The history of slavery in the Netherlands dates back to the period of classical antiquity. During the Roman era, slavery in large parts of the later Netherlands was reflected by the institution of slavery in the Roman Empire.
During the middle ages, the Netherlands was a part of the Carolingian Empire and the Holy Roman Empire, where chattel slavery was gradually replaced by serfdom. Slavery was eventually phased out in the Netherlands itself during the middle ages. However, in parallel with several other European countries, the Netherlands were later to introduce slave labor in their colonies, while slavery was no longer used in the mother country itself.
During the early modern period, Dutch slave traders bought and sold over 1.6 million slaves. The Netherlands abolished Dutch involvement in the Atlantic slave trade in 1814 under diplomatic pressure from the United Kingdom, but slavery would continue to exist in the Dutch colonial empire until 1863.
Slavery in the Low Countries
Antiquity
Before the Netherlands became a country, various ethnic groups lived in the area. Examples of these are the Celts and the Germanic peoples. Both ethnic groups had societies that consisted of nobles, freemen and slaves. During the Roman era, slaves were also fairly common.
The Middle ages
During the early middle ages, the Frisians traded in slaves, which were mainly intended for slave markets in Spain (al-Andalus) and Cairo. The Frisians were one of the main slave traders in Europe in the 7th and 8th centuries, when they conducted trade between Scandinavia and the British Isles, where they purchased war captives as slaves, and exported them along the rivers to Paris and the German cities.Phillips, W. D. (1985). Slavery from Roman Times to the Early Transatlantic Trade. Storbritannien: Manchester University Press. p. 60-61
In the 9th century, the Low countries became a part of the Carolingian Empire and then the Holy Roman Empire. Slavery in the Carolingian Empire was a legal institution, though feudalism gradually phased out slavery in favor of serfdom. Slavery as an institution was mainly grounded in common law at first. When feudal lords granted town privileges to cities these often encompassed the principle of ‘’Stadslucht maakt vrij’’ (meaning "City air makes [one] free") i.e. slavery and serfdom were outlawed within the borders of the city and escaped slaves could enjoy asylum there. In the Late Middle Ages, in 1435 the Pope Eugene IV banned enslaving Christians by a decree.
Though not officially "abolished" everywhere, slavery as an institution had for all practical purposes fallen in disuse in the Habsburg Netherlands for these reasons. But the reception of Roman law at the end of the 15th century and its integration into what became known as Roman-Dutch law provided a new legal framework that would make the introduction and regulation of chattel slavery outside Dutch territory easier in later years., chapter 9
Dutch Republic
The legal system regarding slavery in the European area of The Dutch Republic, was inconsistent, notably in the Low Countries. According to Leuven professor Petrus Gudelinus, in 16th-century Mechelen, an enslaved person who had escaped was freed because it was argued that slavery did not exist in the Low Countries."Some remarks on slavery and legal history", Hans-Jan van Kralingen, Leiden Law Blog However, Spanish and Portuguese merchants often brought people who were enslaved into cities such as Antwerp and Amsterdam as their servants. During the 18th century, plantation owners also brought slaves with them however they were few in number.
Records, though incomplete, show that between 1729 and 1775, roughly 500 people of African descent traveled from Suriname to the Netherlands, with the majority returning after a short stay. Although people who were enslaved could legally sue for their freedom, they rarely did so, and the few who attempted court challenges seldom succeeded. In 1736, Claes, an enslaved man, escaped from Curaçao to the Netherlands as a stowaway on a ship, however. the Supreme Court of Holland and Zeeland ruled that he remained the property of Paulina Meyer, establishing that he was a "thief of himself" and therefore stolen property (res furtiva) .
In 1776, the States General of the Netherlands issued a resolution regarding the legal status of enslaved people on Dutch soil. While the resolution emphasized that all individuals in The Netherlands were recognized as free, it carved out a property exception for visiting colonial slaveholders. Under this rule, enslaved individuals brought to the Netherlands remained property if their stay lasted under six months or up to twelve months with court approval. If the slave owner failed to return them to the colonies within this timeframe, the enslaved person was legally emancipated. However, historical evidence remains unclear as to how consistently this was enforced.
Atlantic slave trade
The share of the Dutch Republic in the Atlantic slave trade was on average around five percent, at least 500,000 people. The slave trade by the Dutch West India Company (WIC) has in their starting years contributed to the status of the Netherlands as an economic world power.
Already in 1528, an asiento or contract was made between the rulers of Spain and assumingly the Southern Netherlandish merchants Willem Sailler and Hendrink Eynger, to transfer during the next four years 4,000 slaves from Africa to the Caribbean. However, the slave trade was originally seen as immoral in the Netherlands. It went against Christian norms and values, therefore people initially refrained from engaging in the slave trade.
During the fight against the Spanish and the Portuguese, privateering was legal. This has been the main goal and source of income for the Dutch West India Company since its establishment in 1621. Between 1623 and 1636, 547 Spanish and Portuguese ships were hijacked. After this, the Groot Desseyn was developed, the big plan. By taking over the slave trade the Portuguese sugar cane trade from Brazil could be undermined. With the capture of a Spanish treasure fleet during the Battle in the Bay of Matanzas in 1628, sufficient money was available to carry out the Groot Desseyn. Between 1630 and 1634, Recife and a large part of the Brazilian coast was conquered, this became Dutch Brazil. In 1637, Fort St. George in Elmina on the African Gold Coast (in the Gulf of Benin) was captured. In 1640 the Dutch fought the Portuguese and captured Luanda located in what is now Angola. In 1642 the Dutch went on to conquer the entire Portuguese Gold Coast located in present-day Ghana. The Dutch Cape Colony was established in 1652. Around 1700, the Dutch West India Company owned a dozen trading fortresses on the West African coast.
The Dutch slave trade grew to sizable proportions. To alleviate ethical concerns about slavery raised by Christians, it was argued that in Genesis 9 it states that descendants of Ham are cursed into slavery, since Ham's descendants are interpreted by some as having populated Africa. To maintain the sugar production, many Portuguese plantation owners in the conquered part of Brazil were able to keep their plantation. Private slaves were required for this. This signalled a change in the stands about the slave trade; non-Christians could be sold as slaves.
From 1640, the slave trade with Brazil began to decline, and the trade was shifted to the Spanish colonies in America. Initially, Dutch traders transported slaves to Buenos Aires and Río de la Plata in present-day Argentina, later the Caribbean also became the target of the slave trade.
When Brazil was recaptured in 1654, there were already some 25,000 slaves brought over. After this reconquest, the sugar cane cultivation was transferred to the Caribbean and in 1634 to Curaçao, which then became the Dutch collection point for slaves. After the English invasion of Jamaica in 1655, the island became an important transfer market for slaves to the Spanish colonies. New slave buyers were also found among English and French colonists who grew tobacco on the islands they conquered in the Caribbean and Virginia, though most slaves went to Suriname, which from 1668 was permanently owned by the Netherlands until its independence in 1975.
Slavery on Curaçao
In 1662, Spain made an asiento with Domingo Grillo and Ambrosio Lomelino to trade slaves from Africa. Grillo and Lomelino hired the WIC to transport slaves from the African coast to South America. In the contract with WIC, it was stipulated that the Dutch would deliver 24,000 slaves in 7 years, approximately 3,500 slaves per year, in which, Curaçao would function as transfer port. In reality, these amounts were not feasible, with an average of only 700 slaves delivered annually.
On Curaçao, the slaves were subjected to a quality control. Slaves were assessed according to a so-called pieza de Indias, an evaluation of a slave's labour capacity. Then the slaves were sold to Spanish traders and transported to the Spanish colonies. Due to the asiento trade, the Dutch Republic had between 1660 and 1690 roughly 30% of the total slave trade. In the period of 1658 to 1674, an estimated 45,700 slaves were transported to the Americas, however, this was relatively little compared to the total number of slaves transported.
The Coymans asiento became an important factor in the Dutch slave trade. Balthasar Coymans (1652–1686) led a branch of the Dutch trade house Coymans in Cádiz. He started a smear campaign against Venetian Nicolas Porcio who was at the time owner of the asiento. Coymans smear campaign was successful, and in 1685, he obtained the monopoly to trade slaves to the Spanish colonies. He also enlisted the WIC to ship the slaves from Africa. This meant that the Spanish slave trade was entirely operated by the Dutch. Coymans was required to deliver 3,000 piezas annually, however, in the first 3 years, only 4,896 piezas instead of 9,000 were delivered. Coymans died in 1686 and the Spanish lost faith in his successor and in granted the asiento back to Nicolas Porcio in 1688.
In 1689, the WIC declared Curaçao an open market. Merchants from all nationalities were now welcome, however now that trade could only take place on the free market, there was no trade possible with the Spanish colonies. In 1689 and 1691, the WIC did have a few contracts with Porcio; however, the numbers were less than before. In 1697, there was a contract with Real Compañía de Cacheu, the successor of Porcio, for the delivery of 2,500 to 3,000 slaves per year, but Curaçao did no longer serve as a transfer port. In 1699 this contract was extended for another 2 years.
In the 18th century, the slave trade grew enormously. There were years in which more than 100,000 slaves were transported by Dutch slavers. However, the French and the British had taken over the position of the Dutch Republic. The Dutch Republic also found the slave trade to be very not profitable. This was partly due to the high mortality rate among the slaves when crossing the ocean; 30% of the slaves died on board the ships.
End of Curaçao's central position as slave market