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Willem Usselincx
Photo: Anonymous Unknown author, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons8

Willem Usselincx

17th-century Flemish merchant and diplomat

Willem Usselincx (1567 – c. 1647) was a Flemish Dutch merchant, investor and diplomat who was instrumental in drawing both Dutch and Swedish attention to the importance of the New World.2

From Wikipedia’s article on Willem Usselincx (this version), CC BY-SA 4.0.

Born 1567, died 1647.1

About

Usselincx was the founding father of the Dutch West India Company.

From Wikipedia’s article on Willem Usselincx, shared under CC BY-SA 4.0.2

Companies

Early life and education

Usselincx was born in Antwerp (in present-day Flanders, Belgium), during a time of major upheaval and change.

As part of Antwerp's terms of surrender, its Protestant citizens were given four years to settle their affairs before quitting the city. Some returned to Roman Catholicism, but many left the city; of the pre-siege population of 100,000 people, only 40,000 remained. Most settlers went to the Republic of the Seven United Netherlands (the unoccupied part of the Union of Utrecht) in the north, laying the commercial foundation for the subsequent "Dutch Golden Age". Antwerp's banking was controlled for a generation by Genoa, and Amsterdam became the new trading centre of the region—the population of Amsterdam went from 30,000 in 1570 to 60,000 in 1600, and the Amsterdam Canal District was constructed to accommodate the traders and bankers from Antwerp. The Southern Netherlands became known as the Spanish Netherlands.

From Wikipedia’s article on Willem Usselincx (this version), CC BY-SA 4.0.

Career

Occupation: merchant, writer, explorer.4

Personal life

  • Born1567, Antwerp5
  • CitizenshipSouthern Netherlands6

Sources

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