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The Rise and Fall of the Virginia-Dutch Connection in the Seventeenth Century Victor Enthoven and Wim Klooster In March 1651, Virginia governor William Berkeley denounced the 1650 Act of Navigation in the strongest possible language: “The Indians, god be blessed round about us are subdued; we can onely feare the Londoners, who would faine bring us to the same poverty, wherein the Dutch found and relieved us; would take away the liberty of our consciences and tongues, and our right of giving and selling our goods to whom we please.”¹ As this observation reveals, Dutch maritime and commercial connections had been vital for the survival of the fledgling colony. The Dutch had “relieved” the Virginians in two ways. First, they supplied the planters and colonists with all kinds of necessities in order to survive in the New World. Archeological evidence substantiates the impact of Dutch commercial links on the material culture of the early Chesapeake.² Second, they had shipped the fruits of Virginia—tobacco, corn, and meat—to the Old World and had marketed these products. In 1653, the London-based merchant John Bland tried to convince the authorities in England, on “behalf of the inhabitants and planters in Virginia and Maryland,” of the paramount importance of the Dutch trade network and the Holland tobacco market. As Bland wrote, “If the Hollanders must not trade to Virginia how shall the Planters dispose of their Tobacco? The English will not buy it, for what the Hollanders carried thence was a sort [of] Tobacco, not desired by any other people, nor used by us in England but merely transport for Holland.”³ The port cities of Middelburg in Zeeland and later Amsterdam in Holland, where Chesapeake tobacco was cut and mixed with Dutch-grown varieties, became the dominant continental markets for Virginia tobacco. Around 1700, Holland The Rise and Fall of the Virginia-Dutch Connection / 91 imported almost one-third of Virginia and Maryland tobacco: 8–9 million pounds out of a total of 30 million.4 The importance of the Dutch for the international tobacco trade and manufacturing lasted well into the eighteenth century.5 We may wonder what “Dutch,” “English,” and “Virginian” meant in the seventeenth century. Were London-born merchants active in the Virginia trade who conducted their business from Amsterdam, for instance, Dutch or English? And were Dutch-speaking settlers in Virginia Dutch Virginians? An example may illustrate the prevalence of multiple identities and allegiances. In August 1651, the Golden Lion, master John Jasperson of Middelburg, set sail from Amsterdam bound for Virginia, carrying spirits , clothing, and shoes. Peter de Leeuw, Govert Lachard, and a few others, all dwelling in the Spanish Netherlands, owned the ship. Its arrival in the James River the following October coincided with the passage of England’s Navigation Act, which led to the seizure of over one hundred Dutch ships by English privateers in a nine-month span.6 The Golden Lion was among these vessels, seized by three English ships on February 7, 1652, shortly before Virginia was brought under obedience to the Commonwealth. Several Virginia planters, including Nicolas Smith, John Bishop, Samuel Hart, and Giles Webb, had already loaded their tobacco on board the Golden Lion, which was bound for London.7 Was this a Dutch, English, or Virginia enterprise ? It is likely that the ship originated from the Dutch Republic but was naturalized because of the rising tension between the Commonwealth and the States General, meaning that ships’ papers were obtained in a neutral port, in this case one in the Spanish Netherlands. In this essay we will call a person or his trade “Dutch”when the center of gravity of the commercial venture was the Dutch Republic. For instance, James and Jacques Thierry , both coming from London but living in and trading from Amsterdam in the 1660s and the 1670s, will be classified as “Dutch.”8 Likewise, Virginians of Dutch descent and active in Virginia-Dutch commerce will also be referred to as “Dutch.” The emphasis of this essay is on the organization of the bilateral maritime and commercial connections between Virginia and the Dutch Republic in the seventeenth century. Contacts with the Dutch colony of New Netherland will be largely left out.9 Over time the character of Dutch-Virginia commercial relations changed profoundly. Sometimes Dutch merchants are rather notable in the archives, but at other times they are more submerged in the sources. Russell Menard’s observation that the rare appearance of [3.143.244.83] Project...

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