Dissertation_A Bick_May 25 - DataSpace at Princeton University

1. Introduction
Chapter One
The Meeting as a Site of Analysis
The meeting began on the morning of Saturday, September 9, 1645. Assembled around the table
in an upper-floor room at the West-Indisch Huis (West India House) in central Middelburg were
representatives from each of the five chambers of the Geoctroyeerde Westindische Compagnie
(Dutch West India Company, or WIC)—Amsterdam, Zeeland, North Holland, the Maas, and
Groningen—along with several delegates dispatched by the States General in The Hague to
“assist in the proper management of the company.” 1 Since its founding in 1621, the company’s
board of directors, the Heren XIX (Gentlemen Nineteen) met two or three times each year to
review correspondence, reconcile accounts,
1 The WIC was composed of five chambers. As discussed in Chapter Three, each chamber was itself composed of
shareholders and directors from multiple cities: Amsterdam represented Leiden, Haarlem, and Deventer, among
others, while the Maas included Delft, Dordrecht, and Rotterdam. Zeeland consisted of Middelburg, Vlissingen,
Veere, Tholen, and Zierkzee. North Holland included Hoorn, Enkhuizen, Alkmaar, Edam, Medemblik,
Monnickendam, and Purmerend. The chamber of Groningen also represented the Ommelanden (literally,
surrounding countryside) and Vriesland. For clarity of exposition, throughout this dissertation the chambers are
referred to simply as Amsterdam, Zeeland, North Holland, the Maas, and Groningen. The citation about the role of
representatives from the States General to the meeting of the Heren XIX is taken from the Nationaal Archief, Den
Haag (hereafter NA) 1.01.04, inv.nr. 5758, Letter from David Baute and N. van der Merct, Directors of the Zeeland
Chamber, to the States General, August 11, 1645. The original text reads: “omme in de vergaderinge de saecken van
de Comp. ten besten te helpen derigeren.” This language mirrors that in the WIC charter, Article 18. Transcribed
and translated versions of the complete charter can be found in the Kiliaen van Rensselaer, Van Rensselaer Bowier
Manuscripts: Being the Letters of Kiliaen van Rensselaer, 1630-1643, and Other Documents Relating to the Colony
of Rensselaerswyck, ed. Arnold J. F. van Laer (Albany: University of the State of New York, 1908). Unless indicted
otherwise, all translations from Dutch, Portuguese, and French are my own.
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