Leiden University Scholarly Publications

Jacobs, B. (2012)

Linguistic evidence and historiography: On the selection of slaves on Curaçao, 1650-1700

Article / Letter to editor

Drawing on recent linguistic investigations on the origins of Papiamentu, this article
aims to cast new light on an intriguing but hitherto unresolved socio-historical aspect
of the initial decades of the Curaçaoan transit slave trade: the selection of slaves. In
answer to the controversial question which slaves were kept on Curaçao rather than
resold to third parties, we take a look at, and summarize, the body of linguistic
evidence that Papiamentu is genetically related to Upper Guinea Portuguese Creole.
This evidence, we believe, warrants the assumption that slaves from the Upper
Guinea region were particularly sought out by Curaçaoan colonizers in the period
between ca. 1650 and 1700. This assumption, in turn, allows us to hypothesize more
effectively about the reasons why certain slaves were more fashionable than others in
that particular period of Curaçao's history.

All authors

Jacobs, B.

Date

2012

Journal

Revista de Crioulos de Base Lexical Portuguesa e Espanhola

Volume

3

Pages

1 - 19

Link

http://www.umac.mo/fah/ciela/rcblpe/doc/Linguistic evidence and historiography the selection of slaves on Curacao, 1650-1700.pdf