Northern
European Expeditions
nThe Dutch also had holdings in the Americas.
nThey won control of Indonesia from the Portuguese by the early seventeenth century, and in the middle of the century established a relay settlement on the southern tip of Africa.
nFrench, Dutch, and British traders received government-awarded monopolies of trade in the newly reached regions, but the chartered companies acted without much official supervision.
nThey gained great profits and acted like independent political entities.
