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once he arrived in Brazil. 149 De Laet’s involvement in the negotiations to select and confirm the new governor suggest, once again, that his written work grew out of and supplemented, rather than expressed, the most important elements of his contribution to the company’s business. And the same was true for the meetings of the Heren XIX. Of the ten meetings of the company’s board for which records remain, De Laet was present at five. 150 Based on extracts, letters, and other documents it is clear that he attended at least ten more, so that we can say with some certainty that he attended a minimum of fifteen meetings of the Heren XIX between 1622 and 1649, and possibly more. 151 This means that De Laet’s would have been one of the most familiar faces on the company’s board, including not only the directors of the various chambers but also the noblemen who served on the committees on WIC affairs at The Hague and returned year and after year to represent the States General in the Heren XIX. 152 This familiarity ensured a modicum of continuity and memory in an institution that otherwise had no permanent membership. Since De Laet was often the most senior delegate from Amsterdam, which hosted the meetings six of every eight years, he also would have had plenty of experience as chair. Except in a very few cases, it is impossible to extract from the remaining sources the views or competencies of any specific individual within the Heren XIX. Resolutions by their very nature hide the discussion that preceded them, and even the lists that show the membership of the sub-committees that did much of the board’s work cannot tell us who took which position, or wielded authority on a specific matter. Nevertheless, the list of committees on which De Laet served provides almost a microcosm of the company’s history as a whole, reinforcing the view                                                          149 De Laet, Suiker, verfhout & tabak. 150 NA 1.05.01.01, inv.nr. 1; NA 1.01.07, inv.nr. 12564.6 and 12564.17; NA 1.10.69, inv.nr. 542. These include meetings in the fall of 1623, spring 1624, spring 1634, spring 1638, and fall 1645. 151 NA 1.01.04, inv.nrs. 5753-5758; NA 1.01.07, inv.nr. 12564.15; NA 1.01.07, inv.nr. 20; NA 1.05.01.01, inv.nr. 9. These include meetings in the spring of 1626, fall 1629, spring 1630, winter and summer of 1631, Spring 1633, fall 1635, summer 1636, summer 1643, fall 1644, and fall 1646. 152 See Chapters Three and Four of this dissertation.   85
that, even at the beginning, De Laet rarely was far away from the deliberations on the most difficult questions the company faced. In May 1623, he participated in the delicate negotiations to amend the charter to provide a greater management role for the hoofdparticipanten, or chief investors in the company, a milestone in the formal recognition of investor rights. 153 In April 1624, as the Heren XIX planned the Groote Dessyn (Grand Design) to simultaneously attack Bahia, Elmina, and Loanda, De Laet was summoned for the explicit purpose of sharing his knowledge of geography. 154 That same year he served on the committee charged with drafting the rights and exemptions for investors who hoped to establish colonies in New Netherland. 155 In 1629 he participated in deliberations at The Hague to ensure the company's interests in peace negotiations with Spain that began that year. 156 In December 1636 he was one of several directors who represented Amsterdam at the States General to protest the closure of free trade to Brazil; he then served in the Heren XIX in February 1638 when the trade was re-opened to private merchants and a new monopoly created on the trade in slaves. 157 Later that year he lobbied the States General to send additional troops to support Maurits' campaigns in Brazil. 158 In July 1643, he helped the company craft a reply to Portugal's quite legitimate complaints that the Dutch had seized Maranhão, Angola, and the island of São Tomé after peace negotiations had been completed and a non-aggression treaty signed. 159 And, in 1645, De Laet began what                                                          153 NA 1.01.04, inv.nr. 5752. On investor rights, see Den Heijer, De Geoctrooieerde Compagnie; William N. Goetzmann and K. Geert Rouwenhorst, eds., The Origins of Value: The Financial Innovations that Created Modern Capital Markets (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2005). 154 NA 1.05.01.01, inv.nr. 1, entry for October 31, 1623. 155 Ibid., entry for March 28, 1624. 156 NA 1.01.04, inv.nr. 5752. 157 NA 1.01.04, inv.nr. 5754, entry for January 21, 1637; NA 1.01.07, inv.nr. 12564.6. 158 NA 1.01.04, inv.nr. 5754. 159 NA 1.01.07, inv.nr. 12564.18, entries for July 3 and August 7, 1643.   86
Page 1 and 2:
GOVERNING THE FREE SEA: THE DUTCH W
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Abstract This dissertation takes a
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IV. “In the Service of Merchants
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for making the archive such an enjo
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Institute for International and Reg
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List of Tables 1. Delegates to the
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Illustration 1. Het West-Indische H
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eported to have said; any money sen
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nexus of commerce and power for whi
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Europe the Dutch Republic is emblem
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Although the VOC frequently used vi
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Van Dillen argued that over time th
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the Western Hemisphere.” 46 Far f
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anxieties it generated, and what pl
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capital from Zeeland in the south a
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number of document series within th
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character of Dutch political instit
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Illustration 2. Vergaderzaal van he
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ecords must be traced backwards—a
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of note.” 93 But it is clear that
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formative periods in the company’
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enhance the role of central authori
Page 45 and 46: trade in which the company had only
Page 47 and 48: 5. A Note on Sources This dissertat
Page 49 and 50: 1645. 110 The manuscript is found i
Page 51 and 52: period 1620-1636. 115 For the remai
Page 53 and 54: at São Salvador da Bahia de Todos
Page 55 and 56: the revolt pushed the colony’s fa
Page 57 and 58: Amsterdam newspapers did publish st
Page 59 and 60: year by the Hoge ende Secrete Raad
Page 61 and 62: the Portuguese, had crossed the Rio
Page 63 and 64: ead aloud, two resolutions were pas
Page 65 and 66: On Wednesday, the same day the ship
Page 67 and 68: with subtle differences of fact and
Page 69 and 70: The group consisted of Henderick Sc
Page 71 and 72: XIX. Each chamber selected delegate
Page 73 and 74: Inden naeme den heeren amen Saturn.
Page 75 and 76: Middelburg’s decidedly incestuous
Page 77 and 78: Illustration 6. Portrait of Johanne
Page 79 and 80: crucial role that he played in its
Page 81 and 82: When the meeting resumed on Monday
Page 83 and 84: and to steer the discussion towards
Page 85 and 86: were chosen from among the ranks of
Page 87 and 88: emphasized the considerable sums in
Page 89 and 90: 4. Johannes de Laet as “Informati
Page 91 and 92: devote myself to my books.” 129 A
Page 93 and 94: interests were adequately represent
Page 95: De Laet's substantive work in the A
Page 99 and 100: De Laet’s presence at the meeting
Page 101 and 102: confessions under interrogation and
Page 103 and 104: Brazil this meant the Heren XIX, wh
Page 105 and 106: Illustration 7. Portrait of Willem
Page 107 and 108: peaceful settlement along the fring
Page 109 and 110: By analyzing the successive changes
Page 111 and 112: convene in Amsterdam; the following
Page 113 and 114: This formulation, which must previo
Page 115 and 116: Amsterdam or Middelburg. 29 In this
Page 117 and 118: (1566-1626), later burgemeester of
Page 119 and 120: placed next to his description of t
Page 121 and 122: That these two provisions remained
Page 123 and 124: provinces. The creation of the WIC
Page 125 and 126: The result was that the delegates f
Page 127 and 128: to the original charter gave the ch
Page 129 and 130: thus shows the political—as oppos
Page 131 and 132: 1/10 of the equipagie and two direc
Page 133 and 134: taken place. Once the draft letter
Page 135 and 136: Table 5. Seating for the delegation
Page 137 and 138: phase of the company’s Groot Dess
Page 139 and 140: to be understood the sending over o
Page 141 and 142: But by far the most important trans
Page 143 and 144: Illustration 8. Map of Mauritstad a
Page 145 and 146: geographers whose works remain a tr
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important military, administrative,
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noblemen played in overseas adminis
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good order, police and justice, and
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the council's size and authority, d
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servants. These individuals may not
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At this point the election was comp
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(Receiver General) of the United Pr
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Why did these candidates all refuse
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Alexander's name was almost certain
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None of the remaining records indic
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would be profitable and that their
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Haecxs thanked them for the honor t
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On June 22, 1645—just a week befo
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5. Wolter Schonenborch and the Ritu
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with the WIC presumably did not go
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Haecx recorded in his diary that on
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wavered, for De Laet, who was many
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privately to Brazil, legally or ill
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1. Introduction Chapter Five Free T
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left relatively open. 6 Where monop
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community saw greater profits in pr
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and close trade to private merchant
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trouble paying its bills, especiall
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means to capitalize the company wit
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director than his trade to Brazil,
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With the verhoging stalled, and ani
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e handled without gloves.” 55 In
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“walking the land half-naked” f
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While the resolution as a whole sho
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along with the two powerful Amsterd
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Cornelis Melijn, of a patroonschap
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this measure, he said, “no one in
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maintaining the company's solvency,
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colony, overestimated the number of
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And Maurits offered another argumen
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Stellingwerf, who sat in the States
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Provinces, plus smaller fees of 3%
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exclude private merchants from the
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clamoring for slaves. 136 The probl
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expedition's success, along with de
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trading locations on the Gold Coast
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directly from New Netherland, and s
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over trade was simply the projectio
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the area in which the company was b
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had not yet been renewed. 4 As the
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to the Dutch state, and that this d
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ookkeeping from late-fifteenth cent
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ambitions. 21 Although neither Spec
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expenses at each of the company's c
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included. 34 In Specx’s estimatio
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calculations yielded a profit of 41
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notes on these documents, suggest t
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It was, of course, a fiction. With
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to hang from the body [...] This sh
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van West-Indien (New World, or a De
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title page of the revised edition a
Page 259 and 260:
It occurred to me that these miracu
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third in the Kort Verhael. This rep
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This extraordinary conclusion might
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enemy” and the positive effects o
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appeared in the late 1630s in the c
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versus settlement. He was also more
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An exceptionally cold winter delaye
Page 273 and 274:
failure of Dutch imperialism from t
Page 275 and 276:
that focuses on political and imper
Page 277 and 278:
support to the WIC, but they also i
Page 279 and 280:
Maurits predicted and which was not
Page 281 and 282:
British Library Additional Manuscri
Page 283 and 284:
Burke, Peter. A Social History of K
Page 285 and 286:
Goffman, Erving. Frame Analysis: An
Page 287 and 288:
Jonge, J. K. J. De Oorsprong van Ne
Page 289 and 290:
Noorlander, Danny L. “Serving God
Page 291 and 292:
Smith, Adam. An Inquiry into the Na
Page 293:
1624-1654, edited by Marianne L. Wi
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