Willem Usselincx

Willem Usselincx (1567 – c. 1647) was a Flemish Dutch merchant, investor and diplomat who was instrumental in drawing both Dutch and Swedish attention to the importance of the New World. Usselincx was the founding father of the Dutch West India Company.[1]

Background

Usselincx was born in Antwerp (in present-day Flanders, Belgium), during a time of major upheaval and change.

As part of Antwerp's terms of surrender, its Protestant citizens were given four years to settle their affairs before quitting the city.[2][3] Some returned to Roman Catholicism, but many left the city; of the pre-siege population of 100,000 people, only 40,000 remained. Most settlers went to the Republic of the Seven United Netherlands (the unoccupied part of the Union of Utrecht) in the north, laying the commercial foundation for the subsequent "Dutch Golden Age". Antwerp's banking was controlled for a generation by

References

Franklin J. Jameson (1887). Willem Usselinx, Founder of the Dutch and Swedish West India Companies. Johns Hopkins University, New York.^

Alfons K. L. Thijs, Van Geuzenstad tot katholiek bolwerk: Maatschappelijke betekenis van de kerk in contrareformatorisch Antwerpen (Antwerp, 1990), p. 102.^

Boxer Charles Ralph, The Dutch seaborne empire, 1600–1800, p. 18, Taylor & Francis, 1977 ISBN 0-09-131051-2, ISBN 978-0-09-131051-6 Google books^

Willem Frijhoff e.a., "Geschiedenis van Amsterdam", deel I t/m IV, Uitgeverij SUN, Amsterdam 2004-2007. ISBN 90-5875-181-3, ISBN 90-5875-137-6, ISBN 90-5875-138-4, ISBN 90-5875-139-2 en ISBN 978-90-5875-140-9^

(by Henry Graham Ashmead. Philadelphia: L. H. Everts & Co. 1884)^

The Crisis of the Seventeenth Century: Religion, the Reformation and Social Change by Hugh Trevor-Roper, Indianapolis: Liberty Fund, 2001^

Full title: Naerder Bedenckingen, Over de zee-vaerdt, Coophandel ende Neeringhe, als mede de versekeringhe vanden Staet deser vereenichde Landen, inde teghenwoordighe Vrede-handelinghe met den Coninck van Spangnien ende de Aerts-hertoghen. Instead of giving an author, the title page has, "Door een lief-hebber eenes oprechten, ende bestandighen vredes voorghestelt." Translation: Further reflections on the Navigation, Commerce and Trade, as well as the ensuring of the State of these united Lands, in the current Peace negotiation with the King of Spain and the Archdukes — Proposed by a lover of a true and enduring peace."^

''The Dutch Republic, its rise, greatness and fall. 1477-1806'' (by J. Israel, Oxford: 1998).^

"Story of the City's Early Days" (Chapter II, The Dutch West India Company. by Thomas A. Janvier, The New York Times. Published: May 31, 1903)^

because of the wars Sweden was involved in (with the Catholics in the south), there were many setbacks, most of the funds he raised for the company were initially even used by the king for building a military fleet.^

A Brief History of New Sweden in America The Swedish Colonial Society, retrieved 24 October 2017^

Mark L. Thompson. The Contest for the Delaware Valley: Allegiance, Identity, and Empire in the Seventeenth Century Louisiana State University Press, 2013, retrieved 26 October 2016^

which included parts of Norway and Finland, parts of the Baltic states, parts of Germany and parts of Denmark.^

Account of Willem Usselincx and the South, Ship, and West India Companies of Sweden (translated by Gregory B. Keen and C. T. Odhner. Historical Society of Pennsylvania. The Pennsylvania Magazine of History and Biography, Vol. 7, No. 3 pp. 268-270. 1883)^

The History of the Colony of New Sweden (Carl K. S. Sprinchorn's "Kolonien Nya Sveriges Historia", English translation by Gregory B. Keen in the Pennsylvania Magazine of History and Biography, vols. vii. and viii. 1878)^

Focus on the Port: Port History retrieved 3 May 2009^

birth date	1567
birth place	Antwerp, Spanish Netherlands
death date	c.
known for	Founder of the Dutch West India Company
occupation	Merchant, diplomat
signature	Signature of Willem Usselincx (1567 – c. 1647).png

Background

Dutch West India Company

Swedish South Company

Other sources

External links

References