The Dutch Empire was a wealthy and ambitious empire in the early 17th century despite having a small population of only 1.5 million people. The Dutch dominated northern and western European trade routes as well as fishing and whaling. Amsterdam was a major center for shipping, banking, insurance, and manufacturing in northern Europe. The Dutch also stole the Portuguese sugar trade from American plantations and the slave trade from West Africa to the Americas, capturing key trading posts and dominating sugar production in Brazil. However, by the mid-1600s the Dutch faced attacks from former allies like the English and French as their power grew.

1. Dutch Empire
• The Dutch Empire
• Dutch Social Relations

2. The Dutch Empire
• The Dutch colony near the Hudson
River was a small enterprise in a
wealthy and ambitious empire that
developed fast. In the early 17th
century , the Netherlands merged as
an economic and military experts
with its small population of 1.5
million people. The Dutch dominated
the carrying trade of northern and
western Europe, the North Seas
fishing, and Arctic whaling. The great
Dutch city of Amsterdam was the
main shipping, banking, insurance,
printing, and textile manufacturing
center in all northern Europe.

3. Dutch Social Relations
• In the early and middle 17th century, the
Dutch had stolen the Portuguese primary
imperial commerce: the export in sugar
from American plantations and the
transportations of slaves from West Africa
to cultivate sugar. In 1637, the Dutch
captured Elmina Castle, the main
Portuguese trading post on the west coast
of Africa. During 1630’s, the Dutch
dominated northeast of Portuguese Brazil,
prime sugar producing colony. The Dutch
was able to spread themselves in violent
matters and by the mid-centuries they
were facing attacks from their formal allies
against Spain, French, and English.