Dissertation_A Bick_May 25 - DataSpace at Princeton University

4. Johannes de Laet as “Information Master”
Arguably no individual figure was more involved in the company’s lobbying campaign, and in
the translation of information into decision-making, than Johannes de Laet. That September he
was the senior delegate from the Amsterdam chamber in the Heren XIX, a participant on the
committee that crafted the company’s message to the provincial assemblies, and one of the
delegates who delivered this message to the States of Zeeland. While scholars have noted De
Laet’s roles as an investor and director, their evaluation of his contribution to the company has
focused overwhelmingly on his work as a scholar, compiler, and writer. 119 In addition to his
Nieuwe Wereldt De Laet composed a detailed account of Brazil’s geography and anthropology
for Johan Maurits before the latter’s departure to Brazil at the end of 1636 and a comprehensive
historical work, the Iaerlyck Verhael. 120 These texts, all of which flowed directly from De Laet’s
association with the company and drew heavily on its archive in Amsterdam, reveal an
impressive ability to identify, evaluate, organize, and synthesize information. 121
But this is hardly the whole story, and it is difficult to agree with Benjamin Schmidt’s
characterization that, in comparison to Grotius, De Laet “opted for the life of a scholarly
scholar.” 122 Seeing De Laet’s role in the company's response to the revolt in Brazil, and the way
that he marshaled information to influence policy, we gain a much fuller picture; one that better
119
Bekkers, “Introduction”; P. G. Hoftijzer, “The Library of Johannes de Laet,” LIAS: The Journal of Early Modern
History of Ideas 25, no. 2 (1998): 201–216; Bremmer Jr., “The Correspondence of Johannes De Laet as a Mirror on
His Life”; Rubiés, “Hugo Grotius’s Dissertation on the Origin of the American Peoples and the Use of Comparative
Methods”; Schmidt, “Space, Time, Travel: Hugo de Groot, Johannes de Laet, and the ‘Advancement’ of Geographic
Learning.”
120
De Laet, Nieuwe Wereldt: Ofte Beschrijvinghe van West-Indien; De Laet, Iaerlyck Verhael van de Verrichtingen
der Geoctroyeerde West-Indische Compagnie; De Laet, Suiker, Verfhout & Tabak. See also, Jacobs, “Johannes de
Laet en de Nieuwe Wereld.”; Seed, Ceremonies of Possession in Europe’s Conquest of the New World, 1492-1640.
121
See Ben Teensma's introduction in Suiker, Verfhout & Tabak, where he describes De Laet's style as "didactic,
systematic, detailed, and productive." Ibid., 14.
122
Schmidt, “Space, Time, Travel: Hugo de Groot, Johannes de Laet, and the ‘Advancement’ of Geographic
Learning,” 193.
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