Dissertation_A Bick_May 25 - DataSpace at Princeton University

1. Introduction
Chapter Five
Free Trade and African Slavery:
The Politics of Monopoly
On July 12, 1645, Hendrick van der Capellen, the States General's senior delegate to the spring
meeting of the Heren XIX, submitted an unusually blunt assessment of discussions within the
WIC's board. 1 He reported to the States General that there had been some progress towards
assembling a new government for Brazil, though up to this time no President had yet been
selected, and that relative calm prevailed in the conquests—save New Netherland, where an
Indian revolt had broken out, killing several colonists. 2 But the issue that had produced the most
acrimony was a discussion of the company's monopoly over trade to Angola. Echoing a similar
proposal from 1643, a group of directors and hoofdparticipanten (chief investors) in the
Amsterdam chamber recommended that this trade be opened to private merchants. 3 Lifting the
monopoly, they argued, would increase the number of slaves sent each year to Brazil and reduce
the administrative and logistical burden on the company. This proposal was vehemently rejected
1 NA 1.01.07, inv.nr. 12564.17, no. 7, Report Sommierlyck gedaen by die Heeren van der Capellen toe-Ryssel,
Herbers, en Nykerck van di principaelste Poincten inde besoignes van di vergaderinge der Negentien 'tAmsterdam
voorgevallen zeder Martio 1645.
2 Rink, Holland on the Hudson, 217–221; Jacobs, Petrus Stuyvesant, 60–61; Rink, Holland on the Hudson, 217–221.
3 NA 1.01.05, inv.nr. 9411, Rapport Sommier van de Gecommittierden van haer ho: mo: Hendrick van der Capelle
toe Ryssel, Andries Bicker, D.V. Hogendorp van't gene in die vergaderinge der Westindische Comp. t'Amsterdam is
gedaen in September en Octob: 1643, submitted November 7, 1642. See also Unger, “Essay on the History of the
Dutch Slave Trade,” 53.
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