The Dutch Diaspora is a comprehensive and personal study of the former colonial empire of the Netherlands. The Netherlands is considered one of the most successful societies and at one point was the world's largest empire_stretching from Japan to the United States. The author, Howard Wiarda, who grew up in western Michigan and is himself of Dutch descent, combines thorough scholarship with first-hand experience of travels to the far-flung former colonies. The study analyzes how colonies reacted to the ideological beliefs implanted by the Dutch settlers and how those colonies evolved in terms of cultural, religious, and political beliefs. For example, the Dutch in the seventeenth century brought Calvinism to South Africa and entrepreneurialism to New Amsterdam and Cura_ao and in the nineteenth century supported slave plantation systems in Indonesia and Suriname, but as time passed the evolution of the colonies was telling. The United States outgrew Great Britain in wealth and power, but while Calvinism declined in the Netherlands it remained vibrant and progressive in the American Midwest. In many ways, the former colonies adapted to modernization better than the mother country. The Dutch Diaspora is an insightful and accessible study of colonialism useful to upper-level undergraduates and all students and researchers of Dutch history.

He details the contributions and the leadership provided by the Dutch Jews and relates how they lost their "Dutchnessand their Orthodoxy within several generations of their arrival here and were absorbed into broader American Judaism.

Swierenga (research professor, A.C. Van Raalte Institute for Historical Studies) presents an account of Dutch immigration to the United States, and the effects it had on American politics and social life, especially in New York, Chicago, Cleveland, and rural Indiana. Using a wide range of sources including emigration records, US customs passenger lists, and US census data, Swierenga offers a picture of their life and culture, with special attention to family structure, religion, and working life. Annotation copyrighted by Book News, Inc., Portland, OR.

The Dutch Revolt (ca. 1572-1648) led to the displacement of tens of thousands of people. In Exile Memories and the Dutch Revolt, Johannes Müller shows how migrants and their descendants in the Dutch Republic, England and Germany cultivated their Netherlandish heritage for more than 200 years. Memories of war and persecution shaped new religious and political identities that combined images of suffering and heroism and served as foundational narratives of newcomers. Exposing the underlying narrative structures of early modern exile memories, this volume shows how stories about the Dutch Revolt allowed migrants to participate in their host societies rather than producing a closed and exclusive diaspora. While narratives of religious persecution attracted non-migrants as well, exile networks were able to connect newcomers and established residents.

Daily life in the early modern North Sea region was largely subject to international forces such as wars, trade and changing religion. Consequently, many people from the North Sea region emigrated to the Dutch Republic. From 1550 to 1800 this small confederation of provinces attracted hundreds of thousands of foreigners to work in its industries, in its households and on board of its ships. This book is about the impact of the Dutch Republic on the geographical mobility of the people in the surrounding countries. Jelle van Lottum works at the Cambridge Group of Population and Social Structure of the University of Cambridge (Geography Department) (UK).

Collection of conference papers exploring mid-19th century Dutch emigration to Michigan and Iowa, as led by Albertus C. Van Raalte, Hendrik P. Scholte and Cornelius Vander Meulen. Features the early history and culture of the Dutch of Pella, Iowa; and Holland, Zeeland and Grand Rapids, Michigan.

In this book Ulbe Bosma explores the experience of immigrants in the Netherlands over sixty years and three generations. Looking at migrants from all countries, Bosma teases out how their ethnic identities are informed by Dutch culture, and how these immigrant identities evolve over time.“Fascinating, comprehensive, and historically grounded, this essential volume reveals how the colonial past continues to shape multicultural Dutch society. . . . It is an important counterpart to work on France, Britain, and Portugal.”—Andrea Smith, Lafayette College

This pioneering history of the Dutch Empire provides a new comprehensive overview of Dutch colonial expansion from a comparative and global perspective. It also offers a fascinating window into the early modern societies of Asia, Africa and the Americas through their interactions.