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| 1648 |
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| The TREATY OF WESTPHALIA (See 1648, Oct. 24) recognized the independence of the Republic of the United Provinces. The Dutch Republic was a confederation, a weak union of strong provinces, in each of which an oligarchy of wealthy merchants, the regents, handled nearly all matters in the local Estates. A “national” body, the States General (the legislative assembly of representatives of the orders or classes of society) appointed the stadholder for each province. The States General also handled foreign affairs, but major decisions had to be referred back to provincial Estates for approval. | 1 |
| Political power and economic strength rested on great commercial prosperity: the fishing industry (herring), shipbuilding, a vast merchant marine; the Bank of Amsterdam the best source of cheap credit and commercial intelligence in Europe. (See The Dutch Republic) | 2 |
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| 1602 |
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| The Dutch East India Company (Oost Indische Compagnie), chartered by regents of the States General, was granted a monopoly on Dutch trade east of the Cape of Good Hope, west of the Strait of Magellan. The company subdued local rulers; drove Portuguese and British traders from the Spice Islands (Moluccas), Malaya, and Ceylon (See 1511); and controlled this rich trade, primarily in nutmeg and cloves. In the 1630s a phenomenally high return (35 percent) paid to investors. | 3 |
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| 1621 |
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| The Dutch West India Company chartered by the States General with a monopoly on trade in African and North American waters. | 4 |
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| 1626 |
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| This led to establishment of Fort Amsterdam on southern tip of Manhattan island, after 1664 New York (See 1621). | 5 |
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| 1652 |
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| Jan van Riebeeck founded a fueling station for the Dutch East India Company (See 1652) at the Cape of Good Hope. In middle decades of the 17th century, prodigious wealth enabled the Dutch to enjoy the highest standard of living in Europe in a cosmopolitan society unique for its spirit of religious toleration. | 6 |
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| Cultural Developments |
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| Josquin Des Près (c. 1445–1521) composed sacred songs in the polyphonic style of the Flemish school, which dominated 16th-century Renaissance music: for example, the madrigals of Adrian Willaert (1480–1563); the sacred and secular songs of the greatest Flemish composer, Orlando di Lasso (1532–94). The religious tradition in painting carried over from the Van Eycks, Hans Memling (c. 1433–95), and Hieronymus Bosch (1460–1516) to the engravings of Lucas Van Leyden (1494–1533) and the paintings of Quentin Massays (c. 1466–1530). Pieter Breughel (1525–69) painted both religious and everyday subjects, with the addition of humorous, earthy touches. | 7 |
| The golden age of painting occurred in the first half of the 17th century, especially with the portraits and religious paintings of Peter Paul Rubens (1577–1640); the portraits of Anthony Van Dyck (1599–1641), court painter to Charles I of England, and Franz Hals (1580–1666); the landscapes of Meyndaert Hobbema (1638–1709) and Jacob Ruysdael (1628–82); the genre works of Jan Vermeer (1632–75) and Jan Steen (1625–79); and culminating in the work of Rembrandt van Rijn (1606–69): his numerous paintings of himself and of Saskia (1633–41), The Anatomy Lesson (1632), The Night Watch (1642), his etchings, and his religious paintings. | 8 |
| Hugo Grotius (1583–1645) laid the bases of international law in his Mare liberum (1609) and De jure belli ac pacis (1625). (See The Dutch Republic) | 9 |
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