In 1862, 126 enslaved African(s) were “liberated” in a state-run scheme usually resulting in involuntary indentures, conscription, or re-enslavement. Under the jurisdiction of 8, Case ID LA-E-824 occurred via the Afrikaansch Werfdepot, Elmina
| RegID | LA-E-824 |
|---|---|
| Case Name | Dutch recruitments for East Indies |
| Year | 1862 |
| Government Department | Ministerie van Koloniën, Koninkrijk der Nederlanden |
| Court | Afrikaansch Werfdepot, Elmina |
| Trial Outcome | Purchased |
| Enslaved Total | 126 |
| Liberated Africans Total | 126 |
| Registered Total | 0 |
| Notes | These people, mostly men, came to be known as belanda hitam in Malay, meaning “Black Dutchmen.” Ineke van Kessel identifies three periods of migration: 1) 44 people in 1831 and 1832, most of whom were in debt, pawns, or enslaved, but also involved volunteers and the sons of well-known Afro-European families in Elmina and Accra; 2) a larger influx of enslaved Africans between 1836 and 1842, who the Dutch paid enlistment premiums to buy their freedom. The recruits were then bonded to the debt through “delegated payments” (delegatiën), which were repaid over lengthy terms of service; and 3) other smaller sporadic recruitments from 1860 until 1872, which still involved delegatiën, despite more precautions ensuring enslaved people enlisted voluntarily. Terms initially lasted six years, but in 1837 they were increased to fifteen years, and in some cases indefinitely. At the recruitment yard in Kumasi (succursaal werfdepot), officials registered over 1,500 belanda hitam from slave markets in Kumasi, before they boarded ships with others acquired through coastal networks at Elmina. This voyage could have included Jan Nieser, Willem Nieser, Manus Ulzen, Matthijs Rühle, and Willem van der Puye. |
| Sources | Joseph Raymond LaTorre, "Wealth Surpasses Everything: An Economic History of Asante, 1750-1874" (Ph.D. Thesis, University of California, Berkley, 1973); Ineke van Kessel, “The Black Dutchmen: African Soldiers in the Netherlands East Indies,” in Ineke van Kessel, ed., Merchants, Missionaries and Migrants: 300 Years of Dutch-Ghanaian Relations (Amsterdam: KIT Publishers, 2002), 133-143; Ineke van Kessel, Zwarte Hollanders: Afrikaanse soldaten in Nederlands-Indië (Amsterdam: KIT Publishers, 2005); Ineke W.M.J. van Kessel, “West Africans Soldiers in the Dutch East Indies: From Donkos to Black Dutchmen,” Transactions of the Historical Society of Ghana New Series 9 (2005): 41-60. |
| Cite as |
| X Capture | |
|---|---|
| Y Capture | |
| Ship Status | Unknown |
| Date of departure from a place or port in Africa generally following the purchase of enslaved people. Include YYYY-MM-DD, if known. | |
| Region of departure from Africa. Required entry. For more information about the geographical hierarchy used in this digital resource, please refer to AfricanRegions.org. | Voltaic |
| Place or port of departure from Africa, if known. A controlled vocabulary for place names are associated with geographic coordinates using Google Maps Global Mercator EPSG:900913. See https://epsg.io/transform#s_srs=4326&t_srs=900913&x=NaN&y=NaN | Elmina |
| Capture date at sea or on land, if known. Date of the sentence. Include YYYY-MM-DD, if known. | |
| Location | |
| Navy | |
| Ship | |
| Captain | |
| Supporting Ships | |
| Sentence Date | |
| Date of arrival to the place where the trial, purchase, or asylum occurred, resulting in "liberation" and indenture. Includes YYYY-MM-DD, if known. | |
| Region of arrival around the world. Required field. For more information about the geographical hierarchy used in this digital resource, please refer to AfricanRegions.org. Other regions outside of Africa include, Western Europe, East Coast of North America, etc. | Sunda Islands |
| Place or port of arrival around the world. Required field. A controlled vocabulary for place names are associated with geographic coordinates using Google Maps Global Mercator EPSG:900913. See https://epsg.io/transform#s_srs=4326&t_srs=900913&x=NaN&y=NaN | Batavia |