Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
is formed, soon followed by the West India
Company (1622). Together, they make
Amsterdam (pop. 100,000) the center of a global
trading empire, spawning Holland's Golden Age
(c. 1600-1650).
1609
Henry Hudson's
Half Moon,
sailing for the
Dutch East India Company, departs Amsterdam
in search of a western passage to the Orient.
Instead, Hudson finds the island of Manhattan,
which soon becomes New Amsterdam (New
York, 1625).
1616
Frans Hals paints the
St. George Civic Guards
(Frans Hals Museum, Haarlem).
1620
Pilgrims from England stop in Holland on their
way to America.
1631
Rembrandt moves to Amsterdam, a wealthy city
of 120,000 people, including René Descartes
(1596-1650), plus many different religious sects
and a thriving Jewish Quarter.
1637
After a decade of insanely lucrative trade in tulip
bulbs (“tulip mania”), the market crashes.
1648
The Treaty of Munster (and the Treaty of
Westphalia) officially ends the Eighty Years'
War with Spain. The United Provinces (today's
Netherlands) are now an independent nation.
1652-1654
Holland battles England over control of the seas.
This is the first of three wars with England (also
in 1665 and 1672) that sap Holland's wealth.
1672-1678
Louis XIV of France invades Holland and gets
15 miles from Amsterdam, but is finally stopped
when the citizens open the Amstel locks and
flood the city. After another draining war with
France (1701-1713), England and France overtake
Holland in overseas trade.
1689
Holland's William of Orange is invited by
England's Parliament to replace the despot they'd
deposed. He, ruling with wife Mary, becomes
King William III of England.
1695
Louis XIV of France bombs and incinerates
Brussels, punishing them for allying against him.
1776
The American Revolution inspires European
democrats and worries nobles.
1787
Holland's budding democratic movement, the
Patriots, is suppressed and exiled when Prussian
troops invade Holland.
1789
The French Revolution begins.
