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The Dutch Slave trade in Brazil

During the Dutch colonial period in Brazil 1630-1654 the Dutch takover of the Brazilian sugar economy, raised the demand for slaves. Slaves were a minority of native Brazilians and a majority of Africans imported to Brazil. The Dutch participated in the transatlantic slave trade that linked West Africa to Brazil between 1630-1654.

Dutch Slave trade in Brazil

The Dutch presence in Brazil, started in the seventeenth century. In 1624 the Dutch attacked Bahia, but this invasion resulted unsuccessful. In 1630 the Dutch India Company ( WIC) captured Pernambuco and Recife. In the coming years the Dutch troops invaded the surrounding north-eastern area formerly belonging to the Portuguese. The Dutch main source of investment in Brazil was the the sugar sector. It is because of the latter that the demand for slave labour increased, especially the demand for African slaves. Profit from this trade were enough to set aside any moral objection. “Slave trade grew after the Dutch takeover of the Portuguese colony of Angola in Africa in 1637 But only after the conquest of Luanda and Elima it started to grow exponentially.” ( Silva, Filipa Ribeiro da. 2006. Dutch and Portuguese Slave Trade to Brazil : A Comparative Approach (1630-1650). Leiden: Afrika Studiecentrum. ) ”In total 26.000 slaves were brought from Africa to Dutch Brazil from which 40 percent came from the Gold Coast , 60% from angola on average slaves were sold for 5 times more than the purchase price. “(Emmer, P. C, and Jos Gommans. (2012). Rijk Aan De Rand Van De Wereld : De Geschiedenis. Van Nederland Overzee 1600-1800.[De Geschiedenis Van Nederland, Dl. 8]. Amsterdam: Bakker, p.217)

The takeover of the north-eastern area of Portuguese Brazil by the Dutch is usually pointed out as the beginning of non-iberian participation in the slave trade and the end of the Portuguese monopoly over such commerce. p.1 “Some scholars even claim that such events marked the ‘rigorous entrance of the Dutch into the slave trade, by taking over the Portuguese commercial circuit, including the slave trade and their control over the iberian commercial circuits in general.” More recent studies confirmed that the Dutch never achieved a primary position in the Atlantic Slave trade. The Dutch only transported 4.8% of total volume of the transatlantic slave trade from West Africa to America between 1519 and 1866.(Filipa Ribeiro da Silva: Dutch and Portuguese Slave Trade to Brazil: a comparative approach)

Differently from the Portuguese who were in the slave trade for already two centuries, the Dutch started slaving on regular basis between 1636 -1654. “In total 26.000 slaves were brought from Africa to Dutch Brazil...on average,the slaves were sold for 300 to 400 gulden, 4 or 5 times more than the purchase price. This suggests that the WIC gained a lot in the importation of slaves. (Emmer, P. C, and Jos Gommans. (2012). Rijk Aan De Rand Van De Wereld : De Geschiedenis. Van Nederland Overzee 1600-1800.[De Geschiedenis Van Nederland, Dl. 8]. Amsterdam: Bakker, P.217) The slave trade was an intricate enterprise, indeed behind it there is chain of processes and practices that influenced the number of slaves purchased every years. “A slave journey begun from the Dutch havens. From there travelled the ship to West Africa, to exchange product from Europe like alcoholics, luxury objects, utensils, and textile from Asia for slaves. After the trade period the ships started their journeys to the Dutch colonies in the West. There the slaves were sold and afterwards the ship would travel back to the Netherlands loaded with sugar and coffee. “ (Emmer, P. C, and Jos Gommans. (2012). Rijk Aan De Rand Van De Wereld : De Geschiedenis. Van Nederland Overzee 1600-1800.[De Geschiedenis Van Nederland, Dl. 8]. Amsterdam: Bakker, p.217, p.169) “The treatment of slaves in tropical plantations was inhumane but that was not the only occupation for slaves, they were also working as carpenters , bricklayers , blacksmiths. “( Klooster, Wim. 2016. The Dutch Moment : War, Trade, and Settlement in the Seventeenth-Century Atlantic World. Ithaca: Cornell University Press p.241) Due to a crisis in sugar production , slaves were not all employed in plantations or sugar mills but were also transported from Dutch Brazil to Portuguese Brazil or Spanish Americas and resold in the inland markets with high profit.( Silva, Filipa Ribeiro da. 2006. Dutch and Portuguese Slave Trade to Brazil : A Comparative Approach (1630-1650). Leiden: Afrika Studiecentrum. p.9)