The Dutch Privateers in West India during the Thirty Years’ War (1621–1648)

Abstract

This article presents a fight over a colonial domination in West India where the Dutch privateers supported by the Dutch West India Company aimed at overcoming the Spanish monopoly in America, which a particular emphasis on the region of the Caribbean Sea. Due to corsairs’ actions, the Dutchmen from rebellious provinces of the Netherlands managed to paralyze the communication between the Spanish colonies and the metropolis. This state of affairs together with taking over some of the islands of the Lesser Antilles resulted in the fact that the peace treaty of Münster from 1648, which ended the Thirty Years’ War, ratified the independence of the Republic of Holland and its overseas dominions in West India. In the same manner a small rebellious province contributed to the alteration of the power balance in America, laying the grounds for a long-term process of fighting over the colonial domination between Spain and other European super-powers.