In the Middle Ages, it was the territory of many independent feudal lords. It was occupied by the Grand Duke of Burgundy in the 13 and 14 centuries. 1477 belongs to the Habsburg family, and 15 16 belongs to Habsburg, Spain and West Holland. In the huge Spanish Empire, by contrast, the area of the Netherlands is very small, but the local industry and commerce are very prosperous, and most of the residents live in large and small cities, which is the place with the largest number and the most concentrated cities in Europe at that time. In terms of tax revenue, it accounts for half of Spain, including the land occupied by Latin American colonies and Europe, so Charles V called the Netherlands "the jewel in the crown".
There are two reasons for the Dutch problem and Dutch independence. First, during years of frequent foreign wars, Charles V not only exhausted the gold and silver plundered from Latin America, but also emptied its treasury. In order to raise funds, heavy taxes were levied in the Netherlands, which led to the decline of business and economic depression, causing dissatisfaction among local people. Secondly, in Central Europe, Charlemagne of the Holy Roman Empire, where the Religious Revolution took place, acted as a defender of Taoism, but he failed in the war with Protestant princes. 1955 signed the augsburg Religious Peace Treaty, recognizing the principle of freedom of belief and equality of rights between old and new religions in the Holy Roman Empire. According to the principle of "religion depends on the country", vassals have the right to decide the religious beliefs of themselves and their residents in China. However, we did not deal with the issue of the Dutch believing in Protestantism according to this principle, but took severe repressive measures and even beheaded Protestants and buried them alive. Under the policy of economic and religious coercion, the unbearable masses broke out in 1566 against the old religion and Spain.
Although Spain carried out bloody repression, it could not reverse the situation. Seven northern Dutch provinces declared their independence in 1573. After more than 20 years of tortuous struggle, especially after 1588, Spain was completely defeated by Britain in the Armada, its maritime strength was greatly weakened. Without financial support at home and naval support outside, we had to conclude the armistice agreement of 12 in 1609, which actually recognized the independence of the Netherlands. (Explain the main story of Spain and Holland in DOL here. )
The failure of Spain provided an opportunity for the Netherlands to compete for colonies and monopolize East-West trade in the world. The advantage of the Netherlands is first manifested in trade. By then, the Netherlands had become the trade center of Europe. Herring and salt in the Bay of Biscay, cloth in Britain and Flanders (that is, northern Belgium), wine in the Mediterranean, copper and iron in Sweden, grains, flax, hemp and wood in the Baltic Sea, smoked fish and pickled fish in the Netherlands, textiles and various commodities provided by various handicraft workshops. These goods are traded here, both cash and futures. Even goods from the East and America are sold here through Portugal and Spain. At the same time, Amsterdam is in a leading position in gem technology, so to some extent, it has become an international trade center.
Secondly, it is also the financial center of Europe. Because a large number of businessmen trade here, of course, they also concentrate a lot of money. In order to facilitate the flow of funds and business activities, the Netherlands established the Amsterdam National Bank on 1609, which is the first capitalist national bank in Europe, and deals in deposits, loans, remittances and various bills. By the18th century, the Dutch financial situation is still very strong. It is also a British creditor, and once held shares in the Bank of England and the British East India Company13, accounting for 40% of British government bonds. He once held shares in the Bank of England and the British East India Company.
Third, the Netherlands has the largest fleet in the world. It was also the largest shipbuilding base in the world. Dutch shipyards make full use of machinery, and the shipbuilding speed is quite fast, and a ship can be built in almost one day. As early as 1600, the Netherlands owned 10000 ships. Calculated by tonnage, it accounted for 3/4 of the total tonnage in Europe at that time. Most of the world's trade and freight are undertaken by the Netherlands, which is known as the "sea coachman".
It is these three advantages that make the Netherlands replace the colonial empire formed by Portugal and Spain since the 6th century. With the annexation of Portugal by Spain in 1580, its influence in the East was greatly weakened. In order to seize the Portuguese colony and trade with the East, the Netherlands established the Dutch East India Company on 1602. In addition to obtaining the monopoly right of oriental trade from the Dutch government, the company also enjoys the privileges of going to war, making peace, establishing colonies and minting coins. Although the British East India Company organized by Britain was established two years earlier than it, the capital of the former is ten times that of the latter, which makes the latter unable to compete with the former.
The Dutch drove the Portuguese away from east indies, Malacca and Ceylon, and established a base camp in Batavia (now Jakarta). In addition, it occupied the Cape of Good Hope, Mauritius and Taiwan Province provinces, and established strongholds in Indian and other places. Its Indian Ocean route starts from the Cape of Good Hope, passes through Mauritius to India, turns to Malacca, and then extends to the South China Sea, reaching China and Japan. (Zheng Chenggong recovered Taiwan Province Province, which is the best proof. As for Japan, the Dutch only opened a trading port and set up a missionary office in Nagasaki. The other is to fly directly from the Cape of Good Hope to Batavia. Pack food and necessities from the Cape of Good Hope and sail east to Batavia along the north of 40 degrees south latitude. This is a shortcut, and it is superior to India in monopolizing the spice islands trade and taking into account the trade between the Indian Ocean and the west coast of the Pacific Ocean. The Dutch replaced the Portuguese monopoly in trade, and also set up plantations in some parts of east indies to grow coffee and other crops, which later became important trade commodities.
On the west coast of Africa, the Netherlands broke through the Portuguese naval blockade and entered the Gold Coast on 1595. Later, he defeated the Portuguese army with military force and seized the Portuguese slave trading post from Senegal to Angola. In America, the Netherlands occupied New Amsterdam in North America (Manhattan Island in new york was occupied by the British in 1664 and renamed new york), Cura? ao Island in the western Indian Ocean and Guyana and Pernambuco in northeast Brazil (Pernambuco was later recovered by Portugal). Until now, the Netherlands Antilles and Aruba in the Caribbean are still Dutch territory. Brazil's plantations were affected by Portugal's loss of the West African slave trade post. Although the Dutch organization's West India Company was not as effective as the East India Company, it played an important role in the slave trade to America, the development of plantations and the transportation of sucrose to Europe.
This development of economy, trade and merchant ships in the Netherlands was challenged by Britain and France. In order to compete with the Netherlands, Britain and France are developing their own fleets with the support of the state. In addition, discriminatory laws have been passed in shipping to take care of their own fleet. For example, British ships are required to transport goods between Britain and its colonies to reduce the share of Dutch ships in shipping.
Due to this competition and other reasons, the Netherlands waged a series of wars with Britain and France in the second half of the17th century. During the war, Britain and France took advantage of the opportunity that the Dutch fleet had to return home through the English Channel, plundered its property and used the ships as trophies, which caused great losses to the Netherlands. The above reasons led to the decline of Dutch economic status and military strength, and lost its trade and colonial monopoly position that replaced Spain.
The decline of Holland is different from that of Spain. Spain's monopoly position is based on politics, and it lacks economic base at home. Once its political status collapses, it will plummet. The Netherlands has a deep economic foundation. Although it lost its monopoly position in trade and colonialism, it still has considerable economic strength and has not "collapsed". Continue to decline in the future, but pay too much attention to business and ignore industry. Coupled with its small land area and small population, it is gradually lagging behind.
Judging from the setting of DOL, the territory of the Netherlands is really pitiful, which fully reflects the important dependence on allied ports. But at the same time, Amsterdam and Guerder made great efforts in the late period of the near-Hong Kong transaction, which shows that Glory has made a lot of efforts for the balance among countries.