The States General and the Stadholder: Dutch Diplomatic Practices in the Atlantic World before the West India Company

Abstract

After a discussion of the States General and the office of stadholder as the two key institutions of Dutch sovereignty in Dutch foreign relations, this article analyzes to what extent the two institutions were involved in Dutch diplomacy with non-European peoples in the Atlantic World before the founding of the West India Company in 1621. On the Gold Coast and in West-Central Africa, regions controlled by centralized states and shaped by the presence of Iberian colonizers, Dutch traders relied on the support of the States General and the stadholder to establish alliances. On the Wild Coast of South America and in New Netherland, uncontested regions dominated by decentralized Indigenous groups, Dutch merchants did not require the diplomatic support of the States General or the stadholder but instead established alliances based on local Indigenous protocol.

Revisiting the expansion thesis: international society and the role of the Dutch East India company as a merchant empire

“…The diplomacy of the VOC worked to increase the power of the Dutch Republic within Europe by showing the might and reach of its trading and political prowess (Swan, 2017: 197). The VOC practice of giving gifts to Asian rulers also developed local alliances (Meuwese, 2013), and conveyed messages to both giver, receiver and observers of the exchange, on the political status and relationship of those involved (Birkenholz, 2017: 220). The exchange of gifts with non-Europeans was therefore not dissimilar to the Dutch presentation of gifts to European Princes and Monarchs as a way to enhance the Republic's prestige (Broekman and Helmers, 2007).…”