Kolonie is the Dutch word for colony.
As a result of the commercial activities of companies like the Dutch East India Company and West India Company, the Dutch had colonies and trade posts all over the world, including:
- New Netherland in North America, which covered large parts of the current states of New York and New Jersey, where the Dutch obtained furs.
- El Mina in Ghana, center of the Dutch slave trade in Africa.
- Cape of Good Hope in South Africa, important stopping point for the voyages to the Indies to get fresh victuals.
- Dutch East Indies, source of spices.
- Surinam, Netherlands Antilles and parts of Brazil in South America, source of tobacco and sugar.
Fortress of El Mina in Ghana, 1706. Credits: Nationaal Archief (public domain)
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They used the term for the settlement in Holland, Michigan, also, in the mid-19th century.