On Thu, 22 Feb 2007 13:28:58 +0000, Emily Rose wrote > I have recently read in a scholarly work that Dale and Gates were > paid by the Dutch to promote trade in Virginia (no citation). It > also said that the colonists were afraid that the Dutch were > inciting the Indians. While it is well known that they were paid, I > have not seen the commercial justification. Any references? I've heard of Dale and Gates being on leave to Virginia while in the employ of the Dutch, but my understanding is that their relationship with the Dutch was a military one rather than commercial. It would seem odd that they'd promote Dutch trade while the Colony was still under Virginia Company control. There is some discussion of early Dutch trade in Phillip A. Bruce's "Economic History of Virginia in the Seventeenth Century: An Inquiry into the Material Condition of the People, Based on Original and Contemporaneous Records." Chapter 15: http://www.dinsdoc.com/bruce-1-15.htm Start on page 292 for some discussion (with footnotes) on Dutch trade. The index for the document is: http://www.dinsdoc.com/bruce-1-0a.htm The Classics of American Colonial History website has some interesting articles and publications online. http://www.dinsdoc.com/colonial-3.htm Regards, Tom A. To subscribe, change options, or unsubscribe, please see the instructions at http://listlva.lib.va.us/archives/va-hist.html