Perth is set on the Swan River, named after the native black swans in 1697 by Willem de Vlamingh, captain of a Dutch expedition and namer of WA's Rottnest Island.

* July 17 – Roemer Vlacq I, Dutch naval captain ( b. 1637 )

* date unknown – Willem Ysbrandtsz Bontekoe, Dutch sea captain ( b. 1587 )

* January 24 – Dutch captain Willem Schouten rounds the southern tip of South America and names it Kaap Hoorn, after his birthplace in the Netherlands.

Another legend claims that following the Navigation Acts ( an ordinance by Oliver Cromwell requiring all foreign fleets in the North Sea or the Channel to dip their flag in salute ) the Wilhelmus was sung ( or rather, shouted ) by the sailors on the Dutch flagship Brederode in response to the first warning shot fired by an English fleet under Robert Blake, when their captain Maarten Tromp refused to lower his flag.

* June 2 – Willem Ysbrandtsz Bontekoe, Dutch sea captain ( d. 1657 )

** Dirk Hartog, Dutch ship's captain and explorer ( d. 1621 )

In 1674, Dutch navy captain Jurriaen Aernoutsz also briefly captured two forts in the French colony of Acadia, which he claimed as the Dutch territory of New Holland.

The Dutch captain, however, was not aware of their being on an island, and 17th century maps usually showed these points — and often Hokkaido, too — as parts of the mainland.

Ruud Gullit was thus the first Dutch captain to hold aloft international silverware.

In 1607, he joined the Dutch East India Company and left for Asia, returning with the rank of captain ( of the Hollandia ) five years later.

He became, after a conflict with the WIC about policy and payment, Lieutenant-Admiral of Holland and West Frisia on 26 March 1629, and thus factual supreme commander of the confederate Dutch fleet, taking as flag captain Maarten Tromp.

In this he was assisted by a Dutch captain, Laurens Heemskerck, who had fled to England after having been condemned to death for cowardice shown during the Battle of Lowestoft.

She retired from athletics in 1955, after which she became captain of the Dutch female track and field team.

* Dorus Rijkers, Dutch lifeboat captain

On June 3, 1631, Dutch captain David Pietersen de Vries landed along the shores of the Delaware to establish a whaling colony in the mid-Atlantic of the New World.

These were retaken by the French captain Armand de Kersaint in 1782, and restored to the Dutch after the war.

The town was renamed Pattersonville after the captain successfully moved the post office to Dutch Settlement.

* 1665-Jacob, Baron van Wassenaer, Lord Of Obdam dies during a seabattle with the English while being the captain of a Dutch vessel.

The town is named for 1620 Dutch captain named Cornelius Jacobsen Mey who explored and charted the area between 1611 – 1614, and established a claim for the province of New Netherland.

Sea captain and explorer Henry Hudson, in search of the mythical Northwest Passage in the service of the Dutch West India Company, anchored along the shores of Sandy Hook Bay in 1609, describing the area " a very good land to fall in with and a pleasant land to see.

In the midst of this, in 1637, De Ruyter became captain of a private ship meant to hunt for raiders operating from Dunkirk who were preying on Dutch merchant shipping.

Roosenburg convinced a Dutch captain to give her group documentation stating that they were political prisoners and should have priority in transportation home ; the paperwork she suggested did not mention their nationality, and so left them free to impersonate French or Belgian political prisoners.

Dutch national first-team players Ryan Babel, Wesley Sneijder, Rafael van der Vaart, Maarten Stekelenburg, Eljero Elia, André Ooijer, John Heitinga and Nigel de Jong had also came through the ranks at Ajax and all are now playing for top-flight clubs.

* 1653 – Maarten Tromp, Dutch admiral ( b. 1598 )

* Dutch language, spoken in the Netherlands, Belgium, Suriname, Curaçao, Aruba, Bonaire, Saba, Sint Maarten, and Sint Eustatius

The Design Academy Eindhoven has produced major Dutch designers, such as Maarten Baas, Marcel Wanders, Richard Hutten, Jurgen Bey, and Hella Jongerius.

* 1984 – Maarten Heisen, Dutch sprinter

* 1981 – Maarten van der Weijden, Dutch swimmer

From the last quarter of the 17th century, the group consisted of six undisputedly Dutch islands: Curaçao ( settled in 1634 ), Aruba ( settled in 1636 ), Bonaire ( settled in 1636 ), Sint Eustatius ( settled in 1636 ), Saba ( settled in 1640 ) and Sint Maarten ( settled in 1648 ).

Territory included the islands of Aruba until 1986 and Curaçao, Bonaire, Saba, Sint Eustatius, Sint Maarten ( which is the Dutch part of the island of Saint Martin ) until 2010 when the Netherlands Antilles was dissolved.

The Netherlands Antilles was an autonomous entity within the Kingdom of the Netherlands and consisted of the following five islands: Bonaire, Curaçao, Saba, Sint Eustatius and the Dutch part of Saint Martin ( Sint Maarten ).

* May 29 – First Anglo-Dutch War: The opening battle is fought off Dover, between Lt .- Admiral Maarten Harpertszoon Tromp's 42 Dutch ships and 21 English ships divided into 2 squadrons, one commanded by Robert Blake and the other by Nehemiah Bourne.

* April 23 – Maarten Tromp, Dutch admiral ( d. 1653 )

** Maarten van Heemskerck, Dutch painter ( d. 1574 )

Carnival is an important cultural event on the Dutch Antilles islands of Aruba, Curaçao, Sint Maarten, Saba, Sint Eustatius ( Statia ), and Bonaire.

* August 10 – Maarten Tromp, Dutch admiral ( b. 1598 )

Dutch colonization in the Caribbean started in the 1620s on St. Croix and Tobago ( 1628 ), followed in 1631 with settlements on Tortuga ( now Île Tortue ) and Sint Maarten.

When the Dutch lost Sint Maarten ( and Anguilla where they had built a fort shortly after arriving in Sint Maarten ) to the Spanish, they settled Curaçao and Sint Eustatius.

The news of this decision reached London on 12 March 1652 and the Commonwealth too began to prepare for war, but as both nations were unready, war might have been delayed if not for an unfortunate encounter between the fleets of Dutch Lieutenant-Admiral Maarten Tromp and General at Sea Robert Blake in the English Channel near Dover on 29 May 1652.

Maarten Harpertszoon Tromp ( 23 April 1598 – 10 August 1653 ) was an officer and later admiral in the Dutch navy.

The death of Maarten Tromp was not only a severe blow to the Dutch navy, but also to the Orangists who sought the defeat of the Commonwealth of England and restoration of the Stuart monarchy ; Republican influence strengthened after Scheveningen, which led to peace negotiations with the Commonwealth, culminating in the Treaty of Westminster.

A 16th-century hand-coloured engraving of the " Hanging Gardens of Babylon " by Dutch artist Maarten van Heemskerck | Martin Heemskerck, with the Tower of Babel in the background

* Maarten van der Weijden ( 1981 ), long distance swimmer ; Dutch Sportsman of the year 2008