Are there still sea heroes in Amsterdam’s Zeeheldenbuurt? Explorers such as Cornelis de Houtman (1565-1599) and Abel Tasman (1603-1659 ) are placed at school as the first Dutchman to find Java and the first European to discover New Zealand, among other things. They are honored in the capital with sturdy quays. But they are also men, according to a series of audio fragments that the city council had made, who used ‘extreme violence’ and forced original inhabitants into a colonial system.
Residents who wonder what Michiel de Ruyter, Willem Bontekoe or those dozens of other seafarers actually did to earn their own street, could of course always google it, or type their name on the special website of the municipality about street names. But since last week, Amsterdammers can also scan a QR code that has been affixed to signs and street tiles in three neighbourhoods. Then in a short podcast of two minutes you will learn about the role of this naval hero in the negative sides of colonial history.
Culture battle over street names
The QR codes and critical audio fragments are the result of years of cultural struggle in the capital over street names. Activists replaced Admiral De Ruyter’s nameplates in 2018 with those of Mien van Bree (1915-1983); a pioneer in women’s cycling. In the new IJburg district, mayor Femke Halsema canceled a planned naming after water beggars and put forward anti-colonial fighters such as the Indonesian legal scholar Maria Ulfah (1911-1988) or the Curaçao writer Frank Martinus Arion (1936-2015).
The Amsterdam street names committee was replaced last year after ninety years of service by an advisory council that pays attention to diversity and inclusion. ‘We want Amsterdam to become everyone’s city. The history of which we share, investigate and then repent,” Halsema said in 2019 at the national slavery monument.
Residents of the neighborhoods, where explorers, naval officers and merchants dominate the street signs, can now listen to 22 2-minute biographical stories, a one-hour podcast and a spoken word lecture. ‘I want to see real heroic deeds’, begins one of those lectures. The project was carried out on behalf of the capital by, among others, students from the University of Amsterdam and research bureau Van Yesterday, where public historians work ‘with a different view of the past’. Last week the QR codes still faltered, but all information can also be listened to via the website Westcast.nl.
250 Portuguese prisoners nailed down
For example, walking through the windy Tasman Street, you can learn how Abel Tasman went in search of Terra Australis and came across New Zealand, among other things. The first encounter with the local Maori population resulted in the deaths of four crewmembers, with likely Maori casualties as well. The name New Zealand is being questioned by the Maori party today. That would be too Dutch and remind of colonialism.’
Other audio fragments tell how Michiel de Ruyter contributed to the transatlantic slave trade by conquering West African forts from the English, how hacksaw Joost van Trappen Blanckert nailed 250 Portuguese prisoners alive to his torso to terrify the enemy, but also how Jacob van Neck managed to negotiate peacefully with the Javanese sultan (although he had previously kidnapped the king of Madagascar to get provisions).
‘Just like with the Golden Coach’
“I lived here for 25 years, but I have no idea who Tasman was,” says Souhaila Ettoummi, who comes to visit her mother. “Never wondered.” The other names in the area – Nova Zembla, Bontekoe – also mean nothing to the Moroccan Amsterdam. ‘I think: it went the way it went. Let’s look ahead.’
Other passers-by, a Turk, a Ukrainian and an Aruban, also shrug their shoulders about the QR codes. “That was normal then,” says a man who walks his dog. A lady in her doorway in Barentszstraat. I’ll google those names. It’s like the Golden Coach. Once you’ve seen that panel, you think: that’s really impossible!’
According to emeritus professor of colonial and postcolonial history Gert Oostindie (Leiden University), the information provided is factually correct. He previously advised the municipality about possible anti-colonial fighters for IJburg, but he is not involved in this project. “Okay, the tone is quite politically correct, but that’s not surprising. This project is expressly intended to counterbalance the uncritical heroism of the 19th century.’
Don’t delete
In that respect, the audio fragments are successful, according to Oostindie. “They provide additional information in an interesting way.” The historian is not in favor of the deletion of street names. He prefers to add context. ‘New street names are a different story, so a city can emphasize that the past is judged differently today.’
55-year-old local resident Geraldo just got a coffee-to-go on Zoutkeetsplein. As far as he’s concerned, all the street names in his neighborhood will be changed. “You’re not going to name a street after a pirate or a highwayman, are you?” According to the Surinamese Dutchman, a hero is a person who risks his own life to save another. ‘It is good that the Netherlands is finally wondering how this country has enriched itself over the past centuries.’ Geraldo has lived in Van Heemskerckstraat for many years. ‘Uh, no, no idea who Jacob van Heemskerck was. I should look up.’