Finding information about the colonial past of a specific person or family at the touch of a button: from today it is possible. The Huygens Institute for Dutch History publishes an enormous number of scanned pages from the VOC archive. Will this provide new insights into North Holland’s colonial past?
Hoogwoud historian Lars Boon doesn’t think so. “It is of course difficult to say, but it has been three to four hundred years ago. Many families already know that their ancestors played a role in that past.”
“Then it was not just about financing ships, but also about bakers who supplied flour to those ships or people who supplied other goods. It is not useful to start pointing fingers now.”
Rewrite history?
On the other hand, the online appearance of the archives is of great importance for both national and international researchers. “This is really crazy and groundbreaking,” says Boon. “What will mainly come out is how the VOC acted in the Dutch East Indies as a local government. This could be the start of many new investigations.”
This could simply mean that part of Dutch history has to be rewritten, according to Boon. “If new information becomes available, there is always that chance. It is very nice for researchers that this is now becoming available.”
Handwritten
This concerns a total of five million scans that will be made public, containing information about people, places and events. The handwritten archive texts have been transcribed by a special program (ed.), writes the Huygens Institute.
The first version of the VOC archive is now online. An improved version is planned to be launched at the end of this year. The archives can here being watched.
Linda Nooitmeer, chairman of the National Institute for the Dutch Slavery History and Legacy (NiNsee), sees that making information about the colonial past of the Netherlands available fits well with the current spirit of the times. “We are of course very happy with that. It is good that this kind of information is available to everyone.”
Recognition
Although the NiNsee is mainly concerned with the Transatlantic slave trade by the West India Company in Suriname and the Caribbean, Nooitmeer believes that its organization can be of service to people who want to do more research into the VOC’s slavery past.
“For us, it is always about the realization that people have been enslaved with the consent of the Dutch state. There is still quite a lot to be said about this about the East (the former Dutch East Indies, ed.). Also in terms of recognition. We do a lot in collaboration, if requested. It must come from the community itself.”