“Many, many Rotterdammers were active in the slave trade, as part of the production of sugar, coffee, cotton, cocoa and tobacco. Rotterdam was very heavily involved in that”, Professor of Caribbean History Alex van Stipriaan says in the first episode of Nooit Bewust Opgeslagen, a podcast on Rotterdam’s slavery past.
What do the statue of Piet Hein, Achterhaven 148, Lloydkade, Leuvehaven, and the Boompjes have in common? These are places in Rotterdam that have a link with the city’s slavery past.
Of all people living in Rotterdam, 52.3 per cent have a migrant background. People have always migrated to and from colonies or former colonies, but a shift occurred in the mid-twentieth century, when more people arrived in the city than left.
Protest against the slavery system and its legacy is anything but new. It is as old as the transatlantic slave trade itself. Protests have long since reverberated through Rotterdam too.
