The Dutch Golden Age of the 17th Century was brought about in part by religious toleration and successful trade with the rest of Western Europe.
Simon Schama referred to the Dutch as “An island of plenty in a sea of want” during the 17th Century and for good reason. While peasants in France, England, Spain and the rest of Western Europe lived in squalid conditions with barely enough food to eat, everyone in the Netherlands, from the nobility to the lowliest worker lived in comfortable (for the time) conditions and always had enough food. In fact, the Netherlands had the highest standard of living in Europe, perhaps even the world, during their Golden Age.
The Dutch Golden Age Starts With Trade
Throughout the 16th Century and into the early 17th Century Commercial Revolution, the Netherlands built up a solid trading empire. They wrested control of trading routes in the North Sea and Baltic from the German Hanseatic League and continually fought the English for domination of southern trade routes.
Fishing was the cornerstone of the Dutch economy. From June through December, Dutch fishermen sailed the seas, catching herring that would be salted down and exported all over Europe. All this fishing led to a thriving ship building business. By 1650, it is estimated that the Dutch had over 16,000 merchant ships- half of all the merchant ships in Europe.
The Dutch Commercial Trade Advantage
To build their ships, the Dutch needed vast amounts of lumber. Since the Netherlands was not overflowing with trees, merchants bought entire forests in Norway. Lumber was not the only thing that the Dutch bought in bulk. They bought entire vineyards in France, and entire wheat crops in Poland and other Eastern European countries. Because they bought in bulk, nobody could undersell them. They were the SAMS Club of the 17th Century. Buying a surplus of wheat ensured there was never a shortage of bread. With prices of bread always low, workers could spend money on other foodstuffs like butter, cheese and even meat. This kept people well fed and healthy and working, further increasing the thriving Dutch economy.
Dutch Religious Toleration Pays Off Big Time
The Dutch were extremely tolerant of other religions. In a time when Protestants and Catholics were fighting one another in England, France and Germany, the Dutch were welcoming of both sects. Predominantly Calvinist, the Dutch’s tolerance for religion was apparent by the appointment of Jan Van Oldenbarneveldt, the highest official in Holland, who also happened to be Catholic. Even Jews, who were marginalized in every other European society (or expelled all together) were accepted in the Netherlands. All this religious toleration helped attract foreign investment and capital into port cities like Amsterdam and Rotterdam.
Amsterdam Becomes a Commercial Capital
By the 17th Century the Bank of Amsterdam had become the main clearinghouse for bills of exchange. It was also a thriving center for trade. Along with goods produced in the country, such as Delft china and fine linens from Haarlem, merchants could buy or sell almost anything in Amsterdam, from lumber to wool to muskets. All of this trading success coincided with the Age of Exploration, when the Portuguese and Spanish were exploring the New World of the Americas and establishing trading posts in Africa and the far east. It wasn’t long before the Dutch also began dabbling in foreign trade and colonies of their own, with the formation of the Dutch East India Company in 1602 and the Dutch West India Company in 1621.
Sources
Burns, Ralph, Lerner, Meacham. World Civilizations, Sixth Edition. New York: W.W. Norton & Company, 1982.
Lang, Sean. European History for Dummies. West Sussex: John Wiley & Sons, 2006.
