Early Modern Europe Research

2. Early Modern Europe 10 pointsDue: Tuesday, February 15Research your Nation in Wikipedia, with a focus on the history of the 15th and 16th centuries. Start with this summary of Early Modern Europe Then look up information on the history of your nation during the 15th and 16th centuries, such as: France, the Netherlands, Spain, England, Italy (Genoa & Venice) and Portugal. The Italian situation is a little more complicated, but no less important. Apart from researching a general survey of this period, each member of the group will focus on a particular theme, such as: war (big theme here), art, music, politics, economy, cheese, wine, cities, language, geography By Tuesday, February 15, each member of the group should have four (4) slides to contribute to the group discussion on your nation. 2 slides on general history of the period, including early modern Europe in general 2 slides on your specialized topic for your nation (sic) Eighty Years' War (1568–1648). The war years marked the beginning of the Dutch Golden Age, a period of great commercial and cultural prosperity roughly spanning the 17th century and driven by great migrations from the South to the North. Golden Age Map of Dutch Republic by Joannes Janssonius Main articles: Dutch Golden Age and Economic history of the Netherlands (1500–1815) During the Eighty Years' War the Dutch provinces became the most important trading centre of Northern Europe, replacing Flanders in this respect; Dutch ships hunted whales off Svalbard, traded spices in India and Indonesia (via the Dutch East India Company) and founded colonies in New Amsterdam (now New York), South Africa and the West Indies. In addition some Portuguese colonies were conquered, namely in Northeastern Brazil, Angola, Indonesia and Ceylon. This new nation flourished culturally and economically, creating what historian Simon Schama has called an quot;
embarrassment of richesquot;
. Speculation in the tulip trade led to a first stock market crash in 1637, but the economic crisis was soon overcome. Due to these developments the 17th century has been dubbed the Golden Age of the Netherlands. As the Netherlands was a republic, it was largely governed by an aristocracy of city-merchants called the regents, rather than by a king. Every city and province had its own government and laws, and a large degree of autonomy. After attempts to find a competent sovereign proved unsuccessful, it was decided that sovereignty would be vested in the various provincial Estates, the governing bodies of the provinces. The Estates-General, with its representatives from all the provinces, would decide on matters important to the Republic as a whole. However, at the head of each province was the stadtholder of that province, a position held by a descendant of the House of Orange. Usually the stadtholdership of several provinces was held by a single man. 'Skating fun' by 17th century Dutch painter Hendrick Avercamp. In 1650, the stadtholder William II, Prince of Orange suddenly died of smallpox; his son, the later stadtholder and subsequent king of England, William III, was born only 8 days later, hence leaving the nation without an obvious successor. Since the conception of the Republic, there had been an ongoing struggle for power between the 'regents', an informal elite of affluent citizens on the one hand and the House of Orange on the other hand, whose supporters, Orangists, were mainly to be found among the common people. For now, the regents seized the opportunity: there would be no new stadtholder (in Holland) for 22 years to come. Johan de Witt, a brilliant politician and diplomat, emerged as the dominant figure. Princes of Orange became the stadtholder and an almost hereditary ruler in 1672 and 1748. The Dutch Republic of the United Provinces was a true republic only from 1650–1672 and 1702–1748. These periods are called the First Stadtholderless Period and Second Stadtholderless Period. In the year 1651, England imposed its first Navigation Act, which severely hurt Dutch trade interests. An incident at sea concerning the Act resulted in the First Anglo-Dutch War, which lasted from 1652 to 1654, ending in the Treaty of Westminster (1654), which left the Navigation Act in effect. [edit] Slave trade Main articles: History of Aruba, History of Curaçao, History of Saint Martin, and History of Suriname Although slavery was illegal inside the Netherlands it flourished in the Dutch Empire, and helped support the economy.[29] In 1619 The Netherlands took the lead in building a large-scale slave trade between Africa and Virginia, by 1650 becoming the pre-eminent slave trading country in Europe. It was overtaken by Britain around 1700. Historians agree that in all the Dutch shipped about 550,000 African slaves across the Atlantic, about 75,000 of whom died on board before reaching their destinations. From 1596-1829, the Dutch traders sold 250,000 slaves in the Dutch Guianas, 142,000 in the Dutch Caribbean islands, and 28,000 in Dutch Brazil.[30] In addition, tens of thousands of slaves, mostly from India and some from Africa, were carried to the Dutch East Indies [31] and slaves from the East Indies to Africa and the West Indies. Whaling is the hunting of whales mainly for meat and oil. Its earliest forms date to at least 3000 BC.[1] Various coastal communities have long histories of sustenance whaling and harvesting beached whales. Industrial whaling emerged with organized fleets in the 17th century; competitive national whaling industries in the 18th and 19th centuries; and the introduction of factory ships along with the concept of whale harvesting in the first half of the 20th century. As technology increased and demand for the seemingly vast resources remained high, catches far exceeded the sustainable limit for whale stocks. In the late 1930s more than 50,000 whales were killed annually HYPERLINK quot;
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Whalingquot;
quot;
cite_note-1quot;
[2] and by the middle of the century whale stocks were not being replenished. In 1986 the International Whaling Commission (IWC) banned commercial whaling so that stocks might recover. While the moratorium has been successful in averting the extinction of whale species due to overhunting, contemporary whaling is subject to intense debate. Pro-whaling countries wish to lift the ban on stocks that they believe have recovered sufficiently to sustain limited hunting. Anti-whaling countries and environmental groups contend that those stocks remain vulnerable and that whaling is immoral and should remain banned. Dutch East India Company From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Jump to: navigation, search This article is about the trading company. For the record label, see Dutch East India Trading. Dutch East India Company lFormer typePublic companyIndustryTradeFateBankruptcyFounded20 March 1602 (1602-03-20)Defunct17 March 1798 (1798-03-17)HeadquartersEast India House, Amsterdam, Holland, Dutch Republic The shipyard of the Dutch East India Company in Amsterdam, circa 1750. The Dutch East India Company (Vereenigde Oost-Indische Compagnie or VOC in Dutch, literally quot;
United East Indian Companyquot;
) was a chartered company established in 1602, when the States-General of the Netherlands granted it a 21-year monopoly to carry out colonial activities in Asia. It was the first multinational corporation in the world and the first company to issue stock.[1] It was also arguably the world's first megacorporation, possessing quasi-governmental powers, including the ability to wage war, imprison and execute convicts,[2] negotiate treaties, coin money, and establish colonies.[3] Statistically, the VOC eclipsed all of its rivals in the Asia trade. Between 1602 and 1796 the VOC sent almost a million Europeans to work in the Asia trade on 4,785 ships, and netted for their efforts more than 2.5 million tons of Asian trade goods. By contrast, the rest of Europe combined sent only 882,412 people from 1500 to 1795, and the fleet of the English (later British) East India Company, the VOC’s nearest competitor, was a distant second to its total traffic with 2,690 ships and a mere one-fifth the tonnage of goods carried by the VOC. The VOC enjoyed huge profits from its spice monopoly through most of the 17th century.[4] Having been set up in 1602, to profit from the Malukan spice trade, in 1619 the VOC established a capital in the port city of Batavia (now Jakarta). Over the next two centuries the Company acquired additional ports as trading bases and safeguarded their interests by taking over surrounding territory.[5] It remained an important trading concern and paid an 18% annual dividend for almost 200 years. Weighed down by corruption in the late 18th century, the Company went bankrupt and was formally dissolved in 1800, HYPERLINK quot;
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dutch_East_India_Companyquot;
quot;
cite_note-RICKLEFSp110-5quot;
[6] its possessions and the debt being taken over by the government of the Dutch Batavian Republic. The VOC's territories became the Dutch East Indies and were expanded over the course of the 19th century to include the whole of the Indonesian archipelago, and in the 20th century would form History See also: Economic History of the Netherlands (1500 - 1815) [edit] Background A bond issued by the Dutch East India Company, dating from 7 November 1623, for the amount of 2,400 florins. During the 16th century, the spice trade was dominated by the Portuguese who used Lisbon as a staple port. Before the Dutch Revolt, Antwerp had played an important role as a distribution center in northern Europe, but after 1591 the Portuguese used an international syndicate of the German Fuggers and Welsers, and Spanish and Italian firms that used Hamburg as its northern staple, to distribute their goods, thereby cutting out Dutch merchants. At the same time, the Portuguese trade system was so inefficient that it was unable to supply growing demand, in particular the demand for pepper. The demand for spices was relatively inelastic, and the lagging supply of pepper therefore caused a sharp rise in pepper prices at the time. Likewise, as Portugal had been quot;
unitedquot;
with the Spanish crown, with which the Dutch Republic was at war, in 1580, the Portuguese Empire became an appropriate target for military incursions. These three factors formed motive for Dutch merchants to enter the intercontinental spice trade themselves at this time. Finally, a number of Dutchmen like Jan Huyghen van Linschoten and Cornelis de Houtman obtained first hand knowledge of the quot;
secretquot;
Portuguese trade routes and practices, thereby providing opportunity.[7] The stage was thus set for Houtman's four-ship exploratory expedition to Banten, the main pepper port of West Java, where they clashed with both the Portuguese and indigenous Indonesians. Houtman's expedition then sailed east along the north coast of Java, losing twelve crew to a Javanese attack at Sidayu and killing a local ruler in Madura. Half the crew were lost before the expedition made it back to the Netherlands the following year, but with enough spices to make a considerable profit.[8] VOC headquarters in Amsterdam (the Oost-Indisch Huis) In 1598, an increasing number of new fleets were sent out by competing merchant groups from around the Netherlands. Some fleets were lost, but most were successful, with some voyages producing high profits. In March 1599, a fleet of eight ships under Jacob van Neck was the first Dutch fleet to reach the ‘Spice Islands’ of Maluku. The ships returned to Europe in 1599 and 1600 and the expedition made a 400 percent profit.[8] In 1600, the Dutch joined forces with the local Hituese (near Ambon) in an anti-Portuguese alliance, in return for which the Dutch were given the sole right to purchase spices from Hitu.[9] Dutch control of Ambon was achieved in alliance with Hitu when in February 1605, they prepared to attack a Portuguese fort in Ambon but the Portuguese surrendered. In 1613, the Dutch expelled the Portuguese from their Solor fort, but a subsequent Portuguese attack led to a second change of hands; following this second reoccupation, the Dutch once again captured Solor, in 1636.[9] East of Solor on the island of Timor Dutch advances were halted by an autonomous and powerful group of Portuguese Eurasians called the Topasses. They remained in control of the Sandalwood trade and their resistance lasted throughout the 17th and 18th century, causing West Timor to remain under the Portuguese sphere of control.[10] [11] [edit] Formation Reproduction of a map of the city Batavia circa 1627 , collection Tropenmuseum At the time, it was customary for a company to be set up only for the duration of a single voyage, and to be liquidated on the return of the fleet. Investment in these expeditions was a very high-risk venture, not only because of the usual dangers of piracy, disease and shipwreck, but also because the interplay of inelastic demand and relatively elastic supply HYPERLINK quot;
quot;
cite_note-11quot;
[12] of spices could make prices tumble at just the wrong moment, thereby ruining prospects of profitability. To manage such risk the forming of a cartel to control supply would seem logical. This first occurred to the English, who bundled their forces into a monopoly enterprise, the East India Company in 1600, thereby threatening their Dutch competitors with ruin. In 1602, the Dutch government followed suit, sponsoring the creation of a single quot;
United East Indies Companyquot;
that was also granted a monopoly over the Asian trade. The charter of the new company empowered it to build forts, maintain armies, and conclude treaties with Asian rulers. It provided for a venture that would continue for 21 years, with a financial accounting only at the end of each decade.[13] Dutch Batavia in 1652, built in what is now North Jakarta In 1603, the first permanent Dutch trading post in Indonesia was established in Banten, West Java and in 1611, another was established at Jayakarta (later 'Batavia' and then 'Jakarta').[14] In 1610, the VOC established the post of Governor General to enable firmer control of their affairs in Asia. To advise and control the risk of despotic Governors General, a Council of the Indies (Raad van Indië) was created. The Governor General effectively became the main administrator of the VOC's activities in Asia, although the Heeren XVII continued to officially have overall control.[9] VOC headquarters were in Ambon for the tenures of the first three Governors General (1610–1619), but it was not a satisfactory location. Although it was at the centre of the spice production areas, it was far from the Asian trade routes and other VOC areas of activity ranging from Africa to Japan. A location in the west of the archipelago was thus sought; the Straits of Malacca were strategic, but had become dangerous following the Portuguese conquest and the first permanent VOC settlement in Banten was controlled by a powerful local ruler and subject to stiff competition from Chinese and English traders.[9] In 1604, a second English East India Company voyage commanded by Sir Henry Middleton reached the islands of Ternate, Tidore, Ambon and Banda; in Banda, they encountered severe VOC hostility, which saw the beginning of Anglo-Dutch competition for access to spices.[14] From 1611 to 1617, the English established trading posts at Sukadana (southwest Kalimantan), Makassar, Jayakarta and Jepara in Java, and Aceh, Pariaman and Jambi in Sumatra which threatened Dutch ambitions for a monopoly on East Indies trade.[14] Diplomatic agreements in Europe in 1620 ushered in a period of cooperation between the Dutch and the English over the spice trade.[14] This ended with a notorious, but disputed incident, known as the 'Amboyna massacre', where ten Englishmen were arrested, tried and beheaded for conspiracy against the Dutch government.[15] Although this caused outrage in Europe and a diplomatic crisis, the English quietly withdrew from most of their Indonesian activities (except trading in Bantam) and focused on other Asian interests. [edit] Growth Graves of Dutch dignitaries in the ruined St. Paul's Church, Melaka in the former Dutch Malacca In 1619, Jan Pieterszoon Coen was appointed Governor-General of the VOC. He saw the possibility of the VOC becoming an Asian power, both political and economic. He was not afraid to use brute force to put the VOC on a firm footing. On 30 May 1619, Coen, backed by a force of nineteen ships, stormed Jayakarta driving out the Banten forces; and from the ashes established Batavia as the VOC headquarters. In the 1620s almost the entire native population of the Banda Islands was driven away, starved to death, or killed in an attempt to replace them with Dutch plantations. These plantations were used to grow cloves and nutmeg for export. Coen hoped to settle large numbers of Dutch colonists in the East Indies, but this part of his policies never materialized, because the Heren XVII were wary at the time of large, open-ended financial commitments.[16] Another of Coen's ventures was more successful. A major problem in the European trade with Asia at the time was that the Europeans could offer few goods that Asian consumers wanted, except silver and gold. European traders therefore had to pay for spices with the precious metals, and this was in short supply in Europe, except for Spain and Portugal. The Dutch and English had to obtain it by creating a trade surplus with other European countries. Coen discovered the obvious solution for the problem: to start an intra-Asiatic trade system, whose profits could be used to finance the spice trade with Europe. In the long run this obviated the need for exports of precious metals from Europe, though at first it required the formation of a large trading-capital fund in the Indies. The VOC reinvested a large share of its profits to this end in the period up to 1630.[17] The VOC traded throughout Asia. Ships coming into Batavia from the Netherlands carried supplies for VOC settlements in Asia. Silver and copper from Japan were used to trade with India and China for silk, cotton, porcelain, and textiles. These products were either traded within Asia for the coveted spices or brought back to Europe. The VOC was also instrumental in introducing European ideas and technology to Asia. The Company supported Christian missionaries and traded modern technology with China and Japan. A more peaceful VOC trade post on Dejima, an artificial island off the coast of Nagasaki, was for more than two hundred years the only place where Europeans were permitted to trade with Japan.[18] In 1640, the VOC obtained the port of Galle, Sri Lanka, from the Portuguese and broke the latter's monopoly of the cinnamon trade. In 1658, Gerard Pietersz. Hulft laid siege to Colombo, which was captured with the help of King Rajasinghe II of Kandy. By 1659, the Portuguese had been expelled from the coastal regions, which were then occupied by the VOC, securing for it the monopoly over cinnamon. To prevent the Portuguese or the English from ever recapturing Sri Lanka, the VOC went on to conquer the entire Malabar Coast upon the Portuguese, almost entirely driving them from the west coast of India. When news of a peace agreement between Portugal and the Netherlands reached Asia in 1663, Goa was the only remaining Portuguese city on the west coast.[19] VOC Monogram formerly above the entrance to the Castle of Good Hope. In 1652, Jan van Riebeeck established an outpost at the Cape of Good Hope (the southwestern tip of Africa, currently in South Africa) to re-supply VOC ships on their journey to East Asia. This post later became a full-fledged colony, the Cape Colony, when more Dutch and other Europeans started to settle there. VOC trading posts were also established in Persia (now Iran), Bengal (now Bangladesh, but then part of India), Malacca (Melaka, now in Malaysia), Siam (now Thailand), mainland China (Canton), Formosa (now Taiwan) and the Malabar Coast and Coromandel Coast in India. In 1662, however, Koxinga expelled the Dutch from Taiwan (see History of Taiwan). By 1669, the VOC was the richest private company the world had ever seen, with over 150 merchant ships, 40 warships, 50,000 employees, a private army of 10,000 soldiers, and a dividend payment of 40% on the original investment.[20] Many of the VOC employees inter-mixed with the indigenous peoples and expanded the Mestizo population of Indos in pre-colonial history [21][22] . [edit] Reorientation Around 1670, two events caused the growth of VOC trade to stall. In the first place, the highly profitable trade with Japan started to decline. The loss of the outpost on Formosa to Koxinga and related internal turmoil in China (where the Ming dynasty was being replaced with the Qing dynasty) brought an end to the silk trade after 1666. Though the VOC substituted Bengali for Chinese silk other forces affected the supply of Japanese silver and gold. The shogunate enacted a number of measures to limit the export of these precious metals, in the process limiting VOC opportunities for trade, and severely worsening the terms of trade. Therefore, Japan ceased to function as the lynchpin of the intra-Asiatic trade of the VOC by 1685.[23] Even more importantly, the Third Anglo-Dutch War temporarily interrupted VOC trade with Europe. This caused a spike in the price of pepper, which enticed the English East India Company (EIC) to aggressively enter this market in the years after 1672. Previously, one of the tenets of the VOC pricing policy was to slightly over-supply the pepper market, so as to depress prices below the level where interlopers were encouraged to enter the market (instead of striving for short-term profit maximization). The wisdom of such a policy was illustrated when a fierce price war with the EIC ensued, as that company flooded the market with new supplies from India. In this struggle for market share, the VOC (which had much larger financial resources) could wait out the EIC. Indeed by 1683, the latter came close to bankruptcy; its share price plummeted from 600 to 250; and its president Josiah Child was temporarily forced from office.[24] However, the writing was on the wall. Other companies, like the French East India Company and the Danish East India Company also started to make inroads on the Dutch system. The VOC therefore closed the heretofore flourishing open pepper emporium of Bantam by a treaty of 1684 with the Sultan. Also, on the Coromandel Coast, it moved its chief stronghold from Pulicat to Negapatnam, so as to secure a monopoly on the pepper trade at the detriment of the French and the Danes.[25] However, the importance of these traditional commodities in the Asian-European trade was diminishing rapidly at the time. The military outlays that the VOC needed to make to enhance its monopoly were not justified by the increased profits of this declining trade.[26] Nevertheless, this lesson was slow to sink in and at first the VOC made the strategic decision to improve its military position on the Malabar Coast (hoping thereby to curtail English influence in the area, and end the drain on its resources from the cost of the Malabar garrisons) by using force to compel the Zamorin of Calicut to submit to Dutch domination. In 1710, the Zamorin was made to sign a treaty with the VOC undertaking to trade exclusively with the VOC and expel other European traders. For a brief time, this appeared to improve the Company's prospects. However, in 1715, with EIC encouragement, the Zamorin renounced the treaty. Though a Dutch army managed to suppress this insurrection temporarily, the Zamorin continued to trade with the English and the French, which led to an appreciable upsurge in English and French traffic. The VOC decided in 1721 that it was no longer worth the trouble to try and dominate the Malabar pepper and spice trade. A strategic decision was taken to scale down the Dutch military presence and in effect yield the area to EIC influence.[27] The 1741 Battle of Colachel by Nairs of Travancore under Raja Marthanda Varma was therefore a rearguard action. The Dutch commander Captain Eustachius De Lannoy was captured. Marthanda Varma agreed to spare the Dutch captain's life on condition that he joined his army and trained his soldiers on modern lines. This defeat in the Travancore-Dutch War is considered the earliest example of an organized Asian power overcoming European military technology and tactics; and it signaled the decline of Dutch power in India.[28] The attempt to continue as before as a low volume-high profit business enterprise with its core business in the spice trade had therefore failed. The Company had however already (reluctantly) followed the example of its European competitors in diversifying into other Asian commodities, like tea, coffee, cotton, textiles, and sugar. These commodities provided a lower profit margin and therefore required a larger sales volume to generate the same amount of revenue. This structural change in the commodity composition of the VOC's trade started in the early 1680s, after the temporary collapse of the EIC around 1683 offered an excellent opportunity to enter these markets. The actual cause for the change lies, however, in two structural features of this new era. In the first place, there was a revolutionary change in the tastes affecting European demand for Asian textiles, and coffee and tea, around the turn of the 18th century. Secondly, a new era of an abundant supply of capital at low interest rates suddenly opened around this time. The second factor enabled the Company to easily finance its expansion in the new areas of commerce.[29] Between the 1680s and 1720s, the VOC was therefore able to equip and man an appreciable expansion of its fleet, and acquire a large amount of precious metals to finance the purchase of large amounts of Asian commodities, for shipment to Europe. The overall effect was to approximately double the size of the company.[30] The tonnage of the returning ships rose by 125 percent in this period. However, the Company's revenues from the sale of goods landed in Europe rose by only 78 percent. This reflects the basic change in the VOC's circumstances that had occurred: it now operated in new markets for goods with an elastic demand, in which it had to compete on an equal footing with other suppliers. This made for low profit margins.[31] Unfortunately, the business information systems of the time made this difficult to discern for the managers of the company, which may partly explain the mistakes they made from hindsight. This lack of information might have been counteracted (as in earlier times in the VOC's history) by the business acumen of the directors. Unfortunately by this time these were almost exclusively recruited from the political regent class, which had long since lost its close relationship with merchant circles.[32] Low profit margins in themselves don't explain the deterioration of revenues. To a large extent the costs of the operation of the VOC had a quot;
fixedquot;
character (military establishments; maintenance of the fleet and such). Profit levels might therefore have been maintained if the increase in the scale of trading operations that in fact took place, had resulted in economies of scale. However, though larger ships transported the growing volume of goods, labor productivity did not go up sufficiently to realize these. In general the Company's overhead rose in step with the growth in trade volume; declining gross margins translated directly into a decline in profitability of the invested capital. The era of expansion was one of quot;
profitless growthquot;
.[33] Concretely: quot;
[t]he long-term average annual profit in the VOC's 1630-70 'Golden Age' was 2.1 million guilders, of which just under half was distributed as dividends and the remainder reinvested. The long-term average annual profit in the 'Expansion Age' (1680–1730) was 2.0 million guilders, of which three-quarters was distributed as dividend and one-quarter reinvested. In the earlier period, profits averaged 18 percent of total revenues; in the latter period, 10 percent. The annual return of invested capital in the earlier period stood at approximately 6 percent; in the latter period, 3.4 percent.quot;
[33] Nevertheless, in the eyes of investors the VOC did not do too badly. The share price hovered consistently around the 400 mark from the mid-1680s (which, during a hiccup around the Glorious Revolution in 1688), and they reached an all-time high of around 642 in the 1720s. VOC shares then yielded a return of 3.5 percent, only slightly less than the yield on Dutch government bonds.[34] [edit] Decline Colombo, gravure uit circa 1680Panorama van Ayutthaya in het Bushuis, AmsterdamKraakporselein in een museum in MalakkaDe voorpagina van de Hortus Malabaricus door Hendrik Adriaan van Reede tot DrakesteinHet schip Vryburg op een schotel, gemaakt in opdracht (1756)Anoniem schilderij met de Tafelberg op de achtergrond (1762) However, from there on the fortunes of the VOC started to decline. Five major problems, not all of equal weight, can be adduced to explain its decline in the next fifty years to 1780.[35] There was a steady erosion of intra-Asiatic trade by changes in the Asiatic political and economic environment that the VOC could do little about. These factors gradually squeezed the company out of Persia, Surat, the Malabar Coast, and Bengal. The company had to confine its operations to the belt it physically controlled, from Ceylon through the Indonesian archipelago. The volume of this intra-Asiatic trade, and its profitability, therefore had to shrink. The way the company was organized in Asia (centralized on its hub in Batavia) that initially had offered advantages in gathering market information, began to cause disadvantages in the 18th century, because of the inefficiency of first shipping everything to this central point. This disadvantage was most keenly felt in the tea trade, where competitors like the EIC and the Ostend Company shipped directly from China to Europe. The quot;
venalityquot;
of the VOC's personnel (in the sense of corruption and non-performance of duties), though a problem for all East-India Companies at the time, seems to have plagued the VOC on a larger scale than its competitors. To be sure, the company was not a quot;
good employerquot;
. Salaries were low, and quot;
private-account tradingquot;
was officially not allowed. Not surprisingly, it proliferated in the 18th century to the detriment of the company's performance.[36] From about the 1790s onward, the phrase perished by corruption (also abbreviated VOC in Dutch) came to summarize the company's future. A problem that the VOC shared with other companies was the high mortality and morbidity among its employees. This decimated the company's ranks and enervated many of the survivors. A self-inflicted wound was the VOC's dividend policy. The dividends distributed by the company had exceeded the surplus it garnered in Europe in every decade but one (1710–1720) from 1690 to 1760. However, in the period up to 1730 the directors shipped resources to Asia to build up the trading capital there. Consolidated bookkeeping therefore probably would have shown that total profits exceeded dividends. In addition, between 1700 and 1740 the company retired 5.4 million guilders of long-term debt. The company therefore was still on a secure financial footing in these years. This changed after 1730. While profits plummeted the bewindhebbers only slightly decreased dividends from the earlier level. Distributed dividends were therefore in excess of earnings in every decade but one (1760–1770). To accomplish this, the Asian capital stock had to be drawn down by 4 million guilders between 1730 and 1780, and the liquid capital available in Europe was reduced by 20 million guilders in the same period. The directors were therefore constrained to replenish the company's liquidity by resorting to short-term financing from anticipatory loans, backed by expected revenues from home-bound fleets. Despite of all this, the VOC in 1780 remained an enormous operation. Its capital in the Republic, consisting of ships and goods in inventory, totaled 28 million guilders; its capital in Asia, consisting of the liquid trading fund and goods en route to Europe, totaled 46 million guilders. Total capital, net of outstanding debt, stood at 62 million guilders. The prospects of the company at this time therefore need not have been hopeless, had one of the many plans to reform it been taken successfully in hand. However, then the Fourth Anglo-Dutch War intervened. British attacks in Europe and Asia reduced the VOC fleet by half; removed valuable cargo from its control; and devastated its remaining power in Asia. The direct losses of the VOC can be calculated at 43 million guilders. Loans to keep the company operating reduced its net assets to zero.[37] From 1720 on, the market for sugar from Indonesia declined as the competition from cheap sugar from Brazil increased. European markets became saturated. Dozens of Chinese sugar traders went bankrupt which led to massive unemployment, which in turn led to gangs of unemployed coolies. The Dutch government in Batavia did not adequately respond to these problems. In 1740, rumors of deportation of the gangs from the Batavia area led to widespread rioting. The Dutch military searched houses of Chinese in Batavia searching for weapons. When a house accidentally burnt down, military and impoverished citizens started slaughtering and pillaging the Chinese community.[38] This massacre of the Chinese was deemed sufficiently serious for the board of the VOC to start an official investigation into the Government of the Dutch East Indies for the first time in its history. After the Fourth Anglo-Dutch War, the VOC was a financial wreck, and after vain attempts by the provincial States of Holland and Zeeland to reorganize it, was nationalised on 1 March 1796[39] by the new Batavian Republic. Its charter was renewed several times, but allowed to expire on 31 December 1800.[40] Most of the possessions of the former VOC were subsequently occupied by Great Britain during the Napoleonic wars, but after the new United Kingdom of the Netherlands was created by the Congress of Vienna, some of these were restored to this successor state of the old Dutch Republic by the Anglo-Dutch Treaty of 1814. [edit] Organization The VOC had two types of shareholders: the participanten, who could be seen as non-managing partners, and the 76 bewindhebbers (later reduced to 60) who acted as managing partners. This was the usual set-up for Dutch joint-stock companies at the time. The innovation in the case of the VOC was, that the liability of not just the participanten, but also of the bewindhebbers was limited to the paid-in capital (usually, bewindhebbers had unlimited liability). The VOC therefore was a limited-liability company. Also, the capital would be permanent during the lifetime of the company. As a consequence, investors that wished to liquidate their interest in the interim could only do this by selling their share to others on the Amsterdam Stock Exchange.[41] The VOC consisted of six Chambers (Kamers) in port cities: Amsterdam, Delft, Rotterdam, Enkhuizen, Middelburg and Hoorn. Delegates of these chambers convened as the Heeren XVII (the Lords Seventeen). They were selected from the bewindhebber-class of shareholders.[42] Of the Heeren XVII, eight delegates were from the Chamber of Amsterdam (one short of a majority on its own), four from the Chamber of Zeeland, and one from each of the smaller Chambers, while the seventeenth seat was alternatively from the Chamber of Zeeland or rotated among the five small Chambers. Amsterdam had thereby the decisive voice. The Zeelanders in particular had misgivings about this arrangement at the beginning. The fear was not unfounded, because in practice it meant Amsterdam stipulated what happened. Two sides of a duit, a coin minted in 1735 by the VOC. The six chambers raised the start-up capital of the Dutch East India Company: ChamberCapital (Guilders)Amsterdam3,679,915Middelburg1,300,405Enkhuizen540,000Delft469,400Hoorn266,868Rotterdam173,000Total:6,424,588 The raising of capital in Rotterdam did not go so smoothly. A considerable part originated from inhabitants of Dordrecht. Although it did not raise as much capital as Amsterdam or Zeeland, Enkhuizen had the largest input in the share capital of the VOC. Under the first 358 shareholders, there were many small entrepreneurs, who dared to take the risk. The minimum investment in the VOC was 3,000 guilders, which priced the Company's stock within the means of many merchants.[43] Among the early shareholders of the VOC, immigrants played an important role. Under the 1,143 tenderers were 39 Germans and no fewer than 301 from the Southern Netherlands (roughly present Belgium and Luxembourg, then under Habsburg rule), of whom Isaac le Maire was the largest subscriber with ƒ85,000. VOC's total capitalization was ten times that of its British rival. The logo of the Amsterdam Chamber of the VOC. The logo of the VOC consisted of a large capital 'V' with an O on the left and a C on the right leg. It appeared on various corporate items, such as cannons and the coin illustrated above. The first letter of the hometown of the chamber conducting the operation was placed on top (see figure for example of the Amsterdam chamber logo). The flag of the company was orange, white, blue (see Dutch flag) with the company logo embroidered on it. The Heeren XVII (Lords Seventeen) met alternately 6 years in Amsterdam and 2 years in Middelburg. They defined the VOC's general policy and divided the tasks among the Chambers. The Chambers carried out all the necessary work, built their own ships and warehouses and traded the merchandise. The Heeren XVII sent the ships' masters off with extensive instructions on the route to be navigated, prevailing winds, currents, shoals and landmarks. The VOC also produced its own charts. In the context of the Dutch-Portuguese War the company established its headquarters in Batavia, Java (now Jakarta, Indonesia). Other colonial outposts were also established in the East Indies, such as on the Spice Islands (Moluccas), which include the Banda Islands, where the VOC forcibly maintained a monopoly over nutmeg and mace. Methods used to maintain the monopoly included the violent suppression of the native population, not stopping short of extortion and mass murder.[44] In addition, VOC representatives sometimes used the tactic of burning spice trees in order to force indigenous populations to grow other crops, thus artificially cutting the supply of spices like nutmeg and cloves.[45] [edit] VOC outposts Organization and leadership structures were varied as necessary in the various VOC outposts: Opperhoofd is a Dutch word (plural Opperhoofden) which literally means 'supreme head[man]'. In this VOC context, the word is a gubernatorial title, comparable to the English Chief factor, for the chief executive officer of a Dutch factory in the sense of trading post, as lead by a Factor, i.e. agent. See more at VOC Opperhoofden in Japan [edit] Council of Justice in Batavia The Council of Justice in Batavia was the appelate court for all the other VOC Company posts in the VOC empire. [edit] Notable VOC ships Replicas have been constructed of several VOC ships, marked with an (R) Replica of the VOC vessel quot;
Bataviaquot;
1620-1629 VOC Amsterdam replicates the three-masted, full-rigged VOC vessel which was launched in 1748 and sunk in 1749. A modern reconstruction of the 18th century VOC Amsterdam is permanently anchored in the harbor at the Nederlands Scheepvaartmuseum (the National Maritime Museum) in Amsterdam. Amsterdam (R) Arnhem Batavia (R) Braek Concordia Duyfken (quot;
Little Dovequot;
) (R) Eendracht (1615) (quot;
Unityquot;
) Galias Grooten Broeck (quot;
Great Brookquot;
) Gulden Zeepaert (quot;
Golden Seahorsequot;
) Halve Maen (quot;
Half moonquot;
) (R) Hoogkarspel Heemskerck Hollandia Klein Amsterdam (quot;
Small Amsterdamquot;
) Leeuwerik (quot;
Larkquot;
) Leyden Limmen Meermin[46] Pera Prins Willem (quot;
Prince Williamquot;
) (R) Ridderschap van Holland (quot;
Knighthood of Hollandquot;
) Rooswijk Sardam Texel Utrecht Vergulde Draeck (quot;
Gilded Dragonquot;
) Vianen Vliegende Hollander (quot;
Flying Dutchmanquot;
) Vliegende Swaan (quot;
Flying Swanquot;
) Wapen van Hoorn (quot;
Arms of Hoornquot;
) Wezel (quot;
Weaselquot;
) Zeehaen (quot;
Sea Cockquot;
) Zeemeeuw (quot;
Seagullquot;
) Zeewijk Zuytdorp (quot;
South Villagequot;
) [edit] See also Indonesia portal Dutch and other European settlements in India. Chartered companies Spice wars Other trade companies of the age of the sail The British East India Company, founded in 1600 The Danish East India Company, founded in 1616 The Dutch West India Company, founded in 1621 The French East India Company, founded in 1664 The Ostend Company, founded in 1715 The Swedish East India Company, founded in 1731 The Emden Company, founded 1751 Governors General of the Dutch East India Company Governor-General of the Dutch East Indies Famous people of the VOC Steven van der Hagen (1563–1621 admiral) Pieter van den Broecke (1585–1640 merchant) Willem Ysbrandtsz Bontekoe (1587–1657 a well-known VOC skipper) Cornelis Matelieff de Jonge (1569–1632 admiral) Jan Pieterszoon Coen (1587–1629 governor) Wiebbe Hayes (1608–? soldier on Batavia) Hendrik Hamel (1630–1692 bookkeeper, writer) Engelbert Kaempfer (1651–1716 surgeon, writer) Carl Peter Thunberg (1743–1828 naturalist) Isaac Titsingh (1745–1812 merchant) Hendrik Doeff (1803–1817 chief merchant of Deshima) Jan van Riebeeck (1619–1677 commander of first Dutch settlement in the Cape of Good Hope) [edit] References Constructs such as ibid. and loc. cit. are discouraged by Wikipedia's style guide for footnotes, as they are easily broken. Please improve this article by replacing them with named references (quick guide), or an abbreviated title. ^ Mondo Visione web site: Chambers, Clem. quot;
Who needs stock exchanges?quot;
Exchanges Handbook. -- retrieved 1 February 2008. ^ quot;
Slave Ship Mutiny: Program Transcriptquot;
. Secrets of the Dead. PBS. 2010-11-11. http://www.pbs.org/wnet/secrets/transcripts/slave-ship-mutiny-program-transcript/755/. Retrieved 2010-11-12. ^ Ames, Glenn J. (2008). The Globe Encompassed: The Age of European Discovery, 1500-1700. pp. 102–103. ^ Van Boven, M. W.. quot;
Towards A New Age of Partnership (TANAP): An Ambitious World Heritage Project (UNESCO Memory of the World – reg.form, 2002)quot;
. VOC Archives Appendix 2, p.14. http://portal.unesco.org/ci/en/files/22635/11546101681netherlands_voc_archives.doc/netherlands%2Bvoc%2Barchives.doc. ^ Vickers (2005), p. 10 ^ Ricklefs, M.C. (1991). A History of Modern Indonesia Since c.1300, 2nd Edition. London: MacMillan. pp. 110. ISBN 0-333-57689-6. ^ De Vries and Van der Woude, p. 383 ^ a b Ricklefs, M.C. (1991). A History of Modern Indonesia Since c.1300, 2nd Edition. London: MacMillan. pp. 27. ISBN 0-333-57689-6. ^ a b c d Ricklefs, M.C. (1991). A History of Modern Indonesia Since c.1300, 2nd Edition. London: MacMillan. pp. 25–28. ISBN 0-333-57689-6. ^ (Portuguese) Matos, Artur Teodoro de (1974), Timor Portugues, 1515-1769, Lisboa: Instituto Histórico Infante Dom Henrique. ^ (Dutch) Roever, Arend de (2002), De jacht op sandelhout: De VOC en de tweedeling van Timor in de zeventiende eeuw, Zutphen: Walburg Pers. ^ In the medium term, as new suppliers could enter the market. In the short term the supply was, of course, also inelastic. ^ De Vries and Van der Woude, p. 384-385 ^ a b c d Ricklefs, M.C. (1991). A History of Modern Indonesia Since c.1300, 2nd Edition. London: MacMillan. pp. 29. ISBN 0-333-57689-6. ^ Miller, George (ed.) (1996). To The Spice Islands and Beyond: Travels in Eastern Indonesia. New York: Oxford University Press. xvi. ISBN 967-65-3099-9. ^ De Vries and Vander Woude, p. 386 ^ De Vries and Van der Woude, p. 386 ^ Ames, Glenn J. (2008). The Globe Encompassed: The Age of European Discovery, 1500-1700. p. 115. ^ VOC Warfare - political interaction ^ The share price had appreciated significantly, so in that respect the dividend was less impressive ^ De Witt, D.. quot;
The Easternization of the West: The Role of Melaka, the Malay-Indonesian archipelago and the Dutch (VOC). (International seminar by the Melaka State Government, the Malaysian Institute of Historical and Patriotism Studies (IKSEP), the Institute of Occidental Studies (IKON) at the National University of Malaysia (UKM) and the Netherlands Embassy in Malaysia. Malacca, Malaysia, 27 July 2006quot;
. Children of the VOC at. http://www.dutchmalaysia.net/press/Easternization.html. ^ Blusse, Leonard. Strange company: Chinese settlers, Mestizo women, and the Dutch in VOC Batavia. (Dordrecht-Holland; Riverton, U.S.A., Foris Publications, 1986. xiii, 302p.) number: 959.82 B659. ^ De Vries and Van der Woude, pp. 434-435 ^ De Vries and Van der Woude, pp. 430-433 ^ During the Nine Year's War, the French and Dutch companies came to blows on the Indian Subcontinent. The French sent naval expeditions from metropolitan France, which the VOC easily countered. On the other hand, the VOC conquered the important fortress of Pondichérie after a siege of only sixteen days by an expedition of 3000 men and 19 ships under Laurens Pit from Negapatnam in September 1693. The Dutch then made the defenses of the fortress impregnable, which they came to regret when the Dutch government returned it to the French by the Treaty of Ryswick in exchange for tariff concessions in Europe by the French. Chauhuri and Israel, p 424 ^ De Vries and Van der Woude, pp. 433-434 ^ Chaudhuri and Israel, pp. 428-429 ^ However, the VOC had been defeated many times before. On the Indian Subcontinent, the EIC had suffered a resounding defeat from the Mughal forces in its 1689 Mughal War; Chaudhury and Israel, pp. 435-436 ^ It was also helpful that the price war with the EIC in the early decade had caused the accumulation of enormous inventories of pepper and spices, which enabled the VOC to cut down on shipments later on, thereby freeing up capital to increase shipments of other goods;De Vries and Van der Woude, p. 436 ^ De Vries and Van der Woude, pp.436-437 ^ De Vries and Van der Woude, pp. 437-440 ^ De Vries and Van der Woude, pp. 441-442 ^ a b De Vries and Van der Woude, p. 447 ^ De Vries and Van der Woude, p. 448 ^ De Vries and Van der Woude, pp.449-455 ^ A particularly egregious example was that of the quot;
Amfioen Societyquot;
. This was a business of higher VOC-employees that received a monopoly of the opium trade on Java, at a time when the VOC had to pay monopoly prices to the EIC to buy the opium in Bengal; Burger, passim ^ De Vries and Van der Woude, pp.454-455 ^ Kumar, Ann (1997). Java and Modern Europe: Ambiguous Encounters. p. 32. ^ TANAP, The end of the VOC ^ ibid. ^ De Vries and Van der Woude, p. 385 ^ De Vries and Van der Woude, pp.384-385 ^ Ames, Glenn J. (2008). The Globe Encompassed: The Age of European Discovery, 1500-1700. p. 103. ^ Hanna, Willard A. (1991). Indonesian Banda: Colonialism and its Aftermath in the Nutmeg Islands. Bandanaira: Yayasan Warisan dan Budaya Banda Naira. ^ Ames, Glenn J. (2008). The Globe Encompassed: The Age of European Discovery, 1500-1700. p. 111. ^ quot;
Slave Ship Mutinyquot;
. Secrets of the Dead. PBS. 2010-11-07. http://www.pbs.org/wnet/secrets/featured/slave-ship-mutiny-about-this-episode/674/. Retrieved 2010-11-12. [edit] Further reading Ames, Glenn J. The Globe Encompassed: The Age of European Discovery, 1500-1700. Pearson Prentice Hall, 2008. Blussé, L. et al., eds. The Deshima [sic] Dagregisters: Their Original Tables of Content. Leiden, 1995-2001. Blussé, L. et al., eds. The Deshima Diaries Marginalia 1740-1800. Tokyo, 2004. Boxer, C.R. Jan Compagnie in Japan, 1600-1850: An Essay on the Cultural Aristic and Scientific Influence Exercised by the Hollanders in Japan from the Seventeenth to the Nineteenth Centuries. Den Haag, 1950. Boxer, C.R. The Dutch Seaborne Empire: 1600-1800. London, 1965. Burger, M.(2003), quot;
The Forgotten Gold? The Importance of the Dutch opium trade in the Seventeenth Centuryquot;
, in Eidos. University College Utrecht Academic Magazine. Issue 2/2003 Utrecht University Chaudhuri, K.N., and Israel, J.I.(1991), quot;
The English and Dutch East India Companies and the Glorious Revolution of 1688-9quot;
, in: Israel, J.I. (ed.), The Anglo-Dutch moment. Essays on the Glorious Revolution and its world impact, Cambridge U.P, ISBN 0-521-39075-3, pp. 407–438 De Lange, William. (2006) Pars Japonica: the first Dutch expedition to reach the shores of Japan, Floating World Editions. ISBN 1891640232 Vries, J. de, and Woude, A. van der (1997), The First Modern Economy. Success, Failure, and Perseverance of the Dutch Economy, 1500-1815, Cambridge University Press, ISBN 978-0-521-57825-7 Furber, Holden, Rival Empires of Trade in the Orient 1600-1800. Minneapolis, 1976 Israel, Jonathan I., Dutch Primacy in World Trade 1585-1740. Oxford, 1989 Glamann, Kristof., Dutch-Asiatic Trade 1620-1740. The Hague, 1958 [edit] External links Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Dutch East India Company Dutch Wikisource has original text related to this article: Octrooi van de VOC Dutch India — a chronology of Dutch rule in India Oldest share — the oldest share in the world (VOC 1606) A taste of adventure — The history of spices is the history of trade, The Economist, 17 December 1998. Dutch Portuguese Colonial History Voyages by VOC ships to Australia Why did the Largest Corporation in the World go Broke? The history of the Dutch East Indies Company (Lectures at Gresham College, 1 March and 8 March 2006) Manuscript chart of the Netherlands, VOC, ca.1690 (high resolution zoomable scan) Old print of headquarters of V.O.C. ca.1750 (high resolution zoomable scan) Death of an East Indiaman Towards a New Age of Partnership; a Dutch/Asian/South-African programme of cooperation based on a mutual past (TANAP) - joint archival project of UNESCO, and the Netherlands and Indonesian national archives on the VOC: quot;
An Ambitious World Heritagequot;
. http://www.tanap.net/content/about/heritage.cfm. VOC voyages - online database of voyages of VOC ships Atlas of Mutual Heritage - online atlas of VOC settlements VOC shipwrecks database (Dutch) Database of VOC crew members VOC Warfare Website on the military aspects of the history of the VOC [show] Links to related articles[show]v · d · eDutch Empire[hide] Former coloniesAfricaArguin · Cape Colony · Delagoa Bay (Maputo Bay) · Dutch Gold Coast · Senegambia · Mauritius · Dutch AngolaAmericasDutch colonization of the Americas · Dutch Brazil · Dutch Guiana ( Suriname · Berbice · Essequibo · Demerara · Pomeroon · Cayenne ) · Curaçao and Dependencies · New Netherland · Tobago · Virgin IslandsAsia · OceaniaDutch Ceylon · Dutch India · Deshima (Dejima) · Dutch East Indies · Kharg Island · Dutch Malacca · Netherlands New Guinea · Dutch Formosa · SuratteArcticSmeerenburgSee also Dutch East India Company · Dutch West India Company[hide] Present dependencies (constituent countries of the Kingdom of the Netherlands)Aruba · Curaçao · Sint Maarten[hide] Present public bodies within the NetherlandsBonaire · Saint Eustatius · Saba[show]v · d · eChartered companiesBritishCompany of Merchant Adventurers of London · Company of Merchant Adventurers to New Lands · London and Bristol Company · African Company of Merchants · Muscovy Company · Spanish Company · Eastland Company · Morocco Company · East India Company · Levant Company · Virginia Company · French Company · Massachusetts Bay Company · Providence Island Company · Royal West Indian Company · Hudson's Bay Company · Royal African Company · Greenland Company · South Sea Company · Sierra Leone Company · New Zealand Company · Eastern Archipelago Company · Royal British Bank · North Borneo Company · Royal Niger Company · South Africa CompanyFrenchCompany of One Hundred Associates · Compagnie de l'Occident · Compagnie du Mississippi · Compagnie des Îles de l'Amérique · Compagnie des Indes Occidentales · Compagnie des Indes OrientalesGermanBrandenburg African Company · Emden Company · West African Company · New Guinea Company · East Africa CompanyPortugueseCompanhia da Guiné · Companhia de Moçambique · Companhia do Nyassa · Portuguese East India Company · House of IndiaLow CountriesDutch East India Company · Nordic Company · New Netherland Company · Dutch West India Company · Ostend CompanyScandinavianDanish East India Company · Danish West India Company · Royal Greenland · New Sweden Company · Swedish Africa Company · Swedish East India Company · Swedish West India Company · Swedish Levant Company Retrieved from quot;
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Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License; additional terms may apply. See Terms of Use for details.Wikipedia® is a registered trademark of the Wikimedia Foundation, Inc., a non-profit organization. Contact us New Amsterdam From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Jump to: navigation, search This article is about the settlement that became New York City. For other uses, see New Amsterdam (disambiguation). This article has multiple issues. Please help improve it or discuss these issues on the talk page.It needs additional references or sources for verification. Tagged since February 2011.Its introduction may be too long. Tagged since February 2011.It may require general cleanup to meet Wikipedia's quality standards. Tagged since February 2011. Drawing of New Amsterdam from 1648, found in 1991 in Vienna's Albertina, is probably the oldest image found to date [show]New Netherland seriesExplorationFortifications: • Fort Amsterdam • Fort Nassau (North) • Fort Orange • Fort Nassau (South) • Fort Goede Hoop • De Wal • Fort Casimir • Fort Altena • Fort Wilhelmus • Fort Beversreede • Fort Nya Korsholm • De RondoutSettlements: • Noten Eylandt • New Amsterdam • Rensselaerswyck • New Haarlem • Noortwyck • Beverwijck • Wiltwyck • Bergen • Pavonia • Vriessendael • Achter Col • Vlissingen • Oude Dorpe • Colen Donck • Greenwich • Heemstede • Rustdorp • Gravesende • Breuckelen • New Amersfoort • Midwout • New Utrecht • Boswyck • Swaanendael • New Amstel • Nieuw DorpThe Patroon System Charter of Freedoms and ExemptionsDirectors of New Netherland: Cornelius Jacobsen May (1620-25)Willem Verhulst (1625-26)Peter Minuit (1626-32)Sebastiaen Jansen Krol (1632-33)Wouter van Twiller (1633-38)Willem Kieft (1638-47)Peter Stuyvesant (1647-64)People of New Netherland New NetherlanderTwelve MenEight MenFlushing Remonstrance New Amsterdam (Dutch: Nieuw-Amsterdam) was a 17th-century Dutch colonial settlement that served as the capital of New Netherland. It later became New York City. The town, outside of Fort Amsterdam on Manhattan Island in the New Netherland territory (1614–1674), was situated between 38 and 42 degrees latitude and was as a provincial extension of the Dutch Republic as of 1624. Provincial possession of the territory had been accomplished with the first settlement, established on Noten Eylandt (which the British would later rename Governors Island) in 1624. A year later in 1625, construction of a citadel comprising Fort Amsterdam was commenced on the southern tip of nearby Manhattan Island and the first settlers were moved there from Governors Island.[1] By 1609, the harbor and the river had been discovered, explored and charted by an expedition of the Dutch East India Company captained by Henry Hudson when he first sailed by what is now Manhattan.[2] From 1611 through 1614, the territory was surveyed and charted by private commercial companies on behalf of the States General of the Dutch Republic and operated commercially before it became a provincial entity in 1624. The town was founded in 1625 by Willem Verhulst who, together with his council, selected Manhattan Island as the optimal place for permanent settlement by the Dutch West India Company. That year, military engineer and surveyor Krijn Frederiksz laid out a citadel with Fort Amsterdam as its centerpiece. To secure the settlers' property and its surroundings according to Dutch law, Peter Minuit created a deed with the Manhattan Indians in 1626 which signified legal possession of Manhattan. He was appointed New Netherland's third director by the local council after Willem Verhulst returned home in November 1626. The city, situated on the strategic, fortifiable southern tip of the island of Manhattan was to maintain New Netherland's provincial integrity by defending river access to the company's fur trade operations in the North River, later named Hudson River. Furthermore, it was entrusted to safeguard the West India Company's exclusive access to New Netherland's other two estuaries; the Delaware River and the Connecticut River. Fort Amsterdam was designated the capital of the province in 1625 and developed into the largest Dutch colonial settlement of the New Netherland province, now the New York Tri-State Region, and remained a Dutch possession until September 1664, when it fell provisionally and temporarily into the hands of the English. The Dutch Republic regained it in August 1673 with a fleet of 21 ships, renaming the city quot;
New Orangequot;
. New Netherland was ceded permanently to the English in November 1674 by treaty. The 1625 date of the founding of New Amsterdam is now commemorated in the official Seal of New York City (formerly, the year on the seal was 1664, the year of the provisional Articles of Transfer, ensuring New Netherlanders that they quot;
shall keep and enjoy the liberty of their consciences in religionquot;
, negotiated with the English by Petrus Stuyvesant and his council). History of New York CityPeriodsLenape and New NetherlandNew AmsterdamBritish and RevolutionFederal and early AmericanTammany and ConsolidationEarly 20th centuryPost–World War IIModern and post-9/11 Contents[hide]1 History 1.1 Early Settlement (1609–1625) 1.1.1 Pilgrim attempt to settle the Hudson River area1.1.2 The Dutch return1.2 Fort Amsterdam (1625)1.3 1625–16742 Maps of New Amsterdam3 Legacy4 See also5 Notes6 External links [edit] History See also: Dutch colonization of the Americas and History of New York City A map of the Hudson River Valley c. 1635 (North is to the right) [edit] Early Settlement (1609–1625) Main article: New Netherland The first recorded exploration by the Dutch of the area around what is now called New York Bay was in 1609 with the voyage of the ship Halve Maen or quot;
Half Moonquot;
, captained by Henry Hudson, in the service of the Dutch Republic, as the emissary of Holland's stadholder Maurits. Hudson named the river the Mauritius River and was covertly attempting to find the Northwest Passage for the Dutch East India Company. Instead, he brought back news about the possibility of exploitation of beaver pelts in the area, leading to private commercial interest by the Dutch who sent commercial, private missions to the area the following years. At the time, beaver pelts were highly prized in Europe, because the fur could be felted to make waterproof hats. A by-product of the trade in beaver pelts was castoreum—the secretion of the animals' anal glands—which was used for its supposed medicinal properties. The expeditions by Adriaen Block and Hendrick Christiansz in the years 1611, 1612, 1613 and 1614 resulted in the surveying and charting of the region from the 38th parallel to the 45th parallel. On their 1614 map, which gave them a four year trade monopoly under a patent of the States General, they named the newly discovered and mapped territory New Netherland for the first time. It also showed the first year-round, top-of-the-Hudson River, island-based trading presence in New Netherland, Fort Nassau, which years later, in 1624, would be replaced by Fort Orange on the main land which grew into the town of Beverwyck, now Albany. The territory of Novo Belgio HYPERLINK quot;
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_Amsterdamquot;
quot;
cite_note-2quot;
[3] or New Netherland, comprising the Northeast's largest rivers with access to the beaver trade, was provisionally a private, profit-making commercial enterprise focusing on cementing alliances and conducting trade with the diverse Indian tribes. They enabled the serendipitous surveying and exploration of the region as a prelude to anticipated official settlement by the Dutch Republic which occurred in 1624. [edit] Pilgrim attempt to settle the Hudson River area An 1882 depiction of the Mayflower in Plymouth Harbor The Pilgrims, in 1620, attempted to sail to the Hudson River from England. According to the arrangements made by Robert Carver[disambiguation needed] and John Cushman, the Speedwell was to meet up with the Mayflower off the coast of England and both would sail to the Hudson River. The Speedwell, however, proved too leaky to make the voyage and about 100 passengers were instead crowded aboard the Mayflower. Joining the Scrooby congregation were about 50 colonists who had been recruited by the Merchant Adventurers for their vocational skills which would prove useful in establishing a colony.[4] The Mayflower reached Cape Cod (now part of Massachusetts) on November 9, 1620, after a voyage of 64 days.[5] For a variety of reasons, primarily a shortage of supplies, the Mayflower could not proceed to the Hudson River and the colonists decided to settle somewhere on or near Cape Cod.[5] An attempt was made to sail the ship around the cape towards the Hudson River, but the voyagers encountered shoals and difficult currents around Malabar (a land mass that formerly existed in the vicinity of present-day Monomoy). It was decided to turn around, and by November 11/November 21 the ship was anchored in what is today known as Provincetown Harbor.[6] [7] The colonists had no permission from the Crown to settle near Cape Cod, and the legal status of the colony would therefore become void. The leaders of the colony felt this situation might lead to political anarchy and, motivated by mutinous outbursts from some of the colonists, they drafted the Mayflower Compact off the coast of Cape Cod.[8] During the ensuing days, they explored the bay and found a suitable place for settlement, now the site of downtown Plymouth, Massachusetts. The location featured a prominent hill (now known as Burial Hill) ideal for a defensive fort. There were numerous brooks providing fresh water. Also, the site had been the location of a Native American village known as Patuxet, therefore much of the area had already been cleared for planting corn. The Patuxet tribe, between 1616 and 1619, had been wiped out by plagues resulting from contact with English fisherman--diseases to which the Patuxet had no immunity.[9] Bradford later wrote that bones of the dead were clearly evident in many places.[10] [edit] The Dutch return Immediately after the armistice period between the Dutch Republic and Spain (1609–1621), the Dutch West India Company was founded in 1621. That year, as well as in 1622 and 1623, orders were given to the private, commercial traders to vacate the territory, thus opening up the territory to the transplantation of Dutch culture onto the North American continent whereon the laws and ordinances of the states of Holland would now apply. Previously, during the private, commercial period, only the law of the ship had applied. The mouth of the Hudson River was selected as the most perfect place for initial settlement as it had easy access to the ocean while securing an ice free lifeline to the beaver-rich, unexploited forests farther north where the company's traders could be in close contact with the American Indian hunters who supplied them with pelts in exchange for European-made trade goods for barter and wampum, which was soon being quot;
mintedquot;
under Dutch auspices on Long Island. Thus in 1624 when the first group of families arrived on Noten Eylandt (later Governors) to be followed by the second group of settlers to the island in 1625, in order to take possession of the New Netherland territory and to operate various trading posts, they were spread out to Verhulsten Island (Burlington Island) in the South River (Delaware River), to Kievitshoek (now Old Saybrook, Connecticut) at the mouth of the Verse River (Connecticut River) and at the top of the Mauritius or North River (Hudson River), now Albany. [edit] Fort Amsterdam (1625) The potential threat of attack from other interloping European colonial powers prompted the Directors of the Dutch West India Company to formulate a plan to protect the entrance to the Hudson River, and to consolidate the trading operations and the bulk of the settlers into the vicinity of a new fort. In 1625, most of them were moved from Noten Eylant, (later Governors), to Manhattan Island where a citadel to contain Fort Amsterdam was being laid out by Cryn Frederickz van Lobbrecht at the direction of Willem Verhulst who had been empowered by the Dutch West India Company to make that decision in his and his council's best judgment. For the location of the fort, company director Willem Verhulst and Military Engineer and Surveyor Cryn Fredericks chose a site just above the southern tip of Manhattan. The new fortification was to be called Fort Amsterdam. By the end of the year 1625, the site had been staked out directly south of Bowling Green on the site of the present U.S. Custom House; west of the fort's site, later landfill has now created Battery Park. [edit] 1625–1674 New Amsterdam in 1664 Willem Verhulst, who with his council was responsible for the selection of Manhattan as permanent place of settlement and situating Fort Amsterdam, was replaced as the company director-general of New Amsterdam by Peter Minuit in 1626. To legally safeguard the settlers' investments, possessions and farms on Manhattan island, Minuit negotiated the quot;
purchasequot;
of Manhattan from the Manahatta band of Lenape for 60 guilders worth of trade goods. The deed itself has not survived so the conditions causing the negotiation and validation of the deed are unknown. A textual reference to the deed became a foundation for the legend that Minuit had purchased Manhattan from the Native Americans for 24 dollars' worth of trinkets. However, the actual purchasing power of 60 guilders back then amounts to around $1000 nowadays [11] While the originally designed large fort, meant to contain the population as in a fortified city, was being constructed, the Mohawk—Mahican War at the top of the Hudson led the company to relocate the settlers from there to the vicinity of the new Fort Amsterdam. As the settlers were at peace with the Manahatta Indians, the fact that no large scale foreign powers were imminently trying to seize the territory, and that colonizing was a prohibitively expensive undertaking, only partly subsidized by the fur trade, led a scaling back of the original plans. By 1628, a smaller fort was constructed with walls containing a mixture of clay and sand, like in Holland. Upon first settlement on Noten Eylant (now Governors Island) in 1624, a fort and sawmill was built. The latter was constructed by Franchoys Fezard. The New Amsterdam settlement had a population of approximately 270 people, including infants. In 1642 the new director-general Willem Kieft decided to build a stone church within the fort, and the work was carried out by recent English immigrants, the brothers John and Richard Ogden. The church was finished in 1645 and stood till burned in the quot;
Great Negro Riotquot;
of 1741. A pen-and-ink view of New Amsterdam,[12] drawn on-the-spot and discovered in the map collection of the Austrian National Library of Vienna in 1991, provides a unique view of Nieuw Amsterdam as it appeared from Capske (small Cape) Rock in 1648. Capske Rock was situated in the water close to Manhattan between Manhattan and Noten Eylant (renamed Governors Island in 1784), which signaled the start of the East River roadstead. New Amsterdam received municipal rights on February 2, 1653 thus becoming a city. (Albany, then named Beverwyck, received its city rights in 1652) and was unilaterally reincorporated under English law as New York City in June 1665. The Fall of New Amsterdam, by Jean Leon Gerome Ferris, showing Peter Stuyvesant (left of center, with wooden leg) standing on shore among residents of New Amsterdam who are pleading with him not to open fire on the British who have arrived in warships waiting in the harbor to claim the territory for England. On August 22, 1654, the first Ashkenazic Jews arrived with West India Company passports from Amsterdam to be followed in September by a sizable group of Sephardic Jews, without passports, fleeing from the Portuguese reconquest of Dutch possessions in Brazil. The legal-cultural foundation of toleration as the basis for plurality in New Amsterdam superseded matters of personal intolerance or individual bigotry. Hence, and in spite of certain private objections (including that of director-general Peter Stuyvesant), the Sephardim were granted permanent residency on the basis of quot;
reason and equityquot;
in 1655. Nieuw Haarlem was formally recognized in 1658. On August 27, 1664, in a surprise incursion when England and the Dutch Republic were at peace, four English frigates sailed in New Amsterdam's harbor and demanded New Netherland's surrender, whereupon New Netherland was provisionally ceded by director-general Peter Stuyvesant. This resulted in the Second Anglo-Dutch War, between England and the Dutch Republic. In 1667, the Dutch did not press their claims on New Netherland (but did not relinquish them either) in the Treaty of Breda, in return for an exchange with the tiny Island of Run in North Maluku, rich in nutmegs and the guarantee for the factual possession of Suriname, that year captured by them. The New Amsterdam city was subsequently renamed New York, after the Duke of York (later King James II). He was brother of the English King Charles II, who had been granted the lands. However, in the Third Anglo-Dutch War, the Dutch recaptured New Netherland in July 1673 and installed Anthony Colve as New Netherland's first Governor (previously there had only been West India Company Directors), and the city was renamed quot;
New Orangequot;
. After the signing of the Treaty of Westminster in November 1674 the city was relinquished to English rule and the name reverted to quot;
New Yorkquot;
; Suriname became an official Dutch possession in return. New Orange, c. 1674 [edit] Maps of New Amsterdam The original city map of New Amsterdam called Castello Plan from 1660 Redraft of the Castello Plan, drawn in 1916 New Amsterdam's beginnings, unlike most other colonies in the New World, were thoroughly documented in city maps. During the time of New Netherland colonization the Dutch were Europe's pre-eminent cartographers. Moreover, as the Dutch West India Company's delegated authority over New Netherlander was threefold, maintaining sovereignty on behalf of the States General, generating cash flow through commercial enterprise for its shareholders and funding the province's growth, its directors regularly required that censuses be taken. These tools to measure and monitor the province's progress were accompanied by accurate maps and plans. These surveys, as well as grassroots activities to seek redress of grievances, HYPERLINK quot;
quot;
cite_note-de_Koning-11quot;
[12] account for the existence of some of the most important of the early documents.[13] There is a particularly detailed city map called the Castello Plan. Virtually every structure in New Amsterdam at the time is believed to be represented, and by a fortunate coincidence it can be determined who resided in every house from the Nicasius de Sille List of 1660, which enumerates all the citizens of New Amsterdam and their addresses.[14] The city map known as the Duke's Plan probably derived from the same 1660 census as the Castello Plan. The Duke's Plan includes the earliest suburban development on Manhattan (the two outlined areas along the top of the plan). The work was created for James (1633–1701), the duke of York and Albany, after whom New York City and New York State's capital Albany was named, just after the seizure of New Amsterdam by the English.[15] After that provisional relinquishment of New Netherland, Stuyvesant reported to his superiors that he quot;
had endeavored to promote the increase of population, agriculture and commerce...the flourishing condition which might have been more flourishing if the now afflicted inhabitants had been protected by a suitable garrison...and had been helped with the long sought for settlement of the boundary, or in default thereof had they been seconded with the oft besought reinforcement of men and ships against the continual troubles, threats, encroachments and invasions of the English neighbors and government of Hartford Colony, our too powerful enemies.quot;
 The existence of these city maps has proven to be very useful in the archaeology of New York. For instance, the excavation of the Stadthuys (City Hall) of New Amsterdam had great help in finding the exact location of the building from the Castello map.[16] [edit] Legacy Early 20th century Dutch Revival buildings on S William Street in lower Manhattan recall the Dutch origins of the city. The original 17th century architecture of New Amsterdam has completely vanished (affected by the fires of 1776 and 1835),[17][18] leaving only archaeological remnants. The presentation of the legacy of the unique culture of 17th century New Amsterdam remains a concern of preservationists and educators. The National Park Service celebrated in 2009 the 400th anniversary of the Henry Hudson's 1609 voyage on behalf of the Dutch with the New Amsterdam Trail.[19][20] Writer Elizabeth Bear published the New Amsterdam Series, detective stories taking place in an alternative history where the city remained Dutch until the Napoleonic Wars and retained its name also afterwards. [edit] See also Director-General of New Netherland Roosevelt family [edit] Notes ^ New York City Department of Parks & Recreation (October 06, 2000). quot;
Battery Parkquot;
. http://www.nycgovparks.org/sub_your_park/historical_signs/hs_historical_sign.php?id=7712. Retrieved 2008-01-17. ^ Nieuwe Wereldt ofte Beschrijvinghe van West-Indien, uit veelerhande Schriften ende Aen-teekeningen van verscheyden Natien (Leiden, Bonaventure & Abraham Elseviers, 1625) p.83: quot;
/in den jare 1609 sonden de bewindt-hebbers van de gheoctroyeerde Oost-Indischische compagnie het jacht de halve mane/ daer voor schipper ende koopman op roer Hendrick Hudson[...]quot;
(quot;
in the year 1609 the administrators of the East Indies Company sent the half moon captained by the merchant Hudson[...]quot;
) ^ quot;
New York and its origins - Legend and realityquot;
. http://users.skynet.be/newyorkfoundation/US/the_birth_of_new_york.html. ^ Philbrick, Nathaniel (2006). Mayflower: A Story of Community, Courage and War. New York: Penguin Books. ISBN 9780143111979. http://books.google.com/?id=qk9AXww_XysC. (page 25). ^ a b Stratton, Eugene A. (1986). Plymouth Colony: Its History & People, 1620–1691. Salt Lake City: Ancestry Incorporated. ISBN 0916489132. http://books.google.com/?id=17zCU76ZtH0C. (page 20). ^ * Bradford, William (1898) [1651]. Hildebrandt, Ted. ed (PDF). Bradford's History quot;
Of Plimoth Plantationquot;
. Boston: Wright & Potter Printing Co.. http://faculty.gordon.edu/hu/bi/Ted_Hildebrandt/NEReligiousHistory/Bradford-Plimoth/Bradford-PlymouthPlantation.pdf. Retrieved 2008-11-28. ^ Winslow (2003), p. 64.*Winslow, Edward; Caleb Johnson, ed. (2003). quot;
Hypocrisy Unmaskedquot;
(PDF). MayflowerHistory.com. http://mayflowerhistory.com/PrimarySources/HypocrisyUnmasked.pdf. Retrieved 2008-11-28. ^ Philbrick, 40. ^ Philbrick, 79. ^ Philbrick, 80. ^ According to a calculation by the International Institute of Social History, Amsterdam at International Institute of Social History, Amsterdam, Netherlands ^ a b de Koning, Joep M.J. (July/August 2000). quot;
From Van der Donck to Visscherquot;
. Mercator's World. http://web.archive.org/web/20030630211837/mercatorsworld.com/article.php3?i=75. Retrieved 2008-01-17. ^ Robert Augustyn, quot;
Maps in the making of Manhattanquot;
Magazine Antiques, September 1995. URL accessed on December 15, 2005. ^ Several reproductions of the Castello plan can be found on-line: New Netherland Project, New York Public Library, Wikimedia Commons. Colored versions from 1916 can be found here: New York University and here: HYPERLINK quot;
https://www.nyhistory.org/web/crossroads/gallery/background_matter/castello_plan_redraft.htmlquot;
New York Historical Society. A quot;
Digital redraft of the Castello Plan of New Amsterdam in New Netherland in 1660quot;
is an interactive map that can be found here: [1]. This map allows you to click in various places to learn more about the ownership and use of the land and buildings. All URLs accessed on February 17, 2010. A Google Earth File of the Castello Plan is posted here: HYPERLINK quot;
http://bbs.keyhole.com/ubb/ubbthreads.php?ubb=showthreaded&Number=1206679quot;
[2]. ^ An image of the Duke's map can be found on-line at the British Library site: THE BRITISH LIBRARY URL accessed on December 15, 2005. ^ A slideshow of the famous Stadt Huys dig, a landmark archaeological excavation of one of the central blocks of New Amsterdam, can be found here: [3]. A 17-century picture of the Stadthuys can be found here: [4]. Both URLs accessed on February 2, 2011. ^ NY Public Library Picture Collection. quot;
Map of Great Fire 1776quot;
. http://www.bklyn-genealogy-info.com/Map/1776greatfire.html. Retrieved 2011-02-02. ^ CUNY. quot;
Map of Damages - 1835quot;
. http://www.virtualny.cuny.edu/Search/search_res_image.php?id=502. Retrieved 2011-02-02. ^ quot;
The New Amsterdam Trailquot;
. National Park Service, New York Harbor Parks. 2009. http://www.nyharborparks.org/visit/tour-new-amsterdam.html. ^ quot;
The Henry Hudson 400 Foundationquot;
. http://www.henryhudson400.com/home.php. [edit] External links Wikimedia Commons has media related to: New Amsterdam The New Amsterdam Trail, a downloadable audio walking tour of Lower Manhattan Nieuw Amsterdam to New York, an audio history from the National Parks of New York Harbor Conservancy New Amsterdam from the New Netherland Project From Van der Donck to Visscher: a 1648 view of New Amsterdam, discovered in Vienna in 1991 Background on the Native Americans of the area [show]v · d · eDutch Empire[hide] Former coloniesAfricaArguin · Cape Colony · Delagoa Bay (Maputo Bay) · Dutch Gold Coast · Senegambia · Mauritius · Dutch AngolaAmericasDutch colonization of the Americas · Dutch Brazil · Dutch Guiana ( Suriname · Berbice · Essequibo · Demerara · Pomeroon · Cayenne ) · Curaçao and Dependencies · New Netherland · Tobago · Virgin IslandsAsia · OceaniaDutch Ceylon · Dutch India · Deshima (Dejima) · Dutch East Indies · Kharg Island · Dutch Malacca · Netherlands New Guinea · Dutch Formosa · SuratteArcticSmeerenburgSee also Dutch East India Company · Dutch West India Company[hide] Present dependencies (constituent countries of the Kingdom of the Netherlands)Aruba · Curaçao · Sint Maarten[hide] Present public bodies within the NetherlandsBonaire · Saint Eustatius · Saba Retrieved from quot;
 Categories: New Netherland | Colonial United States (Dutch) | 1620s establishments | History of New York City | Historic Jewish communities | 1664 disestablishments | Pre-state history of New York Hidden categories: Articles lacking reliable references from February 2011 | Articles needing cleanup from February 2011 | Wikipedia introduction cleanup from February 2011 | All pages needing cleanup | Articles containing Dutch language text | Articles with links needing disambiguation Personal tools Log in / create account Namespaces Article Discussion Variants Views Read Edit View history Actions Search Top of Form Bottom of Form Navigation Main page Contents Featured content Current events Random article Donate to Wikipedia Interaction Help About Wikipedia Community portal Recent changes Contact Wikipedia Toolbox What links here Related changes Upload file Special pages Permanent link Cite this page Print/export Create a book Download as PDF Printable version Languages العربية Català Česky Dansk Deutsch Eesti Español Esperanto فارسی Français Galego 한국어 Bahasa Indonesia Italiano עברית ქართული Македонски Bahasa Melayu Nederlands 日本語 ‪Norsk (bokmål)‬ Português Русский Simple English Suomi Türkçe This page was last modified on 2 February 2011 at 19:51. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License; additional terms may apply. See Terms of Use for details.Wikipedia® is a registered trademark of the Wikimedia Foundation, Inc., a non-profit organization. Contact us South Africa From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Jump to: navigation, search This article is about the country in southern Africa. For its predecessor, see Union of South Africa. For the southern region of Africa, see Southern Africa. Not to be confused with South African Republic. Republic of South Africa[show]Republiek van Suid-Afrika (Afrikaans)iRiphabliki yeSewula Afrika (S. Ndebele)iRiphabliki yomZantsi Afrika (Xhosa)iRiphabhuliki yaseNingizimu Afrika (Zulu)iRiphabhulikhi yeNingizimu Afrika (Swazi)Repabliki ya Afrika-Borwa (N. Sotho)Rephaboliki ya Afrika Borwa (S. Sotho)Rephaboliki ya Aforika Borwa (Tswana)Riphabliki ra Afrika Dzonga (Tsonga)Riphabuḽiki ya Afurika Tshipembe (Venda)(all 11 names are official)[1]FlagCoat of armsMotto: !ke e: ǀxarra ǁke (ǀXam)quot;
Unity In Diversityquot;
Anthem: National anthem of South AfricaCapitalPretoria (executive)Bloemfontein (judicial)Cape Town (legislative)Largest cityJohannesburg (2006) [2]Official language(s)11[3][show]AfrikaansEnglish (South African English)Southern NdebeleNorthern SothoSouthern SothoSwaziTsongaTswanaVendaXhosaZuluEthnic groups 79.4% Black9.2% White8.8% Coloured2.6% Asian[4]DemonymSouth AfricanGovernmentConstitutional parliamentary republic - PresidentJacob Zuma - Deputy PresidentKgalema Motlanthe - NCOP ChairmanM. J. Mahlangu - National Assembly SpeakerMax Sisulu - Chief JusticeSandile NgcoboLegislatureParliament - Upper HouseNational Council of Provinces - Lower HouseNational AssemblyIndependencefrom the United Kingdom - Union31 May 1910 - Statute of Westminster11 December 1931 - Republic31 May 1961 Area - Total1,221,037 km2 (25th)471,443 sq mi - Water (%)NegligiblePopulation - 2010 estimate49,991,300[4] (25th) - 2001 census44,819,778[5] - Density41/km2 (170th)106.2/sq miGDP (PPP)2009 estimate - Total$505.214 billion[6] - Per capita$10,243[6] GDP (nominal)2009 estimate - Total$287.219 billion[6] - Per capita$5,823[6] Gini (2000)57.8 (high) HDI (2009)0.683 (medium) (129th)CurrencyRand (ZAR)Time zoneSAST (UTC+2)Drives on theleftISO 3166 codeZAInternet TLD.zaCalling code+27 Coordinates: 30°S 25°E / 30°S 25°E / -30; 25 The Republic of South Africa is a parliamentary democracy comprising nine provinces which is located at the southern tip of Africa, with a 2,798 kilometres (1,739 mi) coastline[7][8] on the Atlantic and Indian Oceans.[9] To the north lie Namibia, Botswana and Zimbabwe; to the east are Mozambique and Swaziland; while Lesotho is an enclave surrounded by South African territory.[10] South Africa is known for a diversity in cultures and languages. Eleven official languages are recognised in the constitution.[9] Two of these languages are of European origin: Afrikaans, a language which originated mainly from Dutch that is spoken by the majority of white and Coloured South Africans, and South African English. Though English is commonly used in public and commercial life, it is only the fifth most-spoken home language.[9] South Africa is ethnically diverse. About 79.5% of the South African population is of black African ancestry,[4] divided among a variety of ethnic groups speaking different Bantu languages, nine of which have official status.[9] South Africa also contains the largest communities of European, Asian, and racially mixed ancestry in Africa. About a quarter of the population is unemployed[11] and lives on less than US $1.25 a day.[12] South Africa is a constitutional democracy in the form of a parliamentary republic; unlike most parliamentary republics, the positions of head of state and head of government are merged in a parliament-dependent President. It is one of the founding members of the African Union, and has the largest economy of all the members. It is also a founding member of the United Nations and NEPAD. South Africa is a member of the Commonwealth of Nations, Antarctic Treaty System, Group of 77, South Atlantic Peace and Cooperation Zone, Southern African Customs Union, World Trade Organization, International Monetary Fund, G20 and G8+5. Contents[hide]1 History 1.1 20th century2 Government and politics3 Foreign relations and military4 Geography 4.1 Climate4.2 Flora and fauna5 Economy 5.1 Electricity crisis5.2 Agriculture6 Demographics 6.1 Religion6.2 Languages6.3 Largest municipalities7 Health8 Science and technology9 Society and culture 9.1 Art9.2 Literature9.3 Cinema9.4 Music9.5 Sports9.6 Education10 Social problems11 See also12 References13 Further reading14 External links History This section needs additional citations for verification.Please help improve this article by adding reliable references. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. (September 2008) Main article: History of South Africa South Africa contains some of the oldest archaeological sites in the world.[13][14][15] Extensive fossil remains at the Sterkfontein, Kromdraai and Makapansgat caves suggest that various australopithecines existed in South Africa from about three million years ago.[16] These were succeeded by various species, including Homo habilis, Homo erectus and modern humans, Homo sapiens. Settlements of Bantu-speaking peoples, who were iron-using agriculturists and herdsmen, were already present south of the Limpopo River (now the northern border with Botswana and Zimbabwe) by the fourth or fifth century CE. (see Bantu expansion). They displaced, conquered and absorbed the original Khoisan speakers, the Khoikhoi and San peoples. The Bantu slowly moved south. The earliest ironworks in modern-day KwaZulu-Natal Province are believed to date from around 1050. The southernmost group was the Xhosa people, whose language incorporates certain linguistic traits from the earlier Khoisan people. The Xhosa reached the Great Fish River, in today's Eastern Cape Province. As they migrated, these larger Iron Age populations displaced or assimilated earlier peoples, who often had hunter-gatherer societies[ HYPERLINK quot;
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Citation_neededquot;
quot;
Wikipedia:Citation neededquot;
citation needed]. Modern humans have inhabited Southern Africa for more than 100,000 years. At the time of European contact, the dominant indigenous peoples were Bantu-speaking peoples who had migrated from other parts of Africa about one thousand years before. The two major historic groups were the Xhosa and Zulu peoples. The arrival of Jan van Riebeeck, the first European to settle in South Africa, with Devil's Peak in the background Historical statesin present-daySouth Africa[show] before 1600Mapungubwe (1050–1270)[show] 1600-1700Cape Colony (1652–1910)[show] 1700-1800Swellendam (1795)Graaff Reinet (1795–1796)[show] 1800-1850Waterboer's Land (1813–1871)Zulu Kingdom (1818–1897)Adam Kok's Land (1825–1861)Winburg (1836–1844)Potchefstroom (1837–1848)Natalia Republic (1839–1843)[show] 1850-1875Orange Free State (1854–1902)Republic of Utrecht (1854–1858)Lydenburg Republic (1856–1860)South African Republic (1857–1902)Griqualand East (1861–1879)Griqualand West (1870)[show] 1875-1900Stellaland (1882–1885)Goshen (1882–1883)Nieuw Republiek (1884–1888)Klein Vrystaat (1886–1891)[show] 1900-presentCape Colony (1652–1910)Union of South Africa (1910–1961)Transkei (1976–1994)Bophuthatswana (1977–1994)Venda (1979–1994)Ciskei (1981–1994)Republic of South Africa (1961–present)more In 1487, the Portuguese explorer Bartolomeu Dias became the first European known to have reached southern Africa. On December 4, he landed at Walfisch Bay (now known as Walvis Bay in present day Namibia). This was south of the furthest point reached in 1485 by his predecessor, the Portuguese navigator Diogo Cão (Cape Cross, north of the bay). Dias continued down the western cost of southern Africa. After 8 January 1488, prevented by storms from proceeding along the coast, he sailed out of sight of land and passed the southernmost point of Africa without seeing it. After he had reached as far up the eastern coast of Africa as what he called Rio do Infante, probably present-day [[Groot River (Eastern Cape), in May 1488 on his return he saw the Cape, which he first named Cabo das Tormentas (Cape of Storms). His King, John II, renamed the point Cabo da Boa Esperança or Cape of Good Hope, as it led to the riches of the East Indies.[17] Dias' feat of navigation was later memorialized in Camões' epic Portuguese poem, The Lusiads (1572). In 1652, a century and a half after the discovery of the Cape Sea Route, Jan van Riebeeck established a refreshment station at the Cape of Good Hope, at what would become Cape Town,[18] on behalf of the Dutch East India Company. The Dutch transported slaves from Indonesia, Madagascar, and India as labour for the colonists in Cape Town. As they expanded east, the Dutch settlers met the southwesterly migrating Xhosa people in the region of the Fish River. A series of wars, called the Cape Frontier Wars, ensued, caused by thei conflicting land and livestock interests. The discovery of diamonds and later gold triggered the 19th-century conflict known as the Anglo-Boer War, as the Boers (original Dutch, Flemish, German and French settlers) and the British fought for the control of the South African mineral wealth. Cape Town became a British colony in 1806. European settlement expanded during the 1820s as the Boers and the British 1820 Settlers claimed land in the north and east of the country. Conflicts arose among the Xhosa, Zulu and Afrikaner groups who competed for territory. Great Britain took over the Cape of Good Hope area in 1795, to prevent it from falling under control of the French First Republic, which had invaded the Dutch Republic. Given its standing interests in Australia and India, Great Britain wanted to use Cape Town as an interim port for its merchants' long voyages. The British returned Cape Town to the Dutch in 1803, but soon afterwards the Dutch East India Company declared bankruptcy. The British annexed the Cape Colony in 1806. The British continued the frontier wars against the Xhosa, pushing the eastern frontier through a line of forts established along the Fish River. They consolidated the territory by encouraging British settlement. Due to pressure of abolitionist societies in Britain, the British parliament stopped its global slave trade with the passage of the Slave Trade Act 1807, then abolished slavery in all its colonies with the Slavery Abolition Act 1833. Boers in combat (1881) In the first two decades of the 19th century, the Zulu people grew in power and expanded their territory under their leader, Shaka.[19] Shaka’s warfare led indirectly to the Mfecane (“Crushing”) that devastated the inland plateau in the early 1820s.[20] An offshoot of the Zulu, the Matabele people created a larger empire under their king Mzilikazi, including large parts of the highveld. During the 1830s, approximately 12,000 Boers (later known as Voortrekkers), departed from the Cape Colony, where they had been subjected to British control. They migrated to the future Natal, Orange Free State and Transvaal regions. The Boers founded the Boer Republics: the South African Republic (now Gauteng, Limpopo, Mpumalanga and North West provinces) and the Orange Free State (Free State). The discovery of diamonds in 1867 and gold in 1884 in the interior encouraged economic growth and immigration, the so called Mineral Revolution. This intensified the European-South African subjugation of the indigenous people. The struggle to control these important economic resources was a factor between Europeans and the indigenous population, and also between the Boers and the British.[21] The Boer Republics successfully resisted British encroachments during the First Boer War (1880–1881) using guerrilla warfare tactics, which were well suited to local conditions. However, the British returned with greater numbers, more experience, and new strategy in the Second Boer War (1899–1902), which they won.<br /&

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