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A Touch of History
This will mostly contain history stuff.
The Dutch Empire
Keep in mind several factors 1. The Dutch economy took several hits at various times. They lost a lot of trade when England switched to domestic cloth production. 2. Their economy in the Early modern period was based on luxury goods like spice, chocolate, tulips, and fine manufactured goods. 3. They took a really hard hit every time one of these markets crashed. (The Great Tulip crash wiped out a lot of merchants and speculators. It was a one time event, but other markets did the same thing periodically. 4. Starting in the 1100's and moving forward into the Modern Era, the Dutch Economy has always relied on International Trade.

The Empire was all about getting scarce goods, mostly from Asia to Europe, and marketing them along with fancy manufactured goods (porcelain etc.). They didn't care about the treatment afforded to subject people and were one of the most ruthless Imperialist powers. They, along with the Belgians made the English and even the French look like saints in comparison. This led to extreme anti-Dutch sentiments everywhere they ruled.

Eventually, someone figured out all the cool things you can do with rubber. Dutch holdings were well set up to take advantage of this. Horrific conditions on rubber plantations resulted. This also meant that a lot of the Dutch holdings abroad were trying to take advantage of the rubber boom, putting all their economic eggs in one basket. Then wars in the 20th Century A. Disrupted natural rubber production B. Spurred technological advances that increased demand for rubber, especially during war time. C. Encouraged people in countries short of rubber to invent synthetic rubber. D. Weakened the Dutch hold on places in Asia. (In WWII the Netherlands were held by Germany, while the Asian holdings were ***ed and pillaged by the Japanese).

There was no way already hostile natives were going back to Dutch rule, and the Netherlands no longer had the strength to make them.





 
 
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