No, I said patroon, not spittoon
The VOC established a presence that would be called New Netherland in what is now New York, centering its operations on the island of New Amersterdam, what we call Manhattan. The Dutch engaged the indigenous tribes in trading, with beaver pelts being the main focus.
It became obvious to the powers-that-be of the time in the Netherlands that the properties the Dutch had claimed in the New World and the western parts of Africa needed separate administration, so the Republic of the Seven United Netherlands granted a charter for the formation of the Dutch West India Company, or the GWC, an initialism of the Dutch name.
The company had five chambers, sort of like regional headquarters, of which Amsterdam and Middleburg were the most eminent. Unlike its cousin, the GWC was purely commercial and had no military authority. That did not stop the company from commissioning privateers -- essentially pirates with legal authority to operate -- to protect shipping and interfere with the operations of Spanish and Portuguese ships.
But profits from privateering proved inadequate for long-term financing of the company, though the privateers did make a couple of big scores. One trade did prove to be lucrative -- slaves. To be fair, many of the company's members had moral qualms about being involved in slave trading, but in the end, money won out over scruples. I should also note that these slaves were not meant for North America and were sold in Brazil and some Caribbean Islands. This is not to say, however, that none of them wound up in our country.
The big venture for New Netherland was the establishment of "patroonships." What in tarnation is a patroonship? Essentially it was a grant of land from the company to investors, or patroons, most of whom were wealthy members of the company. The company wrote A Charter of Freedoms and Exemptions spelling out the terms of creating patroonships and submitted it to the government for ratification.
The charter dictated the size of each grant, which varied by location. Investors had to establish at least one colony on their grants by transporting at least 50 people over the age of 15 to settle the land, the costs for which would be borne entirely by the patroon. This included transportation, building houses and barns, and providing the necessary equipment and supplies to farm. A quarter of the 50 immigrants had to be settled in the first year and the rest in three years. New Amsterdam was excluded from the available lands, and patroons were not allowed to participate in fur trading or the manufacture of textiles.
For their part the settlers paid no taxes for the first 10 years, but they did have to pay rent. They were not allowed to sell anything they produced without offering it to the patroon first and couldn't move from their initial location. Once the patroonship became profitable, though, they would share in the profits.
Two other requirements of note: The patroon had to negotiate with the indigenous tribes to purchase the land he'd been granted, though the likelihood is that the two sides had entirely different understandings of what that meant. Also in addition to the settlers, patroons were entitled to "free blacks" to help establish the settlements. And by "free," of course I mean without cost.
During this period, Brandt van Schlichtenhorst, Sharon's great-great-to-the-x went to work for the Amsterdam division of the GWC and in 1632 was appointed commissary of stores for New Netherlands. He was initially scheduled to sail for New Netherland but for some reason never left. A year later he relocated to the city of Amersfoort, southeast of Amsterdam where he became deputy schout, kind of like a sheriff, though his role would have mainly been as an administrator and justice of the peace. This experience would come in handy a decade later.
Next time: The most successful of the patroonships and van Schlichtenhorst's arrival in the New World to run it.
Image: Flag of the Dutch West India Company, or GWC.
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