Collectie Verspreide West-Indische stukken
Item
Country
GB
Name of institution (English)
National Archives
Name of institution (official language of the state)
Language of name of institution
dut
Contact information: postal address
Prins Willem-Alexanderhof 20, 2595 BE The Hague
Contact information: phone number
0031 703315400
Contact information: web address
Contact information: email
Reference number
1.05.06
Type of reference number
Archival reference number
Title (English)
Collection of Scattered West India Papers
Title (official language of the state)
Collectie Verspreide West-Indische stukken
Language of title
dut
Creator / accumulator
West-Indische Compagnie (WIC) and others
Date(s)
1614/1875
Language(s)
dut
Extent
6.25 linear metres (540 storage units)
Type of material
Textual Material
Scope and content
This collection comprises scattered materials from archives of the Dutch West Indias, covering a period from the 17th to the 19th century. A significant part of these documents came from the West India Company. It includes a relevant amount of documentation relating to the slave trade, plantation economy, and the colonial administration regarding the Dutch colonial territories in the Americas and Caribbean, namely Guyana (Essequibo, Berbice, Demerara), Curaçao, St Eustatius, St Maarten, Brazil and New Netherlands (New York).
Considering the importance of Sephardic commercial networks and the settlement of Iberian Jews and conversos in the Dutch West Indias, this collection is rich in materials regarding the Western Sephardic Diaspora. Scattered information can be found in the diverse administrative and commercial records contained in this collection. Some items are directly related to Jewish communities and their members. It is the case of a record containing the debit and credit account of the Amsterdam Kamer of the West India Company with a Portuguese Jew, Manuel Montezinos de Mesquita, dating from 1722 (933). Another example is a letter from the director and councils of Curaçao to the States General concerning the proceedings of Abraham da Costa Andrade against the Mahamad of the Congregation of Curaçao on March 18, 1779 (279).
Considering the importance of Sephardic commercial networks and the settlement of Iberian Jews and conversos in the Dutch West Indias, this collection is rich in materials regarding the Western Sephardic Diaspora. Scattered information can be found in the diverse administrative and commercial records contained in this collection. Some items are directly related to Jewish communities and their members. It is the case of a record containing the debit and credit account of the Amsterdam Kamer of the West India Company with a Portuguese Jew, Manuel Montezinos de Mesquita, dating from 1722 (933). Another example is a letter from the director and councils of Curaçao to the States General concerning the proceedings of Abraham da Costa Andrade against the Mahamad of the Congregation of Curaçao on March 18, 1779 (279).
Archival history
The Verspreide West-Indische Stukken collection resulted from a group of documents collected by the "adjunct-archivaris" (deputy archivist) of the Algemeen Rijksarchief (General State Archives), A. Telting, who had been in charge of the archives of the Dutch West Indies. After his death in 1907, these documents, which he had retrieved from various West Indian archives but failed to put back, were found in his cabinet. His successor as deputy archivist, J. de Hullu, started inventorying these documents in 1908, trying to trace their original provenance. However, of the 1074 items collected by Telting, Hullu could only identify the provenance of 262 with certainty. In 1911, he finished the description of the Verspreide West-Indische Stukken (VWIS), and, in addition, he composed an incomplete index of the collection. In 1978, in the sequence of the re-inventory of the Tweede West-Indische Compagnie archives, Ch. van Marle made a new draft record of the VWIS collection. Years later, in 1989, I.E. Guicherit updated this catalogue, including the description of 17 items that were missing from Van Marle's catalogue. Over the years, several documents whose original provenance was determined were transferred to other collections, namely the Oude West-Indische Compagnie (1.05.01), Tweede West-Indische Compagnie (1.05.01), Societeit van Suriname (1.05.03-1.05.04), Societeit van Berbice (1.05.05), Nederlandse bezittingen ter kuste van Guinea (1.05.14), Oud-archief Curacao en de onderhorige eilanden Bonaire en Aruba tot 1828 (1.05.12), Staten-Generaal (1.01.01 - 1.01.18), or Raad der Colonien in West-Indie (1.05.02).
Administrative / Biographical history
The West-Indische Compagnie (WIC), the Dutch West India Company, was founded in 1621 mainly to carry on economic warfare against Spain and Portugal by striking at their colonies in the West Indies and South America and on the west coast of Africa.
The WIC was governed by a board composed of 19 members (the Herem XIX) and had five offices (Kamers) corresponding to the various regions of the Netherlands. Having the monopoly of trade with the Americas, Africa, and the Atlantic regions between them, the WIC was militarily and financially supported by the States General (the Dutch national assembly).
Its zenith was reached during the administration of Count John Maurice (1636-44) with the conquest of the northeastern region of Brazil and the foundation of New Holland, which ended up capitulating to the Portuguese in 1654. Between 1634 and 1648, the WIC also established several colonies in the West Indies and Guyana, including Aruba, Curaçao, and Saint Martin, but later lost many of them to the French. New Netherland, the Dutch colony in North America, became a province of the WIC in 1623 and remained so until 1667, when it was ceded to the English.
The loss of Brazil to the Portuguese and later other colonies to the French and the English reflected the decline of the WIC. The Second and Third Anglo-Dutch Wars also threatened its influence on the west coast of Africa. Deeper in debt, the WIC was dissolved in 1674.
The Tweede West-Indische Compagnie replaced the original WIC. Its capital was formed by giving shares to the shareholders and owners of bonds of the first WIC. The few alterations to the WIC infrastructure were reducing the number of directors from 19 to 10 and the governors from 74 to 50. In addition, the company's monopoly was limited to the slave trade and the trade to the Dutch forts in Africa, but even this monopoly was lost in 1734. After this year, the WIC was left with the administration of the Dutch territories on the African coast, the Dutch Antilles, and two small plantation colonies on the South American mainland: Essequibo and Demerara. However, during the Fourth Anglo-Dutch War (1780-84), the WIC proved to be incapable of defending its colonies, such as Sint Eustatius, Berbice, Essequibo, Demerara, and some forts on the Guinea coast, which were easily conquered by the British army.
In 1791, the WIC was taken over by the state, and the shareholders were partly compensated with government bonds. It was definitely dissolved after the French invasion of the Dutch Republic in 1794.
The WIC was governed by a board composed of 19 members (the Herem XIX) and had five offices (Kamers) corresponding to the various regions of the Netherlands. Having the monopoly of trade with the Americas, Africa, and the Atlantic regions between them, the WIC was militarily and financially supported by the States General (the Dutch national assembly).
Its zenith was reached during the administration of Count John Maurice (1636-44) with the conquest of the northeastern region of Brazil and the foundation of New Holland, which ended up capitulating to the Portuguese in 1654. Between 1634 and 1648, the WIC also established several colonies in the West Indies and Guyana, including Aruba, Curaçao, and Saint Martin, but later lost many of them to the French. New Netherland, the Dutch colony in North America, became a province of the WIC in 1623 and remained so until 1667, when it was ceded to the English.
The loss of Brazil to the Portuguese and later other colonies to the French and the English reflected the decline of the WIC. The Second and Third Anglo-Dutch Wars also threatened its influence on the west coast of Africa. Deeper in debt, the WIC was dissolved in 1674.
The Tweede West-Indische Compagnie replaced the original WIC. Its capital was formed by giving shares to the shareholders and owners of bonds of the first WIC. The few alterations to the WIC infrastructure were reducing the number of directors from 19 to 10 and the governors from 74 to 50. In addition, the company's monopoly was limited to the slave trade and the trade to the Dutch forts in Africa, but even this monopoly was lost in 1734. After this year, the WIC was left with the administration of the Dutch territories on the African coast, the Dutch Antilles, and two small plantation colonies on the South American mainland: Essequibo and Demerara. However, during the Fourth Anglo-Dutch War (1780-84), the WIC proved to be incapable of defending its colonies, such as Sint Eustatius, Berbice, Essequibo, Demerara, and some forts on the Guinea coast, which were easily conquered by the British army.
In 1791, the WIC was taken over by the state, and the shareholders were partly compensated with government bonds. It was definitely dissolved after the French invasion of the Dutch Republic in 1794.
Sources:
Access points: locations
Access points: persons, families
Access points: corporate bodies
Access points: subject terms
Access points: document types
Access, restrictions
Digital copies of almost all items of this collection are available online:
Links to finding aids
Author of the description
Carla Vieira, 2023
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