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The National Slavery Monument in Amsterdam

Slave houses on Bonaire

The History of Dutch slavery talks about slavery in the Netherlands itself, as well as the establishment of slavery outside the Netherlands in which it played a role.

Slavery in the Low Countries

Before the Netherlands became a country various ethnic groups lived in the area. Examples of these are the Celts and the Germanic peoples. Both ethnic groups had societies that consisted of nobles, freemen and slaves and during Roman times Slaves were also fairly common. Also, the Frisians traded in slaves, which were mainly intended for slave markets in Spain and Cairo. In the late Middle Ages, the pope banned enslaving Christians by a decree.

Officially Slavery didn't exist in the European area of The Dutch Republic, however, in reality, the status of slavery in the Low Countries was a grey area. According to Leuven professor Petrus Gudelinus In the 16th century in Mechelen, an escaped slave was freed, because it was argued that slavery didn't exist in the Low Countries. In practice, this statement was often ignored; especially, Spanish and Portuguese merchants often took slaves with them to the Netherlands as servants. Later, mainly since the 18th century, slaves would come over with plantation owners, however, this stayed to relatively few people. On average between 1729 and 1775, 10 people of African descent (not necessarily slaves) would travel from Suriname to the Netherlands, of which most would return after a short stay. Although they could go to court, claim their right to freedom, this happened seldom. In cases where slaves did try to claim their freedom, they would often not succeed. In 1736 a slave named Claes escaped from Curaçao to the Netherlands as a stowaway on a ship. However, the Hoge Raad van Holland en Zeeland (regional supreme court) stated that he would remain a property belonging to Paulina Meyer because he was a thief of himself and stolen property (res furtiva).

In 1776 the Staten-Generaal van de Nederlanden published a resolution on the status of the 'unfree people' in the free Netherlands. In which it was emphasized that all people should in principle be recognized and regarded as free people. Slaves that travelled to the Netherlands have obtained their freedom legally and will be regarded as free people. There was an exception, because otherwise "the owners of slaves would often be deprived of their legal property against their will." This meant that if slave owners did not intend to free their property and their stay in the Netherlands was shorter than 6 months, or with special court permission up to 12 months, the slaves were not freed. If slaves were not sent back within this time window, they would have to be freed. It is unclear how consistently this rule was enforced.

Atlantic slave trade

The share of the Dutch Republic in the Atlantic slave trade was on average around five per cent, about 500.000 people. The slave trade by the Dutch West India Company (WIC) has in their starting years contributed to the status of the Netherlands as an economic world power.

Already in 1528 an asiento or contract was made between the rulers of Spain and assumingly the Southern Netherlandish merchants Willem Sailler and Hendrink Eynger, to transfer during the next 4 years 4.000 slaves from Africa to the Caribbean. However, the slave trade was originally seen as immoral in the Netherlands. It went against Christian norms and values, therefore people initially refrained from engaging in the slave trade.

During the fight against the Spanish and the Portuguese, privateering was legal. This has been the main goal and source of income for the Dutch West India Company since their establishment in 1621. Between 1623 and 1636, 547 Spanish and Portuguese ships were hijacked. After this, the Groot Desseyn was developed, the big plan. By taking over the slave trade the Portuguese sugar cane trade from Brazil could be undermined. With the capture of a Spanish treasure fleet during the Battle in the Bay of Matanzas in 1628, sufficient money was available to carry out the Groot Desseyn. Between 1630 and 1634 Recife and a large part of the Brazilian coast was conquered, this became Dutch Brazil. In 1637, Fort St. George in Elmina on the African Gold Coast (in the Gulf of Benin) was captured. this was till then the greatest Portuguese slave trade stronghold. In the centuries that followed, this fortress would become one of the centres of the WIC's slave trade. In 1641 Luanda (located in what is now Angola) was conquered from the Portuguese. Around 1700, the WIC owned a dozen trading fortresses on the West African coast.

The Dutch slave trade grew to sizable proportions. To alleviate ethical concerns about slavery raised by Christians, it was argued that in Genesis 9 it states that descendants of Ham are cursed into slavery. Since Ham's descendants are interpreted by some as having populated Africa. In order to maintain the sugar production, many Portuguese plantation owners in the conquered part of Brazil were able to keep their plantation. Private slaves were required for this. This signalled a change in the stands about the slave trade; non-Christians could be sold as slaves.

From 1640 the slave trade with Brazil began to decline, and the trade was shifted to the Spanish colonies in America. Initially, Dutch traders transported slaves to Buenos Aires and Rio de la Plata in present-day Argentina, later the Caribbean also became the target of the slave trade.

When Brazil was recaptured in 1654, there were already some 25,000 slaves brought over. After this reconquest, the Sugar cane cultivation was transferred to the Caribbean and the in 1634 conquered Curaçao, which then became the Dutch collection point for slaves. After the British conquest of Jamaica in 1655, it became an important transfer market for slaves to the Spanish colonies. New slave buyers were also found among the English and French who grew tobacco on the islands they conquered in the Caribbean and Virginia, however, most slaves went to Suriname, which from 1668 was permanently owned by the Netherlands until its independence in 1975.

Slavery on Curaçao

In 1662 Spain made an asiento with Domingo Grillo and Ambrosio Lomelino to trade slaves from Africa. Grillo and Lomelino hired the WIC to transport slaves from the African coast to South America. In the contract with WIC, it was stipulated that the Dutch would deliver 24,000 slaves in 7 years, approximately 3,500 slaves per year, in which, Curaçao would function as transfer port. In reality, these amounts were not feasible, with an average of only 700 slaves delivered annually.

On Curaçao, the slaves were subjected to a quality control. Slaves were assessed according to a so-called pieza de Indias, an evaluation of a slave's labour capacity. Then the slaves were sold to Spanish traders and transported to the Spanish colonies. Due to the asiento trade, the Dutch republic had between 1660 and 1690 roughly 30% of the total slave trade. In the period of 1658 to 1674, an estimated 45,700 slaves were transported to the Americas, however, this was relatively little compared to the total number of slaves transported.

The Coymans asiento became an important factor in the Dutch slave trade. Balthasar Coymans (1652-1686) led a branch of the Dutch trade house Coymans in Cádiz. He started a smear campaign against Venetian Nicolas Porcio who was at the time owner of the asiento. Coymans smear campaign was successful and in 1685 he obtained the monopoly to trade slaves to the Spanish colonies. He also enlisted the WIC to ship the slaves from Africa. This meant that the Spanish slave trade was entirely operated by the Dutch. Coymans was required to deliver 3000 piezas annually, however, in the first 3 years, only 4896 piezas instead of 9000 were delivered. Coymans died in 1686 and the Spanish lost faith in his successor and in granted the asiento back to Nicolas Porcio in 1688.

In 1689 the WIC declared Curaçao an open market. Merchants from all nationalities were now welcome, however now that trade could only take place on the free market, there was no trade possible with the Spanish colonies. In 1689 and 1691 the WIC did have a few contracts with Porcio; however, the numbers were less than before. In 1697 there was a contract with Real Compañía de Cacheu, the successor of Porcio, for the delivery of 2500 to 3000 slaves per year, but Curaçao did no longer serve as a transfer port. In 1699 this contract was extended for another 2 years.   

In the eighteenth century, the slave trade grew enormously. There were years in which more than 100,000 slaves were transported. However, the French and the British had taken over the position of the Dutch Republic. The Dutch Republic also found the slave trade to be very not profitable. This was partly due to the high mortality rate among the slaves when crossing the ocean. It happened that 30% of the slaves died on board the ships.

Slavery in Suriname

Hanged by the rib was a punishment for a rebellious slave in Suriname. Illustration by William Blake at Stedmans Reize naar Surinamen.

John Gabriël Stedman a Scotsman in Dutch service described the Dutch slaveholders in Suriname as cruel, in the book Narrative of a five years' expedition against the revolted Negroes of Surinam in 1797. Descriptions of mistreatment by Dutch slaveholders and the images by William Blake were an important weapon for the mainly British advocates of the abolition of slavery.

Sources

• Amsterdam en slavernij, Stadsarchief Amsterdam
• Thema Slavernij Geschiedenis Zeeland
• ‘Swart’ in Nederland – Afrikanen en Creolen in de Noordelijke Nederlanden
• Canon of the Netherlands: Slavery

Literature

• Pepijn Brandon, Guno Jones, Nancy Jouwe and Mathhias van Rossum (red.): De slavernij in Oost en West. Het Amsterdam-onderzoek. Spectrum. 2020.
• Emmer, P.C. (2000): The Dutch slave trade, 1500-1850, Arbeiderspers,
• Klein, H.S. (2010): The Atlantic Slave Trade. New approaches to the Americas, Cambridge University Press,
• Klooster, W. (1998): Illicit riches, KITLV Press,
• Postma, J.M. (1990): The Dutch in the Atlantic slave trade, 1600–1815, Cambridge University Press,
• Stipriaan, A. van; Heilbron, W.; Bijnaar, A.; Smeulders, V. (2007): Op zoek naar de stilte. Sporen van het slavernijverleden in Nederland, KITLV Press.
• Den Heijer, H. (2013): Geschiedenis van de WIC, Amsterdam University Press