Erica Heinsen-Roach. Consuls and Captives: Dutch-North African Diplomacy in the Early Modern
Mediterranean. Changing Perspectives on Early Modern Europe Series. Rochester: University of Rochester Press, 2020. 258 pp. $125.00, cloth, ISBN 978-1-58046-974-6.
Reviewed by Maurits A. Ebben (Leiden University) Published on H-Africa (December, 2020)
Commissioned by David D. Hurlbut (Independent Scholar) Erica Heinsen-Roach’s study fits in seamlessly
with existing knowledge on European contact with North Africa, about which much has been written, in particular with regard to privateering and Chris‐ tian slavery. The initial scholarly focus was on the Christian states on the north side of the Mediter‐ ranean that had been the first ones to become in‐ volved in North Africa: Spain, Italy, and France. It was only later, when they actively engaged in the Mediterranean trade as well, that northern Euro‐ peans had to face North African privateers. In fact, these encounters stimulated, intensified, and inno‐ vated the corso in the Maghrib: becoming ac‐ quainted with northern European maritime knowledge and the use of Atlantic ships increased the corsairs’ effectiveness and expanded their area of operations. Also noticeable is the fact that Euro‐ peans started to participate in this lucrative busi‐ ness with ships sailing under the flag of Moroccan, Algerian, or Tunisian principalities.
Consuls and Captives fills a gap in the litera‐ ture on relations between northern European states and the North African principalities by ex‐ amining the Dutch component of these encoun‐ ters, a topic that little has been written about to date. The book also fits in the present public debate in the Netherlands on North African immigration, which has stimulated historical interest in Dutch
relations with the Maghrib. A recent study by Ab‐ delkader Benali, a well-known Dutch-Moroccan author, bears witness to this (Reizigers van een nieuwe tijd: Jan Janszoon, een Nederlandse piraat in Marokkaanse dienst [2020]). Benali describes an uprooted early modern Dutch pirate immigrant in Morocco and thus, conversely, establishes a rela‐ tionship with his own experiences in western Eu‐ rope.
Consuls and Captives mainly deals with diplo‐ matic practices and policies between the States General and North African rulers. Economic and cultural exchange remains in the background. Heinsen-Roach rejects the traditional notion that European diplomacy dominated these relations. It was not solely the Dutch (and other Europeans) who developed norms, laws, and customs, but both parties did so, or, more precisely in the North African case, the local rulers. This claim does not turn current ideas about diplomatic history upside down, because for some time it has been clear that traditional diplomatic historical views need seri‐ ous reconsideration. We must question, for exam‐ ple, whether there was such a thing as European diplomacy, let alone whether European powers were able to impose their diplomatic values and standards on other cultures. Despite numerous similarities, diplomacy within Europe was carried
out by various participants in their own ways and with various goals. Consequently, the previously al‐ most exclusive focus on the resident ambassador has been expanded to other diplomatic actors, and diplomacy is no longer seen as a monopoly of sov‐ ereign states.
In this context of a renewal of insights into diplomatic history, Heinsen-Roach’s study pro‐ vides further proof that diplomacy, rather than be‐ ing a European monopoly, was a global phenome‐ non with many variants. She also shows that the extremely negative European image of the Maghribi states as unreliable and lawless is incor‐ rect. She does this by meticulously analyzing the development of Dutch-North African relations, giv‐ ing attention to the interests of both parties. Hein‐ sen-Roach focuses on four themes (state represen‐ tation, treaty making, the ransoming of captives, and gift giving); in her opinion, these dominated the evolution of diplomacy in the western Mediter‐ ranean. She discusses the themes across four peri‐ ods that partly overlap but leave out some years in the seventeenth century.
The first part, “Encountering ‘Barbary,’ 1596-1622,” deals with the first treaties the Dutch concluded with Morocco, Istanbul, Algiers, and Tu‐ nis on the basis of mutual interest. Treaty making, according to the author, was one of the main char‐ acteristics of Dutch-Maghribi relations and contin‐ ued to be so well into the eighteenth century. This conclusion criticizes the traditional view of North African principalities as lawless states operating on the margins of international law.
In the next part, “Transformations, 1616-30,” Heinsen-Roach makes one of her most important statements. She holds that the transformation of the Christian merchant-consul into a representa‐ tive of the state was one of the most profound changes in state representation. While in the Chris‐ tian world consuls were not public ministers but representatives of trade organizations and mer‐ chants’ commercial interests, in the Maghrib, the Dutch Republic and the English Crown appointed
consuls as their chief diplomatic representatives. This runs counter to the traditional view that with‐ out resident ambassadors there can be no diplo‐ matic relations and challenges the idea, the author says, that the European variant of diplomacy was the standard linear model.
On the basis of agreements with the sultan in Istanbul and Dutch ideas about free shipping, the Dutch demanded from the Maghribi the uncondi‐ tional release of captured sailors. Nevertheless, ransom always had to be paid and turned out to be the norm that the Dutch had to accept. Revenue from ransom was an important basis for the exis‐ tence of the pirate principalities.” Moreover, ran‐ som was not illegal, because no agreements about free release had ever been stipulated in the Dutch-North African treaties.
In part 3, “Confrontations, 1651-83,” Heinsen-Roach further substantiates her thesis by demon‐ strating the importance of the actual presence of an official representative of a sovereign state in the principalities. Although private mediators, of‐ ten Sephardim, maintained good relations both in Amsterdam and locally, and had more financial resources and a better knowledge of the language and customs, consuls as public ministers had a sig‐ nificant advantage over them. Consuls were repre‐ sentatives of sovereign Christian states and their presence symbolized the independence of Algeria and Tunis from the sultan of Istanbul, who official‐ ly had authority over the Maghribi regencies.
In the last part, “Normative Relations, 1679-1726,” Heinsen-Roach discusses a period dur‐ ing which Dutch trade and naval power in the Mediterranean declined and diplomatic relations with the privateer cities changed. The new balance of power left more room for North African social norms. Making gifts as part of negotiations was seen by the Dutch as bribery and prohibited by law. For the North Africans, gift giving was a sign of respect from the giver to the recipient and was an essential part of the negotiations to which the Dutch consuls had to yield if they were to achieve H-Net Reviews
anything. In the course of time this practice changed from an exchange of gifts to a kind of tribute payment to the Maghribi princes in the form of weapon and cannon supplies. According to Heinsen-Roach, Dutch adjustments to these practices confirm “that early modern diplomacy was the outcome of cross-cultural interaction rather than the product of European law and cul‐ tural hegemony” (p. 185).
This study is based almost exclusively on Dutch and European sources. It offers therefore, strictly speaking, a one-sided view, making it diffi‐ cult to fathom the considerations of the Maghribi. The author cannot be blamed, though, because there hardly are any North African sources. Never‐ theless, it is unfortunate that she made no attempt to offer a statistical impression of the extent of North African privateering, although for some years meaningful data seem to have become avail‐ able. An overview of accredited diplomats and maps of the Mediterranean area would have been useful as well.
The author’s sense of drama when she ana‐ lyzes the personal experiences of a number of Dutch consuls deserves praise. It allows the reader to empathize with the hardships of individual diplomats abroad. This aspect in itself makes the book an important contribution to diplomatic his‐ toriography, apart from its contribution to the knowledge of early modern European, and espe‐ cially Dutch, relations with North Africa.
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Citation: Maurits A. Ebben. Review of Heinsen-Roach, Erica. Consuls and Captives: Dutch-North African Diplomacy in the Early Modern Mediterranean. H-Africa, H-Net Reviews. December, 2020.
URL: https://www.h-net.org/reviews/showrev.php?id=55534
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