Dutch Empire/Introduction

Hello, and welcome to the History of the Dutch Empire. Here we will cover the history of the Dutch colonies, as well as the Netherlands itself. I encourage anyone to contribute, as many sections currently do not cover enough material. So any help would be appreciated, particularly with my spelling which is not that good.

A map of the Dutch Empire, dark green is the Dutch West India Company, and light green in the Dutch East India Company. It is important to note that not all of these territories were held at once.