Dutch Imperialism: The Dutch East India Company

The Dutch may have very well looked for spices in Portuguese land as a form of retribution for embargoing the Dutch. The Dutch may have also looked in Portuguese land because they thought it was not as well as defended or it had easier shipping routes. All three of these reasons were the potential thought process going through minds of the Dutch rulers at the time. Nearly seven years after the Spanish had embargoed trade between the Dutch and the Portuguese, Steven van der Hagen conquered the fortress Victoria at Amboyna. This fortress had previously been a trade center for the Portuguese spice trade, but after it was captured by Steven van der Hagen in 1605, the spice trade once again resumed. Once the Dutch had captured fort Victoria, they began to attempt to set up a local monopsony. To set up a monopsony, all trade competitors had to be removed and there could only be one buyer for all of the spice sellers. It was quite evident when the Dutch East India Company captured the fort that setting up a monopsony would be quite difficult especially when considering other major competitors such as the East India Company. The only way this would be possible was by force which is where the rift and future rivalry began between the two companies. At this same very time the East India Company had just been formed in 1600 after multiple

There is an extensive history empirical power, repeatedly and successfully controlling another state or group of people in order to exploit it economically. In Southeast Asia there were 5 colonial powers; the United Kingdom, France, Dutch, America, and Japan, their primary motives for establishing colonies in the region was to get control of trade routes, to get access to the natural resources and raw materials, and the cheap labor, as well as to establish naval and military bases so that they could amass influence in the region. Prior to World War II, a third of the world 's area was colonized by European colonial powers between the 15th and 19th centuries, and another third of the world 's population were in colonies, dependencies, protectorates, or dominions. In this essay, I will focus on the British and French colonization in Southeast Asia. The British-controlled Burma, most of the Malayan peninsula, and Singapore, which was a strategic port and later became a naval base for the British. Meanwhile, the French controlled the adjoining countries of Vietnamese, Cambodia, and Laos, collectively known as French Indochina. This period of colonization in Southeast Asia brought many changes to the regions society, politics, and the economy. For instance, both colonial powers introduced political changes such as introducing a centralized form of government and changes to the justice systems in many of the colonized countries. There were also social impacts resulting from the

political reasons for colonization. There were many political advantages to a colony in New Holland. First of all, it would create a greater amount of power for the British Empire due to all the economic advantages. It would also create power because of its specific location. Australia was far away, which was in turn a great location because it was

British East India Company played a significant yet strange part in the Indian. It was, at its inception, a commercial venture in the history of The British Empire, which was established in the year 1600 in the subcontinent. The main reason for entering the subcontinent was trade, making money and importing spices from South Asia. It was the Portuguese who used all their skills and their navigational technology to enter this great area first, and start trade in the most profitable manner they could. East India Company entered as an early and old-fashioned venture, and conducted a separate business with their private stockholders. Their approach and their trade lasted for many years until year 1657 (Farrington 5), when they made their base

In the 17th Century, the Dutch (the Netherlands) became a power.  Golden Age.  It fought 3 great Anglo-Dutch naval battles.  The Dutch Republic became a leading colonial power, with by far its greatest activity in the East Indies.

As the English neglected mid-atlantic area the Dutch and Swedes were able to create their own colonies of New Netherland and New Sweden. As the crown made many royal charters to establish Proprietary colonies slowly England began to convert some of its colonies into royal colonies. This took a long time to recognize less profitable colonies such as New England which was very against becoming a royal colony. To try and impress the New English, England conquered New Netherland showing its intimidating power. Although small the New Netherland colony was very remarkable showing Dutch power. Netherlands the home of the Dutch was very big into policies of religious toleration and intellectual freedom. These ideas with the economic ambition of the Dutch turned the Netherlands into an economic giant.

Dutch wanted pure profits from Asia. They used military (bloody methods) to ruin the Native people and their trade system instead of economic competitions. British also used private trading companies and they focused on India. Because British settlers were private companies, they mainly focused on Indian cottons, which were considered as “diamond” in Europe. To sell cottons back to Europe would give them huge wealth.

The combination of Mercantilist ideals and joint stock companies fueled intense Colonial competition between European nations, and these competitions decided who stayed in power. One specific nation that was constantly in competition with the English were the Dutch. They fought over similar colonies including those in North America and the Caribbean. In 1652, a Dutch letter wrote about all the money that the Dutch had put into securing an island in the Caribbean, but more importantly how there were “Great swelling words abound, so that the scene is altered and nothing thought of but domineering over England”. All the Dutch thought about were ways to beat England and become more profitable than they were. They know that the country with more

Military strategy forever had been battles of attrition, men throwing themselves at each other until a winner was determined, this form of battle was replaced in Europe during the 16th and 17th century. The change in military strategy took place mostly in Europe, and the countries at the forefront of this were the Swedish empire and the Netherlands. The Swedes and Dutch changed many military strategies and practices which were in place for thousands of years and changed the standard for militaries. They helped to show the first realistic application of David versus Goliath, using smart tactics paired with a smaller army to destroy militaries of greater size. The two smallest nations in Europe took control and led the world in military innovations in the 16th and 17th century through competition and loss. The Swedes and Dutch managed to create fluid militaries which were able to overpower larger armies through deception and agility. The Swedish and Dutch nations during the 16th and 17th century gained military strength through the reformation of tactics, reorganization of the military, improvisation of weapons, and as a result changed the image and action of the military forever. The idea of a military revolution was first explored by a man named Michael Roberts in the 1950s. Roberts said that if the Swedish Empire and the Netherlands had not developed as they did, military strategy and organization would have not evolved for much later.

Imperialism in India had many positive effects and negative effects. India was introduced to more technology and ways of communication. It also lead to an increase of population and regular living. But, it also lead to India being dependent on Britain and lead to famine. There were many positive effects from this.

New imperialism was a period of colonial expansion by European powers during the late 19th century and early 20th century. It is distinguished by the continuous territorial acquisitions of Africa and Asia by European powers. These powers include Great Britain, France, Netherlands, Germany, and Belgium (Tusan, Scramble for Africa, October 23rd). There were many reasons behind this aggressive competition. To them, these newfound lands were an opportunity to expand their power and exploit further resources. To put it bluntly, economic, political, cultural, and ideological motivations all helped start the era of New Imperialism and its new form of empire.

The effects of British imperialism in India were bad. The British ruined India’s economy for the Indians. They took over the Indian government causing the Indians to become dependant on them. Eventually the pressure built up and the Indians had a murderous rebellion, Sepoy Mutiny. Due to the inherent racism inside the British they constantly kept the Indians a level below them.

The practice of imperialism is historically common among the advanced Western civilizations. Occupying a foreign land as a means of prospering from its resources proved to be a successful venture. To illustrate this, as mentioned previously, the Dutch initially entered into South Africa to use its location as an outpost for sending its ships to Asia, and eventually

Colonialism has been viewed and interpreted from multiple perspectives. Both the coloniser and the colonised are said to have benefitted therefrom. While on the one hand it is considered abject exploitation by the coloniser to fill his coffers, on the other, the routine by-products of colonisation were of absolute benefit to the colonised. The four century long period of colonisation that gripped the world is one of the most oft debated and scrutinized periods of human history. In the period beginning sixteenth century AD, trade and commerce through the sea route became a means of expanding markets in many countries. Great Britain, France, Belgium and Portugal were amongst the pioneers in taking their wares to countries far away, like Africa and Asia. One early form of colonialism that was thrust upon the colonised country was economic exploitation.

Going back further in history on why the Dutch decided to colonize what is now modern Indonesia was because they were violently attacked by their neighbor, Germany, for five years. After having dealt with Germany, the Dutch finally received some reinforcements. With the help of reinforcements, the Dutch were liberated. After they