NETHERLAND AND AMERICA

(RELATIONS)

Former Dutch Prime Minister Jan Peter Balkenende and United States Ambassador Roland Arnall

The American embassy in The Hague

The countries were described by former President George W. Bush as "brother nations" and by current President Barack Obama as "closest friends which friendship will never die".

Obama has also said that, "Without the Netherlands there wouldn't be a United States of America as everyone knows it now".

History
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 Netherlands, which became a province 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. The Netherlands was the first foreign country to salute the American Flag on November 16, 1776 and therefore the first foreign nation to recognize the United States as an independent nation. 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. The house that Adams purchased in The Hague became the first American embassy in the world. The bilateral relations between the two nations are based on historical and cultural ties as well as a common dedication to individual freedom and human rights. The Netherlands shares with the United States a liberal economic outlook and is committed to free

trade. The Netherlands is the third-largest direct foreign investor in the United States, and the DutchAmerican trade and investment relationship is supporting close to 625,000 American jobs with Texas, California and Pennsylvania benefiting most from these Economic Ties. The United States is the third-largest direct foreign investor in the Netherlands.The United States and the Netherlands often have similar positions on issues and work together both bilaterally and multilaterally in such institutions as the United Nations and NATO. The Dutch have worked with the United States at the World Trade Organization, in the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, as well as within the European Union to advance the shared US goal of a more open and marketled world economy. The United States participated greatly in the liberation of the Netherlands from Nazi Germany during World War II. Both nations joined NATO as charter members in 1949. The Dutch were allies with the United States in the Korean War and the first Gulf War and have been active in global peacekeeping efforts in the former Yugoslavia, Afghanistan and Iraq. Netherlands also support and participate in NATO and EU training efforts in Iraq. Until August 1, 2010 they were active

participants in the International Security Assistance Force and Operation Enduring Freedom in Afghanistan.-

Dutch colonization of the Americas

Dutch trading posts and plantations in the Americas precede the much wider known colonization activities of the Dutch in Asia. Whereas the first Dutch fort in Asia was built in 1600 (in present-day Indonesia), the first forts and settlements on the Essequibo river in Guyana and on the Amazon date from the 1590s. Actual colonization, with Dutch settling in the new lands, was not as common as with other European nations. Many of the Dutch settlements were lost or abandoned by the end of the 17th century, but the Netherlands managed to retain possession of Suriname until it gained independence in 1975, as well as the former Netherlands Antilles, of which the islands remain within the Kingdom of the Netherlands today.