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All Modern-Day Countries Ever Controlled by the Netherlands

With the help of a map, can you guess all modern day countries that were at one point (at least partially) under Dutch rule from 1579 (signing of the Union of Utrecht) up to now?
Click on the map to zoom in.
Includes trading posts and occupations.
Not including any international zones.
Quiz by Dekkie
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Last updated: October 18, 2021
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First submittedApril 20, 2021
Times taken36,409
Average score86.8%
Rating4.96
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Countries
Angola
Bangladesh
Belgium
Benin
Brazil
Cambodia
Canada
Chile
China
Countries
Colombia
East Timor
Equatorial Guinea
France
Gabon
Germany
Ghana
Grenada
Guyana
Countries
Haiti
India
Indonesia
Iran
Iraq
Japan
Liberia
Luxembourg
Madagascar
Countries
Malaysia
Maldives
Mauritania
Mauritius
Mozambique
Myanmar
Netherlands
Nigeria
Norway
(Svalbard and Jan Mayen)
Countries
Oman
Pakistan
Republic of the Congo
São Tomé and Príncipe
Senegal
South Africa
Sri Lanka
Suriname
Taiwan
Countries
Thailand
Togo
Trinidad and Tobago
United Kingdom
(Several Overseas Territories)
United States
Venezuela
Vietnam
Yemen
+14
Level 52
Apr 20, 2021
Dang it Dekkie! You've done it again - made a brilliant SVG.
+21
Level 55
Apr 20, 2021
Thanks! This is my home country, so I think this was warranted, haha.
+8
Level 51
Apr 20, 2021
It must've taken you ages to make all the dots, eh?
+31
Level 55
Apr 20, 2021
It gave me a headache, that's for sure haha. Thanks India.
+11
Level 75
Oct 7, 2021
So much work for you, just 5 letters for us lol :)

Thanks, great quiz!

+22
Level 77
Oct 19, 2021
I dunno if I'd blame India... seems like Dutch colonialism is the culprit. :o
+4
Level 60
Apr 20, 2021
Nice quiz Dekkie, Nominated for all that hard work!

Question: How long did this take you?

+7
Level 55
Apr 20, 2021
Thanks! It took about 6-7+ hours in total I believe.
+2
Level 41
Oct 24, 2021
Damn, I didn't expect it'd take that long. Thanks for the great quiz!
+8
Level 71
Apr 20, 2021
Nice work Dekkie! And, as a fellow Dutchman, I have ofc nominate it!
+1
Level 55
Apr 20, 2021
Thank you!
+8
Level 54
Apr 20, 2021
Really easy, but awesome SVG! You are very talented. Your country can be proud of you and your work. Congratulations, and nominated, of course!
+3
Level 55
Apr 20, 2021
Thank you so much!
+1
Level 71
Oct 26, 2021
'baptistegorce' is awarded the new 'Sycophantic badge' for April '21 ........... congratulations!
+6
Level 65
Apr 21, 2021
Nominated! I'm tired of long celebratory comments for your amazing work, but I think you understand why I nominated once again! ;)
+3
Level 55
Apr 21, 2021
Thanks! Always highly appreciated.
+6
Level 48
Jun 10, 2021
lol i missed the netherlands
+2
Level 69
Jun 25, 2021
I was actuallly wondering who the hell missed the country in the title xD
+1
Level 57
Sep 25, 2021
Another very good quiz Dekkie!
+1
Level 68
Oct 6, 2021
Well, DRC and Kuwait can brag about never being colonised by the Dutch.
+1
Level 78
Oct 18, 2021
What is the Venezuela dot in the middle of the Caribbean? Near Guadeloupe en Dominica
+4
Level 55
Oct 18, 2021
Isla de Aves.
+2
Level 71
Oct 18, 2021
To think that France and UK were ruled by the Dutch because at some point in history they ruled a small island/territory in the Caribbean is a stretch to say the least.
+20
Level 55
Oct 18, 2021
Doesn't matter. They had territories that were once under Dutch control and thus it counts for this quiz. Nowhere does it imply that the ENTIRE country was under Dutch control now, does it?
+3
Level 42
May 23, 2022
Also, it could be argued that mainland Britain should be on this map because they were ruled in a personal union for a short time after the Glorious Revolution lol
+4
Level 66
Oct 18, 2021
Nice quiz again! Apparently Tokyo isn't a country - silly me *facepalm* took me a while to figure out why it didn't work. The Dutch certainly enjoyed their trading posts eh!
+2
Level 55
Oct 19, 2021
Thanks!
+2
Level 17
Oct 24, 2021
Tasmania
+2
Level 20
Oct 24, 2021
Tasmania is not a country
+2
Level 57
Oct 26, 2021
"Tasmania is not a country"

Are you ok? Who said it was?

+3
Level 55
Oct 24, 2021
Never actually properly controlled by the Netherlands. Only explored and claimed.
+2
Level 64
Jul 18, 2022
I suppose you could, at a stretch, include Australia because bits of Western Australia were briefly (and involuntarily) settled by the shipwrecked survivors of Batavia in 1629 and Vergulde Draek in 1656. Then again, while they did live there and controlled the islands/coast for a while, neither group officially claimed them for the republic insofar as I know.
+1
Level 56
Oct 25, 2021
map for me doesn't load all the way. cuts off at USA east coast and the edge of indonesia
+1
Level 55
Oct 25, 2021
That's intentional.
+4
Level 75
Oct 25, 2021
Maldives: never controlled by the Dutch, who never occupied any portion of it, and never had a trading post there.
+2
Level 55
Oct 25, 2021
Wrong. The Maldives were under Dutch protectorate between 1645 and 1796. Hegemony was established by the Dutch East India Company over Maldivian affairs after the Portuguese were kicked out.
+2
Level 75
Oct 25, 2021
The Dutch asserted themselves in Sri Lanka, and there was a formal title suggesting some sort of protectorate relationship with the Maldives as a result. This claim had been made by the Portuguese, who in fact occupied the country for fifteen years. After the Portuguese were expelled from the Maldives in 1573 (but remained in Sri Lanka), there was no relationship between any European power and the Maldives, regardless of who was in charge of Sri Lanka. There were no Dutch representatives (or Dutch people of any sort) in the Maldives. They had nothing to do with local governance, trade, foreign affairs, or anything else. The sultans of the Maldives didn't answer to anyone in any way until a formal agreement was made with the British to enact a protectorate, in 1887 (although the British as well, as rulers of Sri Lanka, had made the claim much earlier). Even then, no Brit lived on the islands, and there were no attempts to limit the autonomy of the sultans.
+2
Level 55
Oct 25, 2021
Great... I love when the sources I use are misleading. I'll probably remove the Maldives then for the sake of historical accuracy.

Protected states / protectorates were strange, especially when control is relatively loose. I feel like it's hard to determine the actual status when it comes to states under protected status because that's what's usually the case. I can imagine this being the case with a lot of territories in the Dutch East Indies / modern Indonesia at the time as well.

Apologies for for my extreme directness in my previous message, by the way.

+4
Level 75
Oct 26, 2021
No offence taken. When you make a quiz like this, it must be impossible to know specifics about all the claims.
+2
Level 57
Oct 26, 2021
Great quiz
+1
Level 55
Oct 26, 2021
Thanks!
+2
Level 30
Oct 26, 2021
Add New Holland please; Terra Australis.
+1
Level 55
Oct 26, 2021
Never controlled by the Netherlands nor actually claimed.
+2
Level 69
Dec 20, 2022
Wait never actually claimed? I was under the impression that the Netherlands did indeed make a formal claim, but never acted on it.
+2
Level 79
Aug 17, 2023
Months late, but the first Dutch explorers on the west side of Australia thought Australia was uncolonizable since they saw little water or soil. By the time the British proved they could build a settlement in the 1780s the Dutch had no money left to invest outside of the East Indies since they'd just been at war.

New Holland was named that only because Abel Tasman was Dutch. Same with New Zealand, which incidentally also was never Dutch-controlled.

+1
Level 59
Oct 26, 2021
You forgot about Selfkant
+1
Level 55
Oct 26, 2021
Too small to show, unfortunately.
+1
Level 29
Oct 27, 2021
They had a lot of dots also missed

grenada nigeria muritania

+4
Level 61
Apr 5, 2022
Steal the Indian Spice trade? That's not a question but the Dutch did it anyway.
+1
Level 22
May 3, 2022
How/why did they get colonies in Svalbard?
+2
Level 33
Aug 14, 2022
i didnt know the netherlands had colonies in mauritania, angola, mozambique and more. i also thought the netherlands didnt control that much in india WHILE I AM DUTCH MYSELF
+2
Level 37
Aug 21, 2022
Whait seriously??? I am a great fan of you dekkie and you are Dutch too? Great quiz! But Chile? I searched out All Dutch colonies but couldn’t find Chile
+2
Level 36
Sep 29, 2022
Dutchs invaded Valdivia trying to set a base to invade Perú
+1
Level 37
Aug 21, 2022
Most of colonial empires had so much in the 20 century, but we had in the 17th century!
+1
Level 36
Oct 3, 2022
Great work Dekkie!!
+1
Level 37
Oct 18, 2022
Fantastic quiZ!!!!!! Maybe think about the uk because the dutch royal house ruled it during the glorieus revolution
+1
Level 51
Jan 17, 2023
A good one i dont saw Svalbard but i saw Jan Mayen and chile at least
+1
Level 58
May 21, 2023
impressed by the Tortuga dot in Venezuela and is the other one on Los Roques or Las Aves?
+1
Level 55
May 21, 2023
Yes. All technically were just claimed to be controlled for a while since the islands weren't settled.
+1
Level 54
Jul 4, 2023
Damn! Great Quiz! Missed the sneaky one in Chile. Truly fascinating just how many ports and tiny settlements / colonies they had. Imagine if they decided to colonize this stuff!
+1
Level 78
Oct 11, 2023
Yes great quiz Dekkie, testing and educational.
+1
Level 30
Dec 6, 2023
When did The Netherlands control Jan Mayen?
+1
Level 55
Dec 6, 2023
From 1615 to 1638 it served as a whaling base under the Dutch Noordsche Compagnie, which was granted a monopoly on the Arctic regions by the States General of the Dutch Republic in 1614.
+1
Level 29
Dec 8, 2023
Why did more people correctly guess India than the Netherlands