The King of the Netherlands Willem-Alexander has officially expressed regret for the country’s involvement in the slave trade, saying he felt “personally and intensely” affected.
The King on Saturday described the practice a “horror”. Continuing his regret, he said that the royal family took no step in removing this. His statements came at a ceremony in Amsterdam celebrating the 160th anniversary of the abolition of slavery in the Netherlands.
In his speech, King Willem-Alexander admitted that the “monarchs and rulers of the House of Orange took no steps against [slavery]”. He further said, “Today I’m standing here in front of you as your King and as part of the government. Today I am apologising myself. Today, I am asking for forgiveness for the crystal-clear lack of action.”
His wife Queen Maxima was beside him while he was speaking and he said that even if not the entire nation, “the vast majority” of Dutch citizens “do support the fight for equality for all people, regardless of colour or cultural background. After acknowledgment and apology, we can work together on healing, reconciliation and restoration.”
The country annually celebrates abolition of slavery, marked by the Keti Koti Festival. The crowd at the ceremony cheered and supported the King’s statements.
His speech received cheers from the crowd at the Keti Koti Festival – the country’s annual commemoration of the abolition of slavery.
History of slave trade in Netherlands
Netherlands, at the height of colonialism after the 17th Century, traded in over 600,000 people as slaves. According to a new study in June, the Dutch colonies, where slavery was present, paid the country’s rulers an equivalent of $595m in terms of present currency value between 1675 and 1770.
So Netherlands incurred a huge fortune from the slave trade. This was so much so that 40% of economic growth from 1738 to 1780 was due to this trade in Holland, a western province of the country situated in North Western Europe. This was found in a study by the Dutch Research Council.
In the 17th Century, the Netherlands captured massive areas of territories outside Europe, present day Curaçao and West Papua, part of Indonesia, and South Africa, which made it one of the main parties in the transatlantic slave trade.
Before the transatlantic slave trade was outlawed in 1863, thousands of people were carried from Africa to Dutch territories in the Caribbean and South America, accounting for around 5% of the total trade. However, it did not end at that time in Suriname, a small country in South America, continuing for an obligatory 10-year transition period.
In a speech at the Hague last year, Prime Minister Mark Rutte expressed regret for the Netherlands’ past involvement in the slave trade and demanded that it be recognised as “a crime against humanity” in the “clearest terms possible.”
Furthermore, a number of Dutch cities, notably Rotterdam and Amsterdam, have apologised for their involvement in the trafficking.
However, the nation has taken its time to acknowledge its colonial past; the history of Dutch slavery was not included in the school curricula until 2006.
