Dutch Loango-Angola – Salomon Saverij after Frans Post, 1647

LUANDA ON THE DUTCH LOANGO-ANGOLA COAST “Loanda S. Pauli” (São Paulo de Luanda), etching and engraving printed from two plates…

LUANDA ON THE DUTCH LOANGO-ANGOLA COAST

“Loanda S. Pauli” (São Paulo de Luanda), etching and engraving printed from two plates made by Salomon Saverij, after a drawing by Frans Post of 1645, from Caspar Barlaeus’, “Rerum per octennium in Brasilia et alibi nuper gestarum sub praefectura J. Mauritii, Nassoviae, c. comitis… historia” piblished by Joan Blaeu in 1647. Size: approx. 38 x 100 cm.

View of Luanda in Angola with several Dutch ships off the coast. The fort was part of the Dutch Loango-Angola coast.

In the seventeenth century, the city of Luanda was the largest Portuguese slave depot in West Africa. Therefore, on behalf of the Dutch West India Company (WIC), admiral Piet Hein attempted to conquer the city, defended by a fort, as early as 1624. However, due to a lack of troops and ships, this attack failed. In 1641, a second and successful attempt followed under the leadership of Cornelis Jol, a.k.a. “Houtebeen” (pegleg), after which the city and the fort (renamed Fort Aardenburgh) came under the control of the WIC. Due to its southern location, the city was not governed from Elmina (in present-day Ghana), and a new government was established under the name Luango-Angola, with the governor’s seat in Luanda.

However, in the period until 1648, ‘only’ 14,000 slaves were transported from the city, and the Dutch colony was not profitable. When the city was recaptured by Portugal in 1648, it was decided not to sail to places south of Congo. The Portuguese were considerably more ‘successful’ in the slave trade. From around 1550 to 1850, over 2.8 million slaves were shipped from Luanda.

This print was part of a series depicting the journey to and stay in Brazil of Governor-General John Maurice of Naussau in the years 1636-1644. The drawings were made by Frans Post, who was the first European to capture the New World. We now see that journey to Brazil passed through Luanda, which was under the control of the WIC for about 8 years.

Price: 1.250,-