Bonaire Enslaved Cross Sectional Life Course Database

The current dataset is a first release of the linked munster rolls (Monsterrollen) of the enslaved individuals owned by the Dutch West India Company (WIC) and the Dutch colonial state. It links two sources that were scanned by the National Archives of the Netherlands in the Hague.

From the archival access: 1.05.01.02 Inventaris van het archief van de Tweede West-Indische Compagnie (WIC), (1624) 1674-1791 (1800), was taken inventory number: 246 Inventarissen van Bonaire. And from the archival access: 1.05.12.01 Inventaris van de archieven van Curaçao, Bonaire en Aruba, 1707-1828 (1859) was taken inventory number: 385 Inventarissen van gouvernementsslaven en eigendommen op Curaçao, Bonaire en Aruba. Met taxaties van gebouwen en geschuts-onderdelen, 1816, 1818, 1819, 1823 – 1828.

The data consists of list of enslaved individuals for the years March 1758, December 1758, 1760, 1761, 1762, 1764, 1766, 1769, 1770, 1780, 1781, 1782, 1783, 1785, 1786, 1789, 1816. The number of listed variables differs per year and these variables are discussed in greater detail below. This current release is a first step in opening the Bonaire Munster Rolls. We strive to add more series at a later moment such as the 1745 roll and information on births and deaths for the early nineteenth century.