The Dutch Seaborne Empire

(4 Credits)

This class investigates Dutch overseas expansion and colonization in the Atlantic and Indian Oceans in the Early Modern Period. In the 1600s-1800s, Dutch colonizers established trading posts, port cities, and plantations everywhere from Manhattan to southern Africa, Java, Japan, the Caribbean, and Brazil. Pirates, warriors, rajas, interpreters, sailors, and enslaved people supported and resisted this empire in all these places. Topics explored include life at sea, gender and sexuality, knowledge exchange, slavery, ecological intrusions, and Indigenous cultures.