DUTCH
Excerpts from Wikipedia.org
The Dutch people (Dutch: Nederlanders) are an ethnic group forming the majority of the population in the Netherlands. Historically the Dutch chiefly lived in the Low Countries and Northern France but since the 12th century have migrated all over the world.
The Dutch predominantly descend from various Germanic tribes, and speak Dutch, one of the 3 most spoken Germanic languages today.
The Dutch region has been permanently inhabited since Neolithic times. Nevertheless the Dutch mainly descend from 7th-century immigrants, the Franks, who arrived and settled in the Low Countries during the migration period. They arose from relative obscurity when they, for political, religious, and cultural reasons, revolted against Europe's most powerful nation, Habsburg Spain, in what became a struggle for independence lasting eighty years (1568-1648).
The Dutch emerged victorious and established the first truly independent Dutch state in history: the Dutch Republic (videos 1, 2), which would soon manifest itself as one of Europe's Great Powers and have complete naval dominance for nearly a century.
During the Age of Imperialism the Dutch Empire controlled 3.7 million km² of the earth's surface and had a total of 80,000,000 inhabitants in 1940.
Today, Dutchmen and their descendants can be found all over the world, most notably in Europe, the Americas, Southern Africa and Oceania, ranging from (near) completely assimilated to isolated communities.
Epic Ancestry
The Batavians were a relatively small Germanic tribe, allied to the Roman Empire and romanized, who between 69 and 70 AD rebelled against Rome. The rebels led by Gaius Julius Civilis managed to destroy four legions and inflict humiliating defeats on the Roman army. After their initial successes, a massive Roman army led by Quintus Petillius Cerialis eventually defeated them.
From the 16th century until the early 20th century, the Batavians were falsely regarded as the sole ancestors of the Dutch. Dutch intellectuals saw a parallel between the Dutch revolt against Spain and the Batavian revolt against the Roman Empire. As a result a number of things related to the Dutch are and were named after this tribe. Some examples include:
- Lingua Batava, a Latin term for the Dutch language.
- Batavia, the colonial capital of the Dutch East Indies, established in the 16th century, now Jakarta, Indonesia.
- The Netherlands were briefly (1795–1806) known as the Batavian Republic, a republic modeled after the French Republic.
Modern historians view the Batavians as a minor contributor and historical sources indicate the Batavians most likely joined the much larger tribe of the Franks when they arrived in the Low Countries.
Ethnogenesis
The Dutch nation was defined in the middle of the 19th century, when the current state of the Netherlands emerged after the secession of Belgium, thus also the Dutch-speaking Belgians. This however, did not coincide with the Dutch ethnic group, which had long since emerged.
The Dutch Republic for example was the first truly independent Dutch state, before its establishment there had been various personal unions between a number, and in the end all, Dutch fiefs/provinces.
The exact date when the Dutch emerged as a new ethnic group is, like with most other ethnic groups, difficult to determine. The Franks arrived in the Northern and Central Low Countries around the 3rd and 4th century AD (after the retreat of Roman troops) and started the development of a people later known as the Dutch. The Dutch language was spoken and attested around 450 AD, and emerged from Old Frankish. The first people to speak the language did speak Dutch, but they would most likely be classified as being Franks today.
The cultural and linguistic distance between the modern Germanic peoples is rather large. Although in the beginning the Germanic tribes were united by mutual intelligible dialects (and a more or less single mythology), today, of about 50 related Germanic languages, only Afrikaans (a Dutch semi-creol mainly spoken by the Afrikaners, partly the descendants of Dutch colonists) is mutually intelligible with Dutch.
Appearance
The percentages of hair colour for the Dutch population are 43% brown, 40% blond and 17% other (note that this includes non-western ethnic minorities, so the actual percentages of blond or brown hair for the Dutch ethnic group are likely to be higher) Generally the Dutch are described as being very tall, and they are indeed among the tallest people on earth, but this is a relatively recent development. It was only in the 1950s that the Dutch passed Americans, who stood tallest for most of the last 200 years. In fact, in 1848, one man out of four was rejected by the Dutch military because he was shorter than 5' 2" (157 cm).
Genetics
The genetic makeup of the Dutch is typified by a high occurrence of the Y-chromosome markers: haplogroup R1b (averaging 70%) and haplogroup I (averaging 25%). These chromosomes are associated with Eurasiatic Cro Magnoid homo sapiens of the Aurignacian culture, the first modern humans in Europe, and the people of the Gravettian culture that entered Europe from the Middle East 20,000 to 25,000 years ago.
With 70.4%, the Dutch have one of the highest percentages of haplogroup R1b occurrences in Northwestern Europe, comparable to that of the (combined) British population; 72%. Neighbouring populations have lower occurrence of this chromosome (French: 52.2% and Germans: 50.0%); with again a percentage similar to that of the Dutch among the inhabitants of the Iberian peninsula and French Atlantic coast. The Dutch hence fit the Atlantic Haplotype Modal, which is the primary model of peoples living along or in the vicinity of the Atlantic Ocean and the North Sea.
Within the R1b haplogroup its R1b1b2a1 subclade is most dominant, and in fact peaks in occurrence among the Dutch and Frisians at 37.2%. The Dutch share this high rate with the people in Southwest England (21.4%) and Denmark (17.7%). Other haplogroups are less frequent in the Dutch population: Haplogroup E (Hg E3b1a) less than 5% and haplogroup R1a1 (3.7%). The latter is found more frequently in East of the Netherlands.
Dutch Names
Dutch surnames (and names of Dutch origin) are generally easily recognisable, mainly because of tussenvoegsels such as van, van der or de. In the United States, partly due to the fame of rich industrials such as Cornelius Vanderbilt, Dutch surnames are often associated with the upperclass of society even though when translated the surnames are often very simplistic. For example, Vanderbilt means "(coming) from De Bilt", De Bilt being a small village in the province of Utrecht. Unlike what is sometimes thought, and unlike the German von, the Dutch van does not denote any aristocratic status.
The Flemish People
The Flemish once were, and sometimes still are, regarded as "Dutch". It is, however, inaccurate to view the Flemish as a Dutch offshoot. A more accurate view would be to consider the modern Dutch and Flemish as having been a single people which subsequently (due to all kinds of factors) split, with the Dutch 'keeping' the groups name in the international sphere. When this exact split occurred is open to debate (as is, in some circles, the split itself). Some claim it began when the Dutch Republic signed the Treaty of Münster, thus creating essentially the first political division between the Dutch, while others say it wasn't until the start of the Flemish movement at the beginning of the 20th century. As a result of this the Flemish people are generally not regarded as identical nowadays, and most Dutch people see them as a separate ethnic group. At the same time however, the Dutch and Flemish see themselves as the most similar people, and some institutions see "Fleming" as an alternative term for "Dutch".
The situation in Belgium itself was/is very vague. Until 1980, for example, the Flemish community was called the Nederlandse Cultuurgemeenschap (Dutch for "Dutch cultural community") and there are people who deny the existence of the Flemish as an ethnic group, and refer to them as Dutch-speaking Belgians instead.
Reunification: In the current (2007) political stalemate in Belgium, between the Francophone and Dutch-speaking inhabitants (alongside other tensions) the question whether, if it should come to a dissolution of Belgium, Flanders should join the Netherlands has become a considerable issue.
The Peasant Wedding (1568) by Pieter Bruegel the Elder
French Flanders
French Flanders (French: La Flandre française; Dutch: Frans-Vlaanderen) is a part of the historical, originally Dutch-speaking region Flanders in present-day France. The region today lies in the modern-day région of Nord-Pas de Calais, the departement of Nord, and roughly corresponds to the arrondissements of Lille, Douai, and Dunkirk on the Belgian border.
French Flanders is mostly flat marshlands in the coal-rich area just south of the North Sea. French Flanders consists of two regions:
- French Westhoek to the northwest, lying between the Lys River and the North Sea, roughly the same area as the Arrondissement of Dunkirk
- Lille Flanders (French: La Flandre Lilloise; Dutch: Rijsels-Vlaanderen), the French parts of Romance Flanders (historically also Walloon Flanders) to the southeast, south of the Lys and now the arrondissements of Lille and Douai
The region was originally part of the feudal County of Flanders, then part of the Spanish Netherlands, in present-day Belgium. It was separated from the county in 1659 due to the Peace of the Pyrenees, which ended the French-Spanish conflict in the Thirty Years War, and other parts of the region were added in successive treaties in 1668 and 1678. The region was ceded to the Kingdom of France, and became part of the province of Flanders and Hainaut. The bulk became part of French the modern administrative Department of Nord, although some western parts of the region which separated in 1237 and became County of Artois before the cession to the French are now part of Pas-de-Calais.
Rich in coal, and bordering the North Sea, French Flanders was fought over numerous times between the middle ages and WWII.
Dutch Diaspora
The first big wave of Dutch immigrants to leave the Low Countries came from present day Northern Belgium as they wanted to escape the heavily urbanised cities in Western Flanders. They arrived in Brandenburg in 1157. Due to this, the area is known as "Fläming" (Fleming) in reference to the Duchy that these immigrants came from. Because of a number of devastating floods in the provinces of Zeeland and Holland in the 12th century, large numbers of farmers migrated to The Wash in Britain, the delta of the Gironde in France, around Bremen, Hamburg and western North Rhine-Westphalia. Until the late 16th century, many Dutchmen and women (Invited by the German markgrave) moved to the delta of the Elbe, around Berlin, where they dried swamps, canalized rivers and build numerous dikes. Today, the Berlin dialect still bears some Dutch features.
Overseas emigration of the Dutch started around the 16th century, beginning a Dutch colonial empire. The first Dutch settlers arrived in the New World in 1614 and built a number of settlements around the mouth of the Hudson River, establishing the colony of New Netherland, with its capital at New Amsterdam (the future world metropolis of New York City). Dutch explorers also discovered Australia and New Zealand in 1606, thought they did not settle the new lands; and Dutch immigration to these countries did not begin until after World War II. The Dutch were also one of the few Europeans to successfully settle Africa prior to the late 19th century. Dutch colonists established Cape Town in 1652 and their descendants are known today as the Afrikaners.
Emigrants from the Netherlands since the Second World War went mainly to the United States, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, and until the 1970's to South Africa. There are recognisable Dutch immigrant communities in these countries. Smaller numbers of Dutch immigrants can be found in most developed countries. In several former Dutch colonies and trading settlements, there are ethnic groups of partial Dutch ancestry.
The Dutch in Asia
The Dutch have had a profound effect on the history of South East Asia, Taiwan and Japan; the Dutch settlement on Deshima provided for centuries the only means of cultural exchange between Japan and European civilization, and indeed most of the outside world. In many cases the Dutch were the first Europeans the natives would encounter. As a result there has been some considerable ethnic stereotyping. The Japanese described the Dutch as red-haired barbarians and in Malay, the language of the former Dutch East Indies, the name for the Long-nosed Monkey literally translates as "Dutchman", as in Eastern Asian eyes the noses of Europeans were exceedingly large.
Descendants
In the Dutch East Indies (now Indonesia), the Dutch heavily interacted with the indigenous population and as European women were almost non-existent many married a native. This created a new group of people, the Dutch-Eurasians (Dutch: Indische Nederlanders) also known as 'Indos' or 'Indo-Europeans'.
After World War II, most Eurasians of European and Indonesian descent settled (after the overthrow of Dutch colonial rule) in The Netherlands and thereafter in America and elsewhere. Dutch Eurasians were typically Dutch citizens and were seen as having collaborated with the Dutch government by many Indonesians, whereas the Indonesian revolutionary leaders were seen as having collaborated with the Japanese invaders by many Dutch. Both of those perceptions were largely correct. These Dutch Eurasians, also called Indos or Indo-Europeans, have largely assimilated in the Netherlands and, with over 500,000 persons, are the largest ethnic minority in the Netherlands.
Taiwan Under Dutch Rule
Dutch Formosa refers to the period of colonial Dutch government on Formosa (now known as Taiwan), lasting from 1624 to 1662. In the context of the Age of Discovery the Dutch East India Company established its presence on Taiwan to trade with China and Japan, and also to interdict Portuguese and Spanish trade and colonial activities in East Asia.
At the beginning of the 17th century the forces of Catholic Spain and Portugal were in opposition to those of Protestant Holland and England, often resulting in open warfare in Europe and in their possessions in Asia. The Dutch first attempted to trade with China in 1601 but were rebuffed by the Chinese authorities, who were already engaged in trade with the Portuguese at Macao. In a 1604 expedition from Batavia (the central base of the Dutch in Asia), Admiral van Warwijk set out to attack Macao, but his force was waylaid by a typhoon, driving them to the Pescadores (now known as Penghu). Once there, the admiral attempted to negotiate trade terms with the Chinese on the mainland, but was asked to pay an exorbitant fee for the privilege of an interview. Surrounded by a vastly superior Chinese fleet, he left without achieving any of his aims.
In 1622 after another unsuccessful Dutch attack on Macao the fleet sailed to the Pescadores, this time intentionally, and proceeded to set up a base there at Makung. They built a fort there with forced labour recruited from the local Chinese population; their oversight was reportedly so severe and rations so short that 1,300 of the 1,500 Chinese enslaved died in the process of construction. However, the Ming authorities warned the Dutch that the Pescadores were Chinese territory, and suggested that they instead move to Taiwan and establish themselves there.
The same year a ship named the Golden Lion (Old Dutch: Gouden Leeuw) was wrecked at Lamey just off the southwest coast of Taiwan; the survivors were slaughtered by the native inhabitants. The following year Dutch traders in search of an Asian base first arrived on the island, intending to use the island as a station for Dutch commerce with Japan and the coastal areas of China.
Fort Zeelandia
On deciding to set up in Taiwan and in common with standard practice at the time, the Dutch built a defensive fort to act as a base of operations. This was built on the sandy peninsula of Tayouan (now part of mainland Taiwan, in the current-day district of Anping). The site chosen was accessible from the sea and had good sightlines for defensive purposes, but lacked fresh water, which had to be shipped from the mainland.
The first order of business was to punish villages that had violently opposed the Dutch and unite the aborigines in allegiance with the VOC. The first punitive expedition was against the villages of Bakloan and Mattau, north of Saccam near Tayowan. The Mattau campaign had been easier than expected and the tribe submitted after having their village razed by fire. The campaign also served as a threat to other villages from Tirosen (Chiayi) to Longkiau (Hengchun).
The Lamey Island Massacre was the slaughter of aboriginal inhabitants of Hsiao Liuchiu island (then known as Lamey, Lamay or Gouden Leeuwseylant) off the coast of Taiwan by Dutch soldiers in 1636. The killings were part of a campaign in retaliation for the murder of shipwrecked Dutch sailors in two separate incidents in 1622 and 1631 by natives of the island.
Following the pacification campaigns of 1635–6, more and more villages came to the Dutch to swear allegiance, sometimes out of fear of Dutch military action, and sometimes for the benefits which Dutch protection could bring (food and security). These villages stretched from Longkiau in the south (125km from the Dutch base at Fort Zeelandia to Favorlang in central Taiwan, 90km to the north of Fort Zeelandia. The relative calm of this period has been called the Pax Hollandica (Dutch Peace) by some commentators (a reference to the Pax Romana).
One area not under their control was the north of the island, which from 1626 had been under Spanish sway, with their two settlements at Tamsuy and Keelung. The fortification at Keelung was abandoned because the Spanish lacked the resources to maintain it, but Fort Santo Domingo in Tamsuy was seen as a major obstacle to Dutch ambitions on the island and the region in general.
In 1642, the Dutch sent an expedition of soldiers and aboriginal warriors in ships to Tamsuy, managing to dislodge the small Spanish contingent from their fortress and drive them from Taiwan. Following this victory, the Dutch set about bringing the northern villages under their banner in a similar way to the pacification campaign carried out in the previous decade in the south.
The Dutch began to encourage large-scale Chinese immigration to the island, mainly from Fujian. Most of the immigrants were young single males who were discouraged from staying on the island often referred to by Han as "The Gate of Hell" for its reputation in taking the lives of sailors and explorers. After one uprising by Han Chinese in 1640, the Guo Huaiyi Rebellion ( 郭懷一事件) in 1652 saw an organised insurrection against the Dutch, fuelled by anger over punitive taxes and corrupt officials. The Dutch again put down the revolt hard, with fully 25% of those participating in the rebellion being killed over a period of a couple of weeks
The Dutch claimed the entirety of the island, but because of the inaccessibility of the central mountain range the extent of their control was limited to the plains on the west coast. This territory was acquired from 1624 to 1642, with most of the villages being required to swear allegiance to the Dutch and then largely being left to govern themselves. The manner of acknowledging Dutch lordship was to bring a small native plant (often betel nut or coconut) planted in earth from that particular town to the Governor, signifying the granting of the land to the Dutch. The Governor would then award the village leader a robe and a staff as symbols of office and a Prinsenvlag ("Prince's Flag", the flag of William the Silent) to display in their village.
In 1661, a naval fleet of 1000 warships, led by the Ming loyalist Koxinga, landed at Lu'ermen to attack Taiwan in order to destroy and oust the Dutch from Zeelandia. Following a nine month siege, Koxinga captured the Dutch Fort Zeelandia and defeated the Dutch. Koxinga then forced the Dutch Government to sign a peace treaty at Zeelandia on 1 February 1662, and leave Taiwan. From then on, Taiwan became Koxinga's base for the Kingdom of Tungning.
