Here's the challenge - have the Dutch win the colonization race on the east coast of North America that New Netherlands extends, at a minimum, from Cape Fear to Cape Cod.
I think the best option is a major setback for the main Dutch rival: England. Let England be hit by some missfortune. A couple of colonies fail. they are distracted by internal and external conflict, while theDutch thrive and can capture some English colonies forcing the English out of the cape Fear-cod area. A Dutch alliance with France would help, neutralising a major threadfor the Dutch, while at the same time gaining a powerful ally.
I don't see your first point, because dutch exploration and colonization started not that much later than the english. And it happened before the formal independence. The activities in the America's fell under the responsibility of the WIC. That company wasn't as succesfull as the VOC, because they could't make the transfer from piracy to setting up a trade network.If you want this to happen there are a couple of problems to solve,
The first is timing. Since the Netherlands wasn't independent in the 16th century, there would always have been a lag between the Dutch and English and French
Secondly there is population. The Netherlands is a lot smaller than England, or France or Spain. It simply does not have as many people to fill up America
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The hardest is the first point. You can't realy change it. You need an independent Netherlands and you can't get it earlier without truely changing what the Netherlands is. As long as the Netherlands is Spanish, or Austrian the Netherlands will not (be allowed) set up colonies for themselves. If the Netherlands is Burgundian, it will be Burgundian and not Dutch. Sp I think the best option is a major setback for the main Dutch rival: England. Let England be hit by some missfortune. A couple of colonies fail. they are distracted by internal and external conflict, while theDutch thrive and can capture some English colonies forcing the English out of the cape Fear-cod area. A Dutch alliance with France would help, neutralising a major threadfor the Dutch, while at the same time gaining a powerful ally.