New Netherland Company
Encyclopedia
Chartered company
A chartered company is an association formed by investors or shareholders for the purpose of trade, exploration and colonization.- History :...
of Dutch merchant
Merchant
A merchant is a businessperson who trades in commodities that were produced by others, in order to earn a profit.Merchants can be one of two types:# A wholesale merchant operates in the chain between producer and retail merchant...
s.
Following Henry Hudson
Henry Hudson
Henry Hudson was an English sea explorer and navigator in the early 17th century. Hudson made two attempts on behalf of English merchants to find a prospective Northeast Passage to Cathay via a route above the Arctic Circle...
's exploration of the east coast of North America on behalf of the Dutch East India Company
Dutch East India Company
The Dutch East India Company 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...
in 1609, several Dutch merchants sent ships to trade with the Native Americans
Indigenous peoples of the Americas
The indigenous peoples of the Americas are the pre-Columbian inhabitants of North and South America, their descendants and other ethnic groups who are identified with those peoples. Indigenous peoples are known in Canada as Aboriginal peoples, and in the United States as Native Americans...
(mainly fur
Fur trade
The fur trade is a worldwide industry dealing in the acquisition and sale of animal fur. Since the establishment of world market for in the early modern period furs of boreal, polar and cold temperate mammalian animals have been the most valued...
) and to search for the Northwest Passage
Northwest Passage
The Northwest Passage is a sea route through the Arctic Ocean, along the northern coast of North America via waterways amidst the Canadian Arctic Archipelago, connecting the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans...
. In order to maximize their profits these merchants decided to form the New Netherland Company and on October 11, 1614 they successfully petitioned the Estates-General for a charter of trading privileges. The charter granted a monopoly
Monopoly
A monopoly exists when a specific person or enterprise is the only supplier of a particular commodity...
of trade between the 40th
40th parallel north
The 40th parallel north is a circle of latitude that is 40 degrees north of the Earth's equatorial plane. It crosses Europe, the Mediterranean Sea, Asia, the Pacific Ocean, North America, and the Atlantic Ocean....
and 45th parallel for a period of three years, starting on January 1, 1615. In 1618 the Company's charter wasn't renewed because negotiations for the formation of the Dutch West India Company
Dutch West India Company
Dutch West India Company was a chartered company of Dutch merchants. Among its founding fathers was Willem Usselincx...
were well advanced. After 1618 New Netherland was open to all traders, but the majority of trade was still conducted by the founders of the New Netherland Company until the establishment of the Dutch West India Company in 1621.
Founders
- Gerrit Jacobz Witsen (Amsterdam)
- Jonas Witsen (Amsterdam)
- Simon Morissen (Amsterdam)
- Hans Hongers (Amsterdam)
- Paulus Pelgrom (Amsterdam)
- Lambrecht van TweenhuyzenLambert van TweenhuysenLambert van Tweenhuysen was a prominent Lutheran merchant at Amsterdam in the early seventeenth century. Born of a well-known patrician family, he had contacts ranging from Archangel and Spitsbergen to North America, and from Northwest Africa to Istanbul...
(Amsterdam) - Arnolt van Lybergen (Amsterdam)
- Wessel Schenck (Amsterdam)
- Hans Claessen (Amsterdam)
- Berent Sweertssen (Amsterdam)
- Peter Clementsen Brouwer (Hoorn)
- John Clementsen Kies (Hoorn)
- Cornelis Volckertsen (Hoorn)