Emulating a Portuguese Model
The Slave Policy of the West India Company and the Dutch Reformed Church in Dutch Brazil (1630–1654) and New Netherland (1614–1664) in Comparative Perspective
In: Journal of Early American HistoryThis article presents a new perspective on the master-slave relationship in New Netherland in order to complement the existing theories on the treatment of slaves in that Dutch colony. It shows how prior to the loss of Dutch Brazil, the West India Company modeled its slave policy after Portuguese practices, such as the formation of black militias and the use of Christianity as a means to foster slave loyalty. It also points out that in the initial slave policy of the Dutch Reformed Church was characterized by the ambition to replace the Iberian Catholic Church in the Americas. While the Reformed Church in the early decades of the Dutch colonial expansion was characterized by a community-building spirit and a flexible attitude toward newcomers, the loss of Brazil shattered the dream of a Protestant American continent and gave way to a more exclusivist approach with a much stronger emphasis on orthodoxy. This led to a dramatic change in attitude vis-à-vis slaves, which is reflected in the segregationist policies―both at a social and a religious level―in later Dutch slave colonies such as Suriname.
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4
Jaap Jacobs, New Netherland: A Dutch Colony in Seventeenth-Century America (Leiden: Brill, 2005), pp. 314–17.
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6
Johannes Menne Postma, The Dutch in the Atlantic Slave Trade, 1600–1815 (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1990), p. 25.
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9
Ira Berlin, “From Creole to African: Atlantic Creoles and the Origins of African-American Society in Mainland North America”, in The William and Mary Quarterly, 3rd ser., 53, no. 2 (1996), 251–88.
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11
Nigel Worden, Slavery in Dutch South Africa (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1985), pp. 166–7; Peter R. Christoph, “The Freedmen of New Amsterdam”, in Nancy A.M. Zeller (ed.), A Beautiful and Fruitful Place: Selected Rensselaerswijck Seminar Papers (New York: New Netherland Publishing, 1991), pp. 157–70; John K. Thornton, Africa and Africans in the Making of the Atlantic World, 1400–1680 (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1992), p. 156; Kees Zandvliet, The Dutch Encounter with Asia, 1600–1950 (Amsterdam: Rijksmuseum, 2002), p. 99; Mark Meuwese, Brothers in Arms, Partners in Trade: Dutch–Indigenous Alliances in the Atlantic World, 1595–1674 (Leiden: Brill, 2012), pp. 158–61.
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12
Graham Russell Hodges, Root & Branch: African Americans in New York & East Jersey 1613–1863 (Chapel Hill, N.C.: The University of North Carolina Press, 1999), p. 26. See also Postma, The Dutch in the Atlantic Slave Trade, p. 17; Oliver A. Rink, “Before the English (1609–1664)”, in Milton M. Klein (ed.), The Empire State: A History of New York (Ithaca, N.Y.: Cornell University Press, 2001), p. 56.
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13
Benjamin Nicolaas Teensma (ed.), Suiker, verfhout & tabak: het Braziliaanse handboek van Johannes de Laet, 1637 (Zutphen: Walburg Pers, 2009), pp. 28, 32; Janny Venema, Kiliaen van Rensselaer (1586–1643): Designing a New World (Hilversum: Verloren, 2010), pp. 241–67.
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14
Postma, The Dutch in the Atlantic Slave Trade, p. 19; Thelma Wills Foote, Black and White Manhattan: The History of Racial Formation in Colonial New York City (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2004), p. 37.
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20
Evaldo Cabral de Mello, Olinda Restaurada: Guerra e Açúcar no Nordeste, 1630–1654 (Rio de Janeiro: Editora Forense-Universitária; São Paulo: Universidade de São Paulo, 1975), pp. 166–8; Stuart B. Schwartz, “A Commonwealth within Itself: The Early Brazilian Sugar Industry, 1550–1670”, in Stuart B. Schwartz (ed.), Tropical Babylons: Sugar and the Making of the Atlantic World, 1450–1680 (Chapel Hill: The University of North Carolina Press, 2004), pp. 158–66.
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21
Stuart B. Schwartz, Sugar Plantations in the Formation of Brazilian Society: Bahia, 1550–1835 (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1985), pp. 13–19, 65–72; Herbert Klein, “The Atlantic Slave Trade to 1650”, in Stuart B. Schwartz (ed.), Tropical Babylons: Sugar and the Making of the Atlantic World, 1450–1680 (Chapel Hill: The University of North Carolina Press, 2004), pp. 204–8.
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23
A.C. de C.M. Saunders, A Social History of Black Slaves and Freedmen in Portugal 1441–1555 (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1982), pp. 155–6; Robert Garfield, A History of São Tomé Island 1470–1655: The Key to Guinea (San Francisco, Cal.: Mellen Research University Press, 1992), pp. 15–16; Gerhard Seibert, Comrades, Clients and Cousins: Colonialism, Socialism and Democratization in São Tomé and Príncipe (Leiden: Brill, 2006), pp. 27–31.
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25
Toby Green, The Rise of the Trans-Atlantic Slave Trade in Western Africa, 1300–1589 (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2012), pp. 114, 189–91.
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27
Mary C. Karasch, Slave Life in Rio de Janeiro 1808–1850 (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1987), p. 86; Gray, Black Christians and White Missionaries, p. 13; Souza, Reis negros no Brasil escravista, p. 209.
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32
Mello, Nederlanders in Brazilië, pp. 40, 87, 139, 184; C.R. Boxer, The Dutch in Brazil, 1624–1654 (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1957), p. 143; Jadin, L’Ancien Congo et l’Angola 1639–1655, 1:48, 53; Pedro Puntoni, A miséria sorte. A escravidão Africana no Brasil Holandês e as guerras do tráfico no Atlântico Sul, 1621–1648 (São Paulo: Editora Hucitec, 1999), p. 82; Evaldo Cabral de Mello (trans. and ed.), O Brasil holandês, 1630–1654 (São Paulo: Companhia das Letras, 2010), pp. 101–2, 170–1, 291–4.
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33
Mello, Nederlanders in Brazilië, pp. 190–7; Puntoni, A miséria sorte, pp. 84–5; Mello, O Brasil holandês, pp. 241–51.
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35
Van Baerle, The History of Brazil under the Governorship of Count Johan Maurits of Nassau, pp. 51, 285; Mello, Nederlanders in Brazilië, pp. 247–8; Boxer, The Dutch in Brazil, pp. 113–22; Mello, O Brasil holandês, pp. 217, 223–5.
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42
Klaas Ratelband, De Nederlanders in West-Afrika 1600–1650: Angola, Kongo en São Tomé (Zutphen: Walburg Pers, 2000), pp. 91–120.
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45
Mello, Nederlanders in Brazilië, p. 190; Puntoni, A miséria sorte, p. 163.
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48
Mello, Nederlanders in Brazilië, pp. 184, 197; Van Baerle, The History of Brazil under the Governorship of Count Johan Maurits of Nassau, p. 51; Leendert Jan Joosse, Geloof in de Nieuwe Wereld. Ontmoeting met Afrikanen en Indianen 1600–1700 (Kampen: Kok, 2008), p. 505.
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50
Cynthia J. van Zandt, Brothers among Nations: The Pursuit of Intercultural Alliances in Early America, 1580–1660 (Oxford/New York: Oxford University Press, 2008), p. 221.
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52
NYCM vol. 2, doc. 93, p. 4; “Protest by Director & Council against the Fiscal for Neglect of Duty” (5 January 1644), in Arnold J.F. van Laer (trans. and ed.), Register of the Provincial Secretary, 1642–1647. New York Historical Manuscripts: Dutch, vol. 2. (Baltimore: Genealogical Publishing Co., Inc., 1974), p. 188.
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53
NYCM, vol. 4, p. 183–184; Van Laer, Council Minutes, 1638–1649, pp. 212–13.
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58
Thomas G. Evans (ed.), “Doop-boek (DB) of the Reformed Church of New Netherland”, New York Genealogical and Biographical Society Record, vol. 2 (1890): 17/261 and 18/263; Charles T. Gehring (trans. and ed.), Land Papers, New York Historical Manuscripts: Dutch, vols. GG, HH & II (Baltimore: Genealogical Publishing Co., Inc., 1980), p. 56; Frijhoff, Wegen van Evert Willemsz., p. 769; Heywood and Thornton, Central Africans, Atlantic Creoles, and the Foundation of the Americas, p. 264.
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60
Boxer, The Dutch in Brazil, pp. 32–66; Postma, The Dutch in the Atlantic Slave Trade, pp. 14–25; Henk den Heijer and Ben Teensma, Nederlands-Brazilië in kaart. Nederlanders in het Atlantisch gebied, 1600–1650 (Zutphen: Walburg Pers, 2011), pp. 19–27; Joosse, Geloof in de Nieuwe Wereld, pp. 425–6; Haefeli, New Netherland and the Dutch Origins of American Religious Liberty, p. 100; Michiel van Groesen, “A Week to Remember: Dutch Publishers and the Competition for News from Brazil”, 26 August-2 September 1624”, Quarendo 40, no. 1 (2010), 26–49.
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69
Marina de Mello e Souza, “Reis do Congo no Brasil. Séculos XVIII e XIX”, in Revista de História 152, no. 1 (2005), p. 83.
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75
Joosse, Geloof in the Nieuwe Wereld, p. 166; Frijhoff, Wegen van Evert Willemsz., p. 529.
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80
Frans Leonard Schalkwijk, The Reformed Church in Dutch Brazil, 1630–1654 (Zoetermeer: Boekencentrum, 1998), p. 151; Joosse, Geloof in de Nieuwe Wereld, pp. 507–8.
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91
John K. Thornton, The Kongolese Saint Anthony: Dona Beatriz Kimpa Vita and the Antonian Movement, 1684–1706 (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1998), pp. 69–78, 197; John K. Thornton, Warfare in Atlantic Africa, 1500–1800 (London: UCL Press, 1999), pp. 99–104; Richard Gray, Black Christians & White Missionaries (New Haven: Yale University Press, 1990), p. 38.
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92
Joyce D. Goodfriend, “Burghers and Blacks: The Evolution of a Slave Society at New Amsterdam”, in New York History 59, no. 2 (April 1978), 125–44; Postma, The Dutch in the Atlantic Slave Trade, pp. 26–55.
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94
Jordaan, “The Curaçao Slave Market”, p. 237; “Brief van Matthias Beck, vice-direkteur van Curacao aan Petrus Stuyvesant, direkteur-generaal van Nieuw-Nederland” (23 August 1659), in Charles T. Gehring and J.A. Schiltkamp (trans. and eds.), Curacao Papers 1640–1665. New Netherland Documents, volume XVII (Interlaken, NY: Heart of the Lakes Publishing, 1987), p. 124–7; “Resoluties WIC Kamer van Amsterdam” (13 June 1669), in J.H.J. Hamelberg (ed.), Documenten behoorende bij “De Nederlanders op de West-Indische eilanden” (1901–03; Amsterdam: Emmering, 1979), p. 83.
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97
L. Knappert, “De eerste honderd jaren der Protestantische gemeente op Curaçao”, Gedenkboek Nederland-Curaçao 1634–1934 (Amsterdam, 1934), pp. 34–56.
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103
J.M. van der Linde, Surinaamse suikerheren en hun kerk. Plantagekolonie en handelskerk ten tijde van Johannes Basseliers, predikant en planter in Suriname 1667–1689 (Wageningen: H. Veenman en Zonen, 1966), pp. 182–3.
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104
Van der Linde, Surinaamse suikerheren en hun kerk, p. 168; Joosse, Geloof in de Nieuwe Wereld, pp. 404–407.
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106
See Graham Russell Hodges, Slavery, Freedom & Culture among Early American Workers (Armond, NY: M.E. Sharpe, 1998), p. 52; Joyce D. Goodfriend, “The Social Life and Cultural Life of Dutch Settlers, 1664–1776”, in Hans Krabbendam, Cornelis A. van Minnen and Giles Scott-Smith (eds.), Four Centuries of Dutch-American Relations 1609–2009 (Amsterdam: Boom Publishers, 2009), p. 123–4; Dennis J. Maika, “Encounters: Slavery and the Philipse Family, 1680–1751”, in Roger Panetta (ed.), Dutch New York: The Roots of Hudson Valley Culture (Bronx, NY: Fordham University Press, 2009), pp. 35–72; Anne-Claire Merlin-Faucquez, “Da le Nouvelle-Néerlande à New York: la naissance d’une société esclavagiste (1624–1712)” (Ph.D. diss., Université Paris VIII, 2011), p. 459; Andrea C. Mosterman, “Sharing Spaces in a New World Environment: African-Dutch Contributions to North American Culture, 1626–1826” (Ph.D. diss., Boston University, 2012), pp. 150–2, 162–7.
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108
Thomas G. Evans (ed.), “Doop-boek (DB) of the Reformed Church of New Netherland”, New York Genealogical and Biographical Society Record 2 (1890), pp. 17/261, 18/263; Frijhoff, Wegen van Evert Willemsz., p. 772; Heywood and Thornton, Central Africans, Atlantic Creoles, and the Foundation of the Americas, p. 264.
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110
Heywood and Thornton, Central Africans, Atlantic Creoles, and the Foundation of the Americas, p. 272.
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117
Maureen Warner-Lewis, Central Africa in the Caribbean: Transcending Time, Transforming Cultures (Barbados/Jamaica/Trinidad and Tobago: University of the West Indies Press, 2003), p. 186.
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125
Graham Russell Hodges, Slavery and Freedom in the Rural North: African Americans in Monmouth County, New Jersey, 1665–1865 (Madison, Wisc.: Madison House, 1997), p. 188; Hodges, Root & Branch, p. 183; Leslie M. Harris, In the Shadow of Slavery: African Americans in New York City, 1626–1863 (Chicago: The University of Chicago Press, 2003), pp. 82–4; Leslie M. Alexander, African or American? Black Identity and Political Activism in New York City, 1784–1861 (Urbana, Ill.: University of Illinois Press, 2008), p. 9; Patrick Rael, “The Long Death of Slavery”, in Ira Berlin and Leslie M. Harris (eds.), Slavery in New York (New York: The New Press, 2005), p. 135.
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Emulating a Portuguese Model
The Slave Policy of the West India Company and the Dutch Reformed Church in Dutch Brazil (1630–1654) and New Netherland (1614–1664) in Comparative Perspective
In: Journal of Early American HistoryThis article presents a new perspective on the master-slave relationship in New Netherland in order to complement the existing theories on the treatment of slaves in that Dutch colony. It shows how prior to the loss of Dutch Brazil, the West India Company modeled its slave policy after Portuguese practices, such as the formation of black militias and the use of Christianity as a means to foster slave loyalty. It also points out that in the initial slave policy of the Dutch Reformed Church was characterized by the ambition to replace the Iberian Catholic Church in the Americas. While the Reformed Church in the early decades of the Dutch colonial expansion was characterized by a community-building spirit and a flexible attitude toward newcomers, the loss of Brazil shattered the dream of a Protestant American continent and gave way to a more exclusivist approach with a much stronger emphasis on orthodoxy. This led to a dramatic change in attitude vis-à-vis slaves, which is reflected in the segregationist policies―both at a social and a religious level―in later Dutch slave colonies such as Suriname.
| All Time | Past Year | Past 30 Days | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Abstract Views | 644 | 186 | 13 |
| Full Text Views | 273 | 17 | 2 |
| PDF Views & Downloads | 105 | 43 | 3 |