Dutch And Portuguese In Western Africa

By looking at Dutch and Portuguese systems of settlement and trade in Western Africa, this book sheds new light on the formation of Dutch and Portuguese imperial frames, forms of commercial organisation and their role on the seventeenth-century-Atlantic.

The Portuguese in West Africa, 1415-1670 brings together a collection of documents - all in new English translation - that illustrate aspects of the encounters between the Portuguese and the peoples of North and West Africa in the period from 1400 to 1650. This period witnessed the diaspora of the Sephardic Jews, the emigration of Portuguese to West Africa and the islands, and the beginnings of the black diaspora associated with the slave trade. The documents show how the Portuguese tried to understand the societies with which they came into contact and to reconcile their experience with the myths and legends inherited from classical and medieval learning. They also show how Africans reacted to the coming of Europeans, adapting Christian ideas to local beliefs and making use of exotic imports and European technologies. The documents also describe the evolution of the black Portuguese communities in Guinea and the islands, as well as the slave trade and the way that it was organized, understood, and justified.

Dutch historiography has traditionally concentrated on colonial successes in Asia. However, the Dutch were also active in West Africa, Brazil, New Netherland (the present state of New York) and in the Caribbean. In Africa they took part in the gold and ivory trade and finally also in the slave trade, something not widely known outside academic circles. P.C. Emmer, one of the most prominent experts in this field, tells the story of Dutch involvement in the trade from the beginning of the 17th century–much later than the Spaniards and the Portuguese–and goes on to show how the trade shifted from Brazil to the Caribbean. He explains how the purchase of slaves was organized in Africa, records their dramatic transport across the Atlantic, and examines how the sales machinery worked. Drawing on his prolonged study of the Dutch Atlantic slave trade, he presents his subject clearly and soberly, although never forgetting the tragedy hidden behind the numbers – the dark side of the Dutch Golden Age -, which makes this study not only informative but also very readable.

Argues that Dutch Brazil is integral to Atlantic history and made an impact well beyond the colonial and national narratives in the Netherlands and Brazil.

This book explores the perspective of individuals, families and groups of interest in their daily strive to survive an European pursuit of empire.

From its ancient kingdoms to the independent post-colonial states that make up the region today, western Africa has transformed dramatically over the centuries. Economically lucrative for European slave traders and later for their colonial successors, the territories along Africas Atlantic coast were forced to overcome great adversity before achieving autonomy. This volume surveys the history of the many nations of western Africa where vestiges of its celebrated past are still visible in cities like Timbuktu and where its diverse peoples continue to navigate a path towards a more stable future.