This article examines the issue of private investment in the seventeenth-century Dutch colony in Brazil. For the first time, new archival discoveries allow for a reconstruction of the size of... Show moreThis article examines the issue of private investment in the seventeenth-century Dutch colony in Brazil. For the first time, new archival discoveries allow for a reconstruction of the size of private investment in the colony, as well as a breakdown into distinct investment activities. The article argues that private investment was an absolute necessity for the West India Company in the hope of making its colony successful, as it could not provide the required funds by itself. Private individuals claimed to have invested over eleven million guilders in the colony, nearly one-and-a-half times the WIC’s original capitalization. A number of case studies elaborate the overall figures presented and show that Dutch investors did indeed move into sugar cultivation and even moved into agricultural property development. Presenting these data and sources will, it is posited, allow for a fuller picture of the role of former inhabitants of Dutch Brazil in the development of plantation systems in the wider Caribbean from the mid-1640s onwards. Show less
From 1630 until its fall in 1654, the Dutch West India Company maintained a colony in northeastern Brazil where it tried to profit from the cultivation of sugar using enslaved African labor. Count... Show moreFrom 1630 until its fall in 1654, the Dutch West India Company maintained a colony in northeastern Brazil where it tried to profit from the cultivation of sugar using enslaved African labor. Count Johan Maurits van Nassau-Siegen served as this colony’s governor-general from 1636 until 1644, this being the most heavily studied period of the colony’s existence. But the role of Johan Maurits in the transatlantic slave trade and enslavement in Brazil is poorly covered by research, with some historians recently arguing that there is ‘no proof’ of any personal involvement. This article presents a clear argument for the personal involvement of Johan Maurits in the slave trade and shows his involvement in slave-smuggling. Understanding the social relations between the count, his court and the Luso-Brazilian elite is in fact simply impossible without bringing in the trade and smuggling of enslaved Africans. Show less
This thesis argues that lobbying was an important phenomenon in the seventeenth-century and that it had far-reaching influence on the course of history. Seventeenth-century lobbying took the form... Show moreThis thesis argues that lobbying was an important phenomenon in the seventeenth-century and that it had far-reaching influence on the course of history. Seventeenth-century lobbying took the form of petitions, personal relations, and pressure through public opinion. The importance of lobbying means that people (including ordinary people) could be more important than large organizations such as the WIC for, for example, the colonial empire. An example of successful lobby includes the introduction of regulations governing the storage of sugar during the night. This quality amelioration was an initiative of the sugar producers and not of the Company. Another example is the successful lobby by the Brazilian inhabitants to not only employ enslaved Africans, but to also force the indigenous population into slave labor on the sugar plantations. Moreover, within the Dutch Republic people were forced to tone down their reports or to alter their opinion because of 'political sensitivities'. It is interesting that lobbying alliances transcended traditional boundaries in society. This means that Jews lobbied with Christians, women with men, soldiers with captains, French people with Scotts and Hollanders, and inhabitants of The Hague together with citizens in Middelburg, Leiden, and Dordrecht.In other words, people made a difference. Show less
