Overview

While it is generally recognized that the Dutch played a prominent part in the world economy of the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, most studies of Dutch long-distance shipping and trade have focused on Asia and neglected the Atlantic region. In this volume, eight scholars contribute their expertise on Dutch trade with Africa, the Americas and the West Indies, and demonstrate that Dutch trade in the Atlantic was far more extensive and valuable than has generally been assumed, and exceeded the trade with Asia at that time. Supported by extensive archival research and quantitative data, the study makes a strong appeal for a reassessment of Dutch maritime commerce of that period, and should stimulate further research of Dutch Atlantic trade. Riches from Atlantic Commerce has been selected by Choice as Outstanding Academic Title (2005). Contributors include: Christopher Ebert, Victor Enthoven, Henk den Heijer, Han Jordaan, Wim Klooster, Eric Willem van der Oest, Johannes Postma, Claudia Schnurmann, and Stuart B. Schwartz.

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9789004125629

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Reviews

"""Taken as a whole, Riches from Atlantic Commerces paints a picture of the tenacity of the Dutch and their ability to squeeze profit from an empire that was crumbling and to find opportunities in a system that they were systematically being forced out of...Contemporaries of the Dutch Atlantic merchants likely underestimated their impact on the Atlantic economies, a mistake this volume seeks to prevent modern historians from repeating."" Laura Cruz, H-Net Review, 2005. ""Using new evidence to challenge established interpretations of Dutch overseas enterprise during and after the golden age, this well-produced and important book is essential reading for all scholars, Dutch or otherwise, interested in European maritime history between 1500 and 1815."" David Richardson, International Journal of Maritime History. ""The result is a surprisingly coherent collection of essays in which the authors consciously engage each others’ arguments. The book is obviously not intended to provide a comprehensive picture of the Dutch Atlantic – inevitably in an anthology some places and times are not covered – but there is much here to satisfy."" Marjoleine Kars, Itinerario, 2005."

Taken as a whole, Riches from Atlantic Commerces paints a picture of the tenacity of the Dutch and their ability to squeeze profit from an empire that was crumbling and to find opportunities in a system that they were systematically being forced out of...Contemporaries of the Dutch Atlantic merchants likely underestimated their impact on the Atlantic economies, a mistake this volume seeks to prevent modern historians from repeating. Laura Cruz, H-Net Review, 2005. Using new evidence to challenge established interpretations of Dutch overseas enterprise during and after the golden age, this well-produced and important book is essential reading for all scholars, Dutch or otherwise, interested in European maritime history between 1500 and 1815. David Richardson, International Journal of Maritime History. The result is a surprisingly coherent collection of essays in which the authors consciously engage each others' arguments. The book is obviously not intended to provide a comprehensive picture of the Dutch Atlantic - inevitably in an anthology some places and times are not covered - but there is much here to satisfy. Marjoleine Kars, Itinerario, 2005.

Author Information

Johannes Postma, Ph.D. in History (1970, Michigan State University) was Professor of History at Minnesota State University at Mankato from 1969 to 2001. He is the author of several articles on Atlantic history and two books, The Dutch in the Atlantic Slave Trade, 1600–1800 (1990), and The Atlantic Slave Trade (2003). He continues his research and writing in retirement, and is presently living in Wilbraham, Massachusetts. Victor Enthoven, Ph.D. (1996), University of Leiden, was affiliated for several years with the Institute for the History of European Expansion (IGEER) at the same university. He has published several articles and books on Dutch expansion and Atlantic and Asian history, as well as on maritime history and the history of public finance. At present he is Assistant Professor of Maritime History at the Royal Netherlands Naval College at Den Helder, Netherlands.

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