Treaty of Breda

The Treaty should not be confused with Charles II's Declaration of Breda, 1660.

The Treaty of Breda was signed at the Dutch city of Breda, July 31, 1667, by England, the Dutch Republic, France, and Denmark. It brought a hasty and inconclusive end to the Second Anglo-Dutch War (1665 - 1667), as Louis XIV's forces began invading the Spanish Netherlands, but left many territorial disputes unresolved. In the preceding stages of the war, the Dutch had prevailed. Admiral De Ruyter virtually controlled the south coast of England, following his successful Raid on the Medway, and his presence encouraged English commissioners to sign for peace. Negotiations took only ten days.

During the negotiations, the English commissioners offered to return New Netherlands (modern New York City) in exchange for their sugar factories on the coast of Surinam. The Dutch side declined. In the East Indies, the Dutch secured a worldwide monopoly on nutmeg by forcing England to give up their outpost on Run, the most remote of the Banda Islands.

In North America, Acadie was returned to France, without specifying what territories were actually involved on the ground. Thomas Temple, the proprietor, residing in Boston, had been given a charter by Cromwell, which was ignored in the Treaty, and the actual handing off was delayed at the site until 1670.

The most complete contemporary account of the war was published first in Dutch, then in French (1668) as a Description exacte de tout ce qui est passé dans les guerres. It contains a list of Dutch vessels and goods lost in America, an account of the 1664 capture of New Amsterdam (mentioning "Nieuw Yorck" for the first time) with the articles of surrender to Governor Nicolls, and De Ruyter’s voyage to the West Indies. The Dutch commemorated the Treaty of Breda with a patriotic engraving.

The Surrender of Breda a separate event in the Dutch wars of liberation, was painted by Diego Velasquez in 1634.