Dutch Delights

The JCB’s Dutch Atlantic collections speak to the emergence of a Dutch national identity in the 17th century Dutch Republic and how this identity persisted with some variation in the West India Company colonies of New Netherland and St. Eustatius. By the early 1600s, a common Dutch identity rooted in the shared values of pragmatism, cleanliness, self-interest, Calvinist morality tempered by an appreciation for material comforts, and a conviction in the importance of the local, the family, and the home developed in the Republic. This national ethos persisted in the colonies, despite the diverse origins of their colonists and the global trade networks to which they were connected. Relying on a combination of archaeological and historical sources, this research contributes to the scholarship on globalization, identity formation, colonialism, and cosmopolitanism to illuminate the 17th century Dutch Atlantic colonial experience.

Jessica Nelson (Brown University), Interdisciplinary Opportunities Fellow