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3 - The Dutch Empire

from Part I - Imperial and Postcolonial Settings

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  08 November 2023

By
Michael Wintle
Edited by
Cathie Carmichael ,
Matthew D'Auria  and
Aviel Roshwald
Cathie Carmichael
Affiliation:
University of East Anglia
Matthew D'Auria
Affiliation:
University of East Anglia
Aviel Roshwald
Affiliation:
Georgetown University, Washington DC
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Summary

The Dutch Empire lasted from 1600 to 1975 and beyond; even now there are some Caribbean island dependencies left. The size, shape, and nature of the empire has evolved and altered, but over those centuries the Dutch colonies have been an important, if fluctuating, component of the national consciousness. Economic advantages were very considerable, but arguably the Dutch gained just as much in terms of self-confidence and status for their small nation: in the nineteenth century the empire was seen as absolutely essential in terms of both economics and prestige. Even in the twenty-first century, a centrist prime minister could call for a return to “the mentality of the VOC” (Vereenigde Oostindische Compagnie, United East Indies Company), a remark that was not universally well received.

Keywords

NetherlandsHollandEmpireNational identityEast IndiesWest IndiesSlaveryDecolonization
Type
Chapter
Information
The Cambridge History of Nationhood and Nationalism , pp. 43 - 63
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2023

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References

Further Reading

Antunes, Catia, and Gommans, Jos (eds.), Exploring the Dutch Empire: Agents, Networks and Institutions, 1600–2000 (London: Bloomsbury, 2015).Google Scholar
Buettner, Elizabeth, Europe after Empire: Decolonization, Society and Culture (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2016).CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Emmer, Piet, and Gommans, Jos, The Dutch Overseas Empire, 1600–1800 (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2020).CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Gouda, Frances, Dutch Culture Overseas: Colonial Practice in the Netherlands Indies, 1900–1942 (Amsterdam: Amsterdam University Press, 1995).CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Klooster, Wim, The Dutch Moment: War, Trade, and Settlement in the Seventeenth-Century Atlantic World (Ithaca: Cornell University Press, 2016).CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Koekkoek, René, et al., “Visions of Dutch Empire,” forum discussion, BMGN: Low Countries Historical Review, 132/2 (2017), 77–120.Google Scholar
Kuitenbrouwer, Vincent, “Songs of an Imperial Underdog: Imperialism and Popular Culture in the Netherlands, 1870–1960,” in MacKenzie, John M. (ed.), European Empires and the People (Manchester: Manchester University Press, 2011), 90–123.Google Scholar
Luttikkuis, Bart A., and Moses, A. Dirk (eds.), Colonial Counterinsurgency and Mass Violence: The Dutch Empire in Indonesia (London: Routledge, 2014).Google Scholar
Multatuli, [E. Douwes Dekker], Max Havelaar: Or the Coffee Auctions of a Dutch Trading Company (London: Penguin, 1987; published in Dutch 1860).Google Scholar
Raben, Remco, “A New Dutch Imperial History? Perambulations in a Prospective Field,” BMGN: Low Countries Historical Review, 128/1 (2013), 5–30.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

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