Skip to main content
Glite Dictionary
patroonship

patroonship

9.9
A large estate in Dutch colonies where one person controls the land and people
  • noun
  • /pəˈtruːnˌʃɪp/
  • Archaic
translation icon : patronazgo
  • Many early settlers worked on a patroonship in exchange for a share of the crops.

Examples

  • The Dutch granted a patroonship to encourage settlement along the Hudson River.

  • The patroonship granted him vast lands.

  • Under the patroonship system, landowners held vast estates and controlled local governance.

  • Many settlers aspired to own a patroonship in New Amsterdam.

  • The patroonship established by the wealthy families in New York significantly influenced regional development during the 17th century.

  • During the colonial era, a patroonship allowed landowners to govern large estates and manage agricultural production.

  • Her research focused on the administration of patroonships, highlighting their impact on Dutch colonial governance in America.

Surface Forms

patroonship singular
patroonships plural

Morphology

patroonship = patroon (transparent) = patroon + ship

Formed by productive suffixation of 'patroon' with '-ship' meaning office/state; the meaning directly follows from the base.

Etymology

Patroonship comes from the Dutch patroon, which is like the English word patron and meant 'landowner'. So a patroonship is the job, power and big area of land that belonged to such a person.