Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-mkpzs Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-23T02:07:22.709Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Exotic Allies: The Dutch-Chilean Encounter and the (Failed) Conquest of America*

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  20 November 2018

Benjamin Schmidt
Benjamin Schmidt*
Affiliation:
University of Washington
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

How did the Netherlands assimilate the New World? This essay explores the process of cultural geography in the Renaissance by examining the creative appropriation of American "allies" by the Dutch Republic. On three separate occasions, embassies from the United Provinces sought to enlist natives of South America for a proposed brotherhood, or "alliance," meant to challenge the tyranny of Spain and liberate the hemisphere from Habsburg control While this hoped-for Reconquista never did transpire, Dutch efforts — rhetorical as well as real—demonstrate a highly imaginative and vigorously prosecuted response to America. They problematize the paradigm of the New Worlds "blunted" impact on the Old.

Type
Studies
Information
Renaissance Quarterly , Volume 52 , Issue 2 , Summer 1999 , pp. 440 - 473
Copyright
Copyright © Renaissance Society of America 1999

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

Footnotes

*

For their helpful suggestions and encouragement, I would like to thank Willem Klooster, Steven Mullaney, Henk van Nierop, Anthony Pagden, Simon Schama, John Schwaller, Louise Townsend, and an anonymous reader for the Renaissance Quarterly. This essay was first presented at the annual meeting of the Renaissance Society of America in Bloomington, Indiana (1996), and later to the History Research Group of the University of Washington, and I am very grateful to both of those audiences for their comments. I wish also to acknowledge the generous financial support of the H. F. Guggenheim Foundation, the Keller Fund of the University of Washington, and the Committee on Degrees in History and Literature at Harvard University.

References

Apologie of Prince William of Orange against the Proclamation of the King of Spaine. Ed. H. Wansink. Leiden, 1969.Google Scholar
Armitage, David. “The New World and British Historical Thought: From Richard Hakluyt to William Robertson.” In Kupperman, 52-75.Google Scholar
Aventroot, Joan. Sendbrief van Joan Aventroot tot den groot-machtichsten coninck van Spaengien. Amsterdam, 1613.Google Scholar
Aventroot, Joan. Sendt-brief aen die van Peru, met een Aliance van de… Heeren Staten, der Vereenigder Provintien des Nederlands. Amsterdam, 1630.Google Scholar
Axtell, James. “Columbian Encounters: Beyond 1992. ”William and Mary Quarterly, 3d ser., 49 (1992): 335–60.Google Scholar
Axtell, James“Columbian Encounters: 1992-1995.” William and Mary Quarterly, 3d ser., 52 (1995): 649–96.Google Scholar
Bachman, Van Cleaf. Peltries or Plantations: The Economic Policies of the Dutch West India Company in New Netherland, 1623-1639. Baltimore, 1969.Google Scholar
Barlaeus, Caspar. Nederlandsch Brazilie onder het bewind van Johan Maurits, grave van Nassau 1637-1644. Ed. and trans. S. R l'Honore’ Naber. The Hague, 1923.Google Scholar
Baudart, Willem. Memoryen ofte Cort verhael der gedenck-weerdichste so kercklicke als wereltlicke gheschiedenissen … van denjaere 1603 tot in't jaer 1624. 16 pts. Arnhem, 1624-1625.Google Scholar
Boogaart, Ernst van den. “De Nederlandse expansie in het Atlantisch gebied, 1590-1674.” In Algemene Geschiedenis der Nederlanden, ed. D. P. Blok et al. 15 vols., 7: 220-54. Haarlem, 1977-1983.Google Scholar
Bradley, Peter T. The Lure of Peru: Maritime Intrusion into the South Sea, 1598-1701. London, 1989.Google Scholar
Bruijn, Abraham de. Omnium pene Europae, Asiae, Aphricae atque Americae gentium habitus. Antwerp, 1581.Google Scholar
Cañizares-Esguerra, Jorge. “New World, New Stars: Patriotic Astrology and the Invention of Indian and Creole Bodies in Colonial Spanish America, 1600-1650.” American Historical Review 104 (1999): 33–68.Google Scholar
Chiappelli, Fredi. ed. First Images of America: The Impact of the New World on the Old. 2 vols. Berkeley and Los Angeles, 1976.Google Scholar
Commelin, Izaak. Frederick Hendrick van Nassauw prince van Orangien zijn leven en bedryf. 2 vols. Amsterdam, 1651.Google Scholar
Cornelissen, J. D. M. Waarom zij Geuzen werden genoemed. Tilburg, 1936.Google Scholar
Danforth, Susan. Encountering the New World, 1493-1800. Providence, RI, 1991.Google Scholar
Dillen, J. G. van. “De West-Indische Compagnie, het calvinisme, en de politiek.” Tijdschrift voor geschiedenis 74 (1961): 145–71.Google Scholar
Doel, H. W. van den, Emmer, P. C., and Vogel, H. Ph.. Nederland en de Nieuwe Wereld. Utrecht, 1992.Google Scholar
Elliott, J.H. The Old World and the New, 1492-1650. Cambridge, 1970.Google Scholar
Elst, C. “Une derniere victime Beige du Saint-Office, 1632. J. B. Avontroot.” Revue Trimestrielle 23 (1859): 3–21.Google Scholar
Emmer, P. C. “Nederlandse handelaren, kolonisten en planters in de Nieuwe Wereld.” In Doel, 9–80.Google Scholar
Ercilla y Ziifiiga, Alonso de. Primera, segunday tercera partes de la Araucana. Antwerp, 1597.Google Scholar
Ercilla y Ziifiiga, Alonso de. Historiale beschrijvinghe der goudtrijcke landen in Chile ende Arauco, ende andere provincien in Chili ghelegen. Rotterdam, 1619.Google Scholar
Ercilla y Ziifiiga, Alonso de. The Araucaniad. Trans, and ed. Charles Maxwell Lancaster and Paul Thomas Manchester. Nashville, 1945.Google Scholar
Farago, Claire. ed. Reframing the Renaissance: Visual Culture in Europe and Latin America, 1450-1650. New Haven, 1995.Google Scholar
Gijsius, Joannes. Oorsprong en voortgang der Neder-landtscher beroerten ende ellendicheden. Leiden, 1616.Google Scholar
Grafton, Anthony. New World, Ancient Texts: The Power of Tradition and the Shock of Discovery. Cambridge, MA, 1992.Google Scholar
Greenblatt, Stephen J. Renaissance Self-Fashioning from More to Shakespeare. Chicago, 1980.Google Scholar
Greenblatt, Stephen J. Marvelous Possessions: The Wonder of the New World. Chicago, 1991.Google Scholar
Hamconius, Martinus. Frisia, seu De viris rebusque Frisiae illustribus libri duo. Franeker, 1620.Google Scholar
Hart, Simon. The Prehistory of the New Netherland Company. Amsterdam, 1959.Google Scholar
Heijer, Henk den. De geschiedenis van de WIC. Zutphen, 1994.Google Scholar
Herckmans, Elias. Der zee-vaert lofhandelende vande gedenckwaerdighste zeevaerden. Amsterdam, 1634.Google Scholar
Hoboken, W. J. van. “The Dutch West India Company: The Political Background of its Rise and Fall.” In Britain and the Netherlands, ed. J. S. Bromley and E. H. Kossmann, 41–61. London, 1960.Google Scholar
IJzerman, J. W., ed. De reis om de wereld door Olivier van Noort, 1598-1601. 2 pts. Werken Uitgegeven door de Linschoten-Vereeniging, vols. 27-28. The Hague, 1926.Google Scholar
Jameson, J. Franklin. Willem Usselinx, Founder of the Dutch and Swedish West India Companies. Papers of the American Historical Association, vol. 2, no. 3. New York, 1887.Google Scholar
Journael ende historis verhael van de reyse gedaen by oosten de Straet le Maire, naer de custen van Chili, onder het beleyt van den Heer Generael Hendrick Brouwer, inden jare 1643 voor gevallen. Amsterdam, 1646.Google Scholar
Journael vande Nassaussche vloot, ofte Beschryvingh vande voyagie om den gantsche aerdt-cloot ghedaen met elf schepen. Amsterdam, 1626. ; Anr. edt. 1631.Google Scholar
Klooster, Wim. The Dutch in the Americas, 1600-1800. A narrative history with the catalogue of an exhibition of rare prints, maps, and illustrated books from the John Carter Brown Library. Providence, 1997.Google Scholar
Knuttel, W. P. C. Catalogus van de pamfletten- verzameling herustende in de Koninklijke Bibliotheek. 9 pts. The Hague, 1889-1920.Google Scholar
Kupperman, Karen Ordahl. ed. America in European Consciousness, 1493-1750. Chapel Hill, 1995.Google Scholar
Laet, Joannes de. Nieuwe wereldt oft Beschrijvinghe van West Indien. Leiden, 1630.Google Scholar
Langenes, Barent. Caert-thresoor. Middelburg, 1598.Google Scholar
Larner, John. “Foreword.” Renaissance Studies 6 (1992): 247–48 (special issue, The Encounter of Two Worlds in the Renaissance).Google Scholar
Las Casas, Bartolomé de. Brevlssima relacidn de la destruycidn de las Indias. Seville, 1552.Google Scholar
Lechner, Jan, and H. Ph., Vogel. eds. De Nieuwe Wereld en de Lage Landen: Onbekende aspecten van vijfhonderd jaar ontmoetingen tussen Latijns- Amerika en Nederland. Amsterdam, 1992.Google Scholar
Levendich discours vant ghemeyne Lants welvaert, voor desen de Oost, end nu de West-Indische generale compaignie aenghevanghen. N.p., 1622.Google Scholar
Ligtenberg, Catharina. Willem Usselinx. Utrecht, 1914.Google Scholar
McCallum, R. I. “Observations upon Antimony.” Proceedings of the Royal Society of Medicine 70 (1977): 756–63.Google Scholar
McNeill, William H. “The Legacy of Columbus, or How by Crossing the Oceans He Shaped the Modern World.” In Danforth, xi-xxi,Google Scholar
Memorie vande ghewichtighe redenen die de heeren Staten Generael behooren te beweghen, om gheesins te wijcken vande handelinghe ende vaert van Indien. N.p., 1608.Google Scholar
Menkman, W. R. De West-Indische Compagnie. Amsterdam, 1947.Google Scholar
Meteren, Emanuel van. Historic der Neder-landscher ende haerder na-buren oorlogen ende geschiedenissen. The Hague, 1614.Google Scholar
Montanus, Arnoldus. De nieuwe en onbekende weereld: of Beschryving van America en 't Zuid-land. Amsterdam, 1671.Google Scholar
Mour, M. E. H. N., ed. Plakkaat van Verlatinge 1581. The Hague, 1979.Google Scholar
Nader, Helen. “The End of the Old World.” Renaissance Quarterly 45 (1993): 791–807.Google Scholar
N. G. Reys-boeck van het rijcke Brasilien, Rio de la Plata, ende Magallanes. N.p., 1624.Google Scholar
Nierop, H. F. K. van. “A Beggars Banquet: The Compromise of the Nobility and the Politics of Inversion.” European History Quarterly 21 (1991): 419–43.Google Scholar
Octroy, by de Hooge Mogende Heeren Staten Generael, verleent aende West-Indische Compagnie, in date den derden, Junij 1621. The Hague, 1621.Google Scholar
Onpartydich discours opte handelinghe vande Indien. N.p., n.d.Google Scholar
Pagden, Anthony. European Encounters with the New World: From Renaissance to Romanticism. New Haven, 1993.Google Scholar
Pastor Bodmer, Beatriz. The Armature of Conquest. Trans. Lydia Longstreth Hunt. Stanford, 1992.Google Scholar
Prior, S., ed. and comp. All the Voyages Round the World. London, 1820.Google Scholar
Purchas, Samuel. Hakluytus Posthumus or Purchas his Pilgrimes. 4 pts. London, 1625.Google Scholar
Quint, David. Epic and Empire: Politics and Generic Form from Virgil to Milton. Princeton, 1993.Google Scholar
Ryan, Michael. “Assimilating New Worlds in the Sixteenth and Seventeenth Centuries.” Comparative Studies in Society and History 23 (1981): 519–38.Google Scholar
Schmidt, Benjamin. “Innocence Abroad: The Dutch Imagination and the Representation of the New World, 1570-1670. Ph.D. diss., Harvard University, 1994.Google Scholar
Schmidt, Benjamin. “Tyranny Abroad: The Dutch Revolt and the Invention of America.” De Zeventiende Eeuw 11(1995): 161-74.Google Scholar
Schmidt, Benjamin. “The Past in a Foreign Country: Patriotic History and Republican Geography in the Netherlands, c. 1600-1648.” In Presenting the Past: History, Art, Language, Literature, ed. Jane Fenoulhet and Lesley Gilbert, 28-38. Series Crossways, vol. 3. London, 1996.Google Scholar
Seed, Patricia. Ceremonies of Possession in Europe's Conquest of the New World, 1492-1640. Cambridge, 1995.Google Scholar
Den Spaenschen ende Arragoenschen Spiegel. N. p., 1599.Google Scholar
Den Spiegel der Spaensche tyrannye gheschiet in West Indien. Amsterdam, 1620.Google Scholar
Tweede deel van den Spiegel der Spaensche tyrannye gheschiet in Nederlandt. Amsterdam, 1620.Google Scholar
Tydingh uyt Brasijl aende Heeren Bewinthebberen van de West-Indische Compagnie, van wegen den tocht by den Generael Brouwer nae de Zuyd- Zee gedaen. Amsterdam, 1644.Google Scholar
Usselincx, WiUem. Waerschouwinghe over den treves met den coninck van Spaengien, aen alle goede Patriotten, gedaen met ghewichtige redenen. Flushing, 1630.Google Scholar
Vertoogh, hoe nootwendich, nut ende proftjtelick het sy voor de Vereenighde Nederlanden te behouden de Vryheyt van te handelen op West-Indien, inden vrede metten Coninck van Spaignen. N.p, 1608.Google Scholar
Voorbeijtel Cannenburg, W. ed. De reis om de wereld van de Nassausche Vloot, 1623-1626. Werken Uitgegeven door de Linschoten-Vereeniging, vol. 65. The Hague, 1964.Google Scholar
Vriendelicke vermaninghe aen de Heeren de Staten van Brabandt… op de supplicatie by hen aan Don Loys de Requesens. Delft, 1574.Google Scholar
Vriendelijcke waerschouwinghe aen de Staten van Artois, van Henegouwe, ende van Douay. N.p., 1579.Google Scholar
Waerachtigh verhael, van het succes van het vlote, onder den Admirael Iaques L ‘Hermite, in de Zuyt-zee, op de custen van Peru, en de stadt Lima in Indien. N.p., 1625.Google Scholar
Warachtighe beschrijvinghe ende levendighe afbeeldinghe van de meer dan onmenschelijcke ende barbarische tyrannije bedreven by de Spaengiaerden inde Nederlanden. N.p., 1621.Google Scholar
Warnsinck, J. C. M. De reis om de wereld vanjoris van Spilbergen, 1614-1617. 2 pts. Werken Uitgegeven door de Linschoten-Vereeniging, vol. 47. The Hague, 1943.Google Scholar
Wassenaer, Nicolaes Jansz. van. Historisch verhael alder ghedenck-weerdichste geschiedenissen, die hier en daer … voorgevallen syn. 17 pts. Amsterdam, 1622-1630.Google Scholar
Water, Jona Willem te. ed. Historic van het Verbond en de Smeekschriften der Nederlandsche edelen tcr verkrijging van vrijheid in den godsdienst en burgerstaat in dejaren 1565-1567. 4 vols. Middelburg, 1779-1796.Google Scholar
Wieder, F. G., ed. De reis van Mahu en De Cordes door de Straat van Magalhaes naar Zuid-Amerika en Japan, 1598-1600. 2 vols. Werken Uitgegeven door de Linschoten-Vereeniging, vols. 21-22. The Hague, 1923-1924.Google Scholar
Winter, P. J. van. De Westindische Compagnie ter kamer Stad en Lande. The Hague, 1978.Google Scholar