If a Dutch company started colonising Australia would the VOC see them as a threat.

If a Dutch company setup and started to explore and eventually settle Australia after Abel Tasman's expedition, would the VOC see them as a potential threat to their profits and is so would they try to stop the company.
 
The VOC would not have allowed a rival trading company to come into existence. The Lords Seventeen at this point were the government at this point, the Stadholder being a lovely concession to the traditional aristocracy. Maybe it would be different if the Dutch had taken the Spanish Netherlands with them into independence; I could see a Catholic-dominated company in a rivalry with the VOC.
 
If a Dutch company setup and started to explore and eventually settle Australia after Abel Tasman's expedition, would the VOC see them as a potential threat to their profits and is so would they try to stop the company.
My gut feeling would be that the VOC would not care one bit what others would do with that bunch of desert they choose to ignore. That said, I doubt they would like that another company would sail on the east, the area of the world they had a monopoly on; a monopoly they consiously tried to get and were given. You need a way that the VOC would not feel threatened by the new company. If someone would go to the estate general to ask if they would be allowed to start a company to take advantage of Australia, the VOC would do everything to avoid a potential competitor and their influence was big enough that they would be able to stop it.

That said, if someone within the VOC would want to take advantage of Australia, the VOC might decide against doing it themselves, since there is no or almost no profit in. So if someone actualy want to do something with Australia, the VOC might make some deal with him. He is allowed to do whatever he wants with Australia, but is not allowed to sail on the VOC area of influence: Indonesia, India, China, Japan, Malaysia, Indo-China, Perisa, South Africa or the Philipines. Still doubtful though.

i do not understand "VOC". What does it mean?
Verenigde Oost-Indische Compagnie. The Dutch East Indies Company, the one the British one was based on.
 
My gut feeling would be that the VOC would not care one bit what others would do with that bunch of desert they choose to ignore. That said, I doubt they would like that another company would sail on the east, the area of the world they had a monopoly on; a monopoly they consiously tried to get and were given. You need a way that the VOC would not feel threatened by the new company. If someone would go to the estate general to ask if they would be allowed to start a company to take advantage of Australia, the VOC would do everything to avoid a potential competitor and their influence was big enough that they would be able to stop it.

That said, if someone within the VOC would want to take advantage of Australia, the VOC might decide against doing it themselves, since there is no or almost no profit in. So if someone actualy want to do something with Australia, the VOC might make some deal with him. He is allowed to do whatever he wants with Australia, but is not allowed to sail on the VOC area of influence: Indonesia, India, China, Japan, Malaysia, Indo-China, Perisa, South Africa or the Philipines. Still doubtful though.


Verenigde Oost-Indische Compagnie. The Dutch East Indies Company, the one the British one was based on.

It might actually be possible if you saw a break in Jan Compagnie itself; doubtful, but it could work. If there was a corporate split between Amsterdam and Batavia, that could give some new company the chance to stretch its muscles in Australia. That said, I am rather doubtful at how well the Indigenous are going to be treated in 'New Holland'. The VOC doesn't have the best reputation in that area.
 
It might actually be possible if you saw a break in Jan Compagnie itself; doubtful, but it could work. If there was a corporate split between Amsterdam and Batavia, that could give some new company the chance to stretch its muscles in Australia. That said, I am rather doubtful at how well the Indigenous are going to be treated in 'New Holland'. The VOC doesn't have the best reputation in that area.
Oh, I am not saying it is likely, but my idea would be something like this. Someone in the VOC sees the succes of the English American colonies. After the fall of the New Netherlands he want to start the same kind of settler colony. The VOC refuses to increase settlement in South Africa. They don't want to start a settlement colony in Australia, since they handle cargo, not people. So he makes a deal with the VOC he can have Australia and start a settlement colony and do what ever he wants with it, while the VOC handles the trade with Asia.

Oh about the indigenous people? They would be treated terrible. The indigenous people of all settlement colonieswere treated terrible, just ask the American Indians, the aboriginals of Australia or the black people of South Africa.
 
Oh, I am not saying it is likely, but my idea would be something like this. Someone in the VOC sees the succes of the English American colonies. After the fall of the New Netherlands he want to start the same kind of settler colony. The VOC refuses to increase settlement in South Africa. They don't want to start a settlement colony in Australia, since they handle cargo, not people. So he makes a deal with the VOC he can have Australia and start a settlement colony and do what ever he wants with it, while the VOC handles the trade with Asia.

Oh about the indigenous people? They would be treated terrible. The indigenous people of all settlement colonieswere treated terrible, just ask the American Indians, the aboriginals of Australia or the black people of South Africa.

I have to think that the Indigenous Australians would be treated worse than almost anyone else in this timeline. OTL Britain and Australia could be cruel and heavy-handed, but at least we had some degree of compassion. Here, they will be either enslaved or purposefully genocided.

The land in OTL New Holland isn't particularly fertile without modern wheat-growing methods. Of course, there are plenty of mineral resources, but it will take a while to find them. If they wanted this colony to be a success, they would need to move to the East Coast.
 
The land in OTL New Holland isn't particularly fertile without modern wheat-growing methods. Of course, there are plenty of mineral resources, but it will take a while to find them. If they wanted this colony to be a success, they would need to move to the East Coast.

There is a reason the VOC didn't want to do anything with Australia.
 
How would you even be able to make a profit with Australia? Anything Western Australia has to offer until you find gold will rely on its relation with the VOC. That is, a victualing port for Indonesia, extra grain/food for Indonesia, metals for Indonesia perhaps. Therefore, it's profitable is directly linked with the VOC.

That said, if the VOC gives them rule over the East Coast of Australia, they could find some interesting stuff if they go there too. There's the pepperbushes of genus Tasmannia and various species of myrtles, which a clever businessman might be able to promote assuming they meet the right Aboriginals. Especially the pepperbushes, which said clever businessman could use to try and undercut the VOC's black pepper trade. There's also pituri, a nicotine-containing mix used by Aboriginals that someone might recognise as similar to tobacco as used by Indians. It all depends on how intelligent and willing to take risks these hypothetical businessmen and merchants are. Labour on these plantations to farm these plants will probably be Aboriginals at first, but they'll need to grab slaves/serfs from elsewhere because of smallpox and the thin native population, so you'd probably get a very mixed-race population of Australian Aboriginals, Polynesians, Melanesians, black Africans, and poor Europeans in the end. Why not a few Indians from Suriname or New Netherlands too so you can have a racial mixture of all six inhabited continents? That's not even to speak of gold, which Australia has a lot of, and which said company will stumble upon at some point.

This system could end up very profitable, so the VOC probably will take them as a threat. Or if the VOC is equally intelligent, try and buy out/merge with this company once they see they're onto something. That would give this Australia Company more capital for sponsering their crazy schemes.
 
How would you even be able to make a profit with Australia? Anything Western Australia has to offer until you find gold will rely on its relation with the VOC. That is, a victualing port for Indonesia, extra grain/food for Indonesia, metals for Indonesia perhaps. Therefore, it's profitable is directly linked with the VOC.

That said, if the VOC gives them rule over the East Coast of Australia, they could find some interesting stuff if they go there too. There's the pepperbushes of genus Tasmannia and various species of myrtles, which a clever businessman might be able to promote assuming they meet the right Aboriginals. Especially the pepperbushes, which said clever businessman could use to try and undercut the VOC's black pepper trade. There's also pituri, a nicotine-containing mix used by Aboriginals that someone might recognise as similar to tobacco as used by Indians. It all depends on how intelligent and willing to take risks these hypothetical businessmen and merchants are. Labour on these plantations to farm these plants will probably be Aboriginals at first, but they'll need to grab slaves/serfs from elsewhere because of smallpox and the thin native population, so you'd probably get a very mixed-race population of Australian Aboriginals, Polynesians, Melanesians, black Africans, and poor Europeans in the end. Why not a few Indians from Suriname or New Netherlands too so you can have a racial mixture of all six inhabited continents? That's not even to speak of gold, which Australia has a lot of, and which said company will stumble upon at some point.

This system could end up very profitable, so the VOC probably will take them as a threat. Or if the VOC is equally intelligent, try and buy out/merge with this company once they see they're onto something. That would give this Australia Company more capital for sponsering their crazy schemes.

So this company would be allow to build its self up if it doesn't try and go for areas the VOC claims as part of their sphere of influence, but once it's starts to make money hands over fist then, the VOC may try to take over or get a deal where they also get money from the companies profits.
 
So this company would be allow to build its self up if it doesn't try and go for areas the VOC claims as part of their sphere of influence, but once it's starts to make money hands over fist then, the VOC may try to take over or get a deal where they also get money from the companies profits.

Basically. I'm not even convinced they could build themselves up in the first place without getting taken over by the VOC, since at first glance, all Australia has to offer is its West Coast (Perth and nearby areas) which is at best a more out of the way version of Cape Town. Its innately linked with the VOC's main base of operations in the Indies and can't function without it. I guess they do have sandalwood already present in Western Australia plus some good quality timber, but that's only the base of an industry the VOC will see with greedy eyes. Since the VOC has the capital (which you don't have nearly enough of), why wouldn't you accept the VOC's offer to buy you out? After all, the VOC already controls the labour/slaves to cut down the sandalwood/timber, as well as probably the soldiers needed to make the locals (who will soon be dying in droves) get the resources for you. Any sane investor would merge their operations with the VOC. The East Coast of Australia's resources? Same thing. You'll need capital, you'll need labour, and you'll need protection, and that'll be hard to come by for something totally unproven in terms of its value (assuming you find it in the first place, which will rely on befriending the locals to a certain degree).
 
Verenigde Oost-Indische Compagnie. The Dutch East Indies Company, the one the British one was based on.

<Pedant mode> The English East India Company was formed first (in 1600) under royal charter. The VOC was formed just over a year later in early 1602 in response to the formation of the EIC. It's just that the VOC went on to be spectacularly more successful for the first few decades, although the EIC proved more profitable in the long run. </Pedant mode>

In response to the original question, I agree with you and other posters in this thread that in the short run the VOC may well laugh at someone who wants to try establishing a colony in Western Australia. The only even vaguely viable use is as a victualling station for the VOC, and even that's marginal; the better shipping routes to *Indonesia go further north than the farmable parts of Western Australia.

The natural resources of Australia are many, but they're also essentially all unexploitable by the VOC or pretty much any casual European visitors. The soil and climate make farming difficult - though not impossible - with European methods, which increases the odds that an initial colony will fail. (That almost happened in OTL in Sydney, and did happen several times in the tropical north).

All of the Australian natural resources are in the wrong place for any casual visitor, or otherwise inaccessible. All of the gold is away from the coast, and not easily discovered or exploitable. Pituri is collected in the interior of the continent and the trading network does not really reach the coast - and even when it does, is not collected on a scale to be useful to European traders. The native species of tobacco would need to be pre-domesticated to be even potentially competitive with existing Americas-origin tobacco. Potential spices are also undomesticated, and in the wrong place. The myrtles are on the east coast - which the Dutch don't even know about - and pepperbushes native range is mostly mountainous and away from the coast even there.

Sandalwood is one very slight possible exception, since at least that's in the likely farmable part of Western Australia, but even that is difficult without an existing tradition of collection and farming by indigenous peoples. The trees are scattered, not obvious to notice unless someone is already settled down there and exploring, and even then would require considerable effort to exploit and bring to the coast. (No roads, very few rivers).

So, all in all, there's not much scope for setting up a viable rival company or colony. Even if it is, though, as soon as it's successful, the VOC will start to see it as a rival and there's a very strong chance that they will take it over, since (as Prestor John pointed out) they essentially run the government.
 
The only reason a Dutch company would set up a colony in West Australia would be as a base for rescuing shipwreck survivors. Those who followed the roaring 40's across the Indian ocean from the Cape of Good Hope and didn't turn north in time to miss bumping into Australia. Although there were only 4 confirmed VOC wrecks on the WA coast and another 3 missing ships over a 200 year period so probably not unless Dutch captains take up drinking.
 
The only reason a Dutch company would set up a colony in West Australia would be as a base for rescuing shipwreck survivors. Those who followed the roaring 40's across the Indian ocean from the Cape of Good Hope and didn't turn north in time to miss bumping into Australia. Although there were only 4 confirmed VOC wrecks on the WA coast and another 3 missing ships over a 200 year period so probably not unless Dutch captains take up drinking.

So would rougher seas or more ship wrecks near Oz lead a supply station being built to help shipping.
 
@Jared: well it was the Vereenigde Oost-Indische Compagnie, the United East-Indian Company. There had been a number of Dutch East India Companies in the Dutch Republic, since at least 1595, they were united into the VOC in 1602.

The proposal seems unlikely, but OTOH the Republic had a lot of financiers too, so if someone can convince enough wealthy people and work something out with the VOC, it may be possible. WA would be en route to the Dutch East Indies AKA (certainly during) the VOC-era 'de Oost' (= 'the East').
Once established, then over time more of the continent will be discovered, including areas, which may be deemed more valuable.
 
@Jared: well it was the Vereenigde Oost-Indische Compagnie, the United East-Indian Company. There had been a number of Dutch East India Companies in the Dutch Republic, since at least 1595, they were united into the VOC in 1602.

Pre-1600, it was the custom to form companies which were only for a single voyage, and which were dissolved at the end of the voyage. The English did the same on their (fewer) voyages into the Indian Ocean pre-1600 as well.

The English were the first to form an ongoing, chartered company in 1600, in effect a kind of cartel for English voyages. The English company was not based on the Dutch model, but formed on its own (which was the point I was responding to). The Dutch unified, ongoing company was formed in response to the English practice.

If you're pointing out that the Dutch reached the East Indies before the English, that's quite right as far as I know. But forming an ongoing company was an English innovation which the Dutch responded to.

The proposal seems unlikely, but OTOH the Republic had a lot of financiers too, so if someone can convince enough wealthy people and work something out with the VOC, it may be possible. WA would be en route to the Dutch East Indies AKA (certainly during) the VOC-era 'de Oost' (= 'the East').
Once established, then over time more of the continent will be discovered, including areas, which may be deemed more valuable.

Those financiers would need to have very long time horizons, in the span of decades, since no Dutch settlement in WA is going to turn a meaningful profit before that. There's simply no easily-exploitable resources which will turn the quick profits which were available elsewhere (spices, tea, furs, tobacco, etc). The closest is sandalwood, and even that will be a work of a couple of decades to meaningfully exploit it.

Finding settlers will also be difficult (though not impossible) because the Dutch didn't have the same colonisation population pool that the English did; most of the Dutch would-be adventurers went into the VOC to make money instead.

That said, once a colony is actually established and they've figured out how to farm in Australia, the population will grow fairly quickly via natural increase: plenty of land (once they've done the traditional kick out the existing inhabitants) and a benign disease environment.
 
instead of Australia, how about New Zealand?
It does have good conditions for a settler colony.

It also has many well-armed locals ready, willing and capable to drive off any would-be settlers. Together with a lack of anything much that can deliver short-term profits as a colonial venture. Although trading with the Māori for textiles and ropes of New Zealand flax would be a viable enterprise.
 
It also has many well-armed locals ready, willing and capable to drive off any would-be settlers. Together with a lack of anything much that can deliver short-term profits as a colonial venture. Although trading with the Māori for textiles and ropes of New Zealand flax would be a viable enterprise.
In that case the VOC would be hostile to any other company doing that trading... they would do it themselves. Besides any other company would need the supply infrastructure to make it to New Zealand, and for that they would need to either establish the infrastructure themselves or make arrangements to use the infrastructure of another country or company.
 
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