Climate, Colonialism, and Indigenous Resistance in the Dutch Atlantic by © 2017 Nicholas Jordan Cunigan M.A., University of Kansas, 2013 B.A., Calvin College, 2007
Total Page:16
File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb
Weathering Extremes: Climate, Colonialism, and Indigenous Resistance in the Dutch Atlantic By © 2017 Nicholas Jordan Cunigan M.A., University of Kansas, 2013 B.A., Calvin College, 2007 Submitted to the graduate degree program in History and the Graduate Faculty of the University of Kansas in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy. Chair: Paul Kelton Greg Cushman Sara Gregg Robert Schwaller William Keel Date Defended: 25 April 2017 The dissertation committee for Nicholas Cunigan certifies that this is the approved version of the following dissertation: Weathering Extremes: Climate, Colonialism, and Indigenous Resistance in the Dutch Atlantic Chair: Paul Kelton Date Approved: 25 April 2017 ii Abstract Weathering Extremes demonstrates how seventeenth-century climate changes mingled with cultural, social, economic, agro-ecological, and geopolitical forces to catalyze three simultaneous, though geographically disparate, indigenous resistance movements between 1636 and 1645. In Brazil, Curaçao, and the Hudson Valley, indigenous peoples deployed violent and non-violent means of resistance to confront the Dutch West India Company. This broadly interdisciplinary project utilizes natural proxy sources such as pollen samples, ice cores, and tree rings in conjunction with ethnohistorical and Dutch archival sources to reconstruct how early seventeenth-century extreme weather events catalyzed these movements. El Niño-Southern Oscillation (ENSO) events, volcanic eruptions, and reduced sunspot activity led to drought, heavy rain, and abnormally cold temperatures throughout the Americas. Extreme weather compounded the worst consequences of European colonialism on indigenous societies including disease epidemics, livestock destruction, and political instability. Harvest failures exacerbated the Company’s financial ills, decreased cash and subsistence crop production, and led to local abuses of indigenous groups. Indigenous peoples and the Dutch West India Company responded to climate-induced situations based on culturally, politically, and geographically contingent factors. The diversity of responses in each case study illustrates how climate is only deterministic in its ability to provoke human responses: the Wappinger of New Netherland responded to climatological changes and European colonialism through direct militant confrontation; the Tapuyas and Brasilianen of Dutch Brazil reacted via shifting diplomatic allegiances and intermittent violence; and the Caquetio of Curaçao invoked foot-dragging, desertion, and false compliance. iii This project makes several contributions to environmental, early modern Atlantic, and indigenous peoples’ history. First, it draws attention to the impact of seventeenth-century climate on indigenous and Dutch interactions in the Americas. Next, it uses paleoclimatological sources to show how climate-induced vulnerabilities provoked diplomacy, negotiation, and/or conflict in colonial settings. It reverses common assumptions of indigenous dependency and demonstrates the importance of indigenous peoples, labor, and sovereignty in shaping European colonialism. Finally, it deploys an intercolonial analysis to move beyond local case-study and world-system examinations of the Dutch Atlantic to explore how the Dutch West India Company emerged as an interdependent and overlapping web of connections. This project argues that the three climatologically-induced indigenous resistance movements coincided with the Company’s territorial zenith and collectively led to the Company’s destabilization, 1674 bankruptcy, and eventual re-establishment as a key player in the trans-Atlantic slave trade. iv Acknowledgements The debts accumulated while writing a dissertation can never be repaid. The financial assistance I received from the Netherland-American Foundation Fulbright Scholarship and grants from the American Association for Netherlandic Studies, Queen Wilhelmina Foundation, and the University of Kansas transported, lodged, and fed me on numerous archival excursions in the United States and abroad. Archivists piloted me through research guides, depots, and reading rooms at the National Archives of the Netherlands, City Archives of Amsterdam, Royal Library of the Netherlands, Royal House Archives in The Hague, Zeeland Archives, Rijksmuseum Print Room, and Amsterdam Maritime Museum. Special thanks go to Harm Pieters at the National Archives who pulled countless records and provided invaluable access to the Dutch National Archives. Conference travel funds from the University of Kansas, Society for Ethnohistory, and Calvin College made presenting early chapter drafts possible. I would not have completed this dissertation without the steadfast support of Paul Kelton, my thesis advisor at the University of Kansas. Frans Blom spent countless hours teaching me the art of paleography, first at Columbia University’s annual summer Paleography Workshop and later in his office at the University of Amsterdam. Without him, the Dutch on the pages of seventeenth-century sources would remain, for me at least, indecipherable. Along the way, William Keel and later Wijnie Degroot insisted on the learning of grammar and etymology while learning modern Dutch. My family in the United States as well as the Netherlands provided encouragement and unsolicited financial support throughout the course of the entire project. A place to stay, food to eat, and ears to listen that kept me going through it all. At the University of Kansas, I had the pleasure of working with an excellent dissertation committee. My thanks to Paul Kelton, Gregory Cushman, Sara Gregg, Robert Schwaller, and v William Keel for your letters of recommendation, thoughtful reading, and keen insights. Thanks also to Donald Worster for teaching me the importance of “getting your boots dirty” and the art of historical research as well as to Edmund Russell for honing my presentation skills. I would be remiss, however, if I failed to mention the social support network at the University of Kansas. To the Wheels of History, our bicycling rides offered a much-needed time of relaxation and communion with nature, though I might have done without the “Milton” rides. Adam Sundberg, Joshua Nygren, Brandon Luedtke, and Vaughn Scribner, thanks for putting up with the slow guy in the back, but also for taking the time to read and critique grant applications, conference papers, and dissertation chapters. Thanks to all who sat around the table of the Environmental History Brownbag group: Alex Boynton, Amber Roberts, Jared Taber, Harley Davidson, Adam Sundberg, Joshua Nygren, and Brandon Luedtke. And finally, thanks to Shelby Callaway, Stephanie Stillo, and Amanda Schlumpberger for your friendship and support. I owe a great deal of gratitude to the Climate Change and History Research Initiative (CCHRI) hosted at Princeton University for allowing me to participate in two paleoclimatology methods workshops. Ülf Buntgen and Jeurg Luterbacher taught me the difficulties of dendrochronology and later Neil Robert and Warren Eastwood taught me the intricacies of palynology. Together their combined knowledge of historical climatology and enthusiasm for cross-disciplinary cooperation was inspiring and continues to shape the way I think about applying hard science to the study of human history. Parts of several chapters were vetted at conferences both in the United States and Europe. I want to thank all those in attendance for listening, encouragement, and probing questions. I want to especially thank the New Netherland Institute in New Albany, New York for inviting me to participate in the 2014 Emerging Scholars Roundtable. There I received excellent criticism from vi Wim Klooster, Jaap Jacobs, Charles Gehring, and Janny Venema. Their suggestions broadened my research and honed my thesis. I also owe a debt to Eric Sanderson for his 2009 TED talk. It was while watching Sanderson’s presentation at my desk at Blandford Nature Center in Grand Rapids, MI, that my interests in exploring the reciprocal relationship between the peoples of Manhattan and the natural world first piqued. Looking back on my graduate school letters of application, I see that in addition to the wonderful mentors I came to know at KU, I cited Sanderson and his beautiful illustrations of Manhattan’s pre-European landscape. Thank you for opening my eyes to the complex human-ecological relationships that hid beneath the concrete jungle of New York City and the Hudson Valley. My gratitude also goes to all those who supported me without even knowing it. From the numerous coffee growers and baristas at the countless cafes in Lawrence, KS, Amsterdam, and Holland, MI who provided the stimuli to work through early mornings and long afternoons, and late nights to the dozens of student workers who pulled dozens upon dozens of books off dusty shelves and diligently replaced them for the next generation of scholars to read. Finally, I dedicate this work to my wife who has stood by my side through the entire graduate school process. She inspired me to take the GRE while we were dating and helped with the dissertation’s final formatting while several months pregnant with our twins. I would not be here without her. vii Table of Contents Introduction ..................................................................................................................................... 1 Part I: Context ..............................................................................................................................