The Dutch West India Company was a Dutch chartered company that was founded in 1621 and went defunct in 1792. Among its founders were Reynier Pauw, Willem Usselincx (1567–1647), and Jessé de Forest (1576–1624). On 3 June 1621, it was granted a charter for a trade monopoly in the Dutch West Indies by the Republic of the Seven United Netherlands and given jurisdiction over Dutch participation in the Atlantic slave trade, Brazil, the Caribbean, and North America.
The Netherlands Antilles, also known as the Dutch Antilles, was a constituent Caribbean country of the Kingdom of the Netherlands consisting of the islands of Saba, Sint Eustatius, and Sint Maarten in the Lesser Antilles, and Aruba, Curaçao, and Bonaire in the Leeward Antilles. The country came into being in 1954 as the autonomous successor of the Dutch colony of Curaçao and Dependencies, and it was dissolved in 2010, when like Aruba in 1986, Sint Maarten and Curaçao gained status of constituent countries within the Kingdom of the Netherlands, and Saba, Sint Eustatius, and Bonaire gained status of special municipality of Netherlands as the Caribbean Netherlands. The neighboring Dutch colony of Surinam in continental South America, did not become part of the Netherlands Antilles but became a separate autonomous country in 1954. All the territories that belonged to the Netherlands Antilles remain part of the kingdom today, although the legal status of each differs. As a group they are still commonly called the Dutch Caribbean, regardless of their legal status. People from this former territory continue to be called Antilleans in the Netherlands.
Saba is a Caribbean island and the smallest special municipality of the Netherlands. It consists largely of the dormant volcano Mount Scenery, which at 870 metres (2,854.3 ft) is the highest point of the entire Kingdom of the Netherlands. The island lies in the northern Leeward Islands portion of the West Indies, southeast of the Virgin Islands. Together with Bonaire and Sint Eustatius it forms the BES islands, also known as the Caribbean Netherlands.
Sint Eustatius, known locally as Statia, is an island in the Caribbean. It is a special municipality of the Netherlands.
Oranjestad is a small town of 1,038 inhabitants; it is the capital and largest town of the island of Sint Eustatius in the Caribbean Netherlands. It is not to be confused with the far larger Oranjestad in Aruba.
Brimstone Hill Fortress National Park is a UNESCO World Heritage Site, a well-preserved fortress on a hill on the island of St. Kitts in the Federation of St. Christopher and Nevis in the Eastern Caribbean. It was designed by British military engineers, and was built and maintained by enslaved Africans. It is one of the best preserved historical fortifications in the Americas.
Emancipation Day is observed in many former European colonies in the Caribbean and areas of the United States on various dates to commemorate the emancipation of slaves of African descent.
The Berbice Rebellion was a slave rebellion in Guyana that began on 23 February 1763 and lasted to December, with leaders including Coffij. The first major slave revolt in South America, it is seen as a major event in Guyana's anti-colonial struggles, and when Guyana became a republic in 1970 the state declared 23 February as a day to commemorate the start of the Berbice slave revolt.
Johannes de Graaff (1729–1813), also referred to as Johannis de Graeff in some documents, was a Dutch Governor of Sint Eustatius, Saba and Sint Maarten in the Netherlands Antilles representing the Dutch West India Company during the difficult time of the American Revolutionary War.
The Cassard expedition was a sea voyage by French Navy captain Jacques Cassard in 1712, during the War of the Spanish Succession. Targeting English, Dutch, and Portuguese possessions, he raided and ransomed the colonies of Cape Verde, Sint Eustatius, and Curaçao—factories, depots, and seasoning camps used in the Atlantic slave trade. He also raided and ransomed Montserrat, Antigua, Surinam, Berbice, and Essequibo—wealthy sugar-producing colonies in the Caribbean whose economies were based on the exploitation of slave labor.
The coat of arms of Sint Eustatius consists of a shield and the motto. It was established on 9 November 2004 by the Island council of Sint Eustatius, when it was still part of the Netherlands Antilles. It remained the coat of arms of Sint Eustatius after the dissolution of the Netherlands Antilles and the subsequent change of Sint Eustatius's constitutional status into a special municipality of the Netherlands in 2010.
Fort Orange may refer to:
Afro-Arubans are Arubans of predominantly African ancestry. Afro-Arubans are a minority ethnic group in Aruba, representing 15% of Aruba's population. Like other Arubans, Afro-Arubans speak Papiamento, a Portuguese-based creole language commonly spoken on the ABC islands, as well as Dutch, Spanish, English and other languages. Papiamento dates back at least 300 years and is pre-dominantly based on Afro-Portuguese linguistic structures combined with vocabulary and influences from Spanish, West African languages, Dutch and Amerindian languages.
Charles de Courbon, comte de Blénac was a French military officer, nobleman and colonial administrator who served as governor general of the French Antilles during the 17th century. He was an experienced soldier and fought for the king during the Fronde before becoming a naval officer in the French Navy. Towards the end of the Franco-Dutch War he led the land forces that captured Tobago from the Dutch before taking command of the French Antilles. During the Nine Years' War he was active in the struggle with the English and Dutch in the Windward Islands. He captured Sint Eustatius and Saint Kitts, and defended Martinique against a large English expedition in 1693.
Waterfort is a fort in Willemstad, Curaçao located on the eastern side of the Sint Anna Bay. It was built in 1827 to protect Willemstad against attack. In 1858, marines were stationed in the fort. During World War II, the fort was put into operation again. In 1955, the marines were moved to Marinebasis Parera, and Plaza Hotel Curaçao, a luxury hotel, was built in the fort.
The Godet African Burial Ground is an unmarked historical burial ground for enslaved African men, women and children located at the southwest coast of Sint Eustatius, Dutch Caribbean. The burial ground was part of the former Godet plantation on the island.
The Golden Rock African Burial Ground is an unmarked historical burial ground of enslaved African men, women and children located on the premises of the airport on Sint Eustatius, Dutch Caribbean in the ‘Cultuurvlakte’. The burial ground was part of the former Golden Rock plantation on the island.
The plantations of Sint Eustatius were primarily set up in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries by European settlers. Workers on the plantations were obtained from human trafficking, and the proceeds primarily went back to the mother country. In the second half of the eighteenth century, trade became more of a priority to Sint Eustatius rather than the plantation economy.
Fort Oranje is a historic fortress located in Sint Eustatius in the Dutch Caribbean. It is located in Oranjestad, the island's capital, on a cliff overlooking Oranje Bay. It was named after the House of Oranje, the royal family of the Netherlands.
Golden Rock is the name of an archaeological site in the centre of the island of Sint Eustatius, Dutch Caribbean, named after a nearby former plantation. Golden Rock was the nickname of Sint Eustatius from its prominence as a major colonial trading port in the late 17th and early 18th century. The site contains the remains of a late Saladoid village, an African burial ground, and a village of enslaved Africans.
