A CARIBBEAN CONNECTION
During the American Revolution Curaçao, a Dutch colony in the Caribbean, served as a vital strategic and commercial hub. It functioned as a neutral port for the flow of war supplies to the American colonies.
Fort Beekenburg was built in the early 1700s to guard Willemstaad, the capital of Curaçao. It was named after Nicolaas van Beek, the Governor of the island from 1701 to 1704.
I have been visiting the island this December and finding connections to the American Revolution. Today I was in Willemstaad. It was named after William II, Prince of Orange (1626 - 1650).
At Willemstaad The British on December 20, 1780, angered by the flow of supplies through Dutch Caribbean ports like Curaçao declared war on the Dutch Republic to cripple their colonial trade network. In 1780 the Dutch had also joined the League of Armed Neutrality which opposed British attempts to control trade with American colonies.
The Dutch as well provided loans to the United States. Their involvement in the American Revolution meant Britain faced another opponent which stretched its navy further while fighting continued in America.
On November 16, 1776, the fort at another Dutch Island in the Caribbean, St. Eustatius, returned a salute from the American ship Andrew Doria, marking the first international recognition of the American flag.
Future American President John Adams successfully negotiated loans totaling millions of guilders from Amsterdam bankers in 1782, which helped prevent the young U.S. government from declaring bankruptcy.
In April 1782, the Dutch Republic became the second nation (after France) to formally recognize the United States as a sovereign country.
