All about...#24 - The Dutch Empire

The Dutch empire gradually grew, thanks to their seafaring and exploring skills. Abel Tasman, William Barents, and Willem Janszoon. As their navy began expanding, they soon conquered regions Like Australia and even parts of Brazil! Eventually, they reached the Dutch Golden age. More below/

The Dutch had various colonies across 6 continents. Let's look at the most important ones.

Australia For a short period, in the 1700s, they controlled half of Australia, mostly on the Western side, thanks to their great explorers. Remember Abel Tasman? Yes, that's where Tasmania comes from.

Suriname Look at the picture on the right, yes, that is the colony of Suriname! Today, Suriname speaks Dutch, the only South American country to do so. They had this ONE colony till the late 1900s.

New York From 1624-1664, the Dutch West India company ruled the Eastern New York area, founding cities like Albany, and yes, NYC! But there was lots of selling and buying involved. The Dutch bought the area from the natives, and the British peacefully bought the area.

Indonesia This is an interesting one. The Dutch REALLY wanted this region. This was their biggest area of colonization, and they became rich from all the materials here. But in 1949, the Indonesians had enough of the Dutch and got independent.

The Dutch were FIRING by now! They had one of the best navies and explorers, as well as...how could we forget? The Arts at home. Let's talk more about the arts. The Dutch Masters were during this time, like Rembrandt and Vermeer, who painted amazing pieces of art like the Milkmaid (Vermeer) and the Night Watch (Rembrandt). Note that trade was also thriving in the area, as their colonies grew, they had a wider variety of foods and goods. This is also the age where the dutch began getting smarter and understanding the nature of life-also known as the enlightenment. The Dutch East & West India companies were thriving and creating monopolies with countries like Japan. Who even knew? They were big on shipyards and sugar. Through all this science, mathematics, art, and culture, it looked like nothing could go wrong...but then the 20th century came. Throughout Europe, countries were losing their colonies because of war and other reasons, so did the Netherlands. Today, they only have some island colonies across the world.