Holland Land Company

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Holland Land Company, Dutch enterprise active in the settlement of much of W New York and some of NW Pennsylvania. Organized by Dutch bankers in 1796, it secured lands in New York (known as the Holland Purchase) from Robert Morris, who had assembled them as part of a gigantic land speculation. The company developed its holdings, planned town sites, and sold the lands on liberal terms directly to settlers. Its main land office was opened (1801) in Batavia, N.Y. About 1846 the affairs of the company in the United States were liquidated.

See studies by P. D. Evans (1924) and W. Chazanof (1970).