the golden age of the dutch republic
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The Golden Age of the Dutch Republic. European History Kagan, Ch. 15. Dutch Republic. Government: Republic (States-General) – gained independence from Spain in 1648 (P of W); practiced international diplomacy - PowerPoint PPT PresentationTRANSCRIPT
Government: Republic (States-General) – gained independence from Spain in 1648 (P of W); practiced international diplomacy › other republics at this time: Swiss cantons,
Genoa, Venice and England (for a time, think Cromwell)
Build strong national identity Great cultural & intellectual
achievements
State religion = Calvinism› BUT Dutch Calvinism does NOT control the
state policy no one majority religion
› large Catholic minority – private worship only› Lutherans› Mennonites welcome› Jews
Calvinist calling aids in the economic miracle
a. The Dutch Republic was founded by Calvinists who built an intolerant Calvinist theocracy.
b. Calvinist precepts of leading a God-fearing, productive, thrifty life had no direct impact on the Dutch.
Rembrandt’s The Syndics of the Clothmakers Guild, 1662
Vermeer’s The Geographer, 1668
Economic wealth: banking, stock market, international trade
Population and wage increases Grain from Poland = ability to focus on
other agricultural products’› Butter, cheese, hops, livestock, fishing
Other industries boom› Land reclamation, › urban construction work, › printing and engraving, › shipbuilding
c. Agriculture and fishing served only as a nutritious food supply in the Dutch Republic.
d. The Dutch Republic had a primarily agricultural economy with little interest in other industries.
major European freight carrier between Spain, France, England, and the Baltic
1660 = 10,000 ships; throughout 17th century owned majority of European shipping
1609 – founded the Bank of Amsterdam & established the most sought after currency (gold Dutch guilder)› Amsterdam financial center of Europe until
French Revolution Stock Market is born in Amsterdam
~1600 – reach Japan, after 1641 Dutch sole Europeans in Japan
1602 – Dutch East India Company 1612 – Manhattan Island 1616 – Willem Schouten & Jacob le Maire
round Cape Horn (Kaap Hoorn) 1619 – Batavia, Java (Jakarta) 1621 – Dutch West India Company:
Spanish/Portuguese Americas 1652 – captured the Cape of Good Hope
(South Africa)
e. The Dutch Republic had no trade contact with Spain due to their long on-going political and religious battles.
f. The Dutch Republic had no interest in establishing trade in East Asia.
International law: Hugo Grotius Law of War and Peace › "I saw in the whole Christian world a license of
fighting at which even barbarous nations might blush. Wars were begun on trifling pretexts or none at all, and carried on without any reference of law, Divine or human.“
Scientists: Leeuwenhoek & Swammerdam –
microscopic world, biology Huyghens – physics & mathematics,
telescopic improvements, wave theory of light, pendulum clock
Scholarly writing: › Bekker World Bewitched debunked
witchcraft myth› Anna Maria van Schurman The Learned
Maid or Whether a Maid May Be Called a Scholar
Dutch Realism: Frans Hal, Jan Vermeer, Rembrandt