Dutch Empire
The
Dutch Empire is the name given to the various territories controlled by
the Netherlands from the 17th to the 20th century. The Dutch followed
Spain and
Portugal in establishing a
colonial global empire outside of
continental Europe. Their skills in
shipping and
trading and the surge of
nationalism and
militarism accompanying the struggle for independence from Spain aided the venture. Alongside the
British, the Dutch initially built up colonial possessions on the basis of
corporate colonialism, with the
Dutch East India Company dominant; state intervention in the colonial enterprise came later. Dutch sailors also participated in the surge of exploration that unfolded in the 16th and 17th centuries, though the vast new territories revealed by
Willem Barents,
Henry Hudson and
Abel Tasman in the
Arctic and in
Australasia/
Oceania did not generally become permanent Dutch colonies.
With Dutch naval power rising rapidly as a major force from the late 16th century, the Netherlands reigned supreme at sea, and dominated global commerce, during the second half of the 17th century. A cultural flowering during the century is known as the
Dutch Golden Age. The Netherlands lost many of its colonial possessions to the British when the
metropole succumbed to
French conquest, control and
annexation from 1795 to 1814. The restored portions of the Dutch empire, notably the
Dutch East Indies (
Indonesia),
Suriname, and
The Netherlands Antilles remained under The Hague's control until the decline of traditional
imperialism in the 20th century.
Following the founding of the
Dutch East India Company in 1602, the Dutch set about wresting control of
Portugal's overseas possessions causing the
Dutch-Portuguese War. Since 1580 the Portuguese had been allied to the Spanish under a
united monarchy, and the Spanish in turn were embroiled in a fierce
war against the Dutch, who had rebelled against their overlords. Although united under the same king, Spain and Portugal's overseas empires continued to be administered separately, and the overstretched and underdefended Portuguese possessions presented an easy target to the Dutch, who were particularly interested in taking control of the spice trade.
Dutch East Indies (Indonesia)
In 1605, Portuguese trading posts in the
Spice Islands fell to the superior firepower of the Dutch. In 1619 a fortified base was established in
Batavia, becoming the capital of the
Dutch East Indies, and later
Indonesia (and renamed the capital as Jakarta), after the Indonesian declared their independence on 17 August 1945.
Ceylon (Sri Lanka)
The Dutch first landed in
Ceylon in 1602, then under Portuguese control, and by 1658 had completely ousted the Portuguese from the island. It remained a very large trading post until seized by the British in 1802. Ceylon's importance came from it being a half-way point between their settlements in
Indonesia and
South Africa.
Formosa (Taiwan)
The Dutch maintained a base, Fort Zeelandia, on
Taiwan from 1624 until 1662, when they were driven away by
Koxinga. The island itself was a source of cane sugar and deerskin. It was also a place where Dutch
VOC merchants could trade with Chinese merchants from the mainland. Here they could buy the silk needed for the
Japanese market.
Malacca
The Dutch captured
Malacca on the west coast of
Malaya (now
West Malaysia) in 1641 from the Portuguese. In accordance with a treaty signed with
stadtholder William V of Orange (then in exile in the
United Kingdom) it was turned over to the British in 1806, during the Napoleonic wars. It was returned to the
United Kingdom of the Netherlands in 1816. It was then ceded to the British in the
Anglo-Dutch Treaty of 1824.
Deshima
Initially the Dutch maintained a trading post at
Hirado, from 1609-1641. Later, the Japanese granted the Dutch a trade monopoly on Japan, but solely on
Deshima, an artificial island off the coast of
Nagasaki,
Japan, from 1641 to 1853.
New Holland
The part of Australia now known as
Western Australia was recognised as in the Netherlands sphere of control and known as
New Holland. No formal claim was ever made through an attempt to settle the region, although much of the North West coast have Dutch names and can be traced back to the Dutch. There are many Dutch
shipwrecks littered all along the coast, (such as the
Batavia) that were wrecked on their way to the East Indies. By the time the British arrived they noticed that there were small pockets of the
indigenous population with blonde hair and blue eyes. See the
History of Western Australia for more information.
In 1652 the Dutch East India Company established a refuelling station at the
Cape of Good Hope, situated half-way between the
Dutch East Indies and the
Dutch West Indies. Great Britain seized the colony in 1797 during the Fifth
Anglo-Dutch War, and annexed it in 1805. The Dutch colonists in South Africa remained after the British took over and later made the trek across the country to
Natal. They were subjected in the
Boer Wars and are now known as
Afrikaners.
New Netherland
New Netherland comprised the areas of the north east Atlantic seaboard of the present-day United States that were visited by Dutch explorers and later settled and taken over by the Dutch West India Company. The settlements were initially located on the
Hudson River:
Fort Nassau (1614-1617) in present-day
Albany (later resettled as
Fort Orange in 1624), and
New Amsterdam, founded in 1625 on
Manhattan Island. New Netherland reached its maximum size after the Dutch absorbed the Swedish settlement of
Fort Christina in 1655, thereby ending the North American colony of
New Sweden.
New Netherland itself formally ended in 1674 after the
Second Anglo-Dutch War: Dutch settlements passed to the English crown and New Amsterdam was renamed
New York.
The treaty forged by the Dutch and English may, in a nutshell, be regarded as a cessation of hostilities and that each party would hold onto any lands held or conquered at the time of treaty. There was no exchange of lands. Hence, the English held onto what had been an easily-conquered New Amsterdam of
Peter Minuit (including Manhattan Island and the Hudson River Valley), and the Dutch spoils included what is now Dutch Guiana or Suriname in South America as well as a small island in the East Indies (the
Spice Islands) that was the home of the most valuable spice (if not substance) in the world:
nutmeg. At the time nutmeg was much more valuable than gold. This island was the only place in the world where the nutmeg tree was found. At the time the Dutch were very pleased with getting the nutmeg isle and did not regret the loss of New Amsterdam.
Dutch West Indies
The colonization of the Dutch West Indies, an island group at the time claimed by Spain, began in 1620 with the taking of
St. Maarten, and remains a Dutch overseas territory to this day, the
Netherlands Antilles and
Aruba.
Suriname
Captured by the Dutch from the English during the
Second Anglo-Dutch War, Suriname and its valuable sugar plantations formally passed into Dutch hands in return for New Netherland with the signing of the
Treaty of Breda in 1667. It remained an overseas Dutch territory until independence was granted in 1975.
Guyana
In the 16th century European settlers first arrived in this area of north
South America, the Netherlands being the fastest to claim the land. Around 1600 was the first trade route established by the Dutch. Eventually the Netherlands planted three colonies to further mark the territory under the Netherlands rule;
Essequibo (
1616),
Berbice (1627), and
Demerara (1752). The British occupied
Guyana in the late 18th century. The Netherlands ceded Guyana to the
United Kingdom in (
1814).
Brazil
In 1624 The Dutch captured and held for a year
Salvador, the capital of the Portuguese settlements in Brazil.
From 1630 to 1654, the Dutch West Indies Company controlled a long stretch of the coast from
Sergipe to
Maranhão, which they renamed
New Holland, before being ousted by the Portuguese. A major character from the war was a mestizo named Calabar, who changed sides and changed the course of the fighting in favor of the Dutch, for a while. He was captured and executed by the Portuguese.
Virgin Islands
First settled by the Dutch in 1648, but annexed by England in 1672, later to be renamed the
British Virgin Islands.
Tobago
'Nieuw-Walcheren' (1628 - 1677), nowadays part of
Trinidad and TobagoThough not part of the Dutch Empire per se, the Netherlands were granted control of the
Southern Netherlands after the
Congress of Vienna. The southern Netherlands declared independence in 1830 (the
Belgian Revolution), and its independence was recognized by the Netherlands in 1839, giving birth to
Belgium. As part of the Congress of Vienna, King
William I of the Netherlands was made
Grand Duke of Luxembourg, and the two countries united into a
personal union. The independence of
Luxembourg was ratified in 1869. When
William III of the Netherlands died in 1890, leaving no male successor, the Grand Duchy was given to another branch of the
House of Orange-Nassau.
*Usage of the term "empire" in relation to all of the overseas activities of the Dutch is debatable, because many of the colonies were in fact trading posts governed by two independent trade companies, the Dutch East India Company and Dutch West India Company. Only after 1815, when the British returned the colonies to the Dutch after occupation during the Napoleonic War, did the kingdom (and from 1848 onwards, the parliament) take charge of the administration of the colonies. Until recent Dutch historians were quite hesitant to use the words 'imperialism' and 'Empire'. Nowadays they use it, but mainly to refer to it in a more European aspect and most of the time only when looking at the period 1880-1940. In 1968, a Dutch historian wrote for an English audience and said: "Dutch colonial policy was never dominated by visions of establishing a Dutch empire in Asia.", S. L. van der Wal in: Bromley and Kossmann (1968; see below)
*
Dutch colonization of the Americas*
Dutch West India Company*
Dutch East India Company*
List Of Dutch East India Company Trading Posts*
The Dutch Seaborne Empire 1600-1800 by C.R. Boxer
*
Imperialism and Colonialism: Essays on the History of Colonialism by H. L. Wesseling
*
Britain and the Netherlands in Europe and Asia by J. S. Bromley and E. H. Kossmann
*
De VOCsite (Dutch)*
Dutch Portuguese Colonial History*
VOC Kenniscentrum (Dutch)
