Andrea C. Mosterman
- Published in print:
- 2021
- Published Online:
- May 2022
- ISBN:
- 9781501715624
- eISBN:
- 9781501715648
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Cornell University Press
- DOI:
- 10.7591/cornell/9781501715624.003.0003
- Subject:
- History, American History: early to 18th Century
This chapter reviews how some of the company's enslaved laborers took advantage of the lack of spatial control in the Dutch colony and their close proximity to each other and several important ...
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This chapter reviews how some of the company's enslaved laborers took advantage of the lack of spatial control in the Dutch colony and their close proximity to each other and several important institutions. It explores a variety of reasons why some of New Amsterdam's enslaved men and women had been able to attend the Dutch Reformed Church, use the courts to secure wages or defend property, and obtain a (conditional) freedom. The chapter then analyses the importance of place, space, and geography. Because enslaved people had very little control over their mobility or the environment in which they lived, the physical and social spaces that they inhabited played an especially important role in the ways they were able to partake in society. Ultimately, the chapter looks at the ways in which enslaved people navigated these systems and the colonial spaces.Less
This chapter reviews how some of the company's enslaved laborers took advantage of the lack of spatial control in the Dutch colony and their close proximity to each other and several important institutions. It explores a variety of reasons why some of New Amsterdam's enslaved men and women had been able to attend the Dutch Reformed Church, use the courts to secure wages or defend property, and obtain a (conditional) freedom. The chapter then analyses the importance of place, space, and geography. Because enslaved people had very little control over their mobility or the environment in which they lived, the physical and social spaces that they inhabited played an especially important role in the ways they were able to partake in society. Ultimately, the chapter looks at the ways in which enslaved people navigated these systems and the colonial spaces.
