Stuyvesant’s expedition sails against New Sweden

The WIC granted New Amsterdam a city charter. The legal change formalized Dutch municipal authority on Lenape land and served colonial settlement and commerce. African residents, including enslaved...

Cape records state that an enslaved man named Abraham, described as a stowaway from Batavia, was given to Van Riebeeck. This dated entry makes visible the coercive labor system developing at the...

Cape records report that Autsumao (Herry) killed a cattle herder and took livestock. In a decolonial reading, this action belongs to a wider contest over grazing, livestock, and land as Dutch settlers...

Dutch authorities signed the capitulation of Recife, ending WIC rule in northeastern Brazil. Portuguese-Brazilian resistance had forced the withdrawal. The transition restored Portuguese colonial rule...

Swedish forces captured the Dutch fort and renamed it Fort Trefaldighet. The conflict unfolded on Indigenous land where European powers competed for river access, trade, and settlement, often treating...

Dutch troops captured Fort Christina, which they renamed Fort Altena, and brought New Sweden under Dutch control. This transfer between European empires furthered colonial settlement on Indigenous...

An Indigenous force attacked New Amsterdam in an episode later called the Peach War. The label and surviving accounts reflect colonial perspectives; the violence occurred amid Dutch encroachment and...

The VOC captured Colombo from the Portuguese after a long siege, extending Dutch control over Sri Lanka’s coast. The Dutch had allied with Kandy against Portugal, but the company’s takeover imposed...

The ship Hasselt arrived with 228 enslaved people from Popo, in the Gulf of Guinea region. The voyage shows the Cape’s integration into Dutch slavery routes spanning West Africa and the Indian...

Autsumao (Herry), a Khoikhoi leader who resisted Dutch expansion, was banished to Robben Island. Colonial punishment sought to suppress opposition to settler land and livestock claims. His actions and...