Nederlandse handel en scheepvaart op West-Afrika, 1830-1914

Abstract

This article sheds light on an underrepresented element of Dutch colonial, maritime

and economic history: the Dutch trade in West (Central) Africa from the

1830s onwards up to the start of the Frist World War. As the Dutch state de facto

neglected its possessions in present-day Ghana from the 1820s onwards, and de jure transferred sovereignty to the British in 1871–1872, Dutch entrepreneurs started investing across Africa. First, both entrepreneurs from Amsterdam and Rotterdam attempted to revive the trade to and from Elmina (the former WIC stronghold), but soon entrepreneurs from the second city (e.g. Van Rijckevorsel, Muller and Pincoffs) started dispersing across West (Central) Africa to look for palm oil and other commodities. After a short introduction to the Dutch-West Africa trade in the nineteenth century, the article’s main goal is to establish the organisation of the maritime trade, both in Europe and in Africa. Through the use of the online database Marhisdata and some archival documents, the article aims to contribute to three historiographical goals: first, to show Rotterdam’s colonial involvement in West (Central) Africa in the nineteenth century; second, it contextualises and analyses the Dutch-West Africa trade in the context of the transition from sail to steam; and third, it adds new knowledge on the organisation of the maritime trade of the Dutch-West Africa trade itself. The article shows how the successful firms in the Dutch-West Africa trade adopted the steamship relatively early in the 1860s and thus were able to outcompete their competitors, partly as they appeared to have more capital to invest at their disposal. On the West (Central) African coast, the Dutch entrepreneurs owned various small boats for coastal transport, and hired specialised British captains to sail to West (Central) Africa. Specialised black Kru labourers did most of the riverine transport.