Dutch Golden Age: Crash Course European History #15

While the English were falling apart a little, with their civil war and their restoration and their succession problems, the Dutch were getting their act together. They were throwing off the yoke of the Spanish Empire, uniting their provinces, and building out their global trade network. Today, we'll learn about how the Dutch came to their Golden Age, and how it ended.

Sources
-Hunt, Lynn. Making of the West. Peoples and Cultures. Boston: Bedford St. Martins, 2019.
-Parker, Geoffrey. Global Crisis: War, Climate Change and Catastrophe in the Seventeenth Century. New Haven: Yale University Press, 2014.
-Popkin, Richard. The History of Scepticism: From Savonarola to Bayle. New York: Oxford University Press, 2003.
-Rommelse, Gijs. "The role of mercantilism in Anglo-Dutch political relations, 1650–74." Economic History Review 63#3 (2010) pp. 591–611.
-Smith, Bonnie G. Modern Empires Reader. New York: Oxford University Press, 2017.

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[Preygrantess]

Seeing Belgium orange on the map while the Netherlands is purple grinds my gears

[laynetrahan]

This video is brought to you by the VOC

[jamesbuxton]

I like that John's voice has gotten progressively more cheerful as this season has gone on

[Rimpelmans]

Apparently mispronouncing names is not John´s thing anymore. Most names were spot on, maybe that time spend in Amsterdam rubbed off.

[HoofHearted]

Staten Island in New York is named after the Staten Generaal that ruled the country, much like New Zealand is named after the province of Zeeland.
An other thing John didn't mention is how the Netherlands got to keep control over Suriname with the Treaty of Breda. At the time Suriname was a more profitable endeavour than New Amsterdam was. Suriname was a commercial deal whereas New Amsterdam was a political move first.

[timkraan]

Good episode, but I feel like the moeder negotie, the "mother trade", the trade with scandinavia and the baltics shouldn't have been skipped. This trade, while not as exciting as the east indies trade, was crucial too the succes of the dutch.

It allowed the dutch too get cheap things like wheat and wood from the north. This way dutch peasants could focus on things other than food production and specialize.

Northern countries have also been influenced by this trade, for example st petersburg.

[stan]

Just realized John wrote 'The Fault in our Stars' after all these years.

[TainakaRicchan]

If I learned two things from Europa Universalis IV it is that golden ages last 50 years and the duch government is the best kind of government!

[vladimirlenin]

Spices: “Exist”

Netherlands: “It’s free real estate”

[ythehunter]

The biggest difference between Dutch trade in the East and Spanish/Portugese is that we didn't come to "teach them", but just for the money (you can decide which one is better morally). You can see this for instance in that almost nobody in Indonesia speaks Dutch, while almost everybody in The Philippines does speak Spanish. Also fun fact is that the Dutch were the only ones to trade with Japan for a long time, because they trusted us to not sneak in some pesky Christian converters.

[ilyaelric]

- Did the center of the world just opened? Is that a tulip there.
- NO, IT DIDN'T! What have you done to the center of the world?

[skausage]

You're my favorite Hoosier, John. You could be sitting on a beach for the rest of your life but you're here grinding out excellent content for all of us to enjoy. Mad respect.

[augustus]

When you see the Golden Age version of your hometown of Groningen at 5:00 on a educational show made in Indiana, US.
Wow, that's awesome! Thanks, John!

[lazlooegema]

The Dutch maritime network did actually start in the baltic sea region with the trade for timber and grain, which were relatively rare commodities in the Low countries due to its wet and swampy nature. Those trade routes were named “moedernegotie” and paved the way for more daring expeditions to the far east.

[shirknado]

Can you do a crash course African History? I know almost nothing about the entire continent and would really appreciate it.

[Kevin-pswq]

Wait whut... I've been watching videos of yours for years now. I had NO clue you were the author of the fault in our stars. Heck I didn't even knew you were a famed writer! It's so delightful to still see you here making crash course video's with all that succes! Keep it up I guess!

[CamiloSantana]

"[war] is definitely not good for people which I would argue are more important than business?"
And you call yourself an American?!?

[gabesusman]

When your fan base is so passionate they eat those who would oppose you.

[Kholdaimon]

The governor of New Amsterdam had recommended to sell the colony because he said that a war of independence was brewing, that is one of the reasons that the Dutch gave up the colony during the treaty of Breda (he was 100 years ahead of time with his prediction, but still). They also didn't lose the ability to use the port for trade, the owner of the port just changed, so they didn't actually lose that much...

[ronaldderooij]

We still hold the record of the longest war of independence.