Anna Hack Boot ( ''née'' Varlett; ca. 1626 – July 8, 1685) was an early Dutch settler in Early America who carried on extensive trading activities (including the

slave trade Slavery and enslavement are both the state and the condition of being a slave—someone forbidden to quit one's service for an enslaver, and who is treated by the enslaver as property. Slavery typically involves slaves being made to perf ...

) throughout the

Atlantic The Atlantic Ocean is the second-largest of the world's five oceans, with an area of about . It covers approximately 20% of Earth's surface and about 29% of its water surface area. It is known to separate the "Old World" of Africa, Europe an ...

. Anna was one of the first women business owners and entrepreneurs in America. According to historians, Anna's life serves as an example of how Dutch women in early modern Europe and America were "more commonly engaged in long-distance trade" than women from other backgrounds, and "acted as merchants and as their husband's business partners."

Early life and family

Anna was born around 1626 in

Utrecht Utrecht ( , , ) is the fourth-largest city and a municipality of the Netherlands, capital and most populous city of the province of Utrecht. It is located in the eastern corner of the Randstad conurbation, in the very centre of mainland Nethe ...

Netherlands ) , anthem = ( en, "William of Nassau") , image_map = , map_caption = , subdivision_type = Sovereign state , subdivision_name = Kingdom of the Netherlands , established_title = Before independence , established_date = Spanish Netherl ...

, daughter of Caspar Varlett (sometimes spelled "Varleth") and Judith Tentenier. Her sister was Jannetje Varleth, the wife of Bohemian

explorer Exploration refers to the historical practice of discovering remote lands. It is studied by geographers and historians. Two major eras of exploration occurred in human history: one of convergence, and one of divergence. The first, covering most ...

and

merchant A merchant is a person who trades in commodities produced by other people, especially one who trades with foreign countries. Historically, a merchant is anyone who is involved in business or trade. Merchants have operated for as long as indust ...

Augustine Herman Augustine Herman, First Lord of Bohemia Manor (Czech: Augustin Heřman, c. 1621 – September 1686) was a Bohemian explorer, merchant and cartographer who lived in New Amsterdam and Cecil County, Maryland. In the employment of Cecil Calvert, 2nd ...

, First Lord of Bohemia Manor. Anna and her family likely arrived in British America in the 1640s and lived for a period in

New Amsterdam New Amsterdam ( nl, Nieuw Amsterdam, or ) was a 17th-century Dutch settlement established at the southern tip of Manhattan Island that served as the seat of the colonial government in New Netherland. The initial trading ''factory'' gave rise ...

, now known as

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the most densely populated major city in the U ...

, and later in

Accomack County, Virginia Accomack County is a United States county located in the eastern edge of the Commonwealth of Virginia. Together, Accomack and Northampton counties make up the Eastern Shore of Virginia, which in turn is part of the Delmarva Peninsula, bordered ...

. They became English subjects and Anna was naturalized as a citizen in

Maryland Maryland ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic region of the United States. It shares borders with Virginia, West Virginia, and the District of Columbia to its south and west; Pennsylvania to its north; ...

in 1666, after their citizenship in the

Colony of Virginia The Colony of Virginia, chartered in 1606 and settled in 1607, was the first enduring English colonial empire, English colony in North America, following failed attempts at settlement on Newfoundland (island), Newfoundland by Sir Humphrey GilbertG ...

was denied. Anna was twice married, first to German-born surgeon Dr. Joris "George" Hack and later to Nicholas Boot (sometimes spelled "Boote") and had three children.

Business activities

As a businessperson, Anna bought and sold land and real estate holdings, engaged in multinational trading (including the

Atlantic slave trade The Atlantic slave trade, transatlantic slave trade, or Euro-American slave trade involved the transportation by slave traders of enslaved African people, mainly to the Americas. The slave trade regularly used the triangular trade route and ...

), engaged in the trading of manufactured goods and of white indentured servants, and was the eventual owner of a ship, ''"The Fortune,"'' in New Amsterdam. Anna was an associate and business partner to her brother-in-law Augustine. Through her association with Augustine, she became one of the largest exporters of

tobacco Tobacco is the common name of several plants in the genus '' Nicotiana'' of the family Solanaceae, and the general term for any product prepared from the cured leaves of these plants. More than 70 species of tobacco are known, but the ch ...

in America. She had business holdings and owned over 3,000 acres of land in New Amsterdam, Virginia, and Maryland, and largely did business with fellow Dutch traders. Anna maintained a number of Caribbean business contacts through her brother Nicholas and was heavily engaged in the slave trade. She traded enslaved persons to the

Chesapeake, Virginia Chesapeake is an independent city in the Commonwealth of Virginia, United States. At the 2020 census, the population was 249,422, it is the second-most populous independent city in Virginia, tenth-largest in the Mid-Atlantic, and the 90th ...

area. Anna was one of the first women to file a business lawsuit in Early America, when she successfully appealed a monetary judgement to the General Court of Virginia in the early 1670s.

Death

Anna died in 1685.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Hack Boot, Anna Varlett 1626 births 1685 deaths Women in Virginia Colonial American merchants Women business executives Dutch American Slave traders Ship owners People of New Netherland Colonial American women