Page 234 - Berkshire Encyclopedia Of World History Vol Two

dutch east india company 583

to teaching and research. In 1940, he founded the mag- Horne, G., & Young, M. (Eds.). (2001). W. E. B. Du Bois: An encyclope-
azine Phylon:The Atlanta University’s Review of Race and dia. Westport, CT: Greenwood.
Lewis, D. L. (1993). W. E. B. Du Bois—biography of a race, 1868–1919.
Culture. He also produced two major books: Black New York: Henry Holt.
Reconstruction (1935) and Dusk of Dawn (1940). Black Lewis, D. L. (2000). W. E. B. Du Bois—the fight for equality and the Amer-
ican century, 1919–1963. New York: Henry Holt
Reconstruction provided an innovative and exhaustive
treatment of a pivotal period in African American history.
Dusk of Dawn was autobiographical and recounted Du
Bois’s role in the civil rights struggle.
Following a decade of teaching at Atlanta University, Dutch East India
Du Bois returned to the NAACP, where he held a
research position from 1944 to 1948, but this affiliation Company
ended in yet another bitter debate.
In the 1890s, Du Bois had been an outspoken sup- istorians have identified the Dutch Republic as the
porter of capitalism, publicly urging African Americans to H“first modern economy,” while the Dutch East India
support African American businesses. By 1905, however, Company (V.O.C. after its Dutch initials) has, deservedly
he became thoroughly convinced of the advantages of or not, been styled the “first modern corporation.” In the
socialism. He joined the Socialist Party in 1912 and re- context of the Eighty Years War (1568–1648), the general
mained sympathetic to socialist ideals for the rest of his expansion of trade and shipping, and, to a lesser extent,
life. the missionary impulse of Calvinism, Dutch overseas
After 1948, Du Bois moved further leftward politically. expansion was spurred by a powerful combination of
He began to identify with pro-Russian causes and was politico-economic, commercial, and religious motiva-
indicted in 1951 as an “unregistered agent for a foreign tions.The “First Shipping” to Asia of 1595 was followed
power.”Although acquitted of all charges,Du Bois became by the creation of “pre-companies” in various cities of the
increasingly disillusioned with the United States.In 1962, northern Netherlands trading to the East. To curb inter-
he renounced his American citizenship and moved to nal competition and forge a military-diplomatic tool
Ghana,where he was to serve as editor in chief of the Ency- against the Spanish and Portuguese colonial posses-
clopedia Africana.The encyclopedia was never completed. sions, these “pre-companies” were merged into a United
W. E. B. Du Bois died on 27 August 1963 in Accra, East India Company. On 20 March 1602, the States Gen-
Ghana.The majority of his personal papers are archived eral issued a charter, which would be continuously
at the University of Massachusetts at Amherst. renewed until 31 December 1799, when the possessions
of the V.O.C. were taken over by the Dutch government.
Stephen D. Glazier
In the “age of mercantilism,” the V.O.C. was given a
See also Pan-Africanism; Race and Racism monopoly on all shipping “from the Republic east of the
Cape of Good Hope and through the Strait of Magellan,”
effectively covering the entire Indian Ocean Basin. The
Further Reading
board of directors, or Gentlemen Seventeen, consisted of
Du Bois,W. E. B. (1896). The suppression of the African slave trade to the
United States. Unpublished Ph.D. dissertation, Harvard University, eight representatives from Amsterdam, four from Zeeland
Cambridge, MA. (Middelburg), one from each of the four smaller cham-
Du Bois, W. E. B. (1899). The Philadelphia negro: A social study. New
York: Benjamin Blom. bers (Rotterdam, Delft, Hoorn, and Enkhuizen), and a
Du Bois,W. E. B. (1940). Dusk of dawn: An essay toward and autobiog- final member selected by Zeeland or one of the smaller
raphy of a race concept. New York: Harcourt Brace.
Du Bois, W. E. B. (1996). The souls of black folk. New York: Modern chambers. The charter also granted the company dele-
Library. (Original work published 1903) gated sovereign powers, including the right to appoint