HISTORY SUMMARY 3

3.1
Red= important person
Blue= important year
Yellow= important place

In chapter 2 you saw that the seven provinces stood up against Philip II formed a republic, after
unsuccessful attempts of finding a new monarch. Now these provinces had to figure out a way of
governing the Dutch republic. But how??

Each province was ruled in its own way by the Provincial States. This assembly of a small group of
rich men, called regenten, formed the daily government of their province and made all the political
decisions. For certain larger political issues, it was better for the provinces to work together. For
example: what to do about the war with Spain? For these kinds of decisions, every province would
send one or more regenten as representatives (vertegenwoordiger) to the states General in the
Hague. These representatives did not rule the Dutch Republic however. After discussing issues, the
representatives went back to their province to advise the Provincial States. The Provincial States
decided if they would agree with the suggestions or not. All decisions had to be taken unanimously: if
one of the provinces disagreed with the others, it would not be carried out.

The meetings of the States general didn’t take long because, Representatives from holland
dominated the assemblies of the States general. Holland was the richest province in the Dutch
Republic and therefore paid most of the taxes that were needed to finance the war against Spain.
Because of this, the province of Holland had a bigger say in the meetings of the States General. In
1586, the representative of Holland, Johan van Oldenbarnevelt (1547-1619), became grand
pensionary of the States General. In this function he would advise the States General about all sorts
of matters like finances and laws. Because Holland had the most power, Van Oldenbarnevelt could
decide about the policy of the Republic, such as taxes and foreign affairs, on his own. As grand
pensionary, Van Oldenbarnevelt was the most powerful person of the Dutch Republic.

In 1585, the son of William of Orange, Maurice of Orange (1567-1625), was appointed stadtholder
for Holland and Zeeland. At first, Maurice and Van Oldenbarnevelt worked closely together. Van
Oldenbarnevelt looked after the financial and foreign affairs, while Maurice looked after the army
and led many successful battles against Spain. Because of this, he gained a lot of popularity.
Due to financial problems, the Spanish wanted to start peace negotiations in 1609. Although Spain
and the Republic could not agree on the conditions of the peace, they decided to sign a Twelve
Years’ Truce (twaalfjarige wapenstilstand) to halt the war. During this truce, a political conflict
between Maurice and Van Oldenbarnevelt arose. Van Oldenbarnevelt wanted to end the war with
Spain as soon as possible for financial reasons. The war was expensive and affected the trade: ships
with goods were destroyed or captured. This resulted in a loss of income for the Republic. Maurice
however wanted to continue fighting, because he was convinced that the Spanish fleet (vloot) was at
its weakest.
Besides the difference in opinion about whether or not to continue the war against Spain, there was
also a religious conflict between the two men: Van Oldenbarnevelt supported the liberal Calvinists,
whilst Maurice took sides with the strict Calvinists. The conflict nearly led to a civil war between
Holland and the army led by Maurice. Maurice used his influence in the States General to arrest Van
Oldenbarnevelt in 1618 on account of high treason. In the meantime, the States General had
organized a national church synod. There it was decided that the principles of the liberal Calvinists
were false. Van Oldenbarnevelt was tried in May 1619 and sentenced to death.
In 1621, negotiations about a definite peace ended without a solution. Spain posed demands that the
Republic was unwilling to meet, and vice versa. The war with Spain was resumed under the directions
of Maurice. The Spanish took measures such as embargoes to restrict Dutch trade. These embargoes
(blokkades) meant that the Dutch Republic was not allowed to trade anymore with Spanish or
Portuguese trading posts in the East Indies. As a reaction, the States General ordered the Dutch West
India Company - a trading company that sailed between the Republic and South America to destroy
Spanish ships, which sailed between the Spanish colonies and Spain carrying goods and silver. This
meant a huge loss of income for Spain. In 1625, Maurice died. His half-brother Frederick Henry
succeeded him. Frederick Henry was a very able military leader. During his 21 years as a stadtholder,
he was able to conquer many cities such as ’s-Hertogenbosch and Maastricht from the Spanish.
Besides waging war on the Dutch Republic, Spain was also at war with France. Furthermore, Spain
was also involved in a major European war about religion, which lasted for 30 years. Because of all
the wars Spain was involved in and its loss of many trade ships, the country went bankrupt.
Therefore, Spain was forced to start new peace negotiations. In 1646, talks between Spain and the
Republic began in the city of Münster. The Spanish and Dutch delegations soon came to an
agreement and in 1648 signed a treaty called: Peace of Münster. This treaty finally ended the Eighty
Years’ War and Spain officially recognized the Dutch Republic as a sovereign state: a state with
borders, where a government makes laws and where people abide by those laws. The Republic
gained some new borders: parts of the Spanish Netherlands were added to the Dutch Republic.

3.2
Red= important person
Blue=important year
Yellow=important place

Despite the war with Spain, the Republic became one of the wealthiest nations in the world. But
how?
In 1585, the Spanish army conquered the city of Antwerp, the most important trade city of North-
western Europe at that time. Because the waterways to the city were closed off, no trade ship was
allowed to go in or out. Because of this, the merchants who traded in Antwerp had to find another
trade center. They found this in Amsterdam. Amsterdam had a big and easily accessible port. Its
trade had already flourished since the fourteenth century, mostly from the trade within the
Hanseatic League. In the sixteenth century, Dutch merchants brought luxury products like wine and
salt to countries around the Baltic Sea, such as Poland and East Prussia. In return, the merchants
brought huge amounts of grain and wood back to the Republic to sell it to other countries. This is
called the Baltic trade. Goods brought in from other countries were not immediately sold, but were
stored in warehouses instead. The merchants waited for a buyer who really needed the goods and
then sold them for the highest possible price. As a result, Amsterdam became a commercial center, a
place where goods from all over the world were brought in, stored and eventually sold to places
throughout Europe.
The many small Dutch companies that sailed to the East Indies had to compete with each other. As a
result, their profits reduced because they had to sell their goods at lower prices. This also meant that
the Republic received less profit taxes from the sold goods. In 1602, the States General decided it
would be more effective to join all the small companies together into one unified company.
Representatives from the small companies were invited by the States General to establish the Dutch
East India Company (‘Vereenigde Oost-Indische Compagnie’), also known as the VOC. The States
General granted a monopoly to the VOC. This means that the VOC was the only company allowed to
trade spices in the East Indies. Setting up the VOC was very expensive: ships had to be built, crews
had to be hired. To finance this and to spread the risks, the VOC issued shares. By buying a share,
people owned a small part of the company. If the company was successful, the value of their share
would increase and could be sold against a profit. Therefore, many people would invest money in the
VOC and its trading opportunities. This is the beginning of a new economic system based on
commercial capitalism.
Seventeen lords, called the Lords Seventeen (‘Heeren XVII’), managed the daily affairs of the VOC.
The VOC had many privileges. By decree of the States General, it was allowed to wage war, take and
execute prisoners and invade areas in the East Indies to establish colonies and set up trading posts.
The VOC established a large trading network with many trading posts throughout the East Indies. The
Company became the first multinational in the world because it traded with so many different areas
in the East Indies. To oversee this large trading network, the VOC appointed a Governor-General who
looked after all the financial and other affairs in the East Indies. The Governor-General resided in
Batavia, the present-day city of Jakarta. To get more profit from the spice trade, the VOC decided to
cut out the local merchants by taking over areas overseas. They placed these areas under the direct
control of the Dutch Republic, making them colonies of the Republic. In this way the Republic
acquired a monopoly on the trade of spices such as cinnamon, clove, mace and nutmeg. Batavia and
Sumatra are examples of these colonies.
In 1619, Jan Pieterszoon Coen (1587-1629) was appointed the Governor-General of the VOC. Coen
came up with an idea to make the trade with the East Indies more profitable. There was not much
demand in the East Indies for goods such as grain and wood. Therefore, the VOC had to pay for the
goods like spices and silk with valuable gold and silver. Coen argued that the Republic would not have
to spend its valuable gold and silver if the VOC joined the Intra-Asian trade. As part of this trade
network, the VOC exchanged goods with Japan for silver and copper. These precious metals from
Japan were then exchanged in India for textiles and silk. These products were either traded with the
East Indies for spices or brought back to the Republic to be sold. This system proved to be very
successful.
In 1621, the Dutch West India Company (‘West-Indische Compagnie’) or WIC was established. The
WIC was managed almost similarly to the VOC. It established many trading posts and colonies in
North and South America and the Caribbean, like Curaçao and Brazil. The WIC traded mostly in gold,
sugar and slaves. They bought slaves on the west coast of Africa. African tribe leaders would often
sell their captured enemies as slaves. These slaves were shipped to a trading post of the WIC, such as
Curaçao. Here the slaves were sold at auctions, mostly to work on plantations in North or South
America. Slaves were crammed together and treated miserably on the WIC ships. Slaves that got sick
or died during the journey across the Atlantic were thrown overboard. Besides trade, the WIC was
also allowed to capture and destroy Spanish ships that journeyed between the Spanish colonies and
Spain. Their goods and silver were taken by the WIC. This was called privateering and caused a big
blow for the Spanish economy. The States General supported privateering to stop Spain from waging
war against the Republic.

3.3
Red= important person
Yellow= important place
Blue= important year

After years of ruling together with his chief minister, the French king, Louis XIV, astonished
his court in 1661 by declaring that he would from now on rule alone. Louis XIV did have a
small counsel of high ministers from whom he took advice. He could call or dismiss his
ministers at will, listen to their advice or disregard it. When a king has absolute power, we
call this absolutism. This meant that Louis took every important decision in France by
himself. Louis XIV, as every other king in Europe at that time, believed in the divine right of
kings: he claimed that he was made king by God to carry out Gods will. During his reign
(heerschappij, Louis XIV turned France into a centralized state that was governed from his
palace in Versailles.
Because of the many wars it waged in the seventeenth century, France was almost at the
point of bankruptcy. Louis XIV appointed Jean-Baptist Colbert as controller of financial affairs
and ordered him to improve the finances of France. Colbert introduced a new economic
system, called mercantilism. He increased the taxes on imported goods to protect and focus
on France’s own economy. That way the government funded merchants who exported
goods from France. The extra gold and silver France received from its export turned it into a
wealthy nation once again.

3.4
The 17 century (1600-1700) was the age of new scientific discoveries.
Untill the 17th century there were only a few universities in Europe,( Paris, cologne or
Leuven) After the revolt northern studies could not study in Leuven (Belgium ) anymore
because the Spanish occupied this area. So William of Orange founded the University of
Leiden in 1575 with math and physics. The men who went to the university were well
educated and could join the Government later. Scholars in the middle ages ignored the
scientific knowledge of the Greek and Roman philosophers for almost 1000 years and
thought everything was the work of God. From the 14th century humanist questioned this
and their research was based on reasoning and logics, without experiments: rationalism.
In the 17th century another way of research developed: scientist started doing research by
observing and experimenting: empirical thinking. This new thinking led to a scientific
revolution.
Galileo Galilei (1564-1642) was born in italy and studied maths and natural philosophy. He
made discoveries about the universe and improved existing telescopes. He saw stars and
planets and proved that the Earth revolved around the sun :heliocentrism. Most people still
thought that according to the Bible all planets and sun would revolve around the earth:
geocentrism. The catholic Church did not accept his view and he was accused of heresy. In
1633 he was sentenced to life-long house arrest.
Isaac Newton (1642-1727) was a brit and made much scientific discoveries, for example: the
light that splits up under a glass and shows rainbow colors, but also he found out that gravity
is the reason that the earth and other planets revolve around the sun. We still use his law
under Newton’s laws.
Christiaan Huygens, Dutch scientist (1629-1695) , worked in maths, physics and astronomy.
he discovered that light consist of waves and invented the pendulum. You use this to tell
time very precisely. Also at sea it was used to locate exactly its position at sea.

Hugo Grotius (Hugo de Groot) (1583-1645) also Dutch  was intellectual thinker and
humanist. He was a prodigy. He published many books, mostly legal issues. He thought all
people could use the sea to travel as the sea belongs to nobody. This helped the VOC to
ignore other treaties. He was van Oldenbarnevelts political land legal advisor and they were
both arrested on the same day.  Hugo Grotius was captured in castle Loevestein and escaped
with a bookcase and fled to France.

3.5
In the 17 century the republic was a tolerant country ruled by regenten. There was no
absolute monarch and no censorship. The citizens had freedom of conscience and were
allowed to practice their own religion. Catholics were not prosecuted even though it was the
religion of the Spanish. After the Dutch revolt, some Catholics stayed in the republic and
they met in clandestine churches. First secretly but later the regenten allowed these
meetings under strict terms. The clandestine church were covered with beautiful and
extravagant art. this style is called baroque. Characteristics of Baroque are extreme realism,
dramatic effects and many facial emotions. In Dutch protestants churches there are no
statues of saints or large paintings of biblical scenes. They had Dutch realism: painters
focused on realistic subject matters.

As the republic was rich, a lot of people could buy art. The demand for art was very high, and
there was a lot of competition. So many artist specialized in a certain genre. Political
cartoons became popular, funny illustrations about political things. Regenten and low nobles
liked portrait painting to show off how important they were for the republic. Most famous is
the Night Watch by Rembrandt. The original painting was bigger than 3x4 meter.
Another genre was scenes of everyday. Jan Steen made painting which were lively and
festive but should have been seen as a warning; Jan Steen wanted to teach people not to
copy the behavior in his paintings.

3.6
Before the Spanish explored Curacao, the Arawak had inhabited it for centuries, the Indians
came from South America. When the first Spanish came they did not found it interesting be-
cause it had no natural resources. They left in 1515 and deported all Arawak as slaves to the
island Hispaniola (Haiti). More than Hundred years later (1633) the leaders of WIC looked for
a strategic base for Spanish ships and curacao was close to Spanish colonies. But Dutch
traders also liked it and wanted it together with Aruba and Bonaire for their salt plains. Salt
was very profitable and the Dutch conquered Curacao from the Spanish.

The Dutch build a fortification around the harbor, (fort Amsterdam) and completed in 1635.
Around this fort the town Willemstad was built , the current capital of Curacao. At first
Curacao was only used by the Dutch for exploitation of salt however due to its strategic
location and natural harbor it became an important trade center for the WIC. The WIC
bought slaves from traders in West Africa and shipped them to Curacao under horrible
conditions. Here they were sold again to local slave traders and were shipped all over the
world. In 1662 Spanish government granted asiento to bankers. The asiento was an
agreement that permitted them to sell African slaves to Spanish colonies in north and south
America, they needed many help with big plantations. The bankers set up a contract with
the WIC that the WIC would ship 24,000 slaves in a 7 year period for a fixed amount. The
monopoly with WIC ended at 1730 when more Dutch traders started to compete with WIC.
Slaves worked very hard and were used for all kind of jobs. The slave plantation in curaçao
were small compared to the ones in USA . The master of the salves lived in a plantation
house, a big house. You were rich if you had a lot of slaves. The slave Tula refused in 1795 to
go to work because he heard that French colonies granted freedom for slaves. He went with
50 slaves to his boss and also wanted freedom. Their master sent them to the governor. So
the group went and became bigger and bigger with other slaves and they destroyed
plantations on their way to the governor. The governor sent a small group of armed men to
the slaves but the armed men were defeated. The governor sent a bigger armed group and
then the slaves were defeated. Tula was killed by torture.