Overview

In the sixteenth century the United Provinces of the Netherlands rose from the status of a Spanish possession to a great European power. Dutch ships carried goods throughout the world for virtually every European nation, Dutch merchants and bankers made Amsterdam the economic center of Europe, and the Dutch navy was a power to be reckoned with. The Dutch empire was built on industry and trade, and Dutch merchants were remarkably pragmatic in political and economic matters. As a result, Dutch power grew more rapidly than English or French and, when Holland's power had peaked, it did not decline as precipitously as did Spain's. These same traits have helped make the Netherlands one of the world's most prosperous and egalitarian nations, a country that remains an economic powerhouse today.

Seventeenth-century Dutch explorers encounter Chilean natives at Cape Horn. (Corbis Corbis. Reproduced...