Seventeen, noun

Forms:
Also 17, XVII.
Origin:
DutchShow more From Dutch Here Seventien ‘the Seventeen Lords’ (see Here Seventien):
historical
Usually in the n. phrr. Chamber of Seventeen, Council of Seventeen, and (occasionally) Assembly of Seventeen: The committee of seventeen directors of the Dutch East India Company, representing every state and almost every town in Holland; Here Seventien; Lords Seventeen. See also Company.
1858 W.S. Van Ryneveld in Cape Monthly Mag. III.There was..a letter from the Chamber of XVII..in which they..command us to encourage the Colonists in..the exports of grain to the mother country.
1877 J. Noble S. Afr. 8The Assembly of Seventeen, who represented the East India Company.
1877 J. Noble S. Afr. 12A despatch dated September 1701, from the Chamber of Seventeen, to the Cape Commander.
1893 H.B. Sidwell Story of S. Afr. 9The supreme governing power of the Company was exercised by a council of Directors, called, from the number of its members, the Chamber of Seventeen.
1909 C.D. Hope Our Place in Hist. 24The Chamber of Seventeen which ruled the Company was almost as national a body as the States-General of the Netherlands.
1913 D. Fairbridge That Which Hath Been (Glossary) 319Seventeen, The directors of the Dutch East India Company.
1920 K.M. Jeffreys tr. of Memorandum of Commissary J.A. de Mist 235A petition sent to the Seventeen in Holland by the Cape Burghers in the year 1779.
1926 P.W. Laidler Tavern of Ocean 11The instructions given to the Commander by the ‘Seventeen’ Directors of the Company were..that a fort be built..and named ‘Good Hope.’
1926 P.W. Laidler Tavern of Ocean 33Van Riebeeck received a letter from the Seventeen.
1952 G.M. Mills First Ladies of Cape 34What South Africa was to become was no longer entirely in the hands of the Council of Seventeen.
1976 W. Héfer in Optima Vol.26 No.2, 46The Chamber of Seventeen, which directed the affairs of the far-flung Dutch East India Company from Holland.
c1988 S. Afr. 1987–8: Off. Yrbk (Bureau for Info.) I. 23Jan van Riebeeck..was not sent by his powerful directors, the Council of Seventeen, to colonise or exploit.
Usually in the n. phrr. Chamber of Seventeen, Council of Seventeen, and (occasionally) Assembly of Seventeen:The committee of seventeen directors of the Dutch East India Company, representing every state and almost every town in Holland; Here Seventien; Lords Seventeen.
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seun, nounn.seventy-four, nounn.
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