Editing History of the Netherlands (section)

=== The Dutch in the Americas ===
{{Main|Dutch West India Company|New Netherland|New Amsterdam}}

The Dutch West India Company was a [[chartered company]] (known as the "GWC") of Dutch merchants. On 2 June 1621, it was granted a [[:wikisource:Charter of the Dutch West India Company|charter]] for a trade monopoly in the [[West Indies]] (meaning the Caribbean) by the [[Republic of the Seven United Netherlands]] and given jurisdiction over the [[African slave trade]], Brazil, the Caribbean, and North America. Its area of operations stretched from West Africa to the Americas, and the Pacific islands. The company became instrumental in the [[Dutch colonization of the Americas]]. The first forts and settlements in [[Guyana]] and on the [[Amazon River]] date from the 1590s. Actual colonization, with Dutch settling in the new lands, was not as common as with England and France. Many of the Dutch settlements were lost or abandoned by the end of that century, but the Netherlands managed to retain possession of [[Suriname]] and a number of Dutch Caribbean islands.

[[File:Petrus (Peter Pieter) Stuyvesant portrait c1660.jpg|thumb|[[Peter Stuyvesant]], Director-General of [[New Netherland]] (New York). His provincial capital, [[New Amsterdam]], was located at the southern tip of the island of [[Manhattan]].]]
The colony was a private business venture to exploit the [[fur trade]] in beaver pelts. New Netherland was slowly settled during its first decades, partially as a result of policy mismanagement by the [[Dutch West India Company]] (WIC), and conflicts with Native Americans. During the 1650s, the colony experienced dramatic growth and became a major port for trade in the [[Atlantic World]], tolerating a highly diverse ethnic mix. The surrender of [[Fort Amsterdam]] to the British control in 1664 was formalized in 1667, contributing to the [[Second Anglo–Dutch War]]. In 1673 the Dutch re-took the area, but later relinquished it under the 5 April 1674 [[Treaty of Westminster (1674)|Treaty of Westminster]] ending the [[Third Anglo-Dutch War]].<ref>{{Cite EB1911 |wstitle=Holland |volume=13 |page=601 |first=George |last=Edmundson}}</ref>

Descendants of the original settlers played a prominent role in the history of the United States, as typified by the Roosevelt and Vanderbilt families. The Hudson Valley still boasts a Dutch heritage. The concepts of civil liberties and [[Pluralism (political philosophy)|pluralism]] introduced in the province became mainstays of American political and social life.<ref>Jaap Jacobs, ''The Colony of New Netherland: A Dutch Settlement in Seventeenth-Century America'' (2nd ed. 2009) [https://www.questia.com/read/109275503/new-netherland-a-dutch-colony-in-seventeenth-century online] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170525213649/https://www.questia.com/read/109275503/new-netherland-a-dutch-colony-in-seventeenth-century |date=25 May 2017}}</ref>