3.2 A world economy: The VOC and WIC (part 2/2)

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3.2 A world economy: The VOC and WIC (part 2/2)

Transatlantic slavery

Goals for this lesson 

At the end of this lesson you...

• understand why the WIC was established.
• understand what role the WIC played in the slave trade.
• understand how the triangular trade worked.

Below are two statements:
I. The VOC was allowed to hire an army.
II. The VOC had a monopoly on the spice trade in East Asia.

1. Both are true
2. Both are false
3. I = true; II = false
4. I = false; II = true

The VOC was a multinational. What does that mean?

3.2 A world economy: The VOC and WIC (part 2/2)

Transatlantic slavery

What kind of image do we have of slavery?

00:36

Which countries are Dutch leaders visiting, and why?

01:41

What does Jennifer Tosh say about the Dutch role in slavery?

02:48

Why does Jennifer Tosh think the apology is just the beginning?

03:26

What does the prime minister mean when he says, “This is not a full stop, but a comma”?

05:40

How do people whose families were enslaved feel about the apology?

00:00

Why did the Dutch prime minister say sorry for slavery?

Questions

1. What did the Dutch Prime Minister say sorry for?

2. Who were the people the Dutch enslaved?

3. Do we have to apologize for what happened centuries ago?

Colonisation of the Americas (the west)

• Spain and Portugal were the dominant powers in the Americas. 
• The Dutch also wanted a share of the Americas.

Dutch colonisation of the West Indies

• 1621: Dutch West-India Company
  
• Monopoly on trade with North and South America.
  
• Privateering was also allowed > hijacking Spanish and Portuguese ships > capturing the Silver Fleet (14 billion euros in today's money) 

WIC (1621)

• West India Company
• Traded African slaves, sugar, tea, tobacco and weopons.

Fort Elmina (modern day Ghana)

What do you know about Africa before the Europeans came?

• What do you see?
• What are the people wearing?
• What does it tell you about this society?

Africa before the Europeans came

I see… / They are wearing… / It looks like… / I think they are rich because…

• What do the buildings and people tell you about life here?  

Africa before the Europeans came

• There were rich kingdoms in Africa (like Mali and Ghana).

• People traded with Asia and the Middle East.

• They built stone houses and big cities.

• Many people were Muslim.

• There was no private land: land belonged to the community.

• Slavery already existed, but was different from later European slavery.

WIC - Triangular trade

Slaves

Sugar, cotton & tobacco

Weapons & textiles

Dutch slave trade

•  About 600.000 Africans were transported and sold into slavery by the Dutch.
• Curaçao was the central hub for the Dutch slave trade.
• In 1863 (or 1873) slavery was abolished in the Dutch colonies.

www.slavevoyages.org