The Sweet Spot: Cultural Identity, Sugar, and Trade Relationships in 17th-Century Dutch and British North America

Summary

This is an abstract from the session entitled "Sal, Bacalhau e Açúcar : Trade, Mobility, Circular Navigation and Foodways in the Atlantic World", at the 2023 annual meeting of the Society for Historical Archaeology.

Recurring tension and outright warfare between the Netherlands and Britain in the 17th century did not prevent Dutch ships from transporting desirable goods from their far-flung trading outposts to the expanding North American colonies. An examination of material culture and primary sources related to the consumption of sugar and other imported foodstuffs can illustrate concepts of cultural identity present among Dutch and British colonists, in that ongoing trade relationships between the Netherlands and Britain, legal and illegal, allowed their respective colonial populations to maintain traditional foodways or form new ones as they adapted to their surroundings. Utilizing archaeological data recovered from sites in what is now the northeastern United States, this paper explores the flow of goods, particularly Caribbean sugar, from Dutch merchants in New Netherland and early New York into the surrounding colonies.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Society for Historical Archaeology 2023   •
• Sal, Bacalhau e Açúcar : Trade, Mobility, Circular Navigation and Foodways in the Atlantic World

Keywords

Individual & Institutional Roles

Contact(s): Nicole Haddow