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Maarten Janssen, 2014-

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1672. Carta de Baruch de Abraão da Costa, chantre, para Jacob de Oliveira Ausente e Selomoh de Oliveira, rabino.

Author(s) Baruch de Abraão da Costa      
Addressee(s) Jacob de Oliveira Ausente       Selomoh de Oliveira
In English

Letter from Baruch de Abraão da Costa, chanter, to Jacob de Oliveira and Selomoh de Oliveira, rabbin.

The author asks for information, at the request of another person, regarding a relative's property left after his death.

Given the suspicion that the Sephardic communities were trafficking goods and information to the detriment of the English Crown, several ships coming from or going to the Netherlands on their behalf were intercepted. In fact, the provisions in the Cromwell Navigation Acts prohibited the commercial contacts of the English colonies with the Netherlands, Spain, France and their overseas possessions. The proceedings that were initiated, under the guard at the Supreme Court of Admiralty, arose in the context of four moments of great tension between those two powers: the 2nd Anglo-Dutch War (1665-1667); the 3rd Anglo-Dutch War (1672-1674); the Seven Years’ War (1756-1763); and, finally, the 4th Anglo-Dutch War (1781-1784). The documentation found on board and preserved in the archive - private correspondence and cargo records - was taken as documentary evidence of the practice of cargo smuggling at sea. The letters described here are also demonstrative of the quality of the relationships within Sephardic families (Jews and converted), with the existence of strategically distributed social networks: on the one side, the settlers positioned below the Equator, more precisely in one area of the West Indies’ Seven Provinces (in the Caribbean), as part of the Dutch overseas territories; on the other, family and business partners, located in the main ports in the North Atlantic, important centers of financial and commercial activities. Incidentally, in some of these letters we may observe the occurrence of loanwords of English and Dutch origin belonging to the lexical-semantic field of trade relations. Examples of this are “ousove” and “azoes”, for the English “hoshead” or the Dutch “okshoofd”, an ancient measure of volume. In the present case, we have a set of letters that were transported on board the Dutch vessels Het witte Zeepaard, Bijenkorf, Fort Zeeland and Gekroonde Prins. They were coming from the port of Paramaribo and bound for an important and strategic port of the Company of the West Indies - Flushing, in North America - through the Caribbean.

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sor Jahacob de oliveira, Auzte Sor selomoh de oliveira serinão 7 de setro 1672 a

Esta faço a Pedimto e em nome da sra Raquel mendes, Para dizer a VM em como soube aqui p semuel de la parra, aver El Dio levado Para si a sua Ira E deixado lhe o q tinha, q ditto lhe dise Rendera Vendido E mal moeda fz 300: ou mais, E como não ouve Carta de a cuio cargo Isto ficou, lhe Pede a VM lhe avize o q Passa, Para q Posa mandar Hordẽ do q lhe aja de Vir Para seu nesesareo E Pa Pasar o Resto de sua Vida algũ alivio E Regalo mais do q aqui a terra de si, ditta sra E sua fa a sra Ester de Caseres Bravo, cazarão a neta moço Aron Pereira q tẽ ahi cunhado chamado o Cosairo gente Honrrada E de bẽ, E inda q a hidade não chegua a 12 a os Reseos E cudado de guerra q estamos, o fez abreviar mais depresa, deixeos El Dio gosar E nos tenha em Paz E quietasão la E qua como avemos mister, a brevidade Pede D sra a VM E q não tome p trabalho darlhe notisia do q q a Rezão de Parentesco lhe o atrevimto de Enfadar a VM E se Recomendão no amor E merse da sra Prima E em VM, E eu fico mui Prestes ao servo de VM a quẽ El Dio gde e os Vens q Pode e deza Vesalom

De VM mui servidor Barũch Da costa


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