Name:______
Background of the Dutch West India Company
Directions:
Read the information about the colony of New Netherlands.
Talk to the text as you read.
The settling of the Americas was one small part of a world drama in whichrival nations were contending for the wealth of the Orient.Beginning in the late middle ages with the enterprising Italian city-states,exotic minerals, spices, textiles, and ceramic wares were being traded. The emergingnations of Portugal, Spain, England, and France began to resent their dependenceon Italian merchants for these goods and the enormous cost of goods whichno longer considered merely luxuries sparked the desire to find a direct route to theOrient.
Navigational techniques, shipbuilding technology, and map reading skillsflourished. The rising merchant classes not only provided funding for the ventures
but for crushing feudal lords and unifying principalities into nations. The centralizationof power was great stimulus to economic activity. Even after the great period
of exploration which confirmed the existence of North America, no efforts weremade to colonize or populate a land which offered no exotic goods.
Spanish domination in the New World ended with the defeat of theSpanish Armada in 1588 by the English. The new powers on the seas were Dutch,French, and English fleets. The Dutch revolted against Spanish domination in 1566and declared themselves independent by 1581. By 1609 the Netherlands were virtuallyfree of Spanish influence. The Dutch also supplanted the Portuguese as thedominant power in the East Indies.
During the seventeenth century, the Netherlands became the commercialcenter of Europe and the financial and cultural center of the world.
In the new world the Dutch were content to set up trading stations and fortsbecause their focus was on trade.
The English sailor Henry Hudson, hired by the Dutch East India Companyin 1609 sailed up the Hudson River as far as present day Albany. Although he didnot find a route to the Indies he befriended the native Iroquois. By 1614 the WestIndia Company built a fort on Manhattan. And in 1626 the land was purchased from the Indians for 60 guilders worth of goods.
In the next two decades Dutch merchants established a flourishing fur trade &posts in Albany.The Dutch West India Company, a shareholding 'corporation,' controlled
the area and set up strict regulations regarding independent trade. There was littleincentive to colonize and the small settlements were established only to benefit
company needs. By 1629 the company was offering large tracts of land, orpatroonships to any member who would transport 50 people to the new settlement. Killian van Rensselaer, an Amsterdam pearl merchant, acquired vast tracts of landconsistingbasically of what is now Rensselaer and Albany counties. For the nextcentury the Dutch played a major role in the trade of slaves, sugar, furs, and grain.
Comparing the Companies
Dutch East India Company (Vereenigde oiistindische Compagnie-VOC): founded in 1602 by the government of Netherlands. Its purpose was tostrengthen and protect Dutch trade in the East, and to prevent competition betweenDutch companies. Much of the trading was done in pepper and spices. It disbanded
in 1798.
Dutch West India Company (Geoctroyeerde Westindische
Compagnie -GWC): formed by Dutch merchants in 1621. The company was giventrading and colonizing privileges for a periods of twenty-four years in NorthAmerica, the West Indies, and Africa.
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