From januari 2017 to september 2018, I worked as a postdoctoral researcher at FGW/CLUE+ on the NWO project “Slaves, Commodities and Logistics. The Direct and Indirect, the Immediate and Long-term Economic Impact of Eighteenth-century Dutch Republic Transatlantic Slave-based Activities”.
My postdoc-project focused on the Dutch role in shipping, financing and insurance related to the Atlantic slave-based economy. More information can be found on the website of NWO. The results are published in 3 academic journals and 1 article in OneWorld. Read my interview with Ad Valvas about this article here.
The project overall investigated two important claims about the gains of the Dutch economy from slave-based production and commerce in the Atlantic region. First, that the Atlantic slave-based commerce played an important role in keeping the Dutch economy afloat in the eighteenth century. Second, that eighteenth-century Dutch involvement in the Atlantic economy had important long-term effects on the Dutch economic performance in the field of finance, insurance and maritime logistics. This project therefore examined the direct and indirect, the immediate and long-term economic impact of eighteenth-century slave-based activities on the Dutch economy. As regards to the immediate effects, the project concentrated on estimating the contribution of value-added by the slavery-related Atlantic commerce, industry and finance to the Dutch economy in the eighteenth century.
The results of this project were presented at the International Institute of Social History on June 25, 2019.
Authorisation of the Chamber of Insurance and General Average of the insurance of the slave ship the Zanggodin, 1770 (Stadsarchief Amsterdam, 5061: Archief van de Schout en Schepenen, bestanddeel 3011).