Editing New Netherland (section)

===Chartered trading companies===
[[File:West-Indisch Huis.jpg|thumb|The [[West-Indisch Huis (Amsterdam)|West India House]] in [[Amsterdam]], headquarters of the [[Dutch West India Company]] from 1623 to 1647]]
[[File:Het West Indisch Huys - Amsterdam 1655.png|thumb|The storehouse of the Dutch West India Company in Amsterdam, built in 1642, became the headquarters of the board in 1647 because of financial difficulties after the loss of [[Dutch Brazil]].]]

The immediate and intense competition among Dutch trading companies in the newly charted areas led to disputes in Amsterdam and calls for regulation. The [[States General of the Netherlands|States General]] was the governing body of the Republic of the Seven United Netherlands, and it proclaimed on 17 March 1614, that it would grant an exclusive patent for trade between the 40th and 45th parallels. This monopoly would be valid for four voyages, and all four voyages had to be undertaken within three years of the award. The [[New Netherland Company]] was an alliance of trading companies, and they used [[Adrian Block]]'s map to win a patent that expired on 1 January 1618.<ref>{{cite web| title = Grant of Exclusive Trade to New Netherland by the States-General of the United Netherlands; October 11, 1614| year = 2008| url = http://avalon.law.yale.edu/17th_century/charter_011.asp}}</ref>

The New Netherland Company also ordered a survey of the [[Delaware Valley]], and [[Cornelius Hendrickson|Cornelis Hendricksz]] of [[Monnickendam]] explored the [[Delaware River|''Zuyd Rivier'']] (South River) in 1616 from its bay to its northernmost navigable reaches. His observations were preserved in a map drawn in 1616. Hendricksz made his voyages aboard the ''IJseren Vercken'' (Iron Hog), a vessel built in America. Despite the survey, the company was unable to secure an exclusive patent from the States General for the area between the 38th and 40th parallels.<ref>{{cite book|author=Jaap Jacobs|year=2005|title=New Netherland: A Dutch Colony In Seventeenth-Century America|publisher=Leiden: Brill|isbn=90-04-12906-5|page=35}}</ref>

The States General issued patents in 1614 for the development of New Netherland as a private, commercial venture. Soon after, traders built [[Fort Nassau (North River)|Fort Nassau]] on [[Castle Island (New York)|Castle Island]] in the area of [[Albany, New York|Albany]] up Hudson's river. The fort was to defend river traffic against interlopers and to conduct [[North American fur trade|fur trading]] operations with the Indians. The location of the fort proved to be impractical, however, due to repeated flooding of the island in the summers, and it was abandoned in 1618<ref>{{cite web| title = A Virtual Tour of New Netherland: Fort Nassau| work = The New Netherland Institute| access-date = June 9, 2009| url = http://www.nnp.org/vtour/regions/Albany/fortnassau.html| archive-url = https://archive.today/20120905204757/http://www.nnp.org/vtour/regions/Albany/fortnassau.html| url-status = usurped| archive-date = September 5, 2012}}</ref> when the patent expired.

The Republic of the Seven United Netherlands granted a charter to the [[Dutch West India Company]] (GWC) (''Geoctroyeerde Westindische Compagnie'') on 3 June 1621,<ref name="WestIndiaCompanyCharter">{{Citation| title = Charter of the Dutch West India Company: 1621| year = 2008| url = http://avalon.law.yale.edu/17th_century/westind.asp}}</ref> which gave the company the exclusive right to operate in West Africa (between the [[Tropic of Cancer]] and the [[Cape of Good Hope]]) and the Americas.<ref name="WestIndiaCompanyCharter"/>

[[Willem Usselincx]] was one of the founders of the GWC, and he promoted the concept that the company's main goal should be to establish colonies in the New World. In 1620, Usselincx made a last appeal to the States General, which rejected his principal vision as a primary goal. The legislators preferred the formula of trading posts with small populations and a military presence to protect them, which was working in the East Indies, versus encouraging mass immigration and establishing large colonies. The company did not focus on colonization in America until 1654 when it was forced to surrender [[Dutch Brazil]] and forfeit the richest sugar-producing area in the world.