Introduction

Comparative history has the great virtue of enabling us to see more clearly both the similarities and the singularities of the experiences of different peoples, institutions and times. The British and Dutch empires of the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries would seem to provide fruitful grounds for such an approach. By 1750 both these northwestern European powers had acquired territory, trading posts and influence in many parts of the world. The imperial dimension was important, too; for as the Netherlands ceased to be a reliable and weighty military ally in British eyes, the colonial and commercial rivalry between the two powers – which had been present since the early seventeenth century – increasingly became a cause of friction. This chapter also provides an overview of the key concepts discussed in this book.