On Saturday afternoon the King of the Netherlands Willem-Alexander he apologized on behalf of his country and his family for promoting the system of slavery for centuries. He did it during the celebrations for the 160th anniversary of the abolition of slavery in the Netherlands. In a rather moved speech, he said: «I ask forgiveness for this crime against humanity. As king and member of the government, I apologize myself. I feel the weight of these words in my heart and soul.”
In the Netherlands, a reflection has been underway for years on the role played for centuries in organizing and promoting the trafficking of enslaved people from Africa to America. At the end of 2022, the current prime minister, Mark Rutte, also officially apologized for the country’s role in managing the slave trade.
Willem-Alexander’s speech was also very harsh towards his own family, accused of having done nothing to stop the trafficking, and indeed of having gained from it. Willem-Alexander also resented those who deem it excessive to officially apologize decades after the interruption of trafficking: “you must respect the fact that there are differences of experience and life”, adding that the society of the Netherlands still has a problem with racism. The newspaper NRC he wrote that Willem-Alexander’s speech in Amsterdam was greeted with tears and applause from those present. One person even shouted “finally!”.
Between the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries the Netherlands had a great commercial development and through the Dutch India Company they founded numerous colonies in Asia, Africa and America. In that period not only goods were traded but also human beings, mainly people of African origin who were enslaved and brought by European traders to America to cultivate the large plantations of the continent. As for the Dutch, they were mostly involved in the slave trade between Africa on one side and Brazil and the Caribbean on the other. According to historians’ estimates, Dutch ships carried more than half a million enslaved people across the Atlantic Ocean.
Last year Willem-Alexander commissioned a study of his family’s role in promoting the slave trade from the 16th century onwards. The Guardian writes that the results of the study should be disseminated in 2025.