The journal of the Galliot Nieuwer Amstel: a 1660 Voyage to Curaçao from New Amsterdam (Manhattan)

In February 1660, supercargo Laurens de Sille sailed from New Amsterdam (Manhattan) to Curaçao aboard the galliot Nieuwer Amstel. Tasked with maintaining a record of the cargo, De Sille kept a journal of the four-month journey to Curaçao and back. While keeping a journal was common practice on Dutch ships, few survive from the seventeenth century. De Sille’s journal offers a unique insight into mid-seventeenth-century shipping activities at Curaçao, as his account captures day-to-day proceedings during a period for which there are only sparse extant sources on the island’s history. More importantly, De Sille’s chronicle of his two-month stay on the island depicts Curaçao as it emerged as a hub for the Dutch transatlantic slave trade.