Pieter Emmer

The myth of early globalization: the Atlantic economy, 1500 1800

In recent historiography, it has been argued that the expansion of Europe between 1500 and 1800 created a ‘system’ in the Atlantic by which the economies of Europe, West Africa and the New World were closely interconnected by trade and migration. However, the available evidence suggests that the economic implications of such a system were of marginal importance. Rather than boosting the economy, the ‘Atlantic System’ stimulated the expansion of European values and norms, such as private property, monogamy, the nuclear family, free labour and the place of women and children in society.

The Economic Impact of the Dutch Expansion Overseas, 1570–1870

El impacto del comercio colonial en la economia holandesa vario a lo largo del tiempo. Entre 1570 y 1870 hubo tres fases claramente diferenciadas: i)de crecimiento explosivo entre 1570 y 1670; ii) de estancamiento relativo entre 1670 y 1800, y iii) de reorientacion, 1810-1870. Las estimaciones del valor del comercio internacional sugieren que la economia holandesa era mas dependiente del comercio internacional que cualquier otra, exceptuando Portugal. Alrededor de 1800, cerca del 18 por 100 del PNB holandes lo generaba el comercio (10 por 100, el comercio con Europa; 8 por 100, el comercio con Asia y el Atlantico). Entre 1830 y 1870, los beneficios derivados en Indonesia del sistema de cultivo con trabajo forzado produjo alrededor de un tercio de los ingresos estatales de la epoca, lo que permitio conceder una generosa compensacion a las colonias esclavistas en las Indias occidentales holandesas, una rapida extension de la red ferroviaria holandesa, asi como retrasar la introduccion del impuesto sobre la renta en los Paises Bajos.

More than profits? The contribution of the slave trade to the Dutch economy: assessing Fatah-Black and Van Rossum

ABSTRACT We assess Fatah-Black and Van Rossum’s analysis of the Dutch slave trade by detailing six 1750s voyages of the Middelburg Commercial Company. The costs of transporting captives from Africa to Suriname are explored along with their relation to the Dutch economy. We also examine the implications of the concept ‘gross margin’, which is central to Fatah-Black and Van Rossum’s work. We find that, given the nature of the transport costs, the impact of the slave trade on the Dutch economy was minimal, and more generally that gross margin is not a useful measure for testing the Williams Thesis.

Trevor Burnard, Planters, Merchants, and Slaves: Plantation Societies in British America, 1650–1820

This book forum focuses on Trevor Burnard’s book, Planters, Merchants, and Slaves: Plantation Societies in British America, 1650–1820 (University of Chicago Press, 2015). In his book, Burnard argues that white men did not choose to develop and maintain the plantation system out of virulent racism or sadism, but rather out of economic logic. While plantations required racial divisions to exist, their successes were always measured in gold, rather than skin or blood. Burnard argues that the best example of plantations functioning as intended is not those found in the fractious and poor North American colonies, but those in their booming and integrated commercial hub, Jamaica. Ranging over nearly two centuries, from Guyana to the Chesapeake, the book provides many new insights and offers a revisionary interpretation of the connection between slavery and the American Revolution. The three reviewers in general praise the empirical research that underpins the book but challenge some of the conclusions. They also draw attention to a few points that, in their opinion, the author underemphasized or where he could have expanded his argument, for instance the role of support from the British Empire to the plantation system and the role of religion in shaping attitudes to slavery and the plantation system. In his response, Burnard argues against some of the criticism, such as the impact of the fear of slave revolts. In particular, Burnard stresses that his understanding of slavery in the colonial period of American history is that of an outsider to American politics. As such, he argues, his book does not speak to contemporary concerns about rising evidence of racial hatred.

Regimes of Memory: the Case of the Netherlands

The Netherlands is not known for its opposing regimes of memory. There are two exceptions to this rule: the history of the German Occupation during the Second World War and the Dutch participation in the Atlantic slave trade and slavery. The relatively low numbers of survivors of the Holocaust in the Netherlands, as well as the volume and the profitability of the Dutch slave trade and slavery, and the importance of slave resistance in abolishing slavery in the Dutch Caribbean have produced conflicting views, especially between professional historians and the descendants of slaves living in the Netherlands.

Turkey and Europe: The Role of Migration

In spite of the fact that negotiations have been going on for years, the chances that Turkey will eventually become a full member of the European Union are slim. At present, a political majority among the EU-member states headed by Germany seems to oppose Turkey entering the EU. In the Netherlands, however, most political parties are still in favour of Turkeys membership. That difference coincides with the difference in the position of Turkish immigrants in German and Dutch societies.

Europe and the immigration debate

The European debate on immigration is marred by stereotypes, such as the supposition that Europe is full, that asylum seekers can be separated from economic immigrants, that the sending countries suffer from brain drain and that immigrants take jobs away from the population in the receiving countries. Many of these arguments can be reversed, but recently immigrants have indeed been costly to the EU taxpayer. However, demographic decline will force Europe to devise a system by which labour immigration can be profitable again for the host countries.

The Abolition of Slavery in the Americas; the U.S., the Caribbean, Brazil and Mexico

In 1888 Brazil abolished slavery as the last country in the Americas to do away with the ‘peculiar institution’. The following four essays study the widely varying impact of abolition on the economies and social structures of the ex-slave societies.