The Private Slave Trade in Eighteenth-Century Amsterdam

For the first time available in English, this fully translated and revised edition of De grootste slavenhandelaren van Amsterdam: Over Jochem Matthijs en Coenraad Smitt (2022) examines the emergence of private Dutch slave trading in the eighteenth century.

The 1730s mark a turning point in Dutch slavery history: the West India Company (WIC) renounces its monopolies on the transatlantic slave trade, upon which several merchants in the Dutch Republic decide to use their ships for the private slave trade. As a result, the slave trade expanded rapidly. Thousands of people were transported from West-Africa to the Dutch Atlantic on private slave ships. Focusing on the enterprise of Jochem Matthijs and Coenraad Smitt, whose slave ships transported an estimated 11,000–13,000 enslaved West Africans to Suriname, the book reconstructs the experiences of shipboard crew and captives and uncovers the inner workings of the private slave trade. Drawing upon newly uncovered archival materials, and using a set of digital tools, the authors demonstrate how the WIC’s abandonment of its monopoly precipitated a flourishing private trade. Pioneering case studies – most notably the return voyage of the ’t Gezegende Suikerriet – reveal voices long silenced in conventional narratives. This edition features a new revised introduction and a new epilogue, making it the definitive scholarly account of Amsterdam’s principal private slave traders and their enduring legacies.

An indispensable resource, this book will be of interest to researchers studying the transatlantic slave trade, Caribbean slavery systems, and West-African trade in the early modern period.