The “Dutch golden age” and slavery in Suriname

The Mauritshuis art gallery in The Hague describes Vermeer's 'View of Delft' as “the most famous cityscape of the Dutch Golden Age”.

- 

What was the Dutch Golden Age? A quick Google search would tell us that it was the period of Dutch history from 1588 to 1672, where 1588 marks the birth of the Dutch Republic whilst 1672 marks the devastating French invasion of the Netherlands. This period witnessed the flowering of arts, sciences and philosophy in that country. It produced the music of Jan Pieterzoon Sweelinck(1562 – 1621 ), the paintings of Frans Hals ( 1580 – 1666 ), Rembrandt van Rijn ( 1606 – 1669 ), Johannes Vermeer( 1632 – 1675), and Jan Steen ( 1626 – 1679), the scientific discoveries of Christiaan Huygens and Antonie van Leeuwenhoek ( 1632 -1723 ), the philosophical thoughts of Baruch Spinoza and the jurisprudence of Hugo Grotius.

Dutch trade and commerce flourished, and the Dutch navy became arguably the most powerful navy in the world. The Netherlands became one of the richest, if not the richest, country in Europe. But it was also during this very same period that the infamous Dutch West India Company ( WIC ) was established in order to, among other things, engage in the genocidal, albeit immensely profitable Atlantic Slave Trade ( The WIC was set up in 1621 and wound up in 1792 ). Further, it was during this time that the Dutch Republic launched its horrendous colonisation of a distant overseas land called Suriname.