A Merchant Crucible: Cross-Cultural and Transnational Trading Networks in the Free Port of Willemstad, 1730-1790

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Geschiedenis (BA)

Windt, Mike de (2016)

A Merchant Crucible: Cross-Cultural and Transnational Trading Networks in the Free Port of Willemstad, 1730-1790

Bachelor thesis | Geschiedenis (BA)

The aim of this thesis is to depict how individual merchants organized both Trans-Atlantic and Caribbean trade in Willemstad from circa 1730 until 1790. Rather than emphasizing the role of the Jewish-Caribbean diaspora, this study argues that Willemstad was a space of cross-cultural encounters. The social policies of this free port attracted many settlers to its community, including English, Spaniards and Frenchmen. These middleman were vital in sustaining trading relations between Curaçao and its most important trading partners. Curaçao’s economic history also challenges our understanding of the dynamics between metropolitan control and independency of the periphery. It's Trans-Atlantic merchants increasingly traded with Atlantic destinations beyond the Dutch empire and local merchants cooperated closely with state-officials of other empires.