Besides trading, the Dutch East India Company (VOC) and its Western Indian counterpart (WIC) also sought to expand their dominant position by establishing and managing colonies. Central to this... Show moreBesides trading, the Dutch East India Company (VOC) and its Western Indian counterpart (WIC) also sought to expand their dominant position by establishing and managing colonies. Central to this strategy was to stimulate an orderly, self-producing colonial population, with a European elite at the top and a sharp distinction between free citizens and people in slavery. The reality was less orderly, however: in disparate colonial settlements such as Batavia, Cochin, Ceylon, Elmina, Suriname, Curaçao and Berbice, people from different backgrounds, religions, and social positions encountered one another and formed relationships – formal and informal, coercive and consensual – which could either challenge or reinforce the social divisions on which colonial hierarchies rested. Regulating Relations, focusing on the abovementioned settlements in the eighteenth century, investigates how norms around marriage, family, and sexuality formed in this complex world: how did colonial authorities attempt to regulate the intimate relations of populations under their control, and how did men and women of various backgrounds give shape to these norms through their own behavior and use of institutions? Show less
How did individuals advance to the highest ranks in the Dutch colonial administrations? And how, once appointed, was this rank retained? To answer these questions, this book explores the careers of... Show moreHow did individuals advance to the highest ranks in the Dutch colonial administrations? And how, once appointed, was this rank retained? To answer these questions, this book explores the careers of Dutch colonial governors in the 17th century with a focus on two case-studies: Johan Maurits van Nassau-Siegen, governor of Dutch Brazil (1636-1644) and Rijckloff Volckertsz van Goens, Governor-General in Batavia in the 1670s.By comparing a Western (Atlantic, WIC) and an Eastern (Asian, VOC) example, this book shows how networks sustaining career-making differed in the various parts of the empire: the West India Company was much more involved in domestic political debates, and this led to a closer integration of political patronage networks, while the East India Company was better able to follow an independent course. The book shows that to understand the inner workings of the Dutch India companies, we need to understand the lives of those who turned the empire into their career. Show less
The policing of illicit sex formed a key mode of social control in early modern Europe, where reproduction in legally sanctioned marriage was the primary means through which property and status was... Show moreThe policing of illicit sex formed a key mode of social control in early modern Europe, where reproduction in legally sanctioned marriage was the primary means through which property and status was passed. When Europeans formed overseas colonial settlements sustained by slave labor and populated by people of a broad variety of ethnic and religious backgrounds, this concern with sexually transgressive behavior took on new dimensions. This article takes the case of Dutch trade-company-led colonialism in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries to examine how colonial visions of social order in Asia, Africa, and the Caribbean shaped authorities’ responses to different types of non-marital sex. To facilitate comparison, these acts are read through narratives of criminalization, comprised of both conceptualizations of crime and prosecution practices. Through an analysis of legislation issued across the Dutch empire, most notably bylaws, combined with a selection of case studies from the juridical practice, we show that a concern with keeping different ethnic, religious, and status groups separate and maintaining European dominance shaped the policing of sexuality in such a way that the distinction between relatively benign sexual “improprieties” and a more serious criminal narrative of sexual “betrayal” was re-arranged along gendered and racialized lines. Conceptualizations and prosecutions alike show a considerably more stringent treatment of sex between non-Christian or non-white men and women of European status than between European men and enslaved or free local women, even when the latter scenario was coercive or violent. Show less
In the second half of the eighteenth century, the island of Walcheren was the center of the Dutch Transatlantic slave trade. This dissertation focuses on the impact of this trade on the local... Show moreIn the second half of the eighteenth century, the island of Walcheren was the center of the Dutch Transatlantic slave trade. This dissertation focuses on the impact of this trade on the local economy during the peak years of 1755 to 1780. It contains a discussion of the slave traders and their business practices and traces the commodity chains of various goods exported to West-Africa for the trade in enslaved Africans. It finds that the trade was strongly embedded in local economic structures. Many slave traders – both merchants and investors – were able to circumvent the limited profitability of the slave trade by combining related economic activities. About 5 to 6 percent of the economy of Middelburg was connected to the slave trade during the peak years, while the Flushing economy was even more geared towards this trade in human beings (about 25 percent of all local income connected to this trade). While the slave trade had a positive impact on many tradition industries on the island, most notably gunpowder production, it did not lead to industrial or financial innovations on Walcheren. Show less
Could early modern chartered companies effectively ensure that their agents overseas were working in the best interests of the firm rather than in their own personal interests? This prin-cipal... Show moreCould early modern chartered companies effectively ensure that their agents overseas were working in the best interests of the firm rather than in their own personal interests? This prin-cipal-agent problem has been the topic of a number of important studies in early modern economic history. This article contributes to the debate by elaborating on two case-studies from the two large Dutch chartered trading companies, the East- and the West India Compa-nies (VOC and WIC respectively). Exploration of the careers of two individuals within these companies shows that supervision – and indeed career-making – was frequently a matter of unwritten rules and codes of conduct. While formal written rules might be found lacking, control could still be exerted through patronage or family ties. But this presented the com-panies with other challenges as well. In studying principal-agent problems, researchers in economic history need to be aware of informal mechanisms of control as well as formal on Show less
To date, the Dutch East and West India companies’ involvement in litigation in the Dutch Republic has been ignored. Kate Ekama’s research highlights this side of company activity by delving into... Show moreTo date, the Dutch East and West India companies’ involvement in litigation in the Dutch Republic has been ignored. Kate Ekama’s research highlights this side of company activity by delving into company disputes in the High Court of Holland, Zeeland and West-Friesland (Hoge Raad). The VOC and WIC were involved in over 100 cases in the High Court. These cases were about company charters and contracts, private trade-related matters, wages, shares and property rights. This study shows that a wide range of litigants pursued cases against the companies, encompassing individual and corporate litigants, subjects of the States General and foreigners, men and women. The companies were not above the law; rather, both the VOC and the WIC were subject to the decisions of the High Court. Following recent developments in historiography, the cases are approached from the point of view of conflict management. This wider perspective brings into view the States General, who played an important role in connecting jurisdictions and managing company conflicts before, during and after litigation. Kate Ekama’s study fills a lacuna in the historiography of the Dutch East and West India Companies, and lays the foundation for future research on early modern company conflict management. Show less
How could an individual attain high rank in the Seventeenth-Century Dutch colonial empire and once appointed, how could one retain high office? This dissertation seeks to answer these... Show moreHow could an individual attain high rank in the Seventeenth-Century Dutch colonial empire and once appointed, how could one retain high office? This dissertation seeks to answer these questions by means of a detailed case-study of the careers of two colonial governors: Johan Maurits van Nassau-Siegen (1604-1679)and Rijckloff Volckertsz. van Goens sr. (1619-1682). By following their careers through the rise to high office and the appointment procedures, their time in office and finnaly their fall from power, this dissertation shows how different interests could align to further careers or to break them. By comparing a case from the history of the West India Company with a case from the East India Company, this dissertation shows how the internal workings of both companies actually differed in practice. Both governors spent most of their overseas career in what were atypical colonies: Brazil and Ceylon. Close examination of the policies they proposed not only sheds light on the reasons for their eventual fall from power, it also shows that the assertion that the Dutch companies were mostly interested in trade over territory does not hold true. This suggests that empire is a proper frame for studying the Dutch Republic and its colonies. Show less
