Product Code Database
The Dutch, or Netherlanders (Dutch language: ) are an ethnic group native to the Netherlands. They share a common ancestry and culture and speak the Dutch language. Dutch people and their descendants are found in migrant communities worldwide, notably in Argentina, Aruba, Australia, Brazil, Canada,Based on Statistics Canada, Canada 2001 Census. Link to Canadian statistics. Caribbean Netherlands, Curaçao, Germany, Guyana, Indonesia, New Zealand, Sint Maarten, South Africa, Suriname, and the United States.According to Factfinder.census.gov The Low Countries were situated around the border of France and the Holy Roman Empire, forming a part of their respective peripheries and the various territories of which they consisted had become virtually autonomous by the 13th century.Winkler Prins Geschiedenis der Nederlanden I (1977), p. 150; I.H. Gosses, Handboek tot de staatkundige geschiedenis der Nederlanden I (1974 1959), 84 ff. Under the Habsburgs, the Netherlands were organised into a single administrative unit, and in the 16th and 17th centuries the Northern Netherlands gained independence from Spain as the Dutch Republic.The actual independence was accepted by in the 1648 treaty of Munster, in practice the Dutch Republic had been independent since the last decade of the 16th century. The high degree of Urbanization characteristic of Dutch society was attained at a relatively early date.D.J. Noordam, "Demografische ontwikkelingen in West-Europa van de vijftiende tot het einde van de achttiende eeuw", in H.A. Diederiks e.a., Van agrarische samenleving naar verzorgingsstaat (Leiden 1993), 35–64, esp. 40 During the Republic the first series of large-scale Dutch migrations outside of Europe took place.
The traditional arts and culture of the Dutch encompasses various forms of traditional music, dances, architectural styles and clothing, some of which are globally recognisable. Internationally, Dutch painters such as Rembrandt, Vermeer and Van Gogh are held in high regard. The predominant religion among the Dutch is Christianity, encompassing both Latin Church and Calvinist Protestantism. However, in contemporary times, the majority no longer adhere to a particular Christian denomination. Significant percentages of the Dutch are adherents of humanism, agnosticism, atheism or individual spirituality (including ietsism). Religion in the Netherlands .
Linguistically Old Frankish gradually evolved into Old Dutch, Encyclopædia Britannica Online; entry 'Dutch language' 10 May. 2009 ; " It derives from Low Franconian, the speech of the Western Franks, which was restructured through contact with speakers of North Sea Germanic along the coast." Encyclopædia Britannica Online; entry 'West Germanic languages'. 10 May. 2009 ; restructured Frankish—i.e., Dutch; which was first attested in the 6th century, W. Pijnenburg, A. Quak, T. Schoonheim & D. Wortel, Oudnederlands Woordenboek. whereas religiously the Franks (beginning with the upper class) converted to Christianity from around 500 to 700. On a political level, the Frankish warlords abandoned tribalism Encyclopædia Britannica Online; entry 'History of the Low Countries'. 10 May. 2009 ; "The administrative organization of the Low Countries ... was basically the same as that of the rest of the Frankish empire." and founded a number of kingdoms, eventually culminating in the Frankish Empire of Charlemagne.
However, the population make-up of the Frankish Empire, or even early Frankish kingdoms such as Neustria and Austrasia, was not dominated by Franks. Though the Frankish leaders controlled most of Western Europe, the Franks themselves were confined to the Northwestern part (i.e. the Rhineland, the Low Countries and Northern France) of the Empire. Encyclopædia Britannica Online; entry 'History of the Low Countries'. 10 May. 2009 ; "During the 6th century, Salian Franks had settled in the region between the Loire River in present-day France and the Coal Forest in the south of present-day Belgium. From the late 6th century, Ripuarian Franks pushed from the Rhineland westward to the Schelde. Their immigration strengthened the Germanic faction in that region, which had been almost completely evacuated by the Gallo-Romans." Eventually, the Franks in Northern France were assimilated by the general Gallo-Roman population, and took over their dialects (which became French language), whereas the Franks in the Low Countries retained their language, which would evolve into Dutch. The current Dutch-French language border has (with the exception of the Nord-Pas-de-Calais in France and Brussels and the surrounding municipalities in Belgium) remained virtually identical ever since, and could be seen as marking the furthest pale of gallicisation among the Franks. Encyclopædia Britannica Online; entry 'Fleming and Walloon'. 12 May. 2009 ; "The northern Franks retained their Germanic language (which became modern Dutch), whereas the Franks moving south rapidly adopted the language of the culturally dominant Romanized Gauls, the language that would become French. The language frontier between northern Flemings and southern Walloons has remained virtually unchanged ever since." A dialect continuum remaining with more eastern Germanic populations, a distinct identity in relation to these only gradually developed, largely based on socio-economic and political factors. Large parts of the present Netherlands have populations using Saxon and Frisian dialects.
While the cities were of great political importance, they also formed catalysts for medieval Dutch culture. Trade flourished, population numbers increased dramatically, and (advanced) education was no longer limited to the clergy. Flanders, Brabant and Holland began to develop a common Dutch standard language. Dutch epic literature such as Elegast (1150), the Roelantslied and Van den vos Reynaerde (1200) were widely enjoyed. The various city guilds as well as the necessity of water boards (in charge of dikes, canals, etc.) in the Dutch delta and coastal regions resulted in an exceptionally high degree of communal organisation. It is also around this time, that ethnonyms such as Diets and Nederlands emerge.Etymologisch Woordenboek van het Nederlands, entry "Diets".
In the second half of the 14th century, the dukes of Burgundy gained a foothold in the Low Countries through the marriage in 1369 of Philip the Bold of Burgundy to the heiress of the Count of Flanders. This was followed by a series of marriages, wars, and inheritances among the other Dutch fiefs and around 1450 the most important fiefs were under Burgundian rule, while complete control was achieved after the end of the Guelders Wars in 1543, thereby unifying the fiefs of the Low Countries under one ruler. This process marked a new episode in the development of the Dutch ethnic group, as now political unity started to emerge, consolidating the strengthened cultural and linguistic unity.
However, the centralist policies of Burgundy in the 14th and 15th centuries, at first violently opposed by the cities of the Low Countries, had a profound impact and changed this. During Charles the Bold's many wars, which were a major economic burden for the Burgundian Netherlands, tensions slowly increased. In 1477, the year of Charles' sudden death at Nancy, the Low Countries rebelled against their new liege, Mary of Burgundy, and presented her with a set of demands.
The subsequently issued Great Privilege met many of these demands, which included that Dutch, not French, should be the administrative language in the Dutch-speaking provinces under Burgundian rule (i.e. Flanders, Brabant and Holland) and that the States-General had the right to hold meetings without the monarch's permission or presence. The overall tenor of the document (which was declared void by Mary's son and successor, Philip IV) aimed for more autonomy for the counties and duchies, but nevertheless all the fiefs presented their demands together, rather than separately. This is evidence that by this time a sense of common interest was emerging among the provinces of the Netherlands. The document itself clearly distinguishes between the Dutch speaking and French speaking provinces.
Following Mary's marriage to Maximilian I, Holy Roman Emperor, the Netherlands were now part of the Habsburg lands. Further centralised policies of the Habsburgs (like their Burgundian predecessors) again met with resistance, but, peaking with the formation of the collateral councils of 1531 and the Pragmatic Sanction of 1549 creating the Seventeen Provinces, were still implemented. The rule of Philip II of Spain sought even further centralist reforms, which, accompanied by religious dictates and excessive taxation, resulted in the Dutch Revolt. The Dutch provinces, though fighting alone now, for the first time in their history found themselves fighting a common enemy. This, together with the growing number of Dutch intelligentsia and the Dutch Golden Age in which Dutch culture, as a whole, gained international prestige, consolidated the Dutch as an ethnic group.
In sociological studies and governmental reports, ethnicity is often referred to with the terms autochtoon and allochtoon.J. Knipscheer and R. Kleber, Psychologie en de multiculturele samenleving (Amsterdam 2005), 76 ff. These legal concepts refer to place of birth and citizenship rather than cultural background and do not coincide with the more fluid concepts of ethnicity used by cultural anthropologists.
During World War II, when both Belgium and the Netherlands fell to German occupation, fascist elements (such as the NSB and Verdinaso) tried to convince the into combining the Netherlands and Flanders. The Germans however refused to do so, as this conflicted with their ultimate goal, the Neuordnung ('New Order') of creating a single pan-Germanic racial state. Het nationaal-socialistische beeld van de geschiedenis der Nederlanden by I. Schöffer. Amsterdam University Press. 2006. Page 92. During the entire Nazi occupation, the Germans denied any assistance to Greater Dutch ethnic nationalism, and, by decree of Hitler himself, actively opposed it.For example he gave explicit orders not to create a voluntary Greater Dutch Waffen SS division composed of soldiers from the Netherlands and Flanders. ( Link to documents )
The 1970s marked the beginning of formal cultural and linguistic cooperation between Belgium (Flanders) and the Netherlands on an international scale.
As a West Germanic language, Dutch is related to other languages in that group such as West Frisian, English language and German language. Many West Germanic dialects underwent a series of sound shifts. The Anglo-Frisian nasal spirant law and Anglo-Frisian brightening resulted in certain early Germanic languages evolving into what are now English and West Frisian, while the Second Germanic sound shift resulted in what would become (High) German. Dutch underwent none of these sound changes and thus occupies a central position in the West Germanic languages group.
Standard Dutch has a sound inventory of thirteen vowels, six diphthongs and twenty-three consonants, of which the voiceless velar fricative ( hard ch) is considered a well known sound, perceived as typical for the language. Other relatively well known features of the Dutch language and usage are the frequent use of digraphs like Oo, Ee, Uu and Aa, the ability to form long compounds and the use of slang, including profanity.
The Dutch language has many dialects. These dialects are usually grouped into six main categories; Hollandic, West Flemish/Zeelandic, East Flemish, Brabantic and Limburgish, although Limburgish is reckognized as a regional language under part 2 of the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. The Dutch part of Low German is sometimes also viewed as a dialect of Dutch as it falls in the area of the Dutch standard language, although it is reckognized as a regional language. Taaluniversum website on the Dutch dialects and main groupings. Of these dialects, Hollandic and Dutch Low Saxon are solely spoken by Northerners. Brabantic, East Flemish, West Flemish/Zeelandic and Limburgish are cross border dialects in this respect. Lastly, the dialectal situation is characterised by the major distinction between 'Hard G' and 'Soft G' speaking areas (see also Dutch phonology). Some linguists subdivide these into approximately 28 distinct dialects.
Dutch immigrants also exported the Dutch language. Dutch was spoken by some settlers in the United States as a native language from the arrival of the first permanent Dutch settlers in 1615, surviving in isolated ethnic pockets until about 1900, when it ceased to be spoken except by first generation Dutch immigrants. The Dutch language nevertheless had a significant impact on the region around New York. For example, the first language of U.S. president Martin Van Buren was Dutch. Most of the Dutch immigrants of the 20th century quickly began to speak the language of their new country. For example, of the inhabitants of New Zealand, 0.7% say their home language is Dutch,2006 New Zealand Census. despite the percentage of Dutch heritage being considerably higher. As many as 100,000 New Zealanders are estimated to have Dutch blood in their veins (some 2% of the current population of New Zealand).
Dutch is currently an official language of the Kingdom of the Netherlands (Netherlands, Aruba, Sint Maarten, and Curaçao), Belgium, Suriname, the European Union, and the Union of South American Nations (due to Suriname being a member). In South Africa and Namibia, Afrikaans is spoken, a daughter language of Dutch, which itself was an official language of South Africa until 1983. The Dutch, Flemish and Surinamese governments coordinate their language activities in the Nederlandse Taalunie ('Dutch Language Union'), an institution also responsible for governing the Dutch Standard language, for example in matters of orthography.
In the Dutch language, the Dutch refer to themselves as Nederlanders. Nederlanders derives from the Dutch word Neder, a cognate of English language Nether both meaning " low", and " near the sea" (same meaning in both English and Dutch), a reference to the geographical texture of the Dutch homeland; the western portion of the North European Plain.See J. Verdam, Middelnederlandsch handwoordenboek (The Hague 1932 (reprinted 1994)): "Nederlant, znw. o. I) Laag of aan zee gelegen land. 2) het land aan den Nederrijn; Nedersaksen, -duitschland." neder- corresponds with the English nether-, which means "low" or "down". Although not as old as Diets, the term Nederlands has been in continuous use since 1250.
In the early 16th century, the Protestant Reformation began to form and soon spread in the Westhoek and the County of Flanders, where secret open-air sermons were held, called hagenpreken ('hedgerow ') in Dutch. The ruler of the Dutch regions, Philip II of Spain, felt it was his duty to fight Protestantism and, after Beeldenstorm, sent troops to crush the rebellion and make the Low Countries a Catholic region once more.The Dutch Republic Its Rise, Greatness, and Fall 1477–1806, The Protestants in the southern Low Countries fled North en masse. Most of the Dutch Protestants were now concentrated in the free Dutch provinces north of the river Rhine, while the Catholic Dutch were situated in the Spanish-occupied or -dominated South. After the Peace of Westphalia in 1648, Protestantism did not spread South, resulting in a difference in religious situations.
[[File:Nederlandgodsdienst1849.PNG|thumb|Religion in the Netherlands in 1849.
]] Contemporary Dutch, according to a 2017 study conducted by Statistics Netherlands, are mostly irreligious with 51% of the population professing no religion. The largest Christian denomination with 24% are the Roman Catholics, followed by 15% Protestants. Furthermore, there are 5% Muslims and 6% others (among others Buddhists). People of Dutch ancestry in the United States, Canada, and South Africa are generally more religious than their European counterparts; for example, the numerous Dutch communities of western Michigan remain strongholds of the Reformed Church in America and the Christian Reformed Church, both descendants of the Dutch Reformed Church.
In Dutch, the cultural division between North and South is also referred to by the colloquialism " Grote rivieren" as the rivers Rhine and Meuse roughly form a natural boundary between the Northern Dutch (those Dutch living North of these rivers), and the Southern Dutch (those living South of them). The division is partially caused by (traditional) religious differences, with the North used to be predominantly Protestant and the South still having a majority of Catholics. Linguistic (dialectal) differences (positioned along the Rhine/Meuse rivers) and to a lesser extent, historical economic development of both regions are also important elements in any dissimilarity.
On a smaller scale cultural pluriformity can also be found; be it in local architecture or (perceived) character. This wide array of regional identities positioned within such a relatively small area, has often been attributed to the fact that many of the current Dutch provinces were de facto independent states for much of their history, as well as the importance of local Dutch dialects (which often largely correspond with the provinces themselves) to the people who speak them.Dutch Culture in a European Perspective; by D. Fokkema, 2004, Assen.
According to a 1970 inquiry, West Frisians identified themselves more with the Dutch than with East Frisians or North Frisians.Frisia. 'Facts and fiction' (1970), by D. Tamminga. A study in 1984 found that 39% of the inhabitants of Friesland considered themselves "primarily Frisian," although without precluding also being Dutch. A further 36 per cent claimed they were Dutch, but also Frisian, the remaining 25% saw themselves as only Dutch. A 2013 study showed that 45% of the population of Friesland saw themselves as "primarily Frisian", again without precluding the possibility of also identifying as Dutch. Frisians are not disambiguated from the Dutch people in Dutch official statistics.
In the Netherlands itself "West-Frisian" refers to the Hollandic dialect, with a Frisian substrate, spoken in the northern part of the province of North-Holland known as West-Friesland, as well as "West-Frisians" referring to its speakers, not to the language or inhabitants of the Frisian part of the country. Historically the whole Dutch North Seacoast was known as Frisia.
However, the popular perception of being a single group varies greatly, depending on subject matter, locality, and personal background. Generally, the Flemish will seldom identify themselves as being Dutch and vice versa, especially on a national level.Nederlandse en Vlaamse identiteit, Civis Mundi 2006 by S.W Couwenberg. . Page 62. Quote: "Er valt heel wat te lachen om de wederwaardigheden van Vlamingen in Nederland en Nederlanders in Vlaanderen. Ze relativeren de verschillen en beklemtonen ze tegelijkertijd. Die verschillen zijn er onmiskenbaar: in taal, klank, kleur, stijl, gedrag, in politiek, maatschappelijke organisatie, maar het zijn stuk voor stuk varianten binnen één taal-en cultuurgemeenschap." The opposite opinion is stated by L. Beheydt (2002): "Al bij al lijkt een grondiger analyse van de taalsituatie en de taalattitude in Nederland en Vlaanderen weinig aanwijzingen te bieden voor een gezamenlijke culturele identiteit. Dat er ook op andere gebieden weinig aanleiding is voor een gezamenlijke culturele identiteit is al door Geert Hofstede geconstateerd in zijn vermaarde boek Allemaal andersdenkenden (1991)." L. Beheydt, "Delen Vlaanderen en Nederland een culturele identiteit?", in P. Gillaerts, H. van Belle, L. Ravier (eds.), Vlaamse identiteit: mythe én werkelijkheid (Leuven 2002), 22–40, esp. 38. This is partly caused by the popular stereotypes in the Netherlands as well as Flanders, which are mostly based on the "cultural extremes" of both Northern and Southern culture, including in religious identity. Though these stereotypes tend to ignore the transitional area formed by the Southern provinces of the Netherlands and most Northern reaches of Belgium, resulting in overgeneralisations.Dutch Culture in a European Perspective: Accounting for the past, 1650–2000; by D. Fokkema, 2004, Assen.
In the case of Belgium, there is the added influence of nationalism as the Dutch language and culture Taalstrijd by the French language government. This was followed by a Flemish movement during the late 19th and early 20th centuries that saw little help from the Dutch government (which for a long time following the Belgian Revolution had a reticent and contentious relationship with the newly formed Belgium and a largely indifferent attitude towards its Dutch-speaking inhabitants)Geschiedenis van de Nederlanden, by J.C.H Blom and E. Lamberts, ; page 383. and, hence, focused on pitting "Flemish" culture against French culture, resulting in the forming of the Flemish nation within Belgium, a consciousness of which can be very marked among some Dutch-speaking Belgians.
The largest genetic differences within the Netherlands are observed between the North and the South (with the three Grote rivieren – Rijn, Waal, Maas – as a border), with the Randstad showing a mixture of these two ancestral backgrounds. The European North-South cline correlates highly with this Dutch North-South cline and shows several other similarities, such as a correlation with height (with the North being taller on average), blue/brown eye colour (with the North having more blue eyes), and genome-wide homozygosity (with the North having lower Homozygous levels). The correlation with genome-wide homozygosity likely reflects the serial founder effect that was initiated with the ancient successive out-of-Africa migrations. This does not necessarily mean that these events (north-ward migration and evolutionary selection pressures) took place within the borders of the Netherlands; it could also be that Southern Europeans have migrated more to the South of the Netherlands, and/or Northern Europeans more to the Northern parts.
The north–south differences were likely maintained by the relatively strong Pillarisation of the Catholic Church South and the Protestantism North during the last centuries. During the last 50 years or so there was a large increase of Irreligion individuals in the Netherlands. Their spouses are more likely to come from a different genetic background than those of religious individuals, causing non-religious individuals to show lower levels of genome-wide Homozygous than Catholics or Protestants.
The rapid increase in height is attributed partly to natural selection and partly to environmental factors. Natural or sexual selection appears to play a role, with taller men having more children.
In the 21st century, average height in the Netherlands has started to decrease. This trend is partly due to immigration, but is also present in "people without a migration background".
|300x300px]]
Since World War II, Dutch Emigration have mainly departed the Netherlands for Canada, the Federal Republic of Germany, the United States, Belgium, Australia, and South Africa, in that order. Today, large Dutch communities also exist in the United Kingdom, France, Spain, Turkey, and New Zealand.
In the early-to-mid-16th century, Dutch Mennonites began to move from the Low Countries (especially Friesland and Flanders) to the Vistula delta region, seeking religious freedom and exemption from military service. The territories which they settled were located in the regions of Pomerelia and Powiśle in northern Poland, and later also in Masovia in central Poland. These communities became known as the Olęders, a Polish rendering of the term Hollander. After the partitions of Poland, the Prussian authorities took over and its government eliminated exemption from military service on religious grounds.
The Dutch Mennonites also migrated as far as the Russian Empire, where they were offered land along the Volga River. Some settlers left for Siberia in search for fertile land. The Russian capital itself, Moscow, also had a number of Dutch immigrants, mostly working as craftsmen. Arguably the most famous of which was Anna Mons, the mistress of Peter the Great.
Historically Dutch also lived directly on the eastern side of the German border, most have since been assimilated (apart from ~40,000 recent border migrants), especially since the establishment of Germany itself in 1872. Cultural marks can still be found though. In some villages and towns a Dutch Reformed church is present, and a number of border districts (such as Cleves, Borken and Viersen) have towns and village with an etymologically Dutch origin. In the area around Cleves (German language Kleve, Dutch language Kleef) Kleverlandish is Dutch, rather than surrounding High German Low German. More to the South, cities historically housing many Dutch traders have retained Dutch exonyms for example Aachen (Aken) and Cologne/Köln (Keulen) to this day.
Since VOC employees proved inept farmers, tracts of land were granted to married Dutch citizens who undertook to spend at least twenty years in South Africa. Upon the revocation of the Edict of Nantes in 1685, they were joined by French people Huguenots fleeing religious persecution at home, who interspersed among the original freemen. Between 1685 and 1707 the company also extended free passage to any Dutch families wishing to resettle at the Cape. At the beginning of the eighteenth century there were roughly 600 people of Dutch birth or descent residing in South Africa, and around the end of Dutch rule in 1806 the number had reached 13,360.Entry: Cape Colony. Encyclopedia Britannica Volume 4 Part 2: Brain to Casting. Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc. 1933. James Louis Garvin, editor.
Some vrijburgers eventually turned to cattle ranching as trekboers, creating their own distinct sub-culture centered around a semi-nomadic lifestyle and isolated patriarchal communities. By the eighteenth century there had emerged a new people in Africa who identified as , rather than Dutchmen, after the land they had colonised.
Afrikaners are dominated by two main groups, the Cape Dutch and , which are partly defined by different traditions of society, law, and historical economic bases. Although their language (Afrikaans) and religion remain undeniably linked to that of the Netherlands, Afrikaner culture has been strongly shaped by three centuries in South Africa. Afrikaans, which developed from Early Modern Dutch, has been influenced by English, Malay-Portuguese creole, and various African languages. Dutch was taught to South African students as late as 1914 and a few upper-class Afrikaners used it in polite society, but the first Afrikaans literature had already appeared in 1861. The Union of South Africa granted Dutch official status upon its inception, but in 1925 Parliament openly recognised Afrikaans as a separate language. It differs from Standard Dutch by several pronunciations borrowed from Malay, German, or English, the loss of case and gender distinctions, and in the extreme simplification of grammar. The dialects are no longer considered quite mutually intelligible.
During the 1950s, Dutch immigration to South Africa began to increase exponentially for the first time in over a hundred years. The country registered a net gain of around 45,000 Dutch immigrants between 1950 and 2001, making it the sixth most popular destination for citizens of the Netherlands living abroad.
The effects of Dutch migration to Australia can still be felt. There are many Dutch associations and a Dutch-language newspaper continues to be published. The Dutch have remained a tightly knit community, especially in the large cities. In total, about 382,000 people of Dutch ancestry live in Australia whereas New Zealand has some 100,000 Dutch descendants.
Nevertheless, many Dutch American communities remained virtually isolated towards the rest of North America up until the American Civil War, in which the Dutch fought for the North and adopted many American ways.
Most future waves of Dutch immigrants were quickly assimilated. There have been five U.S. presidents of Dutch descent: Martin Van Buren (8th, first president who was not of British descent, first language was Dutch), Franklin D. Roosevelt (32nd, elected to four terms in office, he served from 1933 to 1945, the only U.S. president to have served more than two terms), Theodore Roosevelt (26th), as well as George H. W. Bush (41st) and George W. Bush (43rd), the latter two descendant from the Schuyler family.
The first Dutch people to come to Canada were Dutch Americans among the United Empire Loyalists. The largest wave was in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, when large numbers of Dutch helped settle the Western Canada. During this period significant numbers also settled in major cities like Toronto.
While interrupted by World War I, this migration returned in the 1920s, but again halted during the Great Depression and World War II. After the war a large number of Dutch immigrants moved to Canada, including a number of of the Canadian soldiers who liberated the Netherlands. There were officially 1,886 Dutch war brides emigrating to Canada, ranking second after British war brides.
Both the Leeward (Alonso de Ojeda, 1499) and Windward (Christopher Columbus, 1493) island groups were discovered and initially settled by the Iberian Union. In the 17th century, the islands were conquered by the Dutch West India Company after the defeat of Spain to the Netherlands in Eighty Years' War, with the largest island Curaçao being used as a regional slave trading hub and free port.
Dutch settlement was relatively limited in the Caribbean during the colonial era, although there are sizable minorities of Dutch people on the Dutch Caribbean islands in Modern era. There are also significant populations of partial Dutch or mixed-race descent on the islands, on Aruba mixed-race people make up the majority of the population with many having significant Dutch heritage.
The Dutch were among the first Europeans settling in Brazil during the 17th century. They controlled the northern coast of Brazil from 1630 to 1654 (Dutch Brazil). A significant number of Dutch immigrants arrived in that period. The state of Pernambuco (then Captaincy of Pernambuco) was once a colony of the Dutch Republic from 1630 to 1661. There are a considerable number of people who are descendants of the Dutch colonists in Paraíba (for example in Frederikstad, today João Pessoa), Pernambuco, Alagoas and Rio Grande do Norte. During the 19th and 20th century, Dutch immigrants from the Netherlands immigrated to the Brazil's Centro-Sul, where they founded a few cities. The majority of Dutch Brazilians reside in the states of Espírito Santo, Paraná, Rio Grande do Sul, Pernambuco and São Paulo. There are also small groups of Dutch Brazilians in Goiás, Ceará, Rio Grande do Norte, Mato Grosso do Sul, Minas Gerais and Rio de Janeiro.FIGUEIREDO, Raquel de Freitas. Estudo de SNPs do cromossomo Y na população do Estado do Espirito Santo, Brasil. 2012. 66 f. Dissertação (mestrado) – Universidade Estadual Paulista, Faculdade de Ciências Farmacêuticas, 2012.
In Argentina, Dutch immigration has been one of many migration flows from Europe in the country, although it has not been as numerous as in other cases (they failed to account for 1% of total migration received). However, Argentina received a large contingent of Dutch since 1825. The largest community is in the city of Tres Arroyos in the south of the province of Buenos Aires.
In Suriname, the Dutch migrant settlers in search of a better life started arriving in the 19th century with the boeroes, poor farmers arriving from the Dutch provinces of Gelderland, Utrecht, and Groningen. America Desde Otra Frontera. La Guayana Holandesa – Surinam : 1680–1795, Ana Crespo Solana. Furthermore, the Surinamese ethnic group, the Creole peoples, persons of mixed Mulatto ancestry, are partially of Dutch descent. Many Dutch settlers left Suriname after independence in 1975, which diminished the white Dutch population in the country. Currently there are around 1000 Dutch Surinamese left in Suriname, and 3000 outside Suriname. Inside Suriname, they work in several sectors of society and some families still work in the agricultural sector.
/ref> The role of evolution is disputed, however.
Dutch diaspora
[[File:Dutch people around the world.svg|thumb|Distribution of the Dutch and their descendants around the world.
Central and Eastern Europe
During the Ostsiedlung (mainly taking place between the 10th and 13th century),Taschenatlas Weltgeschichte, part 1, by H. Kinder and W. Hilgemann. , page 171. (German) a number of Dutchmen moved as well. They settled mainly east of the Elbe and Saale rivers, regions largely inhabited by Polabian Slavs. After the capture of territory along the Elbe and Havel Rivers in the 1160s, Dutch settlers from flooded regions in Holland used their expertise to build dikes in Brandenburg, but also settled in and around major German cities such as Bremen and Hamburg and German regions of Mecklenburg and Brandenburg. From the 13th to the 15th centuries, the Teutonic Order invited several waves of Dutch and Frisians to settle throughout Prussia, mainly along the Baltic Sea coast. The first place in modern Poland where Dutch immigrants settled was Pasłęk in 1297, once renamed Holąd after the settlers.
Southern Africa
Although Portuguese explorers made contact with the Cape of Good Hope as early as 1488, much of present-day South Africa was ignored by Europeans until the Dutch East India Company (VOC) established its first outpost at Cape Town, in 1652. (1989). 9780620145374, Varama Publishers. ISBN 9780620145374 Dutch colonisers began arriving shortly thereafter, making the Cape home to the oldest Western-based civilisation south of the Sahara Desert. Some of the earliest mulatto communities in the country were subsequently formed through unions between colonists, enslaved people, and various Khoikhoi tribes. This led to the development of a major South African ethnic group, Cape Coloureds, who adopted the Dutch language and culture. As the number of Europeans—particularly women—in the Cape swelled, South African whites closed ranks as a community to protect their privileged status, eventually marginalising Coloureds as a separate and inferior racial group.
Southeast Asia
Since the 16th century, there has been a Dutch presence in Southeast Asia, Taiwan, and Japan. In many cases, the Dutch were the first Europeans whom the people living there encountered. Between 1602 and 1796, the VOC sent almost a million Europeans to work in its territories in Asia. The majority died of disease or made their way back to Europe, but some of them made the Indies their new home. Interaction between the Dutch and the indigenous populations mainly took place in Sri Lanka and the modern Indonesian Islands. Most of the time, Dutch soldiers married local women and settled in the colonies. Through the centuries, there developed a relatively large Dutch-speaking population of mixed Dutch and Indonesian descent, known as Indo people or Dutch-Indonesians. The expulsion of Dutchmen following the Indonesian Revolt means that currently the majority of this group lives in the Netherlands. Statistics show that Indos are the largest minority group in the Netherlands and number close to half a million (excluding the third generation). Willems, Wim, 'De uittocht uit Indie 1945–1995
West Africa
Though many Ghanaians of European origin are of British origin, there are a small number of Dutch people in Ghana. The forts in Ghana have a small number of Dutch people. Most of the Dutch population is in Accra, where the Netherlands has its embassy.
Australia and New Zealand
Though the Dutch were the first to visit Australia and New Zealand, colonisation did not take place and it was only after World War II that a sharp increase in Dutch emigration to Australia occurred. Poor economic prospects for many Dutchmen as well as increasing demographic pressures, in the post-war Netherlands were a powerful incentive to emigrate. Due to Australia experiencing a shortage of agriculture and metal industry workers it, and to a lesser extent New Zealand, seemed an attractive possibility, with the Dutch government actively promoting emigration. Nederland-Australie 1606–2006 on Dutch emigration.
North America
The Dutch had settled in North America long before the establishment of the United States of America.The U.S. declared its independence in 1776. The first Dutch settlement was built in 1614: Fort Nassau, where presently Albany, New York is positioned. For a long time the Dutch lived in Dutch colonies (New Netherland settlements), owned and regulated by the Dutch Republic, which later became part of the Thirteen Colonies.
Herman Ganzevoort (1983). 9780919045156, Multicultural History Society of Ontario. . ISBN 9780919045156 During the war Canada had sheltered Crown Princess Juliana and her family. Due to these close links during and after the war, Canada became a popular destination for Dutch immigrants.
Caribbean
Most Dutch settlement in the Caribbean occurred on the Dutch Caribbean islands of Aruba, Bonaire, Curaçao and to a lesser extent Sint Maarten, Saba and Sint Eustatius.
South America
In South America, the Dutch settled mainly in Brazil, Argentina and Suriname.
See also
Notes
Further reading
External links
|
|
