icant part of the Dutch colonial economy.2 Recently, Pepijn Brandon and Ulbe
Bosma estimated that the Dutch Republic could attribute 5.2 percent of its Gross
Domestic Product (GDP) in 1770 to Atlantic slavery (this includes all economic
activities related to slavery, not only the slave trade).3 To a large extent this debate
revolves around the method and interpretations used to estimate the economic
size and impact of the slave trade or slavery in general. A problem I identify in
this debate is the limited understanding of the existing accounting records of the
18th century companies involved in the slave trade. Therefore, this paper proposes
ways to estimate the profitability and economic impact of the trade, by develop
ing an effective method in interpreting the 18th century accounting records of the
Middelburgse Commercie Compagnie (MCC), the biggest slave trading company
in the Dutch Republic. This paper uses perspectives from economic history, ac
counting history, and history of economic thought to create a better understand
ing of the MCC bookkeeping.
Accounting played an important role in early modern European economies.
Public audits enabled accountability of governments and companies. Accounting
served an essential role in creating (financial) accountability in modern institu
tions and it has arguably played a role in the creation of representative govern
ment and capitalism in the (early) modern world. Jacob Soll argues that societies
and their leadership which made accounting an integral part of their culture flour
ished by creating trust in institutions, enabling trade and subsequently wealth.
This is illustrated by the financial success of Italian city states in the Renaissance,
the 17th century Dutch Republic, and the British Empire and United States in the
last two centuries.4 While essential in the creation of wealth and an accountable
political system, accounting is difficult to control, and its integrity is under con
stant pressure.5
Although Soll asserts that good accounting cultures have led to wealthy na
tions and societies, Ananias Charles Littleton in Accounting Evolution to 1900,
168
Accounting in the Dutch Transatlantic Slave Trade
2 Karwan Fatah-Black and Matthias van Rossum, Wat is winst? De economische impact van
de Nederlandse trans Atlantische slavenhandel. In: Tijdschrift voor Sociale en Economische
Geschiedenis, 9:1 (2012), 3-29, 23.
3 Pepijn Brandon and Ulbe Bosma, De betekenis van de Atlantische slavernij voor de Neder
landse economie in de tweede helft van de achttiende eeuw. In: Tijdschrift voor Sociale en
Economische Geschiedenis, 16:2 (2019), 5-45, 6.
4 Jacob Soll, The Reckoning: Financial Accountability and the Making and Breaking of Nations.
London, 2015, 207.
5 Soll, The Reckoning, xvi-xvii.
