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The Dutch government grants the Dutch East India Company a monopoly to pursue trade in Asia.
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The Dutch have ended Potugal's domination of the Indian Ocean, and they establish a trading outpost on the western coast of India.
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Dutch arrive at the island of Timur, previously claimed by Portugal and now claimed by the Dutch.
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To work their tobacco fields, colonists in Virginia buy 20 blacks from a Dutch ship that arrives for supplies.
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The Dutch establish a fur trading post, Fort Orange, at what today is Albany, New York.
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The English build a fort on the northern "Gold Coast" in Western Africa.
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The town of Boston is founded.
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France, a largely Catholic country but allied with the Dutch and the Swedes, enters the Thirty Years' War against Spain and the Holy Roman Empire.
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A fort is founded at what today is Montreal.
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The French establish an outpost at the mouth of Africa's Senegal River, where they trade for gum and for slaves.
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With the peace of Westphalia, the 80 years' war between Spain's Habsburg monarchy and the Dutch ends, Spain recognizing Dutch independence.
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The Dutch East India Company establishes a toe hold in southern Africa, near the Cape of Good Hope, to serve Dutch ships passing to and from the East.
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Near Cape Town, Dutch farmers are taking over Khoikhio (Hottentot) grazing land. The Khoikhoi attack the Dutch, who successfully defend themselves.
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Another war between the English and Dutch has begun. English soldiers seize the town of New Amsterdam and rename it New York after the King's brother, the Duke of York.
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The French establish their first factory in India, at Surat.
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The French establish a trading post in India.
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The economic burdens of the war and rising opposition to the war by Protestants and Parliament results in Charles II agreeing to a negotiated settlement with the Dutch.
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Tenant farming continues to dominate Korea's agriculture, with slaves laboring for some landowners. Except for small peddlers and rural crafts, commerce is government controlled. Law keeps people bound to their place of work. Confucianism inhibits economic growth, the Confucianists believing that exchange should be that of gift-giving rather inspired by gain.
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In Africa, the French blow up the English fort on the Gambia River.
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The world is populated by between 600 and 680 million people, up from between 540 to 580 in 1600 - roughly calculated.