Why is there a reconstructed 18th-century VOC ship in front of the museum? On this tour, you will hear and see more about the real and reconstructed East Indiaman and the history of the VOC and slavery in Asia. You will also learn how the ship was built in the 1990s. What was the inspiration? And what did people think of it?
Maps have influenced the course of world history. They were used to settle conflicts, during battles, to construct roads or canals, on important shipping routes, and as propaganda tools. At the Amsterdam Map Fair, thirty national and international dealers will sell antique nautical charts, maps, atlases, globes and prints.
On Saturday 7 September, 2024, the first Amsterdam Map-Fair will be held in The National Maritime Museum. At this carthography fair, antique dealers from The Netherlands, Belgium, France, Germany, Portugal, Italy, Spain, The United States and South Korea will sell antique charts, maps, atlases, globes and prints. During the fair, there will also be several information stands, and lectures will be held. The full programme is to be found on the Map-Fair website.
Entrance to the Amsterdam Map Fair is free.
For Friends of The National Maritime Museum, the fair opens an hour earlier. As a Friend, you will have exclusive access to the Map Fair from 11 AM. Additionally, Friends receive a 10% discount on purchases from participating dealers.
The fair also opens at 11 AM for special VIP-invitation holders. Furthermore, VIP-invitation holders can visit the museum for free from 10 AM. Would you like to receive a VIP invitation? You can request one via the Map Fair website.
On July 1, it is Keti Koti, the day of the 'broken chains'. On this day, we commemorate and celebrate the abolition of slavery in Suriname and the Antilles. It is an important day for The National Maritime Museum. The National Maritime Museum is a national museum in a global city. Here we show how Dutch history is connected to water. We are aware that part of this maritime history is also a colonial history. This brings responsibility: telling and remembering that history.
Therefore, we invite you to enjoy a delicious (free) heri heri meal in our Open Courtyard. Eating together, remembering together, celebrating together.
Heri heri is a one-pot dish of cassava, sweet potato, green and yellow bananas, fried salted fish (cod), and an egg. Today, heri heri is a dish that culturally connects people with their ancestors and thus with history. Will you join us?
Note: while supplies last.
The Keti Koti Lecture 2024 is an important moment to reflect on the history of slavery and its lasting impact on the present. This year, the lecture will be given by bestselling author Thomas Harding. This lecture is part of the Commemoration Year of Slavery History program, declared by the government from July 1, 2023, to July 1, 2024. We warmly invite everyone to attend this special evening and to reflect together on the meaning of freedom and justice for all of us.
Thomas Harding, whose mother's family amassed wealth through plantations where enslaved people were forced to work, delved into the role of Britain in slavery. His research led him to the Demerara Uprising of 1823: at that time, the largest uprising of enslaved people in the British Empire.
During the Keti Koti Lecture, Harding shares the story of the uprising through the eyes of four individuals: the enslaved man Jack Gladstone, the missionary John Smith, the colonist John Cheveley, and the politician and slaveholder John Gladstone, father of a future British Prime Minister. Harding discusses how his research raised questions about the legacy of slavery today, on cultural, political, and moral levels. Harding explores whether descendants of those who benefited from slavery should take responsibility for the ‘White Debt,’ and emphasizes the urgent need for recognition, education, and reparations.
At the Maritime Museum, we tell stories about maritime history from different perspectives, and as a visitor, you will discover the impact the maritime world has on people and societies. The history of slavery and colonial inequality are, of course, part of this maritime history. Therefore, in September, we are opening a new permanent exhibition on the maritime colonial past in the Atlantic region and its influence on our current society.
The Keti Koti Lecture with NiNsee is part of the programming leading up to this exhibition. On June 17, the Trans-Atlantic Slavery History Conference will take place, followed by an evening lecture by Tiya Miles. Additionally, as part of the Atlantic Windows series, Kevin Osepa's installation is currently on display, which you can view for free before the Keti Koti Lecture.
6:30 PM - 7:30 PM: Arrival/Visit Atlantic Window (guest curator Dyonna Benett will be available to answer questions)
7:30 PM - 7:33 PM: Opening by Wendeline Flores
7:33 PM - 7:38 PM: Welcome address by Urwin Vyent (NiNsee)
7:38 PM - 7:43 PM: Welcome address by Michael Huijser (The Maritime Museum)
7:43 PM - 7:48 PM: Introduction of Keynote by Wendeline Flores
7:48 PM - 8:30 PM: Keynote speech by Thomas Harding
8:30 PM - 8:45 PM: Q&A with Wendeline Flores & Thomas Harding
8:45 PM - 9:30 PM: Drinks
The Keti Koti Lecture will be in English.
Admission is free; prior registration is required.
Harding's book White Debt was published in 2022 in the United Kingdom and in the Netherlands. It was nominated for the Moore Prize for Human Rights Writing and was named Book of the Year by The Times Literary Supplement and iNews. The Guardian wrote about the book: "brilliant… impressive… full of details that send shivers down your spine. Harding shows how historians can play an active role, for better or worse, in framing these moral questions."
During Keti Koti - Surinamese-Dutch for ‘Broken Chains’ - we commemorate the abolition of slavery in the former Dutch colonies on July 1, 1863. Despite this formal abolition, many enslaved people in Suriname had to continue working on the plantations under 'state supervision' for ten more years. As a result, slavery effectively ended for many on July 1, 1873. These dual commemorative dates lead to different perspectives today on the number of years since abolition - 150 years or 160 years.
On July 1, we also celebrate Keti Koti with a free heri heri meal in the Open Square at the Maritime Museum.
This event will be held in English.
Moderator: Jennifer Tosch
In collaboration with John Adams Institute, U.S. Embassy The Hague, Fulbright Commission the Netherlands & Singel Uitgeverijen
Earlier in the day, we will organize a conference where researchers and museum professionals from the United States and the Netherlands will present recent work that investigates how to look at and present history, especially when dealing with interwoven and even painful histories and legacies. You can read more about the conference proceedings here.
From Harvard historian and author Tiya Miles comes the National Book Award winner, All That She Carried. Blending first-class historical research and literary creativity, Miles traces Ashley’s Sack through the ages, and with it, the story of a Black family during slavery, and of a people and a nation. She not only delves into the historical archive, but also imagines the journey of Ashley’s Sack when the trail seemingly runs cold, writing Ashley and her descendants back into history as an act of justice.
The result is a powerful narrative where Ashley’s Sack becomes more than an object alone: it is transformed into an embodied memoir of Black women travelling from slavery to freedom, from South to North, carrying relics and hopes as they seek new lives.
Tiya Miles is the Michael Garvey Professor of History and Radcliffe Alumnae Professor at Harvard University and a recipient of the MacArthur ‘Genius Grant’. She is both an historian and creative writer whose work explores the intersections of African American, Native American and women’s histories in the context of place.
In South Carolina in the 1850s, an enslaved woman named Rose gives a simple cotton bag to her daughter Ashley. Ashley is about to be separated from her mother, sold as chattel to the highest bidder. The bag contains all her worldly possessions, and precious reminders about her family.
“In a display case in the Smithsonian’s National Museum of African American History and Culture sits a rough cotton bag. “Ashley’s Sack” is embroidered with a handful of words that evoke a sweeping family story of loss and love passed down through the generations.”
