322 



COLONY. 



by the governor-general Koen, the capital of the 

 Dutch possessions. The Dutch now rapidly depriv- 

 ed the Portuguese of all their East Indian territories, 

 not, indeed, without resistance, but with little diffi- 

 culty ; and, in 1611, they found means to become 

 exclusive masters of the trade to Japan. Thus 

 the Portuguese retained but a few insignificant pos- 

 sessions in Goa, the melancholy remains of their 

 former grandeur. About the middle of the 17th 

 century, the power of the Dutch reached its highest 

 point : particularly after they had effected the 

 establishment of a colony at the cape of Good Hope, 

 which, in 1653, afforded an excellent bulwark for 

 their East India possessions, and had taken Ceylon 

 from the Portuguese in 1658. All the Dutch colo- 

 nies in the East Indies were under the governor- 

 general of Batavia, to whom were subordinate several 

 governments, directories, commanderies, and re- 

 sidences, the titles and number of which varied 

 with the importance of the different colonies at 

 different times. In Europe, the colonial admini- 

 stration was conducted by a council of ten Be- 

 urindhebbers, who were chosen from a body of sixty 

 directors. In 1621, the Dutch established also a 

 West India Company which, at first, made extensive 

 conquests in Brazil (16301640), but lost them 

 again in 1642. Their settlements on some of the 

 smaller West India islands, as San Eustatia, Cur- 

 agoa, Saba, and San Martin (1632 49), were more 

 permanent, and were particularly important on ac- 

 count of the smuggling trade there carried on. 

 On the continent, only Surinam, Paramaribo, Es- 

 sequibo, and Berbice were in the hands of the Dutch 

 in 1667. 



Nearly at the same time with the Dutch, the 

 English made their appearance as a colonial power, 

 at first with far inferior success. They first visited 

 remote seas during the reign of queen Elizabeth. 

 After many fruitless attempts to find a north-east or 

 north-west passage to the East Indies, English ves- 

 sels found their way round the cape of Good Hope 

 to the East Indies in 1591. Dec. 31, 1600, Eliza- 

 beth granted a charter to a society instituted for the 

 purpose of carrying on an exclusive trade beyond the 

 cape and the straits of Magellan. Their commerce 

 with India, however, was not, at first, important. 

 They established only single factories on the con- 

 tinent. The island of St Helena, which was taken 

 possession of by them in 1601, was almost their only 

 permanent possession in that quarter of the world. 

 During the reign of Charles L, in 1623, the English 

 East India company was driven from the Spice islands 

 by the Dutch, and retained, besides fort St George 

 built in 1620, at Madras, only some factories on the 

 coasts of Malabar and Coromandel. From 1653 to 

 1658, the company seemed to be entirely dissolved, 

 until it was revived and supported against the Dutch 

 by Cromwell. But, during the reign of Charles II., 

 it again fell into decay, chiefly by its own fault. A 

 new East India company, with a charter from the 

 rown, was formed in 1698, and the union of both in 

 1708, as it then seemed, alone saved the East India 

 trade from total ruin. The possessions of the Eng- 

 lish in India were limited almost entirely to Madras, 

 Calcutta, and Bencoolen, and the vast British empire 

 there dates only from the middle of the 18th century. 

 The ruin of the Mogul empire in India, which com- 

 menced in internal disturbances after the death of 

 Aureng-Zebe (1707), and was completed by the in- 

 cursions of Nadir Shah (1739), afforded the opportuni- 

 ty for the growth of British power, as the British and 

 French interfered in the contentions of the native 

 princes and governors. The French, under Labour- 

 donnaye ana Dupleix, appeared, at first, to maintain 

 the superiority ; but the British succeeded, after 



driving both of them from India, in acquiring the as- 

 cendency in the Carnatic ; and, in the middle of the 

 last century, they extended their dominion, under 

 the command of Laurence and Clive (q. v.). By the 

 destruction of Pondicherry, they secured their su- 

 periority on the coast of Coromandel ; and the vic- 

 tory of Clive at Plassey, June 26, 1756, laid the 

 foundation of their exclusive sovereignty in India. By 

 the treaty of Allahabad, Aug. 12, 1765, Bengal was 

 surrendered to the British by the titular great Mogul, 

 and the nabob of the country retained but a shadow 

 of dominion. The fall of the empire of Mysore, the 

 dominions of Hyder Ali and Tippoo Saib, may be 

 considered as completely establishing the exclusive 

 sovereignty of the British in India. The Mahrattas, 

 with whom the British first waged war in 1774, re- 

 mained the only formidable enemies of the company. 

 The British territory in India was now of an extra- 

 ordinary extent, including the whole eastern shore, 

 the greater part of the western, and all the countries 

 on the Ganges and Jumna to Delhi. (For the recen ., 

 changes in the British and Dutch East Indies, SP e 

 India and East India Companies.) Almost at th e 

 same time with the first attempts of the English t o 

 participate in the East India commerce, the Londo i; 

 and Plymouth companies were established (1600) by 

 James I. ; the former for the southern, the latter for 

 the northern half of the North American coast ; and, 

 in the same year, Jamestown, on Chesapeake bay, 

 was founded. The colonies in a country which pos- 

 sessed neither gold nor other productions of nature 

 or art particularly adapted for commerce, necessarily 

 became agricultural colonies. During the domestic 

 disturbances in England, which caused much emigra- 

 tion, the North American colonies greatly increased ; 

 separate colonies were formed, and, after the dissolu- 

 tion of the London company in 1625, and of the 

 Plymouth company in 1637, received constitutions 

 containing many republican principles. In later 

 tunes arose the English establishments in the West 

 India islands, including Barbadoes, half of St Chris- 

 topher's (1625), and, soon after, many smaller islands. 

 Yet the West India possessions did not become im- 

 portant as plantations until the sugar-cane was in- 

 troduced into Barbadoes (1641) and into Jamaica in 

 1660. This island had been taken from the Span- 

 iards in 1655. The British colonies in North Ameri- 

 ca prospered much more than those in the West 

 Indies, even after the cultivation of coffee had been 

 introduced into the latter in 1732. In the same year, 

 Georgia, the youngest of the thirteen provinces, was 

 founded. Newfoundland (in French, Terre-neuve) 

 also became important for its cod-fisheries, and 

 Canada was surrendered to Britain at the peace of 

 Paris, in 1763. In 1764 began the dispute between 

 Britain and its North American colonies, on the 

 question, whether the former had the right to impose 

 taxes on the colonies when they were not represented 

 in the British parliament; and, April 19, 1775, 

 commenced the war, in which the Americans were 

 assisted by France, and which terminated with ths 

 acknowledgement of the independence of the thirteen 

 provinces. By the peace of Paris (1783), the first 

 independent state in the new world was recognised 

 in Europe. The power of Britain was not broken 

 by this event ; its commerce with the new republic 

 increased rapidly. Canada and Nova Scotia were 

 now of the greatest importance to it ; and the Bri- 

 tish West India islands rose in proportion as the re- 

 strictions on commerce diminished. But the free 

 states of North America advanced with giant strides ; 

 their number has increased from thirteen to twenty- 

 four, and their flag waves over every sea. The 

 West India colonies, however, were unfavourably 

 affected by the extension of the cultivation of prj- 



