The Netherlands began its colonization of the Americas with the establishment of trading posts and plantations. The first forts and settlements along the Essequibo River in Guyana date from the 1590s. Actual colonization, with the Dutch settling in the new lands, was not as common as by other European nations. This colonization preceded the better known colonization activities of the Dutch in Asia; the first Dutch fort in Asia was not built until 1600 in present-day Indonesia.