ABSTRACT

Traditional studies of the seventeenth-century Atlantic world often describe it in terms of discreet imperial territories governed by distinct imperial systems. This study joins recent scholarship that has observed how the Atlantic and, more specifically, the Caribbean remained an entangled space rooted in the regional trade of both basic and lucrative commodities. This paper examines how Portuguese Jewish merchants in Curaçao helped facilitate mutually beneficial economic relationships between Spanish and Dutch ports that functioned independently of grander imperial designs. These relationships reveal that Portuguese Jewish, Spanish Catholic, and Dutch Protestant actors in the Caribbean could be flexible in their attitudes towards religious ‘others.’ The transfer of both goods and people (free and enslaved) across imperial borders in the Caribbean thus relied on a culture of pragmatic tolerance (but not necessarily acceptance) adopted by such diverse actors as Spanish and Dutch governors,asiento factors, and local and foreign merchants.

摘要

对 17 世纪大西洋世界的传统研究通常将其描述为由不同的帝国制度统治的谨慎的帝国领土。这项研究加入了最近的奖学金，该奖学金观察了大西洋，更具体地说，加勒比海如何仍然是一个根植于基本商品和利润丰厚商品区域贸易的纠缠空间。本文研究了库拉索岛的葡萄牙犹太商人如何帮助促进西班牙和荷兰港口之间互惠互利的经济关系，这些港口独立于更宏伟的帝国设计运作。这些关系表明，加勒比地区的葡萄牙犹太人、西班牙天主教徒和荷兰新教徒在对待宗教“他者”的态度上可能是灵活的。asiento因素，以及本地和外国商人。