A Dutch East-Indiaman off Hoorn
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This painting of a Dutch East Indiaman illustrates the prominence of the Dutch Republic in maritime trade throughout the 17th century. Dutch trade interests encompassed a large part of the globe during this time. In the European sphere, the Dutch shipped grain and timber from the Baltic, imported wool and other products from the Mediterranean (Israel 1995, 611), and imported raw metals from Scandinavia and other regions which were then manufactured into munitions such as cannons (Haley 43). Dutch industry flourished from the imports of these raw materials: shipbuilding, textile and linen manufacture, tobacco and sugar processing, and a variety of other industrial trades benefitted from the import and export economy of the Netherlands (Haley 44). European banking, investments, and financial exchanges were centered in Amsterdam as a result of this extensive maritime trade and industry (Haley 41). This trade activity contributed to increasing urbanization in Dutch society, with many rural people moving into the cities to participate in the growing trade economy (Haley 49).
Outside of Europe, conflicts between the Dutch and Portuguese trade empires allowed the Dutch to profit from sugar, gold, and other natural materials, as well as from slavery, in trade with Africa and Brazil (Blackburn 192). Two trade companies were key to trade in the Netherlands: the Dutch West India Company and the Dutch East India Company (or VOC). The Dutch East India company operated in South Africa, India, China, and Southeast Asia, and dominated the spice trade, while the West India Company operated in the New World and West Africa, and focused on trading sugar (Blackburn 187-188). Dutch trade interests, industry, and financial growth all worked together to make the Dutch Republic an economic powerhouse in the early modern period.
Works Cited:
Blackburn, Robin, “The Dutch War for Brazil and Africa,” in The Making of New World Slavery, 185-215. New York: Verso, 1977.
Haley, K.H.D., The Dutch in the Seventeenth Century, 38-64, London: Thames and Hudson, 1972.
Israel, Jonathan, The Dutch Republic. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1995.