Amsterdam's Atlantic : print culture and the making of Dutch Brazil / Michiel van Groesen.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Groesen, Michiel van, author.

Contributor:

Horace Howard Furness Memorial Library (University of Pennsylvania)

Horace Howard Furness Memorial Fund.

Series:

Early modern Americas

The early modern Americas

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Public opinion.

History.

Brazil--History--Dutch Conquest, 1624-1654.

Brazil.

Brazil--Press coverage--Netherlands--Amsterdam--History--17th century.

Brazil--Foreign public opinion, Dutch--History--17th century.

Amsterdam (Netherlands)--History--17th century.

Amsterdam (Netherlands).

Public opinion--Netherlands--History--17th century.

Netherlands.

Physical Description:

265 pages : illustrations ; 25 cm.

Place of Publication:

Philadelphia : University of Pennsylvania Press, [2017]

Summary:

In 1624 the Dutch West India Company established the colony of Brazil. Only thirty years later, the Dutch Republic handed over the colony to Portugal, never to return to the South Atlantic. Because Dutch Brazil was the first sustained Protestant colony in Iberian America, the events there became major news in early modern Europe and shaped a lively print culture. In 'Amsterdam's Atlantic', historian Michiel van Groesen shows how the rise and tumultuous fall of Dutch Brazil marked the emergence of a "public Atlantic" centered around Holland's capital city. Amsterdam served as Europe's main hub for news from the Atlantic world, and breaking reports out of Brazil generated great excitement in the city, which reverberated throughout the continent. Initially, the flow of information was successfully managed by the directors of the West India Company. However, when Portuguese sugar planters revolted against the Dutch regime, and tales of corruption among leading administrators in Brazil emerged, they lost their hold on the media landscape, and reports traveled more freely. 0Fueled by the powerful local print media, popular discussions about Brazil became so bitter that the Amsterdam authorities ultimately withdrew their support for the colony. The self-inflicted demise of Dutch Brazil has been regarded as an anomaly during an otherwise remarkably liberal period in Dutch history, and consequently generations of historians have neglected its significance. 'Amsterdam's Atlantic' puts Dutch Brazil back on the front pages and argues that the way the Amsterdam media constructed Atlantic events was a key element in the transformation of public opinion in Europe.

Contents:

Chapter 1 Anticipation 14

Chapter 2 Jubilation 44

Chapter 3 Appropriation 72

Chapter 4 Friction 102

Chapter 5 'Amsterdamnified" 127

Chapter 6 Recollection 157.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references (pages 231-254) and index.

Local Notes:

Acquired for the Penn Libraries with assistance from the Horace Howard Furness Memorial Fund.

ISBN:

9780812248661

081224866X

OCLC:

945950050

Publisher Number:

40026606312