Paper short abstract:

This paper offers an insight into the cooperative relations established between businessmen based in the Dutch Republic, Portugal, and their empires to guarantee their successful participation in the long-distance circuits connecting Western Africa, Europe and the Americas between 1580 and 1674.

Paper long abstract:

Traditional historiography on the Dutch and Portuguese overseas empires regards the relationship between these two early modern sea powers as mainly competitive. Military rivalry between Portugal and the Dutch Republic is undeniable, as are the naval encounters between the Portuguese fleets and the WIC and VOC vessels both in the Atlantic and the Indian Oceans, and their consequences for inter-continental trade.

Recent research is showing that Dutch and Portuguese merchants based in Europe and overseas have also balanced multiple forms of cooperation to safeguard their commercial and financial interests, creating partnerships and networks that transcended the military rivalry between States and the political and geographical boundaries of their empires.

This paper offers an insight into the cooperative relations established between merchants based in the Republic, Iberia and overseas to participate in Western African trade and slave trade between 1580 and 1674. Here we will be looking at their cooperative strategies to finance, insure, and equip their ships, as well as to organize commercial transactions in the coastal and long-distance circuits connecting Europe, Western Africa, and the Americas.

Our analysis will be based on a wide selection of source materials from the Notarial Collections of the Amsterdam City Archive portraying the economic activities of various segments of the Amsterdam business community, including Dutch, Flemish, German, Sephardic Jews, and other foreign merchants. The same materials will also allow us to reconstruct some of the connections of these merchants with other mercantile groups outside the Republic and with mutual business interests.

Paper short abstract:

This presentation will assess how Dutch and Portuguese co-existed in New Holland, demonstrating whether religion, 'nationality' or war have hindered (or not), their day-to-day interaction.

Paper long abstract:

Between the years of 1630 and 1654 the Dutch West India Company (WIC) occupied and administered part of the Portuguese Colonial Territories of America. This short lived colony is known as Dutch Brazil or New Holland. In the literature concerning this subject, it has been claimed that due to religious differences, Dutch colonists and the Portuguese or moradores, did not interact, but kept each other at arm's length. By using the methodology of Microhistory it has been possible to follow the life of Johan van Razenbergh - a former WIC official who became a merchant in New Holland, holding thus, a unique position in the colonial society. Using his correspondence, we will trace his business and social connections and how he interacted daily with his associates.

This presentation will be divided into three parts. Firstly, we will challenge the notion that Dutch and Portuguese settlers in New Holland did not interact, by showing Razenbergh's economical and social role in the colony and with whom he interacted. Secondly, we will demonstrate whether his case reflects or not, the attitude of WIC officials, WIC colonists or free people (vrijeluiden) in their daily co-existence with the Portuguese. Thirdly we will discussed if the concepts of religion, 'nationality' or the continuing conflicts within Europe and in the colony have (or not) hindered Dutch - Portuguese liaisons.

Paper short abstract:

This paper demonstrates the continued involvement of Dutch merchants in Brazil’s economy after the Dutch retreat from Pernambuco in 1654. One aspect of this involvement was Dutch participation in the European carrying trade involving Brazilian commodities through the early part of the eighteenth century.

Paper long abstract:

The Dutch colony of New Holland was planted upon the pre-existing Brazilian settlement of Pernambuco between 1630 and 1654, when the Dutch West India Company withdrew from its colonizing ventures in Brazil. Bahia was not occupied by the Dutch, but remained mobilized for war and suffered repeated attacks on its productive capacity. Afterwards, it would not be the same, as the nature of its administration, production, and trade changed significantly as a result of the Dutch presence in Brazil. One of the best-known changes was the creation of a Portuguese 'Brazil Company' to organize Brazil's trade with Portugal under monopoly auspices. This paper demonstrates, however, the continued involvement of Dutch merchants in Brazil's economy, although usually indirect. One aspect of this involvement was in the Dutch participation in the European carrying trade involving Brazilian commodities through the early part of the eighteenth century. The paper will draw on primary sources from the Stadsarchief Amsterdam and various Portuguese and Brazilian archives. It also aims to provoke a discussion about early-modern state power and its limits regarding trade and trade monopolies.

Paper short abstract:

Trade networks in monsoon Asia can be best understood in the context of the dynamics of coupled human-natural systems. We describe adaptations from the late 16th to early 18th centuries that may reflect a response to anomalies in the mean state of climate across the Pacific basin.

Paper long abstract:

Using North American and Monsoon Asian Drought Atlases derived from tree ring records, we analyze the spatial climate dynamics that influenced the Pacific basin over the past millennium. We identify key periods where anomalous conditions coincided with dramatic societal upheavals. Our analysis, applied in this manner for the first time, enables us to investigate how dynamic local institutional responses to variations in climate across the colonial periphery impacted the development of global trade.

We propose that the transition from Iberian dominance of trade networks in monsoon Asia to Dutch control of much of the Southeast Asian archipelago can be best understood in the context of the dynamics of coupled human-natural systems. We describe commercial, political and social adaptations from the late 16th to early 18th centuries that may reflect a response to anomalies in the mean state of climate across the Pacific basin. Anomalies include variations in mean wind direction, droughts, pluvials, temperature, and monsoon onset or withdrawal dates.

We suggest that anomalous climate and corresponding social and political adaptations helped draw mainland Southeast Asia into involvement with the Iberian networks, then helped the Dutch extend control over most of the archipelago in the 17th century, yet mitigated colonial influence over mainland states and limited interactions with China. Localized merchants of Portuguese origin in the mainland ports and capitals remained important during the Dutch advance, and helped shape the mainland states that emerged following decadal-scale drought and regional warfare in the mid- to late-18th century.