oa Het onzichtbare verleden van Sint-Eustatius

Saint Eustatius, a small Dutch Caribbean island, was one of the busiest transit harbors in the 18th-century Atlantic World. While its importance as an entrepot in colonial trade networks has been well researched, much less is known about the less visible past on the island, which includes its plantation landscape and the lives of people belonging to the lowest social classes. Recent archaeological and documentary research have produced valuable data that sheds more light on these topics. This article discusses the significance of various elements in the island’s rural landscape, how they affected the experiences of the people living in it, and how these have shaped the history of the island.