What Factors Explain the Golden Age of the Dutch Republic? :: World History

This essay will discuss Dutch excellence in trade, art and literature individually to discern the factors which explain the high standards of distinction these fields achieved during the Golden Age of the Dutch Republic. Although the smallest of the European powers in terms of territory, population, and natural resources, for 150 years the Dutch Republic dominated European trade with approximately half of the world’s total stock of seagoing ships at the zenith of its power.# How did such an insignificant state rise so rapidly, becoming according to contemporary observer Sir William Temple: â€Å"the envy of some, the fear of others and the wonder of all their neighbours†?# Shifting commercial patterns since the 16th century had seen the rise of a truly global economy. As the quality of ships improved, skippers travelled further distances with cargo, making arrival times and availability of goods unpredictable. A centrally located market where goods could be bought and sold at constant prices was needed.# Geographical factors made the Dutch Republic ideal for this role, situated at the intersection of Northern waterways connecting the Atlantic, Baltic and the Rhine. This position had g rown in significance since the Mediterranean’s function as pivot of international trade had diminished.# Within the country, the Republic’s extensive waterways, river fleets and timber depots were well suited to a boom.# The Republic had already established a leadership in bulk transportation, a firm foundation which could be built upon. Since the 1590’s, the moedernegotie or mother trade moved huge quantities of goods such as lumber, fish and grain in large volume in cheap, simple ships.# However, real wealth lay in the â€Å"rich trades† of spices, silver and other luxury goods imported from the East Indies, Africa and the Americas. This trade was previously dominated by the Hanseatic states and England, but the Dutch Republic’s ease of access to the Iberian market and colonial goods enabled it to overtake the England Muscovy trade by 1600.# In 1602, the Dutch East Indies Company or VOC was founded, followed by the Dutch West Indies Company nine teen years later. Throughout the 1630’s, training posts were established in Sri Lanka and New Guinea. Several important external factors allowed the establishment of this formidable trade empire at the dawn of the seventeenth century. The first of these was the inflow of immigrants from the Southern Netherlands and other European states in the late 16th and seventeenth centuries. Within the Dutch Republic, between 100,000 and 15,0000 refugees fled from the Spanish forces, settling mainly in Holland or Zeeland’s towns.