The Dutch in the Caribbean
Assess the contributions of the Dutch to the development of the Caribbean.
The incorporation of the Dutch into the Caribbean during the latter half of the 16th century and early 17th century came on the heels of them seeing the prosperous economic opportunities at the time dominated by the Spanish. In the Caribbean, the Dutch concentrated on wrestling from Portugal its grip on the sugar and slave trade through attacks on the Spanish treasure fleets on their homeward bound voyages.
Though the prime and most active time for the Dutch in the Caribbean lasted for about one hundred years, they were able to damage the monopoly the Spanish blissfully enjoyed by their; privateering attacks this created a diversion so that the English and French could settle the Lesser Antilles. They provided these British and French colonies with estate supplies, cultivation knowledge particularly on sugar and were a major influential factor to the gravitation of British and French colonists towards sugar cultivation, slave labor via the Atlantic slave trade and the transportation of raw materials from the tobacco and sugar plantations.
As Spain's power declined in Caribbean history, more and more of the islands were colonized not only by the Dutch but also by the British and the French. The Dutch contributed enormously to the development of the Caribbean so much so that they were referred to as the ‘’foster fathers’’ of the Caribbean, mainly because of the roles they played assisting the British and French colonists.
Additionally, the Dutch owned colonies in Brazil however for only a short period of time until it was recaptured by the Portuguese whilst there they converted the colony through trade and capital into a prosperous tropical crop producing colony. Sugar was the premier crop of choice, following the Portuguese recapture of Brazil the Dutch ventured to the eastern Caribbean taking with them their developed expertise
The incorporation of the Dutch into the Caribbean during the latter half of the 16th century and early 17th century came on the heels of them seeing the prosperous economic opportunities at the time dominated by the Spanish. In the Caribbean, the Dutch concentrated on wrestling from Portugal its grip on the sugar and slave trade through attacks on the Spanish treasure fleets on their homeward bound voyages.
Though the prime and most active time for the Dutch in the Caribbean lasted for about one hundred years, they were able to damage the monopoly the Spanish blissfully enjoyed by their; privateering attacks this created a diversion so that the English and French could settle the Lesser Antilles. They provided these British and French colonies with estate supplies, cultivation knowledge particularly on sugar and were a major influential factor to the gravitation of British and French colonists towards sugar cultivation, slave labor via the Atlantic slave trade and the transportation of raw materials from the tobacco and sugar plantations.
As Spain's power declined in Caribbean history, more and more of the islands were colonized not only by the Dutch but also by the British and the French. The Dutch contributed enormously to the development of the Caribbean so much so that they were referred to as the ‘’foster fathers’’ of the Caribbean, mainly because of the roles they played assisting the British and French colonists.
Additionally, the Dutch owned colonies in Brazil however for only a short period of time until it was recaptured by the Portuguese whilst there they converted the colony through trade and capital into a prosperous tropical crop producing colony. Sugar was the premier crop of choice, following the Portuguese recapture of Brazil the Dutch ventured to the eastern Caribbean taking with them their developed expertise
Bibliography: Boxer, C.R, The Dutch Seaborne Empire, London,1977. Greenwood. R, Haber. S, Dyde. B, Amerindians to Africans 3rd Edition, London, 2008 Hiss, P, Netherlands America the Dutch Territories in the West, London, 1946. Jones, J.R, The Anglo-Dutch Wars of the Seventeenth Century, New York, 1996. Knorr, K.E, British Colonies Theories, 1570-1830, Toronto, 1944 Mills, D, ‘A Look At...Slavery Then and Now Half-Truths and History: The Debate over Jews and Slavery’ Washington Post, October 17th 1993. Parry, J.H, A Short History of the West Indies, London, 1988 Williams, E.E, From Columbus to Castro: The History of the Caribbean, 1492-1969, New York, 1970. Endnotes