Dutch Colonial History and its impact on Penang

The Dutch extablished an overseas colonial empire between the 17th and 20th centuries. It was based on military conquest of existing Portuguese and Spanish settlements. In time, a weakened Netherlands found its territories being taken over by the British. Although the Dutch have never administered Penang, their withdrawal from Malacca gave Penang a positive chance. The following chronology traces Dutch colonial history and its impact on Penang.

• 1543: The Netherlands ruled by Charles V, the Holy Roman Emperor and King of Spain.
• 1567: Protestant revolt. Eighty Year War. The Netherlands declared independence from Spain in 1581, creating a Protestant republic. Victory in the war made Amsterdam a major commercial centre. Spain did not officially recognize Dutch independence until 1648.
• 1580: Portuguese crown joined that of Spain. The union last until 1640.
• 1590's: Dutch ships began trading with Brazil and Dutch Gold Coast of Africa. They became a competitor to the Portuguese.
• 1602: Dutch East India Company founded. Conflict with Portugal erupted into the Dutch-Portuguese War (1602-1661). The Netherlands began attacking and taking over Portuguese possessions.
• 1606-1662: 1605 captured Amboina (in Maluku, Indonesia) from the Portuguese. 1603 unsuccesssful attack on Portuguese Goa. 1606 unsuccessful attempt to conquer Malacca. 1610 another unsuccessful attack on Goa. 1619 conquered Jakarta. 1638 colonized Mauritius (named after Prince Maurice of Nassau, the Stadtholder of the Netherlands) 1641 successful in capturing Malacca. 1652 established colony in Cape Town. 1656 captured Colombo. 1658 captured Ceylon. 1662 captured Nagappattinam (now Nagapatnam, in Tamil Nadu), 1662 captured Cranganore (now Kodungallur, in Kerala) and Cochin (now Kochi, in Kerala). The Dutch attacked Portuguese Macau four times but were unsuccessful in capturing it.
• 1652-1783: 1652-54 First Anglo-Dutch War. 1665-1667 Second Anglo-Dutch War. 1672-74 Third Anglo-Dutch War. Dutch Stadtholder William III of Orange ascended the English throne in 1688 (as William III of England and Ireland, and William II of Scotland) ended hostility for a generation. 1780-84 Fourth Anglo-Dutch War (during the American Revolutionary War) resulted in Britain capturing Ceylon. Peace of Paris Treaty (1783) returned Ceylon to the Netherlands.
• 1795: French revolutionary army invaded the Dutch Republic and turned it into a satellite of France, named the Batavian Republic. Prince William of Orange fled to London. Britain moved to occupy Dutch colonies in Asia, including Malacca.
• 1800: Dutch East India Company was bankrupt. Its territorial possessions nationalised.
• 1805: Penang elevated to Presidency and divert trade from Malacca to Penang. 1807 William Farquhar tasked to dismantle Malacca Fort. Raffles ordered demotion stopped.
• 1818: Malacca returned to the Dutch. The next year Raffles established Singapore despite Dutch protest.
• 1824: Anglo-Dutch Treaty signed in London swapped Bencoolen for Malacca. Britain also got Dutch possessions in India.

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About this website

Dear visitor, thank you so much for reading this page. My name is Timothy Tye and my hobby is to find out about places, write about them and share the information with you on this website. I have been writing this site since 5 January 2003. Originally (from 2003 until 2009, the site was called AsiaExplorers. I changed the name to Penang Travel Tips in 2009, even though I describe more than just Penang but everywhere I go (I often need to tell people that "Penang Travel Tips" is not just information about Penang, but information written in Penang), especially places in Malaysia and Singapore, and in all the years since 2003, I have described over 20,000 places.

While I try my best to provide you information as accurate as I can get it to be, I do apologize for any errors and for outdated information which I am unaware. Nevertheless, I hope that what I have described here will be useful to you.