Leiden University Student Repository

Blanken, Willem den (2012)

'Imperium in Imperio?' Sovereign Powers of the First Dutch West India Company

Master thesis | History (MA)

In this thesis, the legal dimensions of the First Dutch West India Company are discussed on the basis of three case studies. As one of the world's first multinationals, the Company was granted public powers that are today regarded as prerogatives of the state. To what extent was the WIC a separate sovereign entity? What was its constitutional position within the Dutch Republic? And to what extent did Company practice accord with seventeenth century legal theory?

WIC

West India Company

Corporate Sovereignty

Isaac Coymans

Croeger

Danish Africa Company

Author

Blanken, Willem den

Faculty

Faculty of Humanities

Specialisation

History of European Expansion and Globalisation

Supervisors

Schrikker, Alicia
Heijer, Henk den

ECTS Credits

30

Language

en