The Colonies of the Portuguese, French, and Dutch

³⁰ After the Spanish settlements, those of the Portuguese in Brazil are the oldest European settlement in America.

But it was for a long time greatly neglected because neither gold nor silver mines were found in it.

• It afforded little or no revenue to the crown.

During this state of neglect, it grew up to be a great and powerful colony.

While Portugal was under the dominion of Spain, Brazil was attacked by the Dutch.

• The Dutch got possession of 7 of the 14 provinces of Brazil.
• They expected to conquer the other seven, when Portugal recovered its independency by the elevation of the Braganza family to the throne.

The Portuguese became enemies of the Spaniards and became friends of the Dutch. The Dutch agreed to leave the unconquered part of Brazil to the king of Portugal. The king of Portugal agreed to leave the Dutch part to the Dutch. But the Dutch government soon oppressed the Portuguese colonists. The Portuguese colonists took arms against their new masters. By their own valour and resolution, without any avowed assistance from Portugal, they drove the Dutch out of Brazil.

The Dutch found it impossible to keep any part of Brazil to themselves.

• They restored it entirely to the crown of Portugal.

Brazil had over 600,000 people composed of:

• Portuguese or descended from Portuguese
• Creoles
• Mulattoes
• a mixed race of Portugueze and Brazilians

No other American colony contains so great a number of people of European extraction.

³¹ Towards the end of the 15th and during the 16th century, Spain and Portugal were the 2 great naval powers.

The Venetian fleets rarely sailed beyond the Mediterranean.

The Spaniards claimed all America as their own, by virtue of the first discovery.

• They could not hinder Portugal from settling in Brazil.

At that time, such was the terror of Spain, that most European nations were afraid to establish themselves in any other part of America.

• The French who attempted to settle in Florida were all murdered by the Spaniards.

The decline of Spanish naval power was caused by the defeat of their Invincible Armada in the 16th century.

• They became powerless to obstruct the settlements of other European nations.

The English, French, Dutch, Danes, and Swedes are great European nations with ocean ports.

• In the 17th century, they all attempted to make settlements in the new world.

³² The Swedes established New Jersey.

This colony could have prospered if it were protected by Sweden.

• This is demonstrated by the number of Swedish families still living in New Jersey.

Being neglected by Sweden, it was soon swallowed up by the Dutch colony of New York.

• New York fell to the English in 1674.

³³ The small islands of St. Thomas and Santa Cruz are the only Danish colonies in America.

These little settlements were under the government of an exclusive company.

It had the sole right of:

• Purchasing the surplus produce of the colonists
• Supplying them with goods of other countries

It had the power and the greatest temptation of oppressing the colonists.

The government of an exclusive company of merchants is, perhaps, the worst of all governments for any country.

• It rendered the progress of those colonies more slow and languid.

The recent King of Denmark dissolved this company.

• Since that time, the prosperity of these colonies has been very great.

³⁴ The Dutch settlements in the West and East Indies, were originally under the government of an exclusive company.

The progress of some of them was considerable.

• But it was languid and slow compared to established countries and most other new colonies.

The colony of Surinam was very considerable.

• It is still inferior to most other European sugar colonies.

The colony of Nova Belgia is now divided into the provinces of New York and New Jersey.

• It would probably have become considerable even if it remained under the Dutch.

The plenty and cheapness of good land are such powerful causes of prosperity.

• The very worst government is not capable of stopping it.

By smuggling, the great distance from the mother country would enable the colonists to evade the monopoly of the company.

At present, the company allows all Dutch ships to trade to Surinam upon paying 2.5% of the value of their cargo for a licence.

The direct trade from Africa to America consists almost entirely in the slave trade.

• This is the only exclusive trade of the Dutch company

This relaxation in the exclusive privileges of the company is probably the principal cause of Surinam’s present prosperity.

Curaçoa and Eustatia are the two principal islands belonging to the Dutch.

• They are free ports open to the ships of all nations.
• This freedom has been the great cause of the prosperity of those two barren islands.

³⁵ During the last and present centuries, the French colony of Canada was under the government of an exclusive company.

Its progress was very slow compared with other new colonies because it was under a very unfavourable administration. It became much more rapid when this company was dissolved after the fall of the Mississippi scheme.

When the English acquired this country, they found it to have nearly double the number of inhabitants which Father Charlevoix assigned to it 20-30 years before.

• That Jesuit travelled all over the whole country.
• He had no inclination to represent it as less considerable than it really was.

³⁶ The French colony of St. Domingo was established by pirates and free-booters.

It did not require the protection nor the authority of France for a long time.

When that race of banditti became citizens and acknowledged this authority, it was necessary to exercise it with great gentleness for a long time.

• During this period, the population and improvement of this colony increased very fast.

All French colonies were oppressed for some time by an exclusive company.

• Even this was unable to stop its progress, though it retarded it.
• “The course of its prosperity returned as soon as it was relieved from that oppression.”

It is now the most important sugar colony in the West Indies.

• Its produce is greater than all the English sugar colonies combined.

The other French sugar colonies are all very thriving.