773 1760 1779 1749 1745-51 1779-88 1754 1732 1742 1768-78 1774-93 1763-71
MCC C&R
JNV
H&H BSS DMW MCC MCC MCC MCC
C&R AvY
Appendix 14 (cont) Slave-ship captains in the free trade Code 97 12 174 249 10 214 54 173 287 21 320 133 328 314 203 183 156 215 57 210 52 23 242 106 191 146
Captain Groot, Michiel de Hagerop, Christiaan Hambeek, Hendrik Harelstadt, F. Harmel, Jan Harmensen, J. H. Hauwen, J. van Havinga Hayem, Corn, van Hees, J. van Helleman, J.C. Hermanz., N. Hierschot, Renier van Hof, J.H. Hogerzeyl, M. B. Hollander, C. A. Hollander, J. C. Hollen, Jac. Hommen, G. Hudson, Jacobus Hult, Abr. Huysing, C. Jacobs, Adriaan Jacobs, A. Jacobs, Claas Jacobs, Paulus
Ma 2 2 1 1 7 1 r2 1 3 2 2 1 1 1 7 4 5 1 1 1 1 rl 7 2 1 1
Years 1746-48 1742-45 1762 1758 1764-76 1746 1762 1780 1768-73 1742-45 1774-87 1761 1733 1773 1761-75 1756-73 1756-66 1756 1764 1762 1774 1764 1750-65 1767 1787 1762
Firm JSZ
JZZ TW MCC H&H DMW MCC BSS MBL JSZ MCC C&R MCC MCC PvH
Code 189 89 265 122 119 166 286 99 298 151 108 323 232 209 137 322 149 207 194 111 160 7 98 295 75 79
Captain Jansen, Jan Jansen, Jurgen Jansen, Pieter Janssen, Wm. Jansz., Roelof Joll, David Jonker, Cornelis Joosen, F. Jurriaansen, Hendrik Kaas, Willem Kakum, Corn, van Kamer, Aart v/d Kams, Wm. Kerkhoven, Jan van Kettner, Christiaan Klaver, J.G. Klerk, F. le Klerk, J. de Klerk, Pieter de Kleuter, Jacob Kluiterman, J. Kock, Cornelis Kok, de?? Kronkque, J. Krul, Jochem Kruyer, A. v/d
Ma r5 4 1 1 1 3 1 2 3 1 7 1 1 3 7 1 1 1 3 2 2 4 1 1 rl 1
Years 1741-72 1765-80 1792 1742 1745 1741-47 1746 1755-59 1748-52 1792 1770-88 1777 1789 1745-55 1767-80 1794 1780 1760 1759-65 1742-46 1750-54 1759-65 1754 1761 1766 1731
Firm H&M MCC MCC MCC C&R JSZ RC MCC H&H WIC MCC CK H&H MCC JZZ MCC B&S C&R MCC
87 257 198 154 116 178 302 277 253 78 132 186 289 118 296 235 17 327 301 241 220 40 3 293 15 317
La Fayolle, Pieter La Gaay, ? La Gordt, Andries La Moote, Corn. Lagerboom, Pieter Langebeek, Abr. Langeraad, Jan van Leek van Wijdenes, J.C. Leger, Jan Lindenberg, J. Lins, Gabriel Loef, Cornelis Loevermans, F. Loo, Jan van Louyssen, Ernst Maarschalk, Corn. Maas, S. Machielsen, C. Macky, Anthony Macquee, Mattheus Maguus, Carel Makins, G. Makkers, Cornelis Malmberg, Jan Matthijsen, C. Medden, W.
2 2 r5 r5 r5 4 1 1 9 2 rl r6 1 2 5 4 2 1 1 r3 2 rl 4 1 2 1
1750-54 1779-87 1742-53 1763-73 1750-66 1764-71 1791 1730 1753-76 1742-46 1754 1770-85 1771 1731-44 1764-73 1742-51 1730-33 1777 1791 1749 1777-84 1787 1749-67 1772 1749-53 1802
AK DMW RC JSZ WIC C&R MCC HB MCC B&S MCC MCC LBZ H&L JSZ C&R MCC
230 62 83 309 259 271 171 45 135 270 169 85 130 205 147 158 90 297 172 168 190 105 20 129 254 184
Meegem, Pieter Mellendags, Jacob Menkenveld, Jan Meyer, Jan Meyster, Hendrik Michielsen, Olfert Mick, C. F. Middemeyer, I. F. Minlust, Carel Moelaart, Gijsbr. Moerman, F. Molder, Willem de Moor, Jan de Moor, Pieter de Mulders, David Mulke, Pieter (Murk?) Muller, Daniel Muyen, Corn, van Napp, Claas Nieuwenhuyse, F. Noels, Andries Noordhoek, Joh. Noordhof, Nic. Nysse, Jacob de Obbe, Sijbrand Oorbaan, Wm.
2 rl 7 1 5 r3 1 1 1 5 1 3 2 6 4 1 3 3 5 1 4 6 5 3 1 1
1743-47 1763 1751-64 MCC 1764 AK 1758-67 1778 MCC MBL 1770 vdN 1789 1763 DMW 1778-1802 H&L MBL 1766 1761-68 MCC 1749-53 C&R 1744-57 MCC 1755-65 MCC 1785 1771-90 H&L 1783-89 MBL 1770-80 1752 H&L 1771-85 MCC 1768-78 1763-74 H&H 1739-44 MCC 1765 MBL 1773
Appendix 14 (cont) Slave-ship captains in the free trade Code 16 213 228 181 219 81 200 197 303 193 276 50 84 195 19 59 123 290 247 175 63 136 284 268 223 324
Captain Oostdijk, Willem Outjes, Jochem Parre, Pieter v/d Pauw, Jan Pekroen, Adam Pietersen, Claas Pietersen, Jan Pieterse, Carl Pietersz., Carel Pott, Ary v/d Prang, Jan van Prins, P.W. Pruymelaar, Daniel Reichert, Frans Reichert, M. Renneken, H. Reyen, Hendrik van Rhee, J. de Ridder, Jan de Riems, Jan Riese, Lodewijk Rietveld, Dirk Rijst, Pieter Robelin, Ab. Robert, ? Rudolphus, Servaas
Ma 1 1 2 1 r2 7 rl 5 3 1 1 1 1 8 rl 1 1 2 6 1 1 rl 1 rl 1 1
Years 1786-87 1744 1753-57 1766 1769-73 1750-69 1758 1772-82 1783-91 1770 1774 1774 1763 1764-80 1763 1766 1747 1730-34 1741-54 1782 1788 1763-92 1768 1768 1779 1776
Firm FC
JZZ H&L MCC B&S MCC JZZ JZZ MCC
JZZ DMW MCC
Code 92 124 115 153 77 32 224 163 237 11 274 311 261 275 100 127 179 74 120 280 139 76 278 121 264 131
Captain Rudolphus, S. Rulle, A. Rust, Jonas Salomi, David Santleven, H. Sap, Adriaan Sap, Claas Sap,Jan Schoeman, F. Schrijver, Jan de Sellow, C. van Servijn, C ? Sever, Hans Silon, I. C. Sluys, Jan v/d Sluyter, P.H. Smidt, Michiel Smit, Lyn di Solomons, Jan Spaen, Christoffel Sprang, Jan van Stam, Maartin Stap, Pieter Steenhoff, Albert Stellen, Jacob v/d Sterk, Corn.
Ma
Years
1 1 r3 8 6 3 1 4 1 2 ,1 1 1 2 5 4 rl 8 rl 1 3 2 7 1 2 2
1785-1802 1762 1746-50 TW 1745-63 1761-73 MCC JSZ 1754-61 1783 MCC 1762-74 MCC 1793 1740-44 JSC H&L 1789 1747 1776 1791-1803 H&L 1759-68 C&R 1764-73 DMW 1770 1748-65 C&R 1746 1792 1767-73 MCC 1752-55 MCC 1754-72 AK MCC 1748 1740-44 C&R 1731-55
Firm
225 9 273 28 211 69 70 161 117 80 239 128 212 256 221 55 199 266 Notes:
Sterk, Evert Sterk, H. Sterry, Nathan Stuurling, S. Swart, Jan Taylor, David J. Taylor, R.J. Thuynman, Jan Toll, Casper Udeman, P. G. Valk, Barend de Valle, J. Velde, Daniel de Veltz, Christiaan Verdonk, Philip Verheggen, Pieter Vermout, Hermanus Verschuur, Jan a
1 2 1 3 r4 8 r3 2 4 1 3 1 1 1 3 r3 4 1
1753 1754-59 1788 1769-74 1741-46 1746-58 1748-57? 1755-71 1785-93 1783 1779-86 1731 1741 1748 1762-70 1762 1752-62 1783
H&L JSZ MCC H&L H&L AK JSZ C&R TW C&R
The number of a captain's slaving missions. The r before the missions indicates replacement captain on at least one occasion.
180 13 188 267 43 56 33 25 82 202 222 285 283 233 236 234 18 299 177
Ververne, Cornells Veyle, P. de Vleeshouwer, Michiel Vlissingen, P. R. Vos, Hen. de Vos, Jan. de Vriese, J. de Vrij, J. de Walthey, Anthony Wickman, Albert Wilton, Jan Winea, Dirk Winterheim, C. F. Wolff, C. de Wolf, Frans Wolf, J. Woutersen, J. Woutman, Frederik Zell, G. C.
rl 1 2 1 1 r4 r6 1 1 4 5 2 3 2 1 1 1 4 3
1778 1739-40 1738-43 1735 1743 1766-91 1762-71 1745 1765 1744-56 1769-81 1740-45 1763-71 1751-57 1762 1761 1763 1754-61 1775-92
MCC
AK JSZ JCH MCC
MCC JZZ S&D
Appendix 15 African coasting time in the WIC trade Ships Adrichem Amsterdam Amsterdam Beschutter Brandenburgh Duynenburgh Duynvliet Europa Geertruyt Guntersteyn Guntersteyn Huis Loirheim Coning Salomon Phenix Poelwijk Quinera Rachel St. Clara West-Indisch Huys Averages
Departure Holland
Arrival Africa
1714/7/14
1714/10/25 1707/ 9/18 1709 1735/7/28 1729/9/9 1701 1723 1687 1684/8/2 1720 1718/ 7/21 1686/4/26 1686/4/19 1728/3/15 1682 1708/10/22 1693 1710/ 6/ 6 1700/ 9/14
1735/5/30 1729/6/8
1684/5/ 6
Origin Africa A G G E G A E G G G G G G E A G G G G
Departure Africa 1715/4/2 1707/11/16 1710 1735/11/8 1730/1/28 1701 1723 1687 1684/12/05 1720 1718/8/5 1686/7/10 1686/6/16 1728/10/15 1682 1709/2/12 1693 1710/8/3 1700/12/ 8
Days loading
Slave cargo
Boarded per day
159 59 135 103 177 245 23 27 126 70 15 76 58 214 32 113 11 58 85 90.4
111
4.5
483 768 409 ? 340 471 373 596 538 485 508 783 283 530 ? 517 762 436
3.6 7.5 2.3
Sources: WIC, vols. 97, 99, 180, 200, 206, 485-6, 619, and 658; ECMMR, vol. 190.
14.8 17.4 3.0 8.5 35.9 6.4 8.8 3.7 8.8 4.7 8.9 9.0 4.8
Appendix 16 Slave mortality in coasting and middle passage in the WIC trade
Ship
Region of origina
Acredam Amsterdam2 Beschutter Bosbeek Brandenburg Brandenburg Coning van Portugal Graaf van Laarwijk Jonge Daniel Jonge Daniel Justitia Leusden Quinera St. Clara West Indisch Huys
G E G G G ? G G E G G G E G G
1st death 1715 1724/3/21 1735 1718 1729/12/10 1732/9/15 1707/5/17 1700 1733/12/4 1735/9/23 1708 1727 1705/11/29 1710/6/6 1700/9/14
Coast days
Slaves bought per day
134
3.2
89 130 108
4.6 4.3 5.0
110 132
4.2 3.6
154 58 125
3.6 8.9 6.1
Left Africa 1715/9/19 1724/6/23 1735/11/8 1718/8/13 1730/1/28 1732/12/14 1707/7/24 1700/4/30 1734/2/12 1735/12/24 1708/6/16 1727/8/22 1705/3/23 1710/8/3 1700/12/8
Duration ocean crossing 92 108 49 126 89 47 99 ? 87 121
55 71 63 129 86
Arrival West 1715/12/20 1724/10/9 1735/12/27 1718/12/17 1730/4/27 1733/1/30 1707/10/31 1700 1734/5/10 1736/4/23 1708/8/10 1727/11/1 1706/5/25 1710/12/10 1701/3/4
Total cargo 590 423 768 318 409 564 536 488 461 469 673 748 547 517 762
Notes: * African origins: E = Elmina; G = Guinea coast. For the period between first purchase and first mortality, 40 days are added (see Chapter 6) c Mortality on the ocean crossing and during coasting in Africa respectively. Source: Appendix 1, and Postma Data Collection.
Deaths m.p.c Af.c 120 95 23 78 38 54 108 113 61 58 177 66 179 66 115
59 7 14 36 10 25 9
91 ? 1 48 25 45 17 ?
Appendixes
390
Appendix 17A Coasting, middle-passage, and mortality cycles Ship
African origin
Beurs Amsterdam A Beurs Amsterdam A Coningin Hester G Duynenburg A Eva Maria A Margarita Catharina A A Nieuwe Post Quinera G Rachel G Son (Vergulde) A Sonnesteyn E A Vergulde Vrijheit Wapen van Holland A Wapen van Holland G E Anneboa Axim E E Elmina (Casteel) Engelenburgh E E Fida Gelderland E E Wakende Craan Adrichem A Ad rich em G Adrichem G Beschermer G Carolus Secundus E Carolus Secundus G Catharina Christina E Duynenburg G Emmenes G Emmenes G Leusden E G Quinera Rusthof G G Son (Vergulde) Son (Vergulde) G G St. Clara St. Marcus G Vriendschap G G Winthont
First death 1704/9/15 1706/5/28 1713/12/29 1702/11/3 1701/4/4 1701/8/5 1715/7/14 1701/4/11 1701/7/25 1705/5/12 1715/5/31 1700/12/1 1704/12/13 1700/11/26 1700/6/25 1710/7/10 1704/10/12 1716/10/4 1715/12/17 1716/4/3 1706/9/29 1714/11/16 1712/1/23 1708/6/14 1700/6/23 1707/11/26 1710/8/17 1706/11/24 1705/3/30 1714/11/25 1717/11/5 1725/10/22 1708/12/10 1733/11/21 1701/5/28 1707/7/30 1712/5/9 1713/9/21 1703/12/10 1699/9/4
Coast Slaves daysa per day 75 105 182 99 86 76 169 110 127 99 71 80 99 144 40 40 40 40 40 49 40 177 40 90 85 44 89 77 189 144 58 50 104 40 93 74 156 101 118 59
8.7 6.7 3.4 5.5 7.5 5.8 3.3 4.5 3.3 7.0 1.5 8.7 7.2 4.6 2.8 3.5 4.3 3.8 6.4 3.0 4.8 4.1 15.3 6.8 6.8 9.7 5.5 7.0 2.5 3.9 12.4 14.9 5.1 18.0 4.0 7.6 3.7 5.8 3.3 9.4
Depart Africa 1704/10/28 1706/8/1 1714/5/20 1703/1/1 1701/5/20 1701/9/10 1715/11/20 1701/6/20 1701/10/20 1705/7/10 1715/7/1 1701/1/10 1705/2/10 1701/3/10 1700/6/22 1710/7/10 1704/10/12 1716/9/3 1715/12/14 1716/4/12 1706/9/9 1715/4/2 1712/1/23 1708/8/3 1700/8/7 1707/11/30 1710/10/5 1706/12/31 1705/8/26 1715/3/ 1717/11/23 1725/11/1 1709/2/12 1733/11/21 1701/7/20 1707/9/2 1712/9/2 1713/11/21 1704/2/26 1699/9/23
Crossing 77 76 118 59 49 79 79 83 96 94 77 58 90 106 125 82 61 89 57 56 82 66 100 116 79 77 63 70 83 93 124 80 89 100 144 119 85 59 73 69
Arrival West 1705/1/25 1706/10/16 1714/9/15 1703/3/1 1701/7/8 1701/11/21 1716/2/7 1701/9/11 1702/1/24 1705/10/12 1715/9/16 1701/3/9 1705/5/11 1701/6/24 1700/10/25 1710/9/30 1704/12/12 1716/12/1 1716/2/9 1716/6/7 1706/11/30 1715/6/7 1712/5/2 1708/11/27 1700/10/25 1708/2/15 1710/12/7 1707/3/11 1705/11/17 1715/6/10 1718/3/27 1726/1/20 1709/5/12 1734/3/1 1701/12/11 1707/12/30 1712/11/16 1714/1/19 1704/5/9 1699/12/1
Slaves cargo died 653 708 625 542 644 443 559 499 419 694 103 694 712 664 110 139 171 153 257 146 190 717 611 613 576 425 490 540 473 563 718 747 530 719 369 559 584 585 393 555
Source: Appendix 1, and Postma Data Collection. Note: aForty days have been estimated for the period between first purchase and first death.
38 77 126 40 29 49 44 70 79 133 37 23 150 205 40 55 10 17 15 5 13 332 39 149 11 250 32 31 70 94 269 71 64 345 47 139 124 28 72 20
Appendixes
39 *
Appendix 17B Mortality cycle on the middle passage Deaths in ten-day periodsa Coast Days 11-20 31-40 51-60 71-80 91-100 111-120 131-140 deaths 1-10 21-30 41-50 Port1 61-70 81-90 101-110 121-130
18 23 54
7
12 23 27 12 32 31 14 6 50 29 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 116 0 18
5 5
18 6 31 17 36 1 6 0 4 23 23 14 18 7
7 8 6 7
7 3 0 4 4 7 5 2 11
7
1 12 1 0 4 0 0 20 2 34 0 35 2 4 4
7 19 5 10 15 1 14 9 3 6 3
4 16 3 5 4 3 2 3 11 2 2 4 9 20 3 11 3 0 4 0 1 34 0 29 0 51 4 2 2 8 16 6 16 5 0 8 9 4 4 1
2 10 10 13 2 10 5 3 8 7 4 2 14 18 6 8 3 0 0 1 4 29 0 16 1
50 3 3 5 6 15 17 4 6 1 13 11 2 5 2
1 7 10 3 3 3 1
5
4
5
4 2 13 20 2 10 1 5 3 0 3 31 1 9 0 28 1 1
5
6 12 7 8 11 2
5
12 3 6 3
4 4 11 1 1
5
1 8
5
10 3 2 9 18 1 6 1 2 2 1 1 26 2 9 0 11 1 3
5 6 8 8
5
14 0
7
20 2 2 0
2 2 4 4
3 14
4 6
0 2 11 2 13 4 5 13 13 4 4 1 5 2 2 0 29 4 4 2 29 3 6 6 8 6 12 9 17 7 2 10
2 3 9 2 33 0
3 15 4 13 1
17
9
12 4
13
6
14 16
0 3
3
0
2
16 2
1
2
7 12
12 6
18 1
1
17 18 6 3
1
1
2
1
1 47 8 3 1 26
3 11 8
5
9
13 22
28
21
16
47
90 113 5 5 8 14 4
4 16
4
4
19
5
6 6 9 12 6 6 26 1
5
11 5 2 15 6 14 11 9 48 4
5
Source: Appendix 1, and Postma Data Collection. Notes: a See Appendix 17A for the names of the ships. b Deaths between arrival and disembarkation.
5
0 1 0 10 15 8 2 13 9 2 0 2 5 6 0 1 3 0 0 0 2 12 1 1 0 4 0 2 4 10 1 5 2 0 7 3 8 1 7 4
392
Appendixes Appendixes 18, 19, and 20 Notes and sources
The tides and headings of these appendixes are generally self-explanatory, but a few columns need elaboration that was not possible in the tabular listings. Appendix 18. Under the column heading "Crowding," the number of slaves carried per last (one last measured approximately two register tons) are listed. The mortality percentages are expressions of: (i) deaths during the coasting stage of the total number of slaves boarded, (2) deaths during coasting of the total number that died during the slaving mission, and (3) all deaths combined in the entire consignment. The data have been gleaned from a variety of MCC records by Hezemans in 1985. His data have been corrected and expanded by this author from a variety of MCC sources. See Postma Data Collection. Appendix ig. The year listed refers to the slaving mission activities on the African coast. Where no data are entered, no statistics were found recorded. Due to lack of space, the following abbreviations have been employed in the headings: Fern. = females; Wn. = women; Yth. = children between the approximate ages 4 to 14; H = deaths in the Western harbor, before disembarkation; P = recorded deaths after disembarkation and before slaves were sold. The column on slave values compares individual slaves (heads) and their relative economic value in terms of piezas de India (Pdl), in certain consignments. The data in this appendix are derived from a large variety of WIC sources. See Postma Data Collection. Appendix 20. The year listed refers to the time of the middle passage. The abbreviations for African origins and American destinations are the same as employed in Appendix 1. See Postma Data Collection.
393
394
Appendix 18 Coasting, mortality, crowding and efficiency in the MCC slave trade
Ships
African Year origin
Hof Van Zeeland Guineesche Galey Afrikaanse Galey Grenadier Groot Prooyen Grenadier Grenadier Grenadier Prins Willem V Prins Willem V Philadelphia Middelburgs Welvaren Drie Gezusters Middelburgs Welvaren Vr. Johanna Cores Drie Gezusters Philadelphia Prins Willem V Vr. Johanna Cores Eenigheyd Prins Willem V Vr. Johanna Cores Eenigheyd Middelburgs Welvaren Haast U Langzaam Vr. Johanna Cores Eenigheyd Haast U Langzaam Prins Willem V Nieuwe Hoop Haast U Langzaam Jonge Willem Prins Willem V Nieuwe Hoop Vliegende Faam Vr. Johanna Cores Welmeenende Geertruyda & Christina Haast U Langzaam Vliegende Faam Jonge Willem Zanggodin Watergeus Geertruyda & Christina Nieuwe Hoop Vis Aurora Haast U Langzaam Vigilantie Jonge Willem Nieuwe Hoop Vigilantie Geertruyda & Christina Zeemercuur Standvastigheyd Zeemercuur Vergenoegen Standvastigheyd
1732 1740 1740 1741 1742 1743 1745 1749 1752 1753 1753 1755 1755 1756 1756 1757 1758 1759 1760 1761 1761 1762 1763 1763 1764 1764 1766 1767 1767 1768 1769 1769 1769 1770 1770 1771 1771 1771 1771 1772 1772 1773 1774 1774 1775 1775 1776 1777 1778 1778 1779 1780 1783 1788 1791 1792 1794 1802
Days Africa
A G G G G G G
113 122 158 175 156 120
A G G G G G G G A G A A G G G G A G G A A A G A
260 197 166 271 227 152 166 248 141 174 60 212 150 171 228 335 82 224 240 187 234 121 181 195 148 168 144 177 189 105 234 92 269 221 377 150 325 208 240 130 175 125 148 172 77 508 428 264 392 199 281
G A G G G A
G A
G G G A G G G G G G G G G G G G G A G
Slaves 318 246 271 236 225 304 376 352 261 233 230 289 234 300 282 405 337 478 385 326 302 303 256 412 297 271 315 304 340 262 327 118 377 260 212 212 261 289 400 168 108 127 375 345 258 238 260 281 246 203 298 322 276 272 231 174 393 281
Slaves per day 2.8 2.0 1.7 1.3 1.4 2.5 1.4 1.3 1.4 0.8 1.3 1.5 1.8 1.1 2.9 1.9 8.0 1.8 2.2 1.8 1.3 0.8 5.0 1.3 1.1 1.7 1.3 2.8 1.4 1.7 0.8 2.2 1.8 1.2 1.1 2.5 1.2 4.3 0.6 0.5 0.3 2.5 1.1 1.2 1.0 2.0 1.6 2.0 1.4 1.7 4.2 0.5 0.6 0.9 0.4 2.0 1.0
Crowding
2.5 4.7
Coast Deaths
Total Deaths
3
83 5 1 6 10 6 11 14 1
50 45 61 29 29 26 56 156 15 8 15 26 23 45 98 14
9
77
1 56 7 1 40
4 138 33 12 44 67
4.1
14
3.5
17
3.3 4.5 5.6 5.2 3.6 3.3 3.8 4.3 3.8 4.5 4.7 6.7 5.6 6.7 6.5 3.5 4.2 5.1 2.9 6.2 3.0 4.6 3.5 3.1 4.7 3.2 3.3 1.7 5.3 3.2 4.2 3.6 3.8 2.7 4.0 3.3 1.5 1.9 3.2 3.2 2.2 2.7 2.8 2.5 2.9 3.7 3.3 2.6 2.5 2.2 1.6 3.8 2.7
17
53 2 23 22 4 8 3 4
6 1 15 6 7 5 20 12 0 16 10 5 2 6 3 1 8 23 34 34
5 1 26 9
7 42 68 62 21 7 13 7 2 89 23 25 64 22 39 12 17 1 26 28 73 29 16 11 18 11 6 16
55 131 174 11 6 44 24
Mortality percentages of of Coast deaths cargo
on
0.9
6.0
5.2 7.2
23.0 58.6
5.6
65.4
23.6 1.9 0.4 2.6 3.5 2.6 3.7 5.0 0.2 2.7 0.2 14.5 2.1 0.3 13.2 20.7 0.5 7.7 8.1 1.3 2.6 0.9 1.5 1.8 0.8 4.0 2.3 3.3
53.2 33.3 12.5 40.0 38.5 26.1 24.4 14.3 7.1 11.7 25.0 40.6 21.2 8.3 90.9 79.1 28.6 54.8 32.4 6.5 38.1 42.9 30.8 85.7 50.0 16.9 26.1 28.0
1.9 6.9
22.7 51.3
7.1 0 12.6
70.6 0 61.5
2.9 1.9 0.8
13.7 17.2 12.5
2.1 1.2 0.5 2.7 7.1 12.3 12.5 2.2 0.6 6.6 3.2
33.3 27.3 16.7 50.0 41.8 26.0 19.5 45.5 16.7 59.1 37.5
15.7 18.3 22.5 12.3 12.9 8.6 14.9 44.3 5.7 3.4 6.5 9.0 9.8 15.0 34.8 3.5 22.8 0.8 35.8 10.1 4.0 14.5 26.2 1.7 14.1 25.1 19.7 6.9 2.1 5.0 2.1 1.7 23.6 8.8 11.8 30.2 8.4 13.5 3.0 10.1 0.9 20.5 7.5 21.2 11.2 6.7 4.2 6.4 4.5 3.0 5.4 17.1 47.5 64.0 4.8 3.4 11.2
8.5
Appendix 19 Gender, age, and mortality among WIC slaves, 1680-1739 Ships Acredam Adrichem Adrichem Adrichem Adrichem Adrichem Agatha Amsterdam(2) Annaboa Axim Beekesteyn
Year 1725 1708 1710 1712 1715 1719 1715 1724
C o n s i g n m e n t c l a s si fi c a t i o n
Cargo Male Fem. Yth. 482 422
129
719 166
423 200 445 107
188 173 157 33
423 111
55
56
106
33
643 613 713 611 717
191
135 4 10 118
Men
Slave value
Wn. Boys Girls
Head = PdI
All
32
106
112 4
23
191
0
355 = 348 705 = 627
149
133
16
132
16
1
2 3 1
413 118
188 137
10 82
0 36
476 = 458 141 = 118
39 332
36 257
36 188
3 64
0
1
75
91 15 92 41
70
3 75 21
63
17
11
79 19
13 22
55 85 191 89 238 103
46
9
18 46
17 9
9 6 0
110=101 139 = 138
Beekesteyn Beekesteyn Beekesteyn Beekesteyn
1731 1736
139 722 442 507 755 705
Beschutter Beschutter
1736 1739
768 809
595
173
14
584
170
11
3
768 = 763
23 69
Beurs Amsterdam Beurs Amsterdam Brandenburg Brandenburg
1705 1707
653 708
175 179
121 154
391 397
141 154
87 129
34
468 = 412 626 = 475
37 79
1699 1730
Brandenburg
1733 1708 1711 1704
456 409 564
478 526 300
Carolus Secundus Carolus Secundus Casteel Elmina Casteel Elmina
1708
99
32
2
0
171
25
425
126 166
490 171
320 107
155 64
196
146
50
9
1 54 27 32 15 4 13
31 63
6 16
30 46
4 14
3 19
1 53
131
150
373 259
38 54 50
b
370
1700 1710 1723 1726 1729
247
p
418
11 23 2
Mo r t a l ity
Male Fem. Men Wn.Yth. H a
222
153
37
13
109 = 100 335 = 330 102=101 136=129
250 32 10 13
5 45 154
9 96
44 142
9 89
26 7 11
6 3
26
6
2
9
3
1 4 19 0 0 2
3
4
Appendix 19 (cont) Gender, age, and mortality among WIC slaves, 1680-1739 Consignm e n t c l a s s i
Ships
Year
Cathanna Christina 1707 Christina 1705 Comps. Welvaren 1720 Coning v Portugal 1707 Coningin Hester 1714 Delft Delft Duynenburg Duynenburg Duynvliet Elmina Emmenes Emmenes Emmenes Emmenes Engelenburg Eva Maria Fida Geertruyt Gelderland
1726 1736
Cargo Male Fem. Yth. 540 548 89 536 625 286 571 542 473
366 243 70 359 403 173 367
174 178 16 177 217
54 41
59
57 24
16 2 64
Men
fication
Wn. Boys Girls
19
55
19
0
10 4
57 203
37 66
44 171
21 48
29 50
10 22
15 15 14
2 14
12 9
1
14
20
5 19
0 1
5 19
61
46
15
40
38
26 59
106
1716 1701
153 674
131 459
65 22 215
8 205
125 317
20 152
1716 1685
257
189 132
68 154
178 117
104
42
15 26 11
163
83 102 128 32 78
14
55
571 = 565 354 = 304 347 = 331
1723
64
0 6 11
75 13
171 178
166 405
4
30 39
121 144
291 370
250 525 461
6
83
13 72 74
55 42 18
99 170
505 544
6 30 43
23 102 126
211
1736 1728 1729 1680 1734
17 72
46 = 41 327 = 327 289 = 245
350 480
Goude Put Groot Bentveld Helena Huys Nassau Jonge Daniel
0
0 9
563 718 208 176
248 629 672
10
2
27
1716 1697
21
177 208 44 194
96
493 157
64 143 39
115 27
15 6 28 4 1
74
110
40 60
6 186 11 15
2
99 = 94
19 4 11
497 = 379
23 94 269 20 18 17 29
257 = 250
15
8
3
80 = 74
51 9
270 = 248 245 = 206 131=128
Mortality
Fem. Men Wn.Yth. H a Pb 10
357 348 131 349
39 17
Goude Brackhont
21
365 = 352
167 257
373 146
31
5 8 3
325 300
238
Male
49 33 13
318 312 141
1715 1718 1721
All
169 170 16
393 325
103 17
Head = PdI
317 210 57
200 149 148
1703 1705 1721 1723
Slave value
5
13 5
2
3 13 15 12 0 0 1
0 0
Jonge Daniel Justitia Justitia Leusden Leusden Leusden Leusden Leusden Leusden Leusden Leusden Margaritha Christina Mercurius Nieuwe Post Phenix Phenix Philippus Johannes Pynenburg Pynenburg Quinera Quinera Quinera Rachel Rusthof Rusthof Son
1736 1707 1708 1722 1724 1726 1727 1729 1731 1733 1735 1701 1681 1716 1723 1729 1707 1703 1705 1701 1706 1709 1701 1730 1733 1701
469 740 673 562 605 747 748 708 629 714 687 443 540 559 771 783 510 400 348 499 547 530 419 663 719 369
408 346
180 150
73
339
176
69
4
214
100
32
182
100
32
0
542
130
60
502
110
40
20
283 346 418
160 154 141
136
186
121
97
39
139
300
109
118
32
236 336 210 153 327 357 350 288
69 159 162 127 172 190 180 131
43
207
55
29
14
28 57 61 14 4
125 278 310 287 285
127 164 176 163 130
28 49 47 7 3
0 8 14 7 1
227 = 214 135 = 122 362 = 357 220 = 213
195 229
521 140
65 13
175 222
476 127
20 3
45 10
716 = 685 237 = 232
314 = 300
302 = 263 520 = 500 344 = 282
58 152 111 91 73 71 41 72 76 42 408 49
5 89
63
75
56
21 11 5 9 9 2 5 51
29
20
14
10
25
8
44 25
30
14
21
12
11
2
69 153 65 79 120 345 47
42 108
27 45
40 96
27 40
2 17
66 101 109 42
13 19 236 5
66
13
99 42
221 5
0 31 25 43 0 7
32 2 2 1
13 1 9
Appendix 19 (cont) Gender, age, and mortality among WIC slaves, 1680-1739 Ships
Year
Son
1703
Son Son
1705 1708
Sonnesteyn
1715 1712 1714 1727
St Clara St Marcus Stad & Lande Stad & Lande Stad & Lande Stad & Lande Steenhuysen Steenhuysen Vergulde Vryheid Vlissings Welvaren Vreede
1729 1732 1735 1724 1726 1701 1716 1684
Vriendschap Vryheyt (2) Vryheyt (2) Wakende Craen
1704
Wapen V Holland Wapen V Holland
1701 1705
Wapen Zirickzee Westind. Huys
1686 1701 1699
Winthont
1722 1734 1706
Consignment c l a s s i fi c a t i o n
Cargo Male Fem. Yth. 513 694 559 103 584 585 751 779 439 760 780 789 694
180
177 179
120 2
31 1
13 7
67
418
167
18
383 404
22 194 136
10 7 14
3
390
25 194
380
222
137
302
163
78
59
378 77
0 4
438 = 381 288 = 288 26 = 24 298 = 284 471 = 440
62
556 = 482
26 83
150 30 97
9 35
142 = 126 410 = 355
247 254
103 104
28 34
15 8
228 = 215 433 = 413
126 244
64
0
120=120
151 155
13 19
257 = 239
447
0 42 91
333 = 298
398
206
28
353
178
15
15 7
361 = 354
327
155
35 118
213 39 132
129 195
275 288
118 112
43 42
126
64
431 538
233 174
359 426 370
125 221
159 192
393 450 605 190 664
555
Mortal i t y
Fem. Men Wn.Yth. Ha
All
Male
135 139 37 124
108 109
27
89
22
24
2
30
109
30
0
3
30 100 21
7 24
24
7 24
6
28 76 172 307
7
100 21
7
0 0
p
b
8 1 4 5
349 85 102
437
508 762
Head = PdI 379 = 244
443 376
179
217
712
Slave value
Wn. Boys Girls
151 3
515
477
194
Men
185
55 110 43 22
Notes: aDeaths in the harbor, prior to disembarkation;
12 3
23 0 14
4
0
6
58
54
10
8
7
13
7
6
7
6
0
2
205 150
109
41
95
39
16
5
114
95
19 1
4
19
19 1
91
20
10 72
6 22 34 14
10
33 42
2 6
19
0
Deaths after disembarkation but before the sale of the slaves.
2
Appendix 20 Slave gender, age, and mortality ratios, 1734-1803 Ship
]Dea t hs Men All Origina Boys Female Youth Women Year Af. A m Girls All M W B G Male
Aurora Aurora Aurora DeVis Drie Gezusters Drie Gezusters Eenigheid Eenigheid Eenigheid Geertruyde Chr. Geertruyde Chr. Geertruyde Chr. Geertruyde Chr. Geertruyde Chr. Geertruyde Chr. Grenadier Grenadier Grenadier Grenadier Groot Prooyen Guineese Galey Haast U Langzaam Haast U Langzaam Haast U Langzaam Haast U Langzaam Haast U Langzaam Haast U Langzaam Haast U Langzaam Haast U Langzaam HofZeeland Vr. Johanna Cores Vr. Johanna Cores Vr. Johanna Cores Vr. Johanna Cores Vr. Johanna Cores Vr. Johanna Cores Vr. Johanna Cores
1777 1775 1777 1776 1756 1759 1763 1765 1767 1769 1771 1773 1775 1111 1785 1744 1747 1749 1754 1743 1741 1765 1768 1770 1771 1774 1776 1778 1781 1734 1757 1759 1761 1763 1765 1768 1770
G G G
G A A A A G G G A G A A G G G G
GB M SE M C/3
A A G G G G G G A G G G G G G
SE
M M S M S
c
SE SE S S S S GB S S S M S GS SE
M S GD C S C C S S S S
318 319 260 238 234 405 293 256 315 261 321 289 345 284 276 304 376 343 289 225 246 297 302 327 400 326 262 281 373 318 282 372 385 303 271 251 226
206 195 140 153 149 258 153 107 189 145 199 140 188 173 176 237 225 217 162 184 154 138 167 193 271 195 147 169 230 251 176 244 249 164 154 124 122
112 124 120 85 85 147 140 116 126 116 122 149 157 111 100 67 151 126 127 41 92 158 135 134 129 131 115 112 143 67 106 128 132 139 117 125 104
399
114 184 60 42 16 72 59 37 87 15 130 50 45 29 58 26 139 56 21 22 43 34 99 66 72 92 49 57 88 91 43 117 104 17 31 48 41
132 73 110 135 140 209 114 85 139 139 115 113 159 156 132 222 134 177 152 166 128 119 105 148 223 138 121 132 171 186 150 163 172 151 139 98 97
72 74 62 122 90 30 61 18 78 9 124 49 120 39 101 22 89 50 107 6 76 84 126 27 141 29 99 17 86 44 56 15 103 91 110 40 116 10 37 18 75 26 143 19 98 62 113 45 105 48 96 57 92 26 92 37 114 59 41 65 89 26 92 81 105 77 135 13 101 15 103 26 88 25
40 6 3 62 10 5 30 24 16 7 23 20 15 67 29 37 62 43 9 46 38 16 23 16 73 40 12 14 11 48 56 17 16 11 16 9 4 17 45 15 42 37 21 7 3 24 12 35 16 8 23 13 8 20 18 13 29 69 49 26 50 41 17 98 4 36 27 138 4 16 68 42 22 31 16 11
0 0
2 3
1
33 10
2 2
3 7
7
9
6
27
5
1
11 19
9 0
7
0
3
1 0
6 3 1 15 1
1 1 0 2 1 3 3 2 6 2
24
1
1
Appendix 20 (cont) Slave gender, age, and mortality ratios, 1734-1803 Ship
1D e a t h s Origina Men All Boys Female Year Af . Am Women Youth Girls All M W Male
B G
17
117
95
30
104
78
13
Jonge Willem
1770 G S
116
62
54
14
53
49
9
5
2
2
0
0
0
Jonge Willem
1773 G S
108
53
55
51
32
25
21
30
1
0
1
0
Jonge Willem
1776 M M
163
102
61
40
75
48
27
18 10
5
2
Jonge Willem
1779 G GS
203
127
76
45
106
52
21
13 24
0 1
Mercurius
1755 G S
231
116
115
61
79
91
37
24
32
Middelb. Welvaren 1754 G S
269
120
149
64
87
118
33
31
53 10 36
3
4
Middelb. Welvaren 1756 G S
291
158
133
42
133
116
25
17
26
18
3
4
1
Middelb. Welvaren 1758 G S Middelb. Welvaren 1760 A C
300 428
266
162 115
197
116
69
Middelb. Welvaren 1762 A C
273
182 234
113
108
160
Middelb. Welvaren 1763 A C
455 410
Nieuwe Hoop
1764 G M
305
179
126
48
152
105
27
21
Nieuwe Hoop
1766 L C
351
214
137 137
132
82
82
55
13
Nieuwe Hoop
1768 G
170
155 106
115
104
55
51
44
Nieuwe Hoop
1769 G
s s s
325 262
128
134
100
102
32
13
7
4
2
0
86
28 24
22
23 12
7
4
0
11 4
1 2
1 2
Vr. Johanna Cores 1772 G GB 212
6
45 46
10
74 203 5
60 46
128
42
260
152
1774 G M
214
119
98
74
21
21
37
1777 G GS 1780 G SE
258
134
134
53
106
109
16
169
129
63
128
107
25 22
29
298
28 41
16
8
1785 G M 1754 G S
215
142
73
31
127
57
15
16
13 10
0
3
0
Philadelphia
229
123
106
82
72
75
51
31
15
5
10
0
0
Philadelphia
1755 G
261
136
125
68
93
100
43
25
18
7
8
1
2
Philadelphia
1757 G M
308
133
65
44
21
22
7
11
1759 G
143
38
130
25
13
77 45
28
3 2
2
Philadelphia
1761 G
s s s s s s c s s
337
131 169
112
Philadelphia
175 194
312
164 148
41
141
130
23
18
25
17
8
0
0
87
86
40
29 23
1
5
0
73
Nieuwe Hoop
1771 G
Nieuwe Hoop Nieuwe Hoop Nieuwe Hoop Nieuwe Hoop
s
108
95 42
1
358
231
127 126
145
324
214
110 105
151
68
63
42
261
135
126
63
92
106
43
20
233
128
105
56
85
92
43
348
140 125 124 8
126
13 44
333
96 124
81
465
207 341
8
0
8 2
2
0
0
0
478
295
183
93
233
152
62
31
4
4
0
0
0
311 312
160
151
24
154
133
12 11
0
0
1
177
135
21
165
126
6 12
18
Prins Willem V
1762 G SE 1764 G s
9
37 26
9
2
Prins Willem V
1766 G
238
143
95
25
128
85
15
10
18 12
0
101
115
85
39
5 1
0 1 1
0
Philadelphia
1763 G
Philadelphia
1765 G
Prins Willem V Prins Willem V
1753 G 1754 G
Prins Willem V
1756 A
Prins Willem V
1758 A
Prins Willem V
1760 A
Prins Willem V
Prins Willem V
1768 A
s s
340
186
154 124
400
7
5
Appendixes
401
Appendix 20 (cont) Slave gender, age, and mortality ratios, 1734-1803 Ship
Origin51 All Men Female Dea ths Boys Year Af. Am Youth Male Women Girls All M W B G
Prins Willem V
1770 A S
377
257
120 142
157
78
100
42
Prins Willem V
1773 A S
313
206
107
95
149
69
57
38
Raadhuys M'burg
1746
281
186
95
46
165
70
21
25
Standvastigheid
1792 G S
231
133
98
47
106
78
27
20
Standvastigheid
1803 G
C/5
281
175
106
54
141
86
34
20
Vergenoegen
1787 G
s
386
211
175
74
172
140
39
35
22
Vergenoegen
1794 M
C/5
254
1779 G
186 112
99 78
68 31
25
44 11
Vliegende Faam
1758 G
s s
139 108 103 56
40
Vigilantie
393 246 281
186
46
165
70
21
25
77
Vliegende Faam
1771 G GS
212
118
95 94
33
101
78
17
16
25
Vliegende Faam
1774 G
168
96
72
30
80
16
14
17
Watergeus
1775 A GS
375
191
184 155
96
58 124
95
60
28
Watergeus
1777 A SE
325
184
141 107
116
102
68
202
89
55
s
Watergeus
1779 G S
Welmenende Welmenende
143
19
18
4
2
1
1
5 0
11
8
2
1
0
9
2
0
0
39
10
34
49 42
3
3
1
0
0
1
1
3 1
7 1
0 1
1
2
89 47
380
257
123
89
1770 G S
196
107
89
44
80
72
27
17
2
1772 A S
261
173
88
76
117
68
56
20
22
Welmenende
1774 G GS
203
109
94
52
90
61
19
1766 G
191
95
96
80
56
55
39
33 41
10
Zanggodin Zanggodin
1770 A S
38
25
14
12
71
40
70
15 21
22
91
28 52
10
1772 G
67 162
29
Zanggodin
19
9
6
Zanggodin
1775 G SE
10
Zee Mercuur
1790 G S
s
111
47
64
41
30
40
17
24
4
3
150
120
60
117
93
33
27 174 93
56
Zee Mercuur
270 1793 G GD 174
93
81
35
71
68
22
13
Zorg
1779 G S
131
115
33
112
101
19
14
Note:
a
246
Codes for origins and destinations are explained in Appendix 1.
15
8
5
9 56 2
0
402
Appendixes Appendix 21 Instructions for the slave supervisor at Elmina
The followng document was located among the WIC papers that were kept on the African coast until 1872, see NBKG, vol. 235-36, doc. 12/5/1710. It throws much light on the treatment of the slaves in the castle at Elmina, while awaiting the arrival of a slave ship from Europe. Information in brackets has been added by the translator. In the document, "he" constantly refers to the supervisor. Instructions for Nicolaas Elgersma, Supervisor for the care of the slaves, according to which he must conduct himself and carry out the duties of his office. Art. 1. He must keep a record of the number of slaves kept in the castle. If additional slaves arrive from other factories, or leave after being assigned for embarkation by the Equipment Master, an account should be kept of this also. 2. Every evening when the slaves come inside, he must count them and report to the Equipment Master the correct number. The Equipment Master must be notified if one or more have died, and he should also keep a record of this for himself, and sign the death affidavits. And if one or more are sick, the Master should be notified of this, and those whom the Master deems contagious must be taken to the Berg St. Jago (another castle ca. one mile uphill), to be cured by the Bumboy1 [Bombaas]. 3. In the morning when the gate is open while the slaves are ushered out, he shall separate and count the slaves going to work. The slaves who are too weak should stay in the dungeon [slavegat]2 and the Bumboy shall be notified to not put these to work. Care should be taken that the slaves who go to work are counted again when they return, to verify the correct number. 4. Early each morning he will receive for each slave one can of millet [milhi] from the Equipment Master, to be rubbed and boiled by the women slaves into "bussels" on the [Katteplaats].3 Take a look periodically to avoid having things stolen. Ask the Equipment Master for the necessary salt, 1. The Bumboy was an African, possibly a company slave, with supervisory authority among the trade slaves. See Chapters 4 and 10, and Lawrence, p. 61. 2. The castle at Elmina did not have a real dungeon, like the English castle at Cape Coast, but a few lower level storage rooms were set aside as slave quarters. These quarters were visited by this author in 1973. 3. Literally, "place for the Cats"; an area by the slave quarters.
Appendixes
403
pepper, and palm oil, for the food preserved in a cupboard specifically designated for that. He must keep the key for this and must always be present when something is taken from it. 5. Toward midday, at eleven o'clock, the slaves must line up on the square, be counted and verified that all are still there; a "crust" should be handed to each slave in his [supervisor's] presence, to make sure that each slave gets a fair share. Saving half of the food, they should be fed in the same manner in the evening. 6. In carrying out his duties, he must be very polite to the Equipment Master, and if something should occur that is not mentioned here, he must ask "us" for further instructions. Accordingly granted by the Director-General of the North and South Coasts of Africa, residing at the Castle of St. George d'Elmina, this 5th December 1710.
404
Appendixes Appendix 22 A slave-ship consignment affidavit
The following is an affidavit of transfer of responsibility for a cargo of slaves, from WIC authorities in Africa to the captain of a WIC slave ship. Captains signed such documents just prior to leaving Africa and starting the middle passage. This particular consignment paper (cognossement) is located in WIC, vol. 488, p. 799. The document has been translated almost verbatim in order to preserve the original style. For the sake of clarity and brevity, the numerical figures of the original long hand have been changed into numerals in this English translation. CONSIGNMENT
I, the undersigned, Jan Pietersz. Gewelt, Captain under God on the Noble ship Sonnesteyn, presently prepared to sail from here [Elmina] to St. Eustatius in America, acknowledge to have received into the ship just mentioned, from the hands of the Honorable Lord Director-General Pieter Valkenier, the total of 627 head of slaves, consisting of 410 men, 112 women, 39 boys at two-thirds, 32 boys at one-half, 7 boys at one-third, 19 girls at two-thirds, and 8 girls at one-half, altogether consisting of 583 piezas de India, all healthy and in good condition. All the slaves mentioned are to cross [the Atlantic] at the risk of the Honorable General Chartered Dutch West India Company, which I promise and accept to deliver — if God almighty grants me a safe voyage - at St. Eustatius, into the hands of the Lord Commander, Joannes Lindezaay, in order to be sold by him and for me, and of which I shall give an accounting to the Lord Directors on my return to the fatherland (Patria). To the fulfillment of this [charge], I pledge my whole being and all my goods, actions, credits, and integrity [gerechtigheden], nothing excluded, especially my already earned and still to be earned salary [maandgelden] and premiums, and according to regulations I shall not draw on this. As evidence of the truth of this, four identical affidavits [cognossementen]zrt written, one is signed and the others are of no value. Enacted at the Chief Castle [Hoofdcasteel] St. George d'Elmina, this 6th of March, 1726. (Signature)
Appendixes
405
Appendix 23 Attestation, or death certificate
The following is the affidavit of the death of a slave owned by the WIC. Several sworn statements of this type are to be found among the WIC papers. The document suggests that, to the company, the slave's commercial value was paramount. The document has been translated almost verbatim in order to preserve the original style. The document was found in WIC, vol. 107, P-45ATTESTATION
We, the undersigned, Julianus Oudorp and Dingnus Masuer, both assistants in the service of the Honorable General Chartered Dutch West India Company, assigned to the Chief Castle St. George d'Elmina, declare at the request of the Chief Factor, Laurens Buens, also serving at the same station, that it is the honest truth that on the first of March this year a certain purchased woman slave died, giving as the evidence of our knowledge (of this) that we saw the body after she died. Being completely aware of these facts, we are willing to reinforce this with a solemn oath. As evidence of the above (follows) our customary signature. Signed this first of March, Anno. 1725. (signatures here)
406
Appendixes Appendix 24 Average WIC slave prices, 1676-1738
Year 1676 1680 1685 1687 1688 1689 1694 1695 1697 1699 1700 1701 1702 1703 1704 1705 1706 1707 1708 1709 1710 1712 1713 1714 1715
Africa5
40 30
1729 1730 1731 1732 1733 1734 1735 1736 1737 1738
St. Eustatius3 Upper/lower price ranges
122 128
99 144 45
43
99 100 100 108 106 108 108 108 99
44 62
108 97 108
70
75 80
108 108 103
85 103 100
Surinam Upper/lower price ranges
Guyana
180 180
120 120
1716 1717 1718 1719 1720 1721 1722 1723 1724 1725 1726 1727 1728
Curac,aoa Contract Auction price price
210 210
50 59 43 75 44 43 92 57 60 70 52
178 210 250
99 84 93 96
250
250
249 211
60 67 63 40 91 51 57 85 86 85 85 80
210
210 210
96 97 95 81 99
81 74 76 80 80 81
245 250 250
210
224
208
208
148
191 214 246 237 274 229 311 274 243 247 366 270 263 194 259
238 226 227 218 288 217 135 148 220 186 190 138 135 139
Source: WIC, vols. 200-209, 560-579, 617-619, and 831-834; SS, vols. 407-419. Notes: a Prices at Curasao and St. Eustatius are listed in pesos (pieces of eight). b For Africa, Surinam, and Guyana, prices are listed in guilders (see Chapter 11).
275
Appendix 25 MCC free-trade prices and profits, 1740-1795
Ships
Average Areas price Price Year Year Africa/ a total Africa West West Slaves Af.
Afrikaanse Galey Afrikaanse Galey Aurora Aurora Aurora Aurora Brandenburg
1740 1742 1772
1742 1743
GS GS LG
271 330 318
176
20,471 56,037
1774
1775
LM GSE
319 260
177 157
56,322 40,884
GS GG GS LSE
326 226 234
128 177 72
GG GM
405 326 256
41,751 39,967 25,817 29,249
100 131
32,625 33,462
AS GS GS GC
311 261 321 289
137 178
42,693 46,367
166 111
53,170 51,089
GS GS
345 304
186
64,049 53,350
GS
276 225
1777 1779 1792
Drie Gezusters Drie Gezusters Eenigheid
1755 1758 1762 Eenigheid 1765 1767 Eenigheid Geertruyda & Christina 1768 Geertruyda & Christina Geertruyda & Christina Geertruyda & Christina Geertruyda & Christina Geertruyda & Christina Groot Prooyen
1770 1772
Groot Prooyen Groot Prooyen
1744 1748
Grenadier Grenadier Grenadier Grenadier Grenadier Guineese Galey
1752
1775 1777 1784 1742
1756
1743 1744
AS AS LS
338 328
1741
1748 1742
1743
1743
AS GS
236 304
1746 1749
1746 1749 1752 1742
GS LS GG AS
376 352
1740
289 246
62
175 131 103 77 63 92 86 57 103 84
Average Proceeds Slaves price slaves landed Am. 209 244 312 309 249 284 202 211 391 293 189 252 231
249 314
60,767 98,042
336 292
103,768 72,782
306 624
86,862 125,968 58,872 44,935
115 341 317
99,981 59,945
280 472
70,526 109,142
379 302
107,346 75,470
293
320 342
87,026 100,189
36,067 23,075
145 1%
416 264
25,878 20,694
271 261
21,739 26,276
207 278
21,473 36,271
320 196
24,415
273 206
283 250 272
Total investment 9,991 9,825 20,916 21,410 19,289 19,618 23,888 12,579 16,170 14,302 13,923 14,663 21,280 20,596 20,893 24,104
Total yields
Profits and losses
9,088 11,405 20,677
-903 1,580 -239
21,448 17,815 18,986 23,929 11,399 16,238 16,522 12,417
38 -1,474 -632 41 -1,180 68 2,220 -1,506 -1,910 1,223
-9.0 16.1 -1.1 0.2 -7.6 -3.2 0.2 -9.4 0.4 15.5 10.8 13.0 5.7
21,279
12,753 22,503 22,447 15,583 23,552 22,676
60,375 51,716
20,943 12,230
13,137 11,074
186 209
50,285 54,488
11,073 10,519
9,941 10,439
216 275 189
44,690 76,323
12,173 12,194 12,121 12,134
10,703 15,809 16,432 6,305
-1,470 3,615 4,311 -5,829
35.6 48.0
10,647 10,928
11,955 9,668
1,308 -1,260
12.3
163 253
60,555 31,995 68,993
1,851 -5,310 -552 1,397
9.0 25.4
-7,806 -1,156 -1,132
37.3 -9.5 10.2 -0.8 12.1
-80
-2.3 6.6
29.6
11.5
Appendix 25 (cont) MCC free-trade prices and profits, 1740-1795
Ships Haast U Langzaam
1765
Haast U Langzaam Haast U Langzaam Haast U Langzaam Haast U Langzaam
1767 1770 1772
Haast U Langzaam Haast U Langzaam Jonge Willem Jonge Willem
1775 1778 1770 1771 1772 1775
Jonge Willem Jonge Willem ^ 00
Average Areas price Price Year Year Africa/ total Africa West Westa Slaves Af.
Jonge Willem M'burg Welvaren M'burg Welvaren M'burg Welvaren M'burg Welvaren M'burg Welvaren M'burg Welvaren Mercurius Nieuwe Hoop Nieuwe Hoop Nieuwe Hoop Nieuwe Hoop
1768
GS LM LS LG LSE
1773 1776
1773
GSE GS GS GS GM AM
297
140
41,455
255
308
302 327
151 159
283 320
400 329 262 281
146 201
45,508 51,870 58,594 66,187
189 130
49,501 36,440
118 189
155 177 104
388 313 249 263 116 183 107 132
299 430 414
197 217
193
18,248 33,413 11,218 29,007
155 94
31,509 25,329
100 75 77
30,027 32,112 34,884
1757
GS GS
108 150 203 270 331 300
1759 1761
LC LC
428 455
LC GS
410 231
GM LM
.305 351
GS GS
325 262
GS GM
260 214
150 147 194
GG GS
258 298
176 123
1779 1753 1754
1762 1754
1754 1756
1763
1763 1765 1767 1769
Nieuwe Hoop Nieuwe Hoop
1770 1773
Nieuwe Hoop Nieuwe Hoop
1776 1779
1771
GM GS
A\verage ProSlaves price ceeds landed Am. slaves
102 114 117 134
23,528 34,673 40,991 43,439 39,287
305 255 418 252 405 199 263 338
38,158 41,440
291 249 237 177
45,508 36,733
229 282
343 332 350 484 364
78,556 84,684 137,673 160,604 107,377
Total investment
Total yields
Profits and losses
18,220
17,970
-250
21,576 21,079
19,538 27,118
22,438 22,513
29,770
-2,038 6,039 7,332 -1,332
82,791 92,110
19,649 19,204
21,181 20,848 23,204
56,145 66,700 35,772 58,988 105,394
13,099 13,283
16,119 13,676
12,450 15,200
15,328 14,522
71,406
18,217 12,970
65,377
12,285 11,771
24,493 14,607 13,099
301
93,658 75,856
14,066 13,685
227
45,137
281 241
73,858 81,622
335 457
97,579 113,890
343 345 374 178
81,300 61,124
14,380 15,069
85,605 50,121
15,920 15,434
334 447 535 329 256 224
1,199 4,000 3,020 393
% -1.4 -9.4 28.6 32.7 -5.9 6.1 20.8 23.1 3.0 23.1 -4.5 34.5 12.6
17,920
2,878 -678 6,276 1,637 814 639 4,666 4,235
13,946 10,613
18,801 11,612
4,855 999
34.8 9.4
16,408
15,283 15,878
-1,125 »l,073
-6.9
17,950 20,149
1,626 4,957
14,576 11,973 16,584 19,004
1% -3,096 664
16,951 16,324 15,192
12,410 18,732
3,570
6.6 5.4 33.2 30.9
-6.3 10.0 32.6 1.4 20.5 4.2 23.1
Nieuwe Hoop PrinsWillemV Prins Willem V PrinsWillemV PrinsWillemV
1784 1752 1754
Prins Willem V PrinsWillem V
1760 1762
PrinsWillemV PrinsWillemV
1763 1765 1768 1770
PrinsWillemV Prins Willem V PrinsWillemV
1756 1757
Philadelphia
1772 1753
Philadelphia Philadelphia
1755 1757
Philadelphia Philadelphia
1759 1760 1762 1764
Philadelphia Philadelphia Raadhuis M'burg Raadhuis M'burg Standvastigheid V. Johanna Cores
1752 1754 1758
1766
1754
1761 1763
GG GS
215 261
176 95 110
37,816 24,837
202 246
25,727
225
122 82
42,496 38,178
222
47,468 43,188
340 463 474 299
301 291 388 280 309 326 318 272
GS
233
LC
348
LS
465
LS GSE
478 302
GS GS
312 238
99 143 134 177
LS LS LSE GS GS GS
340 377
139 121
313 230
169 106 107 96 94
41,928 42,025 47,119 45,753 52,755 24,271 27,821
275 220 333 288 309 215
575 322 304 195 195
116,161 79,097 68,498 75,484 90,254
16,189 12,290
21,130 15,424
11,965
12,938
973
30.5 25.5 8.1
15,631 13,190
18,360 15,460
2,729 2,270
17.5 17.2
92,478 90,020 80,065 85,270
14,067 13,286 13,632 16,394
16,080 15,666 15,032 14,604
14.3 17.9
93,293 89,100 100,820 68,388 66,109 81,853
15,883 14,437 19,797 11,721 11,134 11,631
16,227 14,889
2,013 2,380 1,400 -1,790 344 452
18,801 12,955 11,857 13,624
-996 1,234
52,401 84,820
11,191 11,973
9,789 14,329
723 1,993 -1,402 2,356
-5.0 10.5 6.5 17.1
4,941 3,134
GS GS
261 308 337 312
LC LC
358 324
90 107
32,217 34,590
329 250
274 218
90,256 54,602
12,570 13,549
14,925 11,938
2,355 -1,611
9,406
203 -331
89
29,480 31,742 27,789
243 286 260 287
286 202 2%
1742
1742
1743 1792
1743
GS AG
272 252
105 94
28,550 23,656
231 226
200 224
46,105 50,644
9,203 9,462
201
46,387 27,797
220 184
442
1756
231 282
97,160 40,142
73
27,283 21,285
368 243
157
116 131
35,000 35,416
259 203
329 319
1757
GS GS
V. Johanna Cores V. Johanna Cores
1759 1760
372
1761
LC LC
V. Johanna Cores V. Johanna Cores
1763 1764
1765
GS GC
303 271
99
381
218
10.3 10.9 2.2 3.1
12.5 19.7 18.7 11.9 2.2
21,929 11,480
9,131 22,891 7,567
-3,913
-3.5 4.4 34.1
57,736 33,758
12,833 12,383
24,166 14,626
11,333 2,243
88.3 18.1
85,333 64,855
12,136 14,070
16,506 11,754
4,370 -2,316
36.0 16.5
962
Appendix 25 (cont) MCC free-trade prices and profits, 1740-1795
Ships
Areas Average Year Year Africa/ price Price Africa West Westa Slaves Af. total
Average ProSlaves price ceeds landed Am. slaves
Total investment
Total yields
Profits and losses
%
V. Johanna Cores
1767
1768
GS
249
155
38,652
218
359
78,281
23,054
20,508
V. Johanna Cores V. Johanna Cores Vergenoegen Vergenoegen
1769 1772
1770
GS GM
226 212
165 173
37,247
405 346
87,118 51,275
14,071 13,604
14,925 8,560
GS GS
386 266
127 173
215 148 364
427 424
155,335 87,810
23,507 24,200
GS GS GG GS
153 178 175 114
476 330 377
166,275 77,469 83,629 47,481 75,404 56,000
30,720
-4,928
15.3 -16
20,013
19,265 17,725
771 -2,288
4.2 11.4
GG GS
393 246 238 281 212 168
32,295 20,486 25,792
11,936 12,288
12,866 11,763
930 -525
7.8 -4.3
LG LSE
375 325
GS GS LS GG
380 1%
141
102,360 80,000
10,833
14,336
3,503
32.3
261 203
135 147
60,800 70,355
11,957 10,914
10,842 11,634
GS GS GSE
67 162
83 159 74
16,750 48,406
12,827
26,678 44,816
12,190 25,624
13,876 11,320 8,829 17,517
-9.3 6.6 8.2
12,846
-1,115 720 1,049 -1,526
97,760 76,953
21,527 23,303
19,883 24,000
Vergenoegen
1787 1789 1794
Vigilantie Vis Vliegende Faam
1775 1757
Vliegende Faam Vliegende Faam Watergeus Watergeus
1790 1795
1779 1758
1771 1773 1774 1776
Watergeus Welmenende
1778 1770
Welmenende Welmenende
1771 1774
Zanggodin Zanggodin
1769 1771 1774
1770
1788
1789
Zanggodin Zeemercuur Zeemercuur Zorg
1793 1778
GS GG GS
127 272 174 246
147 170
36,779 49,183 46,045 60,269 43,908
207
41,647 32,082
349 235 222 182
31,068 28,519 56,330 56,971
187 151 347 315
49,409 27,551 35,302
331 194
29,915 5,582 25,694
239 193 45 153
150
9,370 40,759
101 98
218 145
37,861 35,745
168 231
261 403 371
18,494
-2,546 854 -5,044 8,788 -3,714
11.0 6.1 37.1 37.4
134,685 91,602 412 254 365 372 316 264 457 582 333
Source: MCC, vols. 335-1437 (see Postma Data Collection); and Unger II, pp. 146-8. Notes: * Symbols for origins and destinations follow the same pattern as in Appendixes 1 and 2. The following three colomns are listed in £ Flemish; all other prices are listed in guilders.
11.9
-3,361 -8,107 -1,644
27.6 31.6
,697
3
-7.6
Appendixes
411
Appendix 26 Production and exports of Surinam, 1740-1793a Year 1740 1741 1742 1743 1744 1745 1746 1749 1753 1760 1761 1762 1763 1764 1766 1767 1768 1769 1770 1771 1772 1773 1774 1775 1776 1777 1778 1779 1780 1781 1782 1783 1784 1789 1790 1791 1792 1793
Sugar , (oxheads)b 21,670 26,365 24,024 20,141 18,640 23,239 18,517 21,442 21,123 19,871 22,800 22,347 21,642 21,231 21,774 22,411 17,143 22,271 20,770 18,426 16,118 21,412 17,552 17,687 21,189 18,602 15,798 2,693 13,514 19.040 19,617 15,613 21,105 19,174 17,050 5,419
Coffee (lbs) 5,232,812 4,801,410 2,347,214 3,873,576 2,452,146 2,969,281 2,122,480
Cocoa (lbs) 68,516 116,064 215,105 220,246 307,874 584,177 513,380
Cotton (lbs)
6,000
12,388,397 13,664,601 12,349,180 14,007,073 6,968,399 14,320,574 13,891,197 14,699,743 13,421,785 20,231,941 13,900,020 20,214,562 16,473,762 11,465,817 11,363,077 4,034,446 11,054,348 11,758,570 15,600,007 11,149,305 14,856,275 13,296,620 7,044,642 315,507
246,847 249,537 432,489 326,249 206,907 512,796 384,316 388,914 575,407 778,421 549,346 629,061 778,132 780,577 620,269 185,365 839,273 1,041,626 612,010 658,965 517,464 571,257 119,131 29,840
138,513 215,942 249,265 231,582 171,516 216,619 117,876 136,595 122,073 155,720 235,510 173,832 352,210 427,950 399,187 61,725 474,625 855,492 831,456 1,020,905 943,580 980,345 1,130,270 800
Tobacco (lbs)
30,000
64O
8,637 43,915 362,171 56,290 2,495 544 36,933 25,377 166,625
Source: Van de Voort, pp. 31 and 237-8; SS, vols. 148-238. Notes: a Other products exported from Surinam included wood products, citrus fruit juices, rice, and molasses, but the amounts were small compared to those listed in the table. An oxhead measured approximately 800 pounds.
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1. Archival Sources Abbreviations ARA WIC OWIC AW VWIS SB SS NBKG RLLM SG AMK AAC KITLV GAR AMA ECMMR HAR NAA APGA MCC VCC RAZ-A DMS
Archives and Collections Algemeen Rijksarchief (National Archives) Tweede West-Indische Compagnie, ARA Oude west-Indische Compagnie, ARA Aanwinsten, ARA Verspreide West-Indische Stukken, ARA Societeit van Berbice, ARA Societeit van Suriname, ARA Nederlandse bezittingen ter Kuste van Afrika, ARA Radermacher, Leliveld, Luyk-Masis Collectie, ARA Staten Generaal, ARA Archief van het Ministerie van Kolonien, ARA Archieven der Admiraliteitscolleges, ARA Koninklijk Instituut voor Taal-Land-en Volkenkunde Oude Stadsarchief, Gemeente Archief Archief der Maatschappij van Assurantie Engelbrecht Collectie, Maritiem Museum Hudig Archief, Stadsarchief Notarieel Archief, Stadsarchief Portugees-Israelische Gemeente, Stads Archief Middelburgse Commercie Compagnie, Provinciaal Archief Van Cittern Collectie, Provinciaal Archief Rijksarchief van Zeeland - Aanwinsten DE Mey van Streefkerk Papers James Ford Bell Library
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Index
Page references to figures, maps, notes, tables, and tabular appendixes are followed b y / m, n, t, a, respectively. Slave-trade ships (listed in Appendixes i, 2, 15, 16, 17A, 18-20, and in Tables 3.2, 7.5, and 10.10) are included in the Index if they are mentioned in the text. The names of ships are italicized. Slave-trade companies and brokers (listed in Appendix 10) and captains (listed in Appendixes 13 and 14, and in Table 3.2) are included in the Index if they are mentioned in the text. Abbocan, 87 abolition: decree (1814), 290-1; of Dutch slave trade, 289-91; movement, 155, 291, 293; of slavery in the Dutch West Indies, 293-4 Accra, 58m, 64m, 67, 84, 93m, 95, i22t, i24t, 206, 373-6 Adrichem, 103-4, 243, 2541 Africa, 5on, 137 African-Dutch relations, 68-71, 89-90 Agaja, 99-100 Agay, 364 Agou, 89 Aja, 88, 92, 93m, 96-7, 99, 356-61 Akani, 87, 93m Akwamu, 88, 90, 92, 93m, 94-5 Akwida, 64m, 95, i22t, 1241, 373-6 Akyem, 93m, 94-5, 207 alocholic beverages, 104-5; brandy, 234, 234t
Alida, 43n Amazon, 20m, 174, 176m Amazone, 207 Amba, 87 American Revolution, 4, 118, 211, 2 2 1 - 3 , 284 Ammo, 72
Amnichia, 207 Amsterdam, 49, 162, 164 Amsterdam (castle), 64m Amsterdam: city and WIC chamber, 9, 23f,
127, 1291, 130m, 1311, 1321, 153, 175, 299^ 305, 356-61; conflict with Zeeland, 23-4, 61, 127-8, 175; and governance of Surinam, 180 Anglo-Dutch wars: First (1652-4), 24, 175; Second (1665-7), 73> J75> J 9 2 ; Third (1672-4), 36; Fourth (1780-4), 165, 208, 275, 284, 288-9 Angola, 57, 58m, i n , 298f announcers, 277, 363 Anomabu, 64m, i22t, i24t, 125, 373-6 Antilles, Lesser, 81, 195, 196m, 3oot, 300 Antwerp, 130m; slave market, 3 Apam, 64m, 87, 95, i22t, i24t, 373-6 Apetta Coffy, 87 Appa (Ekpe), 97-100 apologists for slavery, 7, 291-2 Arawaks, 124, 178 Ardra (Allada), 88, 93m, 96-100; slaves from, 108-9 Arent, 153 armazoen, 228, 366 Arrel, Jan van, 155 Asante, 87, 90, 92, 93m, 94-6, 207 Asantehene, 73, 94 asiento: agents, 41, 170, 229, 270; contracts, 3, 5, 26, 107, i n , 168, 171, 174, 179, 228, 26-4, 267, 270, 281, 294, 297, 299, 303, 349; Coymans administration, 41-6; Dutch dominance, 33-46; early history, 29-31; summary of trade, 53-5 Assini, 64m, 117m, 122m, 373-6 Assoe, 364 Atlantic: crossing, 155, 162, 389a (see also middle passage); system, 2 Axim, 5on 420
Index Axim, 18, 58m, 64m, 95, 117m, i22t, 124I:, 207, 373-6 backhaul, 171-3, 282, 306, 353. See also produce, tropical Badagry, 64m, 100-1 Bahia, 19, 20, 20m ballast, 171-3, 273, 282, 306 Bantu-speaking Africans, 57, 108, 120, 141, 163, 276, 297 Barbados, 4, 28m, 196m barque (barkschip), 143, 306. See also ships Barroso de Poso, Juan, 34t, 39, 41-2 barter trade, 260
421
230, 250, 264, 282, 294, 3Oif, 299, 3oot, 302-3; as slave market, 2in, 21-2, 27 Brazil-Africa trade, 76—8, 96, 100, 141, 149 Breda, 130m, 175, 177 British-Dutch accords (1818), 290 Broeke, Pieter van den, 12 brokers (makelaars), 86-7, 89, 102, 162 Brooks, 142
buitenforten (outposts), 64m, 65, 124 Butri, 64m, 95, i22t, i23t, i24t, 373-6
Cabinda (Ngoyo), 58m, 60 Caerlof, Henry, 75 Calabar (or Calabary), 58m, 82t, 349, 356— Baskenburg, 2541 7; slaves, 106-7 Beck, Balthazar, 41; Matthias, 27 Calvinists, 8, 11 Beeck, Cornelis van, 349 Camaroons, 57, 106-8, 349 Beekesteyn, 163 Campen, Jan van, 352 Beekman, Samuel, 189—90 Candele, P. C. de, 67 Belmonte, Diego Nunes, 11; Don Manuel, cannibalism, 165, 236 40, 42, 46 Cape Appolonia, 159, 207 benda, 261, 262L See also gold Cape Coast, 74, i22t, 373-6 Benin: Bight of, 58m, 59; city state, 58m, Cape Colony, 111-2; Cape Town, 290 60, 64m, 84; region, 59, 107, i n , 161 Cape Lahou, 117m, i22t, 123, 373-6 Berbice: river and settlement, 13, 28m, 107, Cape Lopez, 58m, 77, 253 174-7, 176m, 188, 294, 306; patronship, Cape Palmas, 58m, i22t, 373-6 175; slave importation, 193-5, 217; slave Cape Verde, 3, 4on, 57, 74, 159, 356 rebellion (1763), 215-18; Society of, capitalist system, 283 193-5, 217 Capiteyn, Jacobus Eliza, 71 Berckensteyn, 160 captains (or masters) of slave ships, 61, 150, Bercu, 64m, i22t, i24t, 206, 373-6 152, 1541, 156, 243, 252, 306, 308, 352; Berkendam, 21 identification codes, 308-48; listed for Beschermer, 49 WIC, 308-19; listed for free trade, 320Biafra, Bight of, 58m, 106-8, i n , 113, 48; owners of ships, 9-10; qualifications 116, 242, 260, 267, 298f, 306 and duties, 140, 148, 366-8, 404; salarbills of exchange, 214, 262-3, 273, 275, ies, i54t, 281; and slave exploitation, 282, 368 137-8 Binder, Franz, 32, 32n, 34, 37, 187, 354n Caracas coast, 27, 28m, 82t, 168, 196m, blacks (zwarten), 68-70, 228; black boys, 73 226. See also illicit slave trade Block, Francois, 159 Cargau, Jan, 42-3 boekhouder (accountant), 9, 130, 371. See also Caribs, 174-5 rederij and reder
bombaas (bumboy), 243, 402, 40 2 n bonuses and premiums, in the slave trade, 67, 137, 155, 281, 28m, 286-7, 367-8 Bosch, Bernardus, 292 Bosman, Willem, 62, 63, 65-6, 88n, 136, 165, 233, 236-7, 363 Bosman, Willem Jr., 69 Boxer, Charles R., 15, 17 Brandenburg, 153, 158-60, 163, 228, 140 Brandenburg, 4, 75-6, 80, 95 Brandenburg African Company, 69 Braudel, Fernand, 9 Brazil, 13, 14, 17, 20m, n o , 174-5, 208,
Carolus Secundus, 82t, 2541
carpenters, 144, i54t, 154 Cartagena, 28m, 34, 43, 267, 358 Carte (or Carter), 89, 364 castle slaves (trainslaven), or company slaves, 7i-3 Castor, i66t, 168 Catharina Galey, 2O4n
Cavalla, 58m, 117m, i22t, 373-6 Cayenne, 175, 176m Central Africa, 58m, 160 Cestos, 117m, i22t, 373-6 Chambert, Louis, 51 Charles II (Spain), 48-9 Charles V (Spain), 3, 29
422
Index
Chouria, Jean, 51 Christianity: and the slave trade, 7; missionary activity, 70-1 Christiansburg, 64m, 76 Christina, 274 Clara, 103-4 citrus fruit, 234, 246; lemon juice, 171, 282. See also scurvy; medical practices; produce, tropical coastal trade, 116, 135 Cobbena Apo, 88 Cocoa. See produce, tropical Coejmans, B., 67 coffee. See produce, tropical coffles, 235 commissioners, 62f. See also merchants Companies Welvaren, 79 confiscation, of Brazil ships, 77; interlopers, 80; sailors, 368; planters, 275 Congo (Kongo), 58m, 60, 101 Congress of Vienna, 290 Conny, John, 88, 95, 207 consignment (cognossement), or cargo, 137, 232, 250, 308-48, 404 contraband, 39, 43. See also illicit slave trade Coopstad & Rochussen, 123, 133, 144, 280, 362, 371 copper trade, 60, 2651 Cornelia Christoffelina, 307 costs (accounting), 277-8. See also duties; finances and currencies cotton. See produce, tropical council: at Elimina, 62, 62f, 65, 127, 205; at Surinam, 180 Cowan, Anthonius, 198 cowry shells, 103, 260-1, 363-4 Coymans asiento, 34t, 40-6, 97, i n . See also asiento Coymans, Balthazar, 33, 38, 40—3 Coymans, Joseph, 39 craftsmen, 63, 68; among slaves, 72 credit, in slave trade: to Africans, 90, 275; to Surinam planters, 263-4, 27I~3> 2 75 crews on slave ships, 152-7, 1541, 227-8, 242; illness and mortality, 152, 156-7, 161, 166, 168; wages, 153, i54t, 155, 281; mates, 155, 367. See also captains of slave ships Croonvogel, 267 crowding: on slave ships, 147-8, 232, 245, 253; and mortality, 255-6, 392—4. See also mortality Cuba, 28m, 226 Curasao, 25, 82t, 168-9, I 7 I » 196m, 199200, 221-2, 229, 237, 240, 262, 2641, 267-9, 2 8 i , 288-9, 294, 297, 3Oif, 306,
406, 349-53; captured by the Dutch, 27, 28m; and the slave trade, 29, 33-5, 37—8, 44-5, 47-8, 50-5, 223, 270-1 Curtin, Philip D., 3, 5, 31, 163 customs. See duties; costs Daaku, Kwame, 86, 88 Dahomey, 88, 91, 93m, 99-101 death: affidavit of (attestatie), 137, 232, 238, 350, 402, 405; causes, 241-3, 244t debts: for slaves at Surinam, 183-4, 187, 278, 282; owed to WIC by Africans, 87, 263, 272 De Faatn, 81 Delft, i29t, 264, 266t, 299 Demerara, 176m, 177, 188, 218, 288, 294 Denkyira, 92, 93m, 94 Denmark, 4, 26, 49, 75-6, 80, 208, 291 destinations of slaves. See slaves director-general, 61, 62f, 63, 66, 78, 134, 403 diseases, on slave ships, 243-8, 244t; contagious, 169; mental illness, 242; parasitic worms, 65, 2441, 245. See also medical practices; surgeon-doctor Does, Jan van der, 155 doldrums. See weather Dominica, 196m, 226 drinking water, on slave ships, 157-8, 160, 2 35> 255> 2 77- See ak° slaves, feeding dungeon (slavegat), 233, 238, 402, 402n Dutch Association of Sciences, 292 Dutch-British bilateral agreement (1814), 290 Dutch East India Company. See Vereenigde Oost-Indische Compagnie (VOC) Dutch empire: colonial expansion, 7, 14-15, 284; economy, 9, 281-2, 302; merchant marine and navy, 9, 208, 284 Dutch Republic, 112, 130m, 201, 229, 259, 284; Batavian Republic, 285, 299 Dutch settlements overseas, 16, 24-5, 174, 177, 189, 279 Dutch West India Company. See WestIndische Compagnie (WIC) duties: customs in Africa, 96, 162, 260, 277, 363-5; gifts or presents, 161, 363, 365; Brazilians paid to WIC, 77-8 Duverne, Isaac, 12 Duynenburg, 49, 140 Duynvliet, 140, 144 dysentery (loop), 2441, 245, 247. See also diseases economic crisis of 1773, 118, 211, 214, 2 75> 295
Index education, of Africans by the Dutch, 70-1 Eighty Year War (1568-1648), 15-16 Elet, Jacob, 101, ioin Elgersma, Nicolaas, 402 Elisabeth, 82t, 263
Elmina, 58m, 64m, 85, 93m, 95, n o , i22t, 123, i24t, 128, 144, 150, 157, 159-60, 203, 268, 288, 356-61, 373-6, 402-5; captured by Dutch, 13, 18-19, 21; headquarters of WIC, 60, 62, 77, 87, 103, 116, 117m, 121, 203 Emmenes, 79, 137, 2541 English: asiento, 34t, 46, 51; cooperation with Dutch, 75; free trade, 138; rivals of Dutch, 74, 209 Enkhuyzen, I29t, 130m, 299 Enlightenment, 276, 291-2 Epe (Nigeria), 64m, i22t, 373-6 epilepsy, 244t. See also diseases Equiano, Olaudah, 6n equipage master, 62f, 402-3 Ericzoon, Barent, 17 Essequibo, 107, 174-7, 188, 218, 240, 288, 294, 306; English settlers, 219-20; French attack, 189; population, 190-1; population, slave importation, 189-91, 22Ot Essequibo Vriendschap, 307 Ettin, Essjerrie, 168, 277 Europey 140
Europeans: in Africa, 18, 66, 65; as rivals of Dutch, 4, 26, 73-6, 102, 205, 208-9, 274, 286, 365
factors, at trading stations, 62f, 63, 67; chief factor, 62f, 63 Fante, 87, 90, 93m, 94 Ferony, Francisco, 349, 351-2 fevers, 244t, 245. See also diseases Fida. See Ouidah finances and currencies, 171, 259-64, 2789, 262t, 352, 410; kaartengeld, 263; slavegeld, 277; ounce trade, 260-1 firearms, 92, 103-4, 281; gunpowder, 233 firewood, 157, 160, 277 fiscaal. See superintendent fluitschip (flute), 142-3, 203, 306 France, 26, 36, 138, 208, 278, 285; on African coast, 75, 96; and asiento, 34t, 46, 48-50; attacks Dutch West Indies, 165, 175, 182, 189-91, 193, 198 free-trade era, n6ff, 138-40, 201-26, 20911,302, 377, 382-6 frigate (fregat), 142-3, 306. See also ships Frossard, Benjamin, 292
423
Garcia, Antonio, 34t, 35-36, 38, 43 Germans: on slave ships, 153; in service of WIC, 100-1 Geuns, Jan van, 292 Gewelt, Jan Pietersz., 404 Gideon, 25, 142-3 Goethem, Frans van, 82t, 102 gold: from Africa, 18, 59, 73, 85, 87, 91, 114, 260; currency and trade, 59, 135, 261, 262t, 2651 Gold Coast, 57, 58m, 64m, 76, 85, 89, 92, 93m, 95, 108-9, J ^ - ^ ' I2I ~3> J 38, 158, 255, 297, 298f, 299, 306, 373-6 Goude Brackhond, 190
Gouree, 57, 74, 85, 117m Grand Bassam, 117m, i22t, 373-6 Great Britain, 284, 289, 302. See also English Grenada, 49, 196m, 226 Grillo, Domingo, 33, 34t, 349-52 Gross Friedrichsburg (Hollandia), 76, 64m, 95 Guadaloupe, 28m, 196m, 199, 300 Guiana region, 138, 174-6, 176m, 229, 25Ot, 253, 255, 267, 268t, 299-300 Guinea Coast, 17—18, 56, 120, 12it, 121-2, 292, 297, 298^ 306, 366 Guinea trade, 56, 119-20, 210, 260, 297 Guineese Vriendschap, i66t, 168, 307 Guide Vrijheid, 210, 267 guns. See firearms Gusman, Bernardo Marin de, 47 Guyana, region and settlements, 35t, 174, 176m, 275, 288. See also Berbice; Demerara; Essequibo Haagen, Pieter van der, 10 Haarlem, 104, i29t, 130m, 292 Haast U Langzaam, iogn Haen, Gerrit de, 137 Ham, theory of, 11 Hante, 90, 93m, 95, 207 head money (hoofdgeld), 205, 2o6f, 209. See also duties head tax, in Surinam, 1851, 185-6 heart attack (hartvangh), 2441, 247. See also diseases Heren X. See West-Indische Compagnie, Heinsius, Johannes, 178 Hertogh, Hendrik, 100-1 home ports, for slave ships, 128-34, i29t, 130m, 299^ 299 Hoolwerf, N. V., 98 Hoorn, I29t, 130m, 299 Hugla, Jean Emanuel, 352 Huys te Loirheim, 142
424
Index
illicit slave trade: to Caracas coast, 30-2, 39—40, 49—50, 270, 281; to Surinam, 212; by ship crews, 137, 281 Indian Ocean slave trade. See slave trade, Indian Ocean indentured servants, 5 indigo. See backhaul; produce, tropical industrial revolution, 2, 280 insurance, maritime, 10, 267, 277 interlopers (lorredraayers), 76, 78-83, 102-3, 109, n o t , 113, 123, 1311, 135, 137, 141, 187, 197-8, 226, 2951, 195, 305 international relations, 208-9; m asiento, 48—52; on African coast, 73—8 iron bars, 104, 260 ivory, 86, 91, 137, 160, 2651, 366-7 Ivory Coast, 57, 58m, 75, 116, 122-3, 29^ 299 Jager, 52, 82 Jakin, 64m, 97-100, 160 Jamaica, 28m, 50, 271 Jamestown, 12 Jews: in Guiana, 188, 213, 216; Sephardic Jews, 8, i o - n , 19, 177; in the slave trade, 10 Joanna Maria, 228 Johanna Cores, i66t, 2O9n, 2791 Jol, Cornelis, 12-13 Jonge Matheus & Catharina, 307 Jonge Rombout, 212 Jubert, Jacobus, 41-2 Kabes, John, 88 Kempenaar, D. I. de, 286-7 Kerkhove, Melchior van, 12 Kerkrinck, William, 44 Keta, 64m, i22t, 373-6 Klaver, J. G., 16m kleine vaart, 221, 289 Komenda, 93, i22t, i23t, i24t, 373-6; wars, 90, 92-3 Koninck Solomon, 29, i66t, 180 Koning van Portugal, 242 Kormantin, 64m, 95, 109, i22t, 1231, i24t, 124-5, 373-6 Korte Prim, 198 Laet, Joannes de, 13 Lagos, 64m, 75, 84 Latnmerenburg, 120, 157, 210 Lamont, Isaac, 197-8 languages, on the African coast, 65, 69. See also Twifo Las Casas, 29
last or lastage (tonnage), 139, 145-6, 153, 256
lastgeld, to purchase slaving passes or permits, 119, 138—9, 2O2n, 202-4, 210, 286, 369-70, 286, 372; napremie, 204 Leusden, 144-5, 164, i64n, i66t, 194, 198, 203, 242, 2541 Liebergen, Nicolaas van, 41 Lindezaay, Joannes, 404 Lira, Don Emanuel de, 40 Lisbon, 2-4 Liverpool, 142, 299 Loango coastal region (also LoangoAngola), 56-7, 58m, 60-1, 82t, 101-3, 108, 111-12, 114, ii5t, 120, 150, 158, 163, 233, 253, 255, 276, 288, 298f, 306, 356-61; commerce, 65, 75, 101-3, 136, 140-1, 158-60, 163, 267-8; slaves, 1089, 253 Lomelin, Ambrosia, 33, 34t, 349-52 Louis XIV (France), 9, 49 macrons (manquerons), 37, 53, 189, 197, 229, 237, 239, 267, 270-1 malaria, 65. See also diseases manumission, of slaves in Africa, 72—3 Margaretha Christina, 2O4n Maria Galey, 2O^a maroons (runaways), 179, 182, 184-5, l%5n-> 213-4; in Palmares, 20 Marowin, 164, 167, 176m, 242 Martin, Gaspar, 51 Martinique, 28m, 49, 196m, 199-200 Mauricius, Jan Jacob, 214 Maurits, Prinsjohan, 19 Maze, 23t, i29t, 130m, 131, 13it, i32t, 299^ 305, 356-61 medical practices: bleeding, 244, 247; medicine box, 244. See also diseases; surgeondoctor Mediterranean slave trade. See slave trade, Mediterranean merchandise, European, 103-5, 161 merchants: African, 87-9, 92, 297, 363-5; Cadix, 40; Dutch, 17, 179, 193, 202-5, 289—90; French, 49, 51; Portuguese, 21; Spanish, 49 Middelburg, 10-11, 1291, 130m, i32t, 133, 188, 201, 299, 302, 305, 366 Middelburgsche Commercie Compagnie (MCC), 104-5, J23> 133, Hi* J44> I5 1 * 153, 165, 170, 219, 226, 143, 248, 251, 268, 273, 275, 278-80, 284, 366, 371, 392, 407-10 Middelburgs Welvaren, i66t, 167, 241, 243,
Index middle passage, 140, 149, i52t, 155, 162-5, 240t, 241-3, 2471, 248, 253, 256, 305, 389a, 390a, 391a mixed courts, 290 mobile trade, 135, 138-40, 148, 206 Moens, Petronella, 293 Moradores, 19; revolt, 20 morality: and the slave trade, 2, 184, 276; and humaneness, 292, 302; and Nazi concentration camps, 300 Mori, 13, 17-18, 64m, i22t, i23t, i24t, 373-6 mortality, 109, 164, i66t, 204, 238, 240-3, 247^ 249-58, 25Ot, 25it, 255t, 2561, 287, 301, 306, 350, 354, 389a, 390a, 391a, 392-4, 395-401, 405; catastrophic, 249, 253, 254, 254t; coasting, 2491, 249, 250; harbor, 239; postdisembarkation, 240; true mortality, 250-2, 252t, 258 mulattoes (tapoeyers), 68-9 Muscavische Galey, 274 Napoleon, era and wars, 208, 289-90 Nassy, David, 178-8 native American, 5, 29; slaves, 191 navigation acts, 74 Neptunis, i66t, 167, 2541 New Amsterdam, 25, 175 New Holland, 18-22, 20m, 2it; See also Brazil New Netherland, 24-6 Newton, John, 155 Nieutve Hoop, 366 Nieuwe Post, 242, 254t Niger (river and delta), 58-60, 64, 93m; slaves from, 72 Noorder Kwartier (NK), 23, 129-32, 2991, 305, 356-61 Offra, 64m, 97-8 Orange family, 8, 19 Oranjestad, 222-3. See also St. Eustatius origins of slaves. See slaves, origins Oudermeulen, Cornelis van der, 287, 288n, 289 Oudorp, Julianus, 405 Ouidah, 64m, 67, 75, 79, 88, 93m, 96-101, 236, 260, 363 ounce trade. See finances and currencies Oyo, 93 m, 100 Padthuysen, Pieter, 349 Parimaribo, 169, 178, 211, 242 Pasop, Pieter, 88 Paulus, Pieter, 293 Pauw, Jan de, 67
425
Pere, Abraham van den (and family), 175,
192-3, 195, 197 Pernambuco, 11, 19, 20m Petronella Alida, 157, 2541 Petts, Daniel, 137 Phenix, 52, 140, 200 Philadelphia, i66t, 2O9n pieces of eight, 161-3, 262t, 2641, 406. See also finances and currencies Piershil, 103 pieza de India (leverbaar or pees), 37-8, 2289, 2651, 266t, 349-51, 392~4> 395"8> 4°4 Pijnenburg, 193 pirates, 78-9, 164, 263 plantation economies, 279-80 planters, absentee, 193, 263, 286 Pol, Nicolaas, 363 Pollux, i66t, i67n Pomoroon, 176m, 188 Popo, 64m, 97, i22t, 373-6 Poquefoe, 64m, i22t, i24t, 373-6 Porcio, Nicolas, 34t, 41-3, 46 Portobelo, 28m, 34, 43 Portugal: and asiento, 46, 49; in Africa, 59, 74, 78, 84-5, 135; in slave trade, 2-3, 5, 14, 26; rivals of Dutch, 26, 74, 77, 135 Postma Data Collection, 1321, i86t, 19it, I95t, I99t, 2I2t, 2l8t, 22Ot, 22It, 223t, 2241, 2251, 2541, 307, 371, 377, 389-91, 392 Pra, 64m, 93m, 117m, 157
Pranger, Jan, 100-1, ioin price guide (marktbrief), 134-5, 261, 264, 2651 prices of slaves. See slaves, prices of Prins Willem V, 147, 2O9n privateers, 12, 15, 23, 50, 78-9, 164, 190, 199 private trade, 136-8, 155, 281, 352, 367. See also illicit slave trade procurement of slaves. See slaves, procurement produce, tropical, 149, 263, 297; cocoa, 172, 182-3, 191, 213, 263, 282, 411; coffee, 2, 172, 182, 194, 213-15, 273, 282, 411; cotton, 2, 171-2, 182-3, *94> 213, 411; indigo, 171-2, 182, 191, 194, 282; oriane paint, 171, 188; sugar, 4, 9, 14, 171-2, 180, 182, 191, 194-5, 272-3, 282, 411; tobacco, 2, 76-7, 213, 411. See also wood products profits and losses, 276—80, 259, 2651, 268t, 2791, 28ot, 302, 368, 407-10; depreciation, 277; bankruptcies, 283 Propheet Daniel, 43 n Quinera, 104, 234, 262
426 Rachel, 140, i66t racism, 70, 259, 300 Raecx, Everard, 200 ransom payments, 50, 182, 190, 193 Raule, Benjamin, 76 Recife, 15, 19-20, 20m, 25 recognitie. See duties; lastgeld
Index Senegambia region, 57, 113, 116, 121, 163, 260, 299, 306 Serat, Thomas van, 242 Seven Years War (1756-63), 208, 222 Seville, 3, 30-1, 34, 38-9 sexual exploitation. See slaves Shama, Simon, 8 Shama, 64m, 67, 88, i22t, i24t, 157-8, 373-6 shared cargoes (mixed destinations), 220,
records, historical, 11, 32, 52-3, 109-10, 119, 121, 128, 133, 137, 141, 151, 160, 180, 192, 200, 210, 217, 222-3, 2 48, 278, 356-61 276 rederij and reder, 9, 133, 362; slave-trade ships, 142-8, 281, 305, 306; architecture, i42f, 143; assignments, 128-9, *34> 255, companies, 371 regulations, slave trade: of 1730, 202; of 355-61; capacity, 120, 133-5, I 45~°, 204, 250, 256, 289; captured by enemies, 1798, 287; naader reglement of 1734, 20350, 164, 284; documents carried, 150, 4; ordinance of 1754, 204 368-70; logbooks, 159-60, 233; names, return voyage, from West Indies, i52t, 171308-48; route of voyages, 150—1, i52t; 3. See also backhaul speed, 249; spies, 165; types, 142-3, 306; revolts. See slaves, revolts and resistance utilization, 145, i47t, 1561, 173, 392-4 Rietveld, David, 156 Rijckaert, Johannes, 349 shipwrecks and strandings, 164, 242, 306 Roo, Pieter de, 160 Sierra Leone, 90, i22t, 122, 290, 373-6 Rotterdam, 263 Slave Coast, 58m, 59, 64m, 75, 77, 79, Rotterdam, 9, 123, 1291, 130m, 133, 244, 9 3 ^ . 95-9. 109. 113-5, 121-3, 157-8, 260, 297, 298f, 306, 373-6 277, 280, 299 Royal African Company (RAC), 33, 74, 209 slave raids, 1-2, 91, 99, 235 Rusthof, 137, 231, 232n, 240, 2541 slavery in Africa, 3, 5-7 Ruyter, Admiral Michiel de, 36, 74 slaves: accommodations, 14, 170, 144, 2323, 402-3, (see also crowding); auctions, 170, 239, 267, 270-4, 306, 406; branding, 7, 52, 137, 235-7, 368; clothes, 236; Saba, 107, 196m, 224 destinations, 2it, 35t, 451, 48t, i86t, sailors. See crews on slave ships St. Croix, 196m, 226 1911, I95t, I99t, 2l8, 225t, 2I2t, 2l8t, St. Eustatius, 28m, 82t, 107-8, 137, 169, 22Ot, 22It, 223t, 224t, 225t, 226, 2 8 5 ^ 196m, 216, 222-4, 24°>253> 2 ^4t, 267, 3oot, 30if; escapes, 167; exercise and 269^ 271, 276, 288—9, 294> 30If> 3°°> music, 170, 233, 239; feeding, 150, 158, 306, 363, 404, 406; colonization, 195, 168, 232-5, 300, 366, 402-3; gender/ 197; "golden rock," 200, 223; population, age, 257-8, 349-50, 364, 395-401; hy197, i97n; slave-trade depot, 271-2, genics, 169-70, 229, 236-7; identity, 7, 197-200, 1991, 224; trade with French, 137—8, 227-31, 257; origins, 106-25, 271 ii3t, ii4t, ii5t, 12it, i22t, i23t, 298f, 373-6; panyaring, 70; prices of, 109, 183, St. George at Elmina, 17, 57, 64m, 403-5 209, 252, 264-9, 2 ^4t, 2651, 266t, 266St. jfago (de la Victoria), 44, 49 75, 268t, 269t, 299, 3oot, 364, 406; proSt. Jan, 107, i36n curement, 139-42, 157; revolts and resisSt. John Island, 196m, 226 tance, 165-8, i66t, 241, 243, 300, 306; St. John (river), 117m, i22t, 373-6 return to Africa, 101-3; seasoning, 258; St. Martin, 169, 196m, 224, 289 selling, 168-70, 270, 272-4, 306; sexual St. Paul, 58m, 117m, i22t, 373-6 exploitation, 137, 243, 366 (see also capSt. Thomas, 82t, 196m, 226, 271 tains of slave ships); suicide, 165, 241, St. Vincent, 196m, 226 2441, 300; treatment, 165, 168, 233, 243, Sao Thome, 3, 12, 18, 26, 58m 366. See also mortality Sassandra, 58, 117m, i22t, 373-6 slave trade: coasting, 239, 248, 2491, 249Schonenberg, Francisco van, 43-4 50, 388a, 389a, 390a, 392-4; companies, scurvy, 168, 2441, 245-6. See also diseases 371; consequences of, 1-3, 180-3; guideSecondi, i22t, i23t, i24t, 373-6 lines and instructions, 363, 366, 402; InSenegal, 58m, 75, 111, ii5t, 117m, 150, dian Ocean, i n ; Mediterranean, 2-3. See 2 9 8f
Index Slave trade (cont.) also mobile trade; profits and losses; regulations, slave trade; slaves; stationary trade; triangular slave trade, 81, 149, i52t, 297; weather smallpox, 160-2, 169, 244t, 245-7. See also diseases Smith, Captain John, 12 smuggling. See illicit slave trade Snouck, Jan, 195 Sommelsdijck, Cornelis van Aerssen, 142, 175, 180-1, 183 Sonnesteyn, i66t, 404 sorting (avance or cladden), 260-1. See also finances and currencies, ounce trade Souza, Louis, 47; Simon, 47 Spanish-America, 3, 81, 294, 299, 3oot; mainland or Main, 44, 451, 289, 301 f, 306 Spanish-Portuguese union, 7, 19, 31 Spanish silver fleet, 16, 23 Spencer, Cornelis, 292 Stad en Lande, 157 Stad en Lande (WIC), 23t, i29t, 130m, i3it, i32t, 132, 2541, 299^ 305, 356-61 Standvastigheld, 118, 150 States General, 8, 22, 39, 127, 180, 194, 202, 204, 286 stationary trade, 134-6, 141, 148, 206 Stevens, Jacob, 198 Storm van's-Gravensande, Laurens, 218-9 Stuyvesant, Peter, 27 subsidies, to the WIC, 201-2, 209 sugar. See produce, tropical suicide of slaves. See slaves, suicide supercargo, 136, 153, i54t, 366-7 superintendent {fiscaal), n n , 61, 62f, 63n, 67 supervisor of slaves at Elmina, 402 surgeon-doctor, on ships, 1541, 244, 245, 367. See also medical practices Surinaamse Vriendschap, 307 Surinaamse Welvaart, 147, 254t Surinam (river and settlement), 28m, 35t, 82t, 138, 160, 164, 169, 174-5, 176m, 203, 181, 212-3, 229, 2 ^ 3 , 273, 280-3, 288-9, 294> 299-301, 306, 366, 357-6i; attacks by French, 182-3; government, 179-183; planters and foreign settlers, 107, 109, i n , 178, 187, 275; population, 178-9, 184, 1851, 185-7, 2i4n; slave deliveries and prices, 169, 183-4, i86t, 187, 2i2t, 2641, 267, 268t, 269^ 273; Society of, 175, 179, 183, 203, 362 Sweden, 75-6, 80
427
Takoradi, 64m, i22t, i24t, 373-6 1 o-percent men, 201 Texel, 130m, 150 textiles: from Asia, 104-5, 297; to Africa, 103-5, 2 6o, 362; to Cuba, 226 Tim, Jan, 88 tobacco: for slaves, 2341, 234; see also produce, tropical Tobago, 13, 196m, 226, 229 trade routes in Africa, 90, 98, 206 triangular slave trade, 81, 149, i52t, 297 Trinidad, 12, 14, 28m, 176m, 196m trinkets, 104 tronks, 237, 364 tuberculosis (teering), 244^ 246-7. See also diseases Turkish pass, 78, 150, 164. See also pirates Twifo, 65, 93m, 95 Unger, W. S., 150, 170, 251, 268, 273, 278-9 United States of America, 289, 291 Usselinx, Willem, 16 Valkenier, Pieter, 404 Van Alstein, Pierre, 155, 281 Veere, i29t, 133, 188 Veracruz, 34, 43, 82t, 267, 358 Vereenigde Oost-Indische Compagnie (VOC), 10, 15, 65, 67, i n , 127, 260, 289, 297 Vergenoegen, 15in, 157, 160-2, 169, 233, 252, 2 7 9 t Vigilantie, i66t, 166, 241, 254t Villi, 58m, 101 VliegendeFaam> 15m, i66t Vlissingen, i29t, 130m, i32t, 133, 160, 188, 299 Voskuyl, Evert, 352 Vrede, I36n, 137 Vreede, Pieter, 291 Vrijheidy 194 Walcheren, 130m, 133, 299 warfare in Africa, 89—90, 206-7. $ee a^so Asante; Dahomey; Komenda War of Spanish Succession (1702-13), 49, 186, 197 Wassa, 93m, 95, 206-7 weather: doldrums, 163-4, 248; seasons, 158, i59t; storms, 164, 247 West-Indische Compagnie (WIC), 11, 1516, 22-4, in Africa, 61-78; bankruptcy and reorganization, 16, 24, 36-8, 178, 201, 278; and Brazil, 14-7, 76-8; chambers, 22, 23t, 23-4, 128-31, 356-61; di-
428
Index
rectors, 22, 51, 53, 61, 126-8, 135, 145, 149, 155, 179, 183, 189, 201, 242, 34952, 355; employees, 61, 63, 281, 288, 3°5> 355> 404;Heren X, 22, 44, 46, 47, 51, 61-2, 70, 126-8, 130, 149, 201, 355; Heren XIX, 22, 126; governance, 40, 6 1 5, 126, 136, 138, 218, 355 Wilberforce, William, 248 Willem I (Netherlands), 289-90 Willemstad, 49, 50, 196m Williams, Eric, 2, 280
Windward coast, 58m, 116, 117m, 121, 123, 207, 298f, 373-6 Witte Paert, 25 Wolff, Betje, 292 wood products, 175, 182, 188; letterhout, 282; stockvishout, 171, 282 Woortman, Pieter, 66, 90 Zeeland (province and WIC), 7, 23, 23t, i29t, 130m, 13it, 131-2, i32t, 178, 202, 205, 286-7, 293, 305, 356-61