1619
Anglo-Dutch joint settlement at the Cape is proposed
English East India Company directors considered building a fort at the Cape, including in cooperation with the Dutch East India Company, but no joint station followed.
View in timelineIn 1619 the English East India Company’s directors resolved to consider a fort at the Cape of Good Hope, either on their own or in cooperation with the Dutch East India Company. A later history of the English Cape commanders reports that the directors opened communication with Dutch authorities and that the joint-establishment proposal was rejected; the English were nevertheless told that they might build independently. No fort or permanent station resulted from the proposal.
The same year, English and Dutch diplomats concluded a broader treaty that provided for cooperation between their East India Companies, including shared defence arrangements and an unequal division of investment and returns. That treaty formed the diplomatic context for company cooperation, but it should not be treated as proof that a Cape settlement was jointly authorised.
Significance
The proposal shows that company officials treated the Cape as a strategic provisioning and defence point before the VOC established a permanent station.
Why it matters
The proposal shows that company officials treated the Cape as a strategic provisioning and defence point before the VOC established a permanent station.
Disputed interpretations
The Cape-specific proposal is preserved most clearly in a later history based on company records. The 1619 Anglo-Dutch treaty itself concerned cooperation and a cartel in the East Indies, not a documented Cape settlement; the relationship between the treaty and the Cape fort proposal should remain explicit.