II - Rotterdam’s Colonial Connections: Shipping and Trade, Industry and Finance

Summary

For most of the twentieth century, Rotterdam was the world's biggest port. While ports in Asia have since surpassed it in size, Rotterdam still styles itself the Gateway to Europe. There can be no doubt about the city's significance for the Dutch economy. As a Rotterdam saying goes, “money is earned in Rotterdam, distributed in The Hague and spent in Amsterdam”. Port cities like Rotterdam depend on good connections with the wider world. That was just as true in the past as it is today. For much of its history, Rotterdam maintained links with European countries’ colonies. These colonial connections helped shape the urban economy and drive Rotterdam's growth from a small provincial town at the end of the sixteenth century to a major international hub by the late nineteenth century.

This chapter presents an institutional history of the colonial shipping and trade based in Rotterdam and explores the effects that these colonial connections had on the city. Defining ‘Rotterdam’ and the ‘colonial world’ is no simple matter. This study treats Rotterdam as the area within the official city boundaries. Rotterdam has absorbed various neighbouring municipalities over the course of the past two centuries; however, these neighbouring municipalities are only mentioned here in passing. The chapter also focuses primarily on Rotterdam's interaction with the Dutch colonies. Yet an exclusively national perspective would be too restrictive as imperial borders were no real barrier to shipping and trade. That is why Rotterdam's connections with the overseas colonies of other countries are also discussed. The emphasis is on the period between 1600 and 1900. It was around 1600 when Rotterdam merchants first sent ships on intercontinental voyages. The city's colonial connections were far from over in 1900, but by that time the port had diversified to such an extent that these colonial links were just a small fraction of Rotterdam's wide network of international connections.

Rotterdam did not grow into a major city simply because of its colonial links; geography indisputably played a role too. According to some Rotterdam merchants in 1770, the influence of geography was obvious “if one traces the passage of the Rhine on maps”. The Netherlands had an extensive hinterland and Rotterdam was in the perfect position to benefit from this thanks to the Rhine.