Nadia F. Simmons-Brito the Revelation of Willemstad As
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NADIA F. SIMMONS-BRITO THE REVELATION OF WILLEMSTAD AS A HISTORIC CENTER With this paper I would like to present the potentials Willemstad offers to be used as a laboratory of Historical Archaeological Research. Participation of Curaçao in the West Indian Trade is used as a basis to show the island's importance during the early eighteenth century. Use was made of many previously unstudied Netherlands Antilles archival materials held in the "Rijks Archief" in The Hague, Holland as well as secondary sources. This study is also meant to provide an initial approach to Curacao's cultural history. Further observation will be made about the significance of this kind of research for the promotion of the tourist industry. INTRODUCTION Curaçao, a tiny Dutch island of which Willemstad functions as its capital, still has to be exposed to Historical Archaeological Research. Lack of this kind of research is to be ascribed to the general lack of interest that existed on the island for historical and cultural problems. A great amount of energy is being invested into economic problems, while it is forgotten that a nation without a past is a nation without a future. The complete social and cultural history of Curaçao still has to be written and without doubt Historical Archaeology can contribute to a very significant degree in the formulation of this history. Historical Archaeology offers facilities to explore the effect culture and environment had on the settlement patterns of the early European colonists, the African descendants, and their adaptation to this new environment. Also Willemstad boasts an exciting laboratory for the study of seventeenth to nineteenth century mercantile activities of the colonists. This town contains monumental merchants' houses and habitational houses displaying a historical architecture of Neoclassicist style but adapted to the tropical climate. Other regions of studies are: the ethnicity pertaining to the Jewish and Dutch Protestant communities, the slavery system, military fortifications and general material culture studies. Furthermore, even though Curaçao did not possess a plantation economy during the colonial period it still contained a significant number of small plantations that offered excellent possibilities for the study of plantation households. Studies of archival materials and documents give insight into the way of living of the common man, which study can help in the interpretation of Archaeological sites. COLONIAL SOCIETY AND TRADE The Dutch colonial history in Curaçao started in the early seventeenth century when the island Was occupied by the Dutch (1634). Very soon these new settlers realized that Curaçao lacked the natural resources necessary for agricultural 393 development. They decided to exploit the only resource available which was the island's geographic location and its free-port. Curaçao became transformed form a military base into a transshipment center, where it linked trading routes among Europe, North- and South America, the Spanish and French West Indies, Barbados and Jamaica. The island developed into a slave depot and staple market. The West India Company imported slaves from the African coast in Company ships. In Curaçao the slaves were credited by the director to the local merchants, who paid with bottomry bonds. Slaves and European goods were transferred to smaller ships and exchanged on the coast of Venezuela for tropical products, including cacao, tobacco, hides, timber and sugar. These wares, in turn were exported by chartered W.I.C. ships to merchants in Amsterdam, and were sold at high profits (Appendix A). Curaçao also traded with the thirteen colonies in North America, exchanging cash and ammunition for provisions from the colonies.1 Documents in the archives listed day registers with specific names of hundreds of ships that had trafficked the Curaçao harbor in the early eighteenth century (Appendix B). From the placards one could deduce that shipowners and sea captains felt so free in the Curaçao harbor that they often ignored the island's import regulations (Schiltkamp, 1978. 131-132). The situation became so extreme that director Johan van Beuningen (1716) issued a proclamation reminding shippers and shipowners of their obligation to pay weighage and import duties on all imported and exported goods. Taxes were as follows: Port entry tax on boats 2 pesos ad valorem 5 to 1 percent Duty on all exports 2 percent Duty on Cacao 2.5 percent ad valorem on all imports (except meat and lard) 8 percent ad valorem on meat and lard 4 percent Tax sold on all merchandise sold at auction 2.5 percent (Emmanuel and Emmanuel, 1970:70) The Spanish Coast supplied Curaçao with cacao, tobacco, hides, indigo, timber and lime juice. Cuba and Sto. Domingo, also Spanish territories, offered sugar, snuff, hides and mahogany. The French colonies of Martinique, Guadeloupe, Saint Domingue, St. Lucia and Cape François traded brown sugar, indigo, coffee, kiltum, brandy, red wine, blued linen, soap, cacao, French silk, hats, woolen socks, plates and yarn. England's Jamaica, Nevis, St. Christoffer, Tórtola, Antigua, Providence and Rocus exchanged sugar, dry goods, provisions, spices, brasilet, timber, turtles and salt fish. The North American English colonies exchanged flour, bread, meat, ham, salt, fish, butter, peas, candles, cotton, boards, and hats for slaves and ammunition. St. Eustatius, a Dutch colony, supplied Curaçao with sugar, yams and sweet potatoes. For the import duties stipulated by the W.I.C. on these products see Appendix C. 394 The Dutch One distinguished during the eighteenth century in Curaçao two categories of merchants: the Dutch and the Jew. Analysis of the archival material showed that each category of merchant used a different strategy with the intent to exploit the available resources. The Dutch controlled the social resources through political power and functioned secondarily as merchants and planters. Among the Dutch class differentiation there was a distinction between the "higher" Protestants and the "lower Protestants (Hoetink, 1958: 45). The former was the aristocracy of the old society, composed of high ranking administrative officials, officers, families who had settled on Curaçao and prominent merchants. The "lower" Protestants were poor white artisans, shopkeepers, seamen and soldiers. The Jews Before 1825 the Jews did not benefit from the Dutch citizenship, but knew to establish themselves as the dominant group in the merchant class. The adapting strategy they applied was one involving the whole Jewish community into trade. This was achieved by creating a fictive kinship system based on religion, where strict rules and obligations were observed. Analysis of the commodity list in the early eighteenth century showed a greater number of Jewish names as exporters of tropical goods to Jewish factors in Amsterdam. Also the importance of Curaçao Jewish community became clear during the French invasion in 1713 when the inhabitants were taxed at a rate of six percent of the value of their holding to raise money for the ransom (Emmanuel, 1970; 106). The Jewish families paid 30% of the ransom (see Table I).2 The Africans The Africans as a different category, remained at the bottom of the social ladder in the early eighteenth century. They were used as field-, artisan- or house slaves. Other slaves worked as sea-men on smaller vessels belonging to local merchants. There were also slaved who worked in the shops selling fruits, meat and dry-goods. In 1710, director Abraham Beck forbade local residents to allow slaves to sell wares other than vegetables, fruits, meat, or fish on the streets. This prohibition was intended to prevent smuggling of goods such as silk, linen, wool and other wares, which the slaves sold to Christians and Jews for reduced prices (Schiltkamp, 1978: 100-101). According to Romer (1981) slaves on Curaçao did not perform a specialized profession or craft. The same slaves who labored in the salt-pans also worked on the land, and may have been used as artisans, bricklayers, and carpenters. Some documents showed that since in the early eighteenth century there had been free Africans who participated in the local commercial activities, and in the sale of slaves, although not to a very significant degree. Paula (1987: 20) emphasizes this by saying: "....it would be wrong to think that slave owners during the entire period of slavery in the West Indies were by definition white. The slave labor was indispensable for the 395 maintenance of the system. Free negroes and ex-slaves in need of labor had to purchase some slaves in order to participate in the economic system. Eventhough this participation was at a lower degree." The documents contain information about one free black woman, Lucia, who imported a certain amount of pottery through the W.I.C.3 Other data exist concerning free blacks who bought female slaves, probably to use as housekeepers.4 Slave trade Analysis of the slave lists denoted that the Dutch owned most of the slaves on the island, and the Jews participated at a higher degree in the sale of higher quality slaves (Appendix D) + (Appendix E). The local merchants of Curaçao traded slaves on the Spanish coast for tropical products and cash. They also took the opportunity to supply the Spaniards with European manufactured goods (Appendix F). During the eighteenth century slaves on the island could only be imported by the Dutch West India Company. These slaves were credited to the local merchants, to be exchanged on the Spanish coast. The Dutch authorities were not allowed to trade in the Spanish waters, but disregarded this restriction by encouraging local merchants to trade with the Spanish colonies. This trade developed into a lucrative contraband trade. Remarkably the local merchants, Dutch and Jews, each specialized in one particular crop. Most cacao was shipped by the jews to co-religionists acting as factors in Amsterdam, while the Dutch specialized in the export of the tobacco crop.