Recife and the WIC revisited: Comprehensive Atlas of the Dutch West India Company

A couple of weeks ago the Grote Atlas van de West-Indische Compagnie / Comprehensive Atlas of the Dutch West India Company, part I, 1621-1674, was presented during the Atlantic Day which was organised by the Dutch National Archive in commemoration of the Unesco denomination of the archives of the WIC as part of the ‘Memory of the World’. Based on information from these archives and with facsimile’s of more than 500 original manuscript maps and topographical drawings, the atlas gives an overview of the developoments of the WIC since its foundation in 1621 and its activities in the Atlantic region during the first fifty years of its existence.

It took the WIC twenty years before one of its main aims was realised: severely damage the Spanish-Portuguese power in the Atlantic. Large profits were gained from privateering in the Caribbean and along the coast of Brazil, with the taking of the Spanish Silverfleet in 1628 by admiral Piet Heijn as the most striking - and lucrative - example. After the conquest of Olinda and Recife in 1630 hopes for large profits from the Brazilian sugar mills however were dashed by the fierce resistance by the inhabitants. It was not until 1641 that the sugar export to Holland became substantial. In the same year Luanda in Angola was conquered in order to ensure a steady supply of African slaves to work the sugar fields and mills.
For Elmina on the Gold Coast in present-day Ghana, conquered in 1637, the trade in gold was of prime importance; for New Amsterdam, now New York, the trade in beaver pelts.


The maps reproduced here and taken from the atlas, illustrate the different situations in the conquered territories.
1. New Amsterdam on the island of Manhattan at the time was not more than a fortified trading post surrounded by ‘bouwerijen’ or European farms. The fur trade with the Indians was located inland along the Hudson and Delaware.

Nieuw Amsterdam: (blad 51o) LoC G 3291.S12 coll. H3 Vault: Harr vol. 3 map 12  Manatus, Noord Rivier

2. The Portuguese fortress of Elmina was conquered but trade along the Gold Coast was totally dependent on contracts and good relations with the local sovereigns; colonisation was not yet an issue.

Elmina, Goudkust: (blad 379b) ONB VdHem 36:21  Elmina en S Jago in opstand  

3. The town of Luanda in Angola was built by the Portuguese where the Dutch occupied the existing buildings and only added some fortifications on the promontory.

Luanda, Angola: (blad 404) NA 4.VELH 619.63  Kaart van Luanda.

4. Olinda in Brazil was built on a hill. The Dutch however did not settle there but preferred the busy trade centre near the harbour on ‘the Recife’ where goods were shipped and ships unloaded, where the company warehouses were situated and were also the free traders settled. In time however Recife became overcrowded to such an extent that governor Johan Maurits had a new city designed, on the island of Antonio Vaz. Most people however preferred to stay in Recife and only a handful of houses were built in new Mauritsstad. The ambitious layout as shown on many maps remained just a dreamed ‘ideal city’.

Brazilië: (blad 243) ONB Atlas Stösch 298-01  Kaart van Recife en Mauritsstad

Information on the WIC atlas: www.asiamaior.nl

Bea Brommer
All images are from the WIC Atlas.