page_title: Netherlands–United States relations
section_title: History
hierarchical_section_title: Netherlands–United States relations / History
caption_attribution_description: English: Peter Hoekstra
context_page_description: Netherlands–United States relations are bilateral relations between the Netherlands and the United States. They are described as "excellent" by the United States Department of State and "close" by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Netherlands. Official relations were established in 1782 and, as the two were never at war or in serious conflict, were referred to by U.S. President Ronald Reagan in 1982 as "the longest unbroken, peaceful relationship that we have had with any other nation." The two countries have cooperated much in recent decades in anti-terrorism, anti-piracy and peacekeeping missions in the European, Middle Eastern and Central American regions. They are also the third largest and largest direct foreign investors in each other's economies.
context_section_description: The U.S. partnership with the Netherlands is one of its oldest continuous relationships and dates back to the American Revolution. Starting in the late 16th century, the Dutch and other Europeans began to colonize the eastern coast of North America. The Dutch named their territory New Netherland, which became a colony of the Dutch Republic in 1624.  The Dutch colonial settlement of New Amsterdam later became New York City. The present-day flag of New York City is based on the flag of Republic of the United Netherlands.
  Though the action was disavowed by the government of the Netherlands, on November 16, 1776, the fort at St. Eustatius gave the first formal salute (firing its guns nine times) to a ship flying the American flag. On 19 April 1782, John Adams was received by the States General in The Hague and recognized as Minister Plenipotentiary of the United States of America. By doing so, it became the second foreign country to recognize the United States (after France on February 6, 1778). The house that Adams purchased in The Hague became the first American embassy in the world.
  Dutch officers in Sumatra (then part of the Dutch East Indies) assisted the U.S. Navy during the First and Second Sumatran Expeditions in 1832 and 1838 respectively. Both operations were punitive expeditions, carried out against Chiefdom of Kuala Batee after the crews of U.S. merchant ships were massacred by the native Malays.
  In 1861-63 the Lincoln administration looked abroad for places to relocate freed slaves who wanted to leave the United States. It opened U.S. negotiations with the Dutch government regarding African American migration and colonization of the Dutch colony of Suriname in South America. Nothing came of the idea, and after 1864 the idea was dropped.
  U.S. and Dutch soldiers fought together during the Siege of the International Legations, part of the larger Boxer Rebellion in China.
  The  Netherlands was steadfastly neutral in the late 19th and early 20th century trading with everyone but avoiding alliances. In foreign affairs it build up its overseas empire especially in the Dutch East Indies (Indonesia). Neutrality did not stop the Nazi invasion in 1940, and after its liberation 1945 neutrality was no longer attractive. the Dutch tried for years to recover its valuable colony of Indonesia, but the United States was impressed with the anti-communist stance of the Indonesian Republic, and insisted that the Dutch leave. Resentfully, they did so, and refocused their attention on West European and trans-Atlantic relations.  By the 1950s, according to Giles Scott-Smith the Americans considered the Dutch to be perfect allies in the Cold War:
  The Dutch were politically close to the UK and were opposed to European affairs being dominated by either a renewed France or a resurgent Germany....the Dutch body politic, dominated as it was by the democratic socialists and Christian parties, was resoundingly anti-communist in outlook. The Netherlands was also positive towards a US-led free-trade regime, and during the Cold War was wholly committed to building a managed post-war economic and political order based around international organizations such as the International Monetary Fund (IMF), World Bank, and the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD).
  The U.S. was generous with Marshall Plan funds, designed to modernize Dutch technology and help it integrate into what became the European Union. Membership in NATO solidified close military cooperation.
caption: US Ambassador to the Netherlands Pete Hoekstra, 2017.
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