Quebec and New Amsterdam to 1664: a comparative network analysis

This study examines the techniques by which the French and Dutch secured preliminary information about the New World, claimed possession of territory in North America, and developed policies to secure possession against European competitors. It traces the development of French and Dutch colonial networks with an eye toward understanding the intentions of the colonizing powers. Finally, this study analyzes the dominant and significant flows of people, ideas, and goods along the colonial networks of the New France and New Netherland in order to map the interconnections of these colonies with the larger world. Tracing these flows reveals that the networks to which Quebec and New Amsterdam belonged were actually quite different, even though the dominant outflow—furs—was the same. The thesis of the dissertation is that for reasons related to European politics, French and Dutch policymakers adopted the principle that settlement was the only legal and practical means of possessing territory in the Americas and that it was the intention of the respective metropolitan governments to create agriculturally based settlement colonies in New France and New Netherland. Moreover, this study proposes that because of competition from other European nations, “linear” trading-post colonies were too weak to survive in North America, not only because they could not defend themselves, but also because they were not self-sustaining and did not become markets for manufactured goods from the metropole. This dissertation also asserts that although both New France and New Netherland made strides toward developing agriculturally based settlement colonies, the Dutch succeeded far better than the French because, as a node on a diffuse network, New Amsterdam was better able to attract settlers and connect to a wider range of markets than Quebec, which was more or less a node on a specific network. Finally, this study demonstrates that while both Quebec and New Amsterdam began to make the transition from simple primate centers on extractive dendritic/solar networks to gateway centers on more complex networks, New Amsterdam was far more advanced in this process and was rapidly facilitating the production of a new network of towns in its immediate hinterlands.Ph. D.Includes bibliographical referencesby Daniel J. Week