Privatizing Colonization: The Patroonship of Rensselaerswijck
Privatizing Colonization: The Patroonship of Rensselaerswijck
Dr. Charles T. Gehring, Director
New Netherland Project
In the early years of the seventeenth century, the board of directors of a Dutch company faced a serious problem. The company’s primary business was overseas trade. It held a charter from the government that allowed it to form treaties with foreign princes and to purchase land from rightful owners in order to exploit natural resources. It also maintained a monopoly over a designated region, eliminating competition from other companies within the Netherlands.
However, the Dutch Republic was at war with the Hapsburg Empire and engaged in fierce competition with England for control of global trade routes. To secure overseas possessions against aggressive competitors and enemies—and to better supply those outposts with vital necessities—several directors proposed that the company encourage colonization.
Isolated trading posts, they argued, were vulnerable to heavily armed raiders and to native forces that might reconsider their willingness to accommodate foreign settlers. Disruptions in the arrival of supply ships could also jeopardize the company’s ability to maintain such distant and exposed locations.
The proposed solution was the creation of agricultural support farms. These farms would supply trading posts with food and provisions while also establishing a local population of settlers, including men capable of bearing arms—an effective deterrent against surprise attacks.
