Dutch West India Company Grants 'Half-Freedom' to Enslaved Africans in New Amsterdam

The Dutch West India Company granted conditional freedom to eleven long-serving enslaved Africans in New Amsterdam in 1644, including Paul d'Angola and others who had served since 1626. This 'half-freedom' allowed them to live and work independently but required annual tribute payments and labor when the Company demanded it. Their children remained enslaved. The arrangement illustrates the fluid, pre-codified nature of early colonial slavery — and also its fundamental coerciveness, as freedom remained contingent and partial.