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{{History of the Netherlands}}

The '''history of the Netherlands''' extends back before the founding of the modern [[Kingdom of the Netherlands]] in 1815 after the defeat of Napoleon. For thousands of years, people have been living together around the river deltas of this section of the [[North Sea]] coast. Records begin with the four centuries during which the region formed a militarized border zone of the [[Romans in the Netherlands|Roman Empire]]. As the [[Western Roman Empire]] [[Fall of the Western Roman Empire|collapsed]] and the [[Middle Ages]] began, three dominant [[Germanic peoples]] coalesced in the area – [[Frisians]] in the north and coastal areas, [[Saxons|Low Saxons]] in the northeast, and the [[Franks]] to the south. By 800, the Frankish [[Carolingian]] dynasty had once again integrated the area into an empire covering a large part of Western Europe. The region was part of the duchy of [[Lower Lorraine|Lower Lotharingia]] within the [[Holy Roman Empire]], but neither the empire nor the duchy were governed in a centralized manner. For several centuries, medieval lordships such as [[Duchy of Brabant|Brabant]], [[County of Holland|Holland]], [[County of Zeeland|Zeeland]], [[Lordship of Frisia|Friesland]], [[Duchy of Guelders|Guelders]] and others held a changing patchwork of territories.
[[File:Joannes van Deutecum - Leo Belgicus 1650 - published by Claes Jansz Visscher Amsterdam.jpg|thumb|Map of Netherlands]]
By 1433, the [[Duke of Burgundy]] had assumed control over most of Lower Lotharingia, creating the [[Burgundian Netherlands]]. This included what is now the Netherlands, Belgium, Luxembourg, and a part of France. When their heirs the Catholic kings of Spain took measures against Protestantism, the subsequent [[Dutch Revolt|Dutch revolt]] led to the splitting in 1581 of the Netherlands into southern and northern parts. The southern "[[Spanish Netherlands]]" corresponds approximately to modern Belgium and Luxembourg, and the northern [[Dutch Republic|"United Provinces" (or "Dutch Republic)]]", which spoke Dutch and was predominantly Protestant, was the predecessor of the modern Netherlands.

In the [[Dutch Golden Age]], which had its zenith around 1667, there was a flowering of trade, industry, and the [[List of people from the Dutch Golden Age#Science|sciences]]. The Dutch Republic practiced [[religious toleration]] and Amsterdam attracted [[History of the Jews in the Netherlands|Portuguese Jews]], many of whom were merchants, that practiced their religion and engaged in economic activity.<ref>Bodian, Miriam. ''Hebrews of the Portuguese Nation: Conversos and Community in Early Modern Amsterdam''. Bloomington: Indiana University Press 1997</ref><ref>Swetchinski, Daniel M. ''Reluctant Cosmopolitans: The Portuguese Jews of Seventeenth-Century Amsterdam''. London: Littman Library of Jewish Civilization 2000</ref> A worldwide [[Dutch empire]] developed in Asia and the Americas. The [[Dutch East India Company]] became one of the earliest and most important of national mercantile companies of the time, based on invasion, colonialism, and extraction of outside resources, but not religious evangelization. During the eighteenth century, the power, wealth and influence of the Netherlands declined. A series of wars with the more powerful [[Anglo-Dutch Wars|British]] and [[Franco-Dutch War|French]] neighbours weakened it. The English seized the North American colony of [[New Amsterdam]], and renamed it "[[Province of New York|New York]]". There was growing unrest and [[Second Stadtholderless Period#Crisis and the Orangist revolution of 1747|conflict]] between the [[Orangism (Netherlands)|Orangists]] and the [[Patriottentijd|Patriots]]. The French Revolution spilled over after 1789, and a pro-French [[Batavian Republic]] was established in 1795–1806. Napoleon made it a satellite state, the [[Kingdom of Holland]] (1806–1810), and later simply a French imperial province.

After the defeat of Napoleon in 1813–1815, an expanded "[[United Kingdom of the Netherlands]]" was created with the [[House of Orange-Nassau|House of Orange]] as monarchs, also ruling Belgium and Luxembourg. After the King imposed unpopular Protestant reforms on Belgium, [[Belgian Revolution|it left the kingdom in 1830]] and new borders were agreed in 1839. After an initially conservative period, following the introduction of the 1848 constitution, the country became a [[parliamentary democracy]] with a [[constitutional monarch]]. Modern-day Luxembourg became officially independent of the Netherlands in 1839, but a personal union remained until 1890. Since 1890, it is ruled by another branch of the same dynasty.

The Netherlands was neutral during the [[First World War]], but during the [[Second World War]], it was invaded and occupied by [[Nazi Germany]]. The Nazis, including many collaborators, rounded up and killed almost all of the country's Jewish population. When the Dutch resistance increased, the Nazis cut off food supplies to much of the country, causing severe starvation in 1944–1945. In 1942, the Dutch East Indies were conquered by Japan, but prior to this the Dutch destroyed the oil wells for which Japan was desperate. [[Indonesia proclaimed its independence]] from the Netherlands in 1945, followed by [[Suriname]] in 1975. The post-war years saw rapid economic recovery (helped by the American [[Marshall Plan]]), followed by the introduction of a [[welfare state]] during an era of peace and prosperity. The Netherlands formed a new economic alliance with Belgium and Luxembourg, the [[Benelux]], and all three became founding members of the [[European Union]] and [[NATO]]. In recent decades, the Dutch economy has been closely linked to that of Germany and is highly prosperous. The four countries adopted the [[euro]] on 1 January 2002, along with eight other EU member states.
{{History of the Low Countries}}
== Prehistory (before 57 BC) ==
{{main|Prehistory of the Netherlands}}
 	
[[File:Mannetje van Willemstad.jpg|thumb|An oak figurine found in Willemstad, the Netherlands, dating from around 4500 BC. On display in the [[Rijksmuseum van Oudheden]] in Leiden. Height: {{Convert|12.5|cm|1|abbr=on}}.]]
During the last ice age, the Netherlands had a [[tundra]] climate with scarce vegetation, and the inhabitants survived as hunter-gatherers. The [[Swifterbant culture]], appearing around 5600 BC<ref name="Kooijmans1998">Louwe Kooijmans, L.P., "[https://openaccess.leidenuniv.nl/bitstream/handle/1887/1108/171_060.pdf?sequence=1 Trijntje van de Betuweroute, Jachtkampen uit de Steentijd te Hardinxveld-Giessendam]", 1998, ''Spiegel Historiael'' 33, pp. 423–428</ref> were [[hunter gatherers]] strongly linked to rivers and open water and related to the southern Scandinavian [[Ertebølle culture]].

[[File:BronzAgeElp.png|thumb|left|Location of the [[Elp culture|Elp]] and [[Hilversum culture]]s in the Bronze Age]]

Agriculture also arrived in areas near the Netherlands somewhere around 5000 BC with the [[Linear Pottery culture]], who were central European farmers with Mediterranean ancestry. Their farms were restricted to southern [[Limburg (Netherlands)|Limburg]] and only temporarily established. However, there is some evidence that the coastal Swifterband people took up pottery and animal husbandry in the rest of the country. Local groups made the switch to animal husbandry sometime between 4800 BC and 4500 BC.<ref name="Kooijmans1998quote">Leendert Louwe Kooijmans, "It is becoming increasingly clear that the agricultural transformation of prehistoric communities was a purely indigenous process that took place very gradually." Louwe Kooijmans, L.P., "[https://openaccess.leidenuniv.nl/bitstream/handle/1887/1108/171_060.pdf?sequence=1 Trijntje van de Betuweroute, Jachtkampen uit de Steentijd te Hardinxveld-Giessendam]", 1998, ''Spiegel Historiael'' 33, pp. 423–428</ref><ref>Volkskrant 24 August 2007, "[http://www.volkskrant.nl/wetenschap/article455140.ece/Prehistorische_akker_gevonden_bij_Swifterbant Prehistoric agricultural field found in Swifterbant, 4300–4000 BC]"</ref><ref name="Raemakers">Raemakers, Daan. "[http://redes.eldoc.ub.rug.nl/FILES/root/2006/d.raemaekers/Raemaekers.pdf De spiegel van Swifterbant]" {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080410084410/http://redes.eldoc.ub.rug.nl/FILES/root/2006/d.raemaekers/Raemaekers.pdf |date=10 April 2008}}, University of Groningen, 2006.</ref> By about 4000 BC the [[Funnelbeaker culture]] brought farming permanently into the region. This culture extended from Denmark through northern Germany into the northern Netherlands. The [[Vlaardingen culture]] continued the hunter-gatherer tradition in coastal areas.

By around 2950 BCE, there was a transition from the Funnelbeaker farming culture to the [[Corded Ware]] culture which extended across much of northern and central Europe. The expansion of this culture is believed to have involved the movement of people from the direction of Ukraine, bringing [[Indo-European languages]] and [[Copper Age]] technology. The earliest bronze tools were in the [[Wageningen horde]], found in the grave of a [[Bronze Age]] metalworker.<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Arnoldussen |first1=S. |last2=Huisman |first2=D.J. |last3=van Os |first3=B. |last4=Steffens |first4=B. |last5=Theunissen |first5=L. |last6=Amkreutz |first6=L. |date=December 2022 |title=A not so isolated fringe: Dutch later prehistoric (c. 2200 BCE-AD 0) bronze alloy networks from compositional analyses on metals and corrosion layers |url=https://linkinghub.elsevier.com/retrieve/pii/S2352409X22003479 |journal=Journal of Archaeological Science: Reports |language=en |volume=46 |pages=103684 |doi=10.1016/j.jasrep.2022.103684|bibcode=2022JArSR..46j3684A |s2cid=253318347 |hdl=1887/3564156 |hdl-access=free }}</ref>  The [[Elp culture]] in the north<ref>According to "Het Archeologisch Basisregister" (ABR), version 1.0 November 1992, [http://www.racm.nl/content/documenten%5Cabr%20website.pdf], ''Elp Kümmerkeramik'' is dated BRONSMA (early MBA) to BRONSL (LBA) and this has been standardized by "De Rijksdienst voor Archeologie, Cultuurlandschap en Monumenten" (RACM) as being at the period starting at 1800 BC and ending at 800 BC.{{Failed verification|date=October 2011}} {{Dead link|date=June 2016|bot=medic}}{{Cbignore|bot=medic}}</ref> and the [[Hilversum culture]] in the south developed during the Bronze Age, with the latter having cultural ties with Britain.<ref>{{Cite web|last=nick_xylas|date=2021-03-01|title=Essential Wessex: Wessex Culture|url=https://theonlywayiswessex.net/2021/03/01/essential-wessex-wessex-culture/|access-date=2021-12-14|website=Wessex Society|language=en-US}}</ref>

[[File:Germanic tribes (750BC-1AD).png|thumb|left|Distribution of the primary Germanic groups {{circa|1 AD}}]]

The [[Iron Age]] brought a measure of prosperity to the people living in the area of the present-day Netherlands with iron ore available throughout the country. [[Blacksmith|Smiths]] travelled from small settlement to settlement with [[bronze]] and iron, fabricating tools on demand, including axes, knives, pins, arrowheads and swords. The [[Vorstengraf (Oss)|Vorstengraf]] large burial mound contained a number of objects, including a curved iron sword. Leading up to the arrival of the Romans, the probably Germanic [[Harpstedt culture]] rose in the north<ref name="Mallory">Mallory, J.P., ''In Search of the Indo-Europeans: Language, Archaeology and Myth'', London: Thames & Hudson, 1989, p. 87.</ref> possibly migrating from Scandinavia due to climatic deterioration which had separated<ref>''The New Encyclopædia Britannica'', 15th edition, 22:641–642</ref><ref name="Verhaal">de Vries, Jan W., Roland Willemyns and Peter Burger, ''Het verhaal van een taal'', Amsterdam: Prometheus, 2003, pp. 12, 21–27</ref> into a northern group that would later become [[Frisii|early Frisians]] and early [[Saxons]]<ref name="Verhaal" /> and a southern group that extended into the Rhine which eventually developed into the Salian Franks,<ref name="Verhaal" /> while further to the south were peoples influenced by the [[Hallstatt culture]] who eventually assimilated into the Celtic [[La Tène culture]] with some mixture between the two.<ref>Butler, J.J., ''Nederland in de bronstijd'', Bussum: Fibula-Van Dishoeck, 1969, p. {{Page needed|date=October 2011}}.</ref> This is consistent with [[Julius Caesar|Caesar]]'s account of the Rhine forming the boundary between Celtic and Germanic tribes. Some scholars<ref>De Laet, Gysseling, [[Rolf Hachmann|Hachmann]], Kossack & Kuhn</ref> have speculated that a separate ethnic identity with its own language that was neither Germanic nor Celtic, formed a [[Nordwestblock]] stretching from the [[Somme (river)|Somme]] to the [[Weser]]<ref>Hachmann, Rolf, Georg Kossack and Hans Kuhn, ''Völker zwischen Germanen und Kelten'', 1986, pp. 183–212</ref><ref name="Lendering">Lendering, Jona, [https://www.livius.org/ga-gh/germania/inferior.htm "Germania Inferior"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200607071937/https://www.livius.org/ga-gh/germania/inferior.htm |date=7 June 2020}}, Livius.org. Retrieved 6 October 2011.</ref> and survived until the Roman period before being absorbed by their Celtic and Germanic neighbours.

== Roman era (57 BC – 410 AD) ==
{{Main|Romans in the Netherlands}}
[[File:Netherlands in the time of the Roman empire.png|thumb|Tribes during the [[Roman Empire]]]]

During his [[Gallic Wars]], [[Julius Caesar]] conquered all of [[Gaul]] for Rome, and this included the Netherlands south of the [[Rhine]]. He also wrote about his experiences in his ''[[Commentarii de Bello Gallico]]'', which is the first surviving written account of the region. Caesar mentioned the [[Menapii]] living in the river delta, and the [[Eburones]] to their southeast towards what is now Limburg. He called the land between the Rhine and [[Waal (river)|Waal]] "the island of the Batavi" (''insula batavorum''). He portrayed the Rhine as a natural boundary between the [[Gauls]] and [[Germanic peoples]] on the other side but he understood that peoples such as the Eburones had a kinship with their neighbours over the river. Later Roman authors such as [[Tacitus]] and [[Pliny the Elder]] describe the region north of the Rhine being inhabited by the [[Frisii]], [[Chamavi]] and [[Tubantes]]. Within the delta lived the [[Cananefates]], [[Batavi (Germanic tribe)|Batavians]], [[Sturii]], [[Marsacii]], and [[Frisiavones]]. The [[Texuandri]], [[Baetasii]] and [[Tungri]] lived south of the delta.

The 450 years of Roman rule profoundly changed the region that would later become the Netherlands. The Rhine was a militarized border, frequently destabilized by violent incursions, and Rome recruited soldiers on both sides of it. The tribes of the region were esteemed soldiers in the empire, often serving in the [[Ala (Roman military)|Roman cavalry]].<ref>Roymans, Nico, ''Ethnic Identity and Imperial Power: The Batavians in the Early Roman Empire'', Amsterdam: Amsterdam University Press, 2005, pp. 226–227</ref> The frontier culture was influenced by Roman, Germanic, and Gaulish elements, and trade flourished after Rome's conquest of Gaul. There were still grievances against Roman rule, including the taking of young Batavians as [[Slavery|slaves]]. This led to the [[Batavian rebellion]] under [[Gaius Julius Civilis]] in 69 AD, which resulted in the burning of several Roman [[Castellum]] and the desertion of sections of the northern Roman army. In April 70 AD, legions led by [[Quintus Petillius Cerialis]] defeated the rebels.

The Batavians were considered the "true" forefathers of the Dutch by 17th and 18th-century writers, inspiring the naming of colonial Jakarta as "[[Batavia, Dutch East Indies|Batavia]]" in 1619 and the [[Batavian Republic]] of 1795. The term "Batavian" is occasionally used to describe the Dutch today, similar to how "Gallic" describes the French.<ref name="Marnix Beyen 1850">Beyen, Marnix, "A Tribal Trinity: the Rise and Fall of the Franks, the Frisians and the Saxons in the Historical Consciousness of the Netherlands since 1850" in ''European History Quarterly'' 2000 30(4):493–532. {{ISSN|0265-6914}} Fulltext: [[EBSCO Information Services|EBSCO]]</ref> A [[Frankish language|Frankish]] identity emerged in the [[Lower Rhine|lower]] and [[Middle Rhine|middle]] Rhine valley during the first half of the 3rd century, forming a confederation of smaller [[Germanic peoples|Germanic]] groups<ref name="Previté-Orton">Previté-Orton, Charles, ''The Shorter Cambridge Medieval History'', vol. I, pp. 51–52, 151</ref> including the descendants of the Batavian rebels.  The Frisii probably [[Disappearance of the Frisii|disappeared]] from the northern Netherlands with the last reference to them in c. 296,<ref>In the ''[[Panegyrici Latini]]'' (Manuscript VIII), {{Citation |last=Grane |first=Thomas |title=The Roman Empire and Southern Scandinavia–a Northern Connection! (PhD thesis) |page=109 |publication-date=2007 |date=2007 |contribution=From Gallienus to Probus – Three decades of turmoil and recovery |place=Copenhagen |publisher=University of Copenhagen}}</ref> likely due to [[laeti|resettlement]] to other areas of Roman control<ref name="Ejstrud">{{Citation |last=Ejstrud |first=Bo |title=The Migration Period, Southern Denmark and the North Sea |url=https://www.scribd.com/doc/14806111/The-Migration-Period-southern-Denmark-and-the-North-Sea |publication-date=2008 |date=2008 |editor-last=Ejstrud |editor-first=Bo |place=Esbjerg |publisher=Maritime Archaeology Programme |isbn=978-87-992214-1-7 |display-authors=etal |editor2-last=Maarleveld |editor2-first=Thijs J.}}</ref> and coastal flooding.<ref name="Ejstrud" /><ref name="Issar 2003">{{Citation |last=Issar |first=Arie S. |title=Climate Changes during the Holocene and their Impact on Hydrological Systems |date=2003 |publication-date=2003 |place=Cambridge |publisher=Cambridge University |isbn=978-0-511-06118-9}}</ref><ref name="Louwe">{{Citation |last=Louwe Kooijmans |first=L. P. |title=The Rhine/Meuse Delta. Four studies on its prehistoric occupation and Holocene geology (PhD Dissertation) |date=1974 |publication-date=1974 |place=Leiden |publisher=Leiden University Press |hdl=1887/2787}}</ref>

==Early Middle Ages (411–1000)==
{{main|Netherlands in the Early Middle Ages}}

===Frisians===
{{Main|Frisian Kingdom|Dorestad}}
[[File:Frisia 716-la.svg|thumb|left|Map showing roughly the distribution of Franks and Frisians c. 716]]
As climatic conditions improved, there was another mass migration of [[Germanic tribes|Germanic]] peoples into the area from the east. This is known as the "[[Migration Period]]" (''Volksverhuizingen''). The northern Netherlands received an influx of new migrants and settlers, mostly [[Saxons]], but also [[Angles (tribe)|Angles]] and [[Jutes]]. Many of these migrants did not stay in the northern Netherlands but moved on to England and are known today as the [[Anglo-Saxons]]. The newcomers who stayed in the northern Netherlands would eventually be referred to as "Frisians", although they were not descended from the ancient [[Frisii]]. These new Frisians settled in the northern Netherlands and would become the ancestors of the modern [[Frisians]].<ref>{{Citation |last=Bazelmans |first=Jos |title=Ethnic Constructs in Antiquity: The Role of Power and Tradition |url=http://s393993344.online.de/ssoar/handle/document/27183 |pages=321–337 |publication-date=2009 |date=2009 |editor-last=Derks |editor-first=Ton |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170830194912/http://s393993344.online.de/ssoar/handle/document/27183 |contribution=The early-medieval use of ethnic names from classical antiquity: The case of the Frisians |contribution-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=fM_cmuhmSbIC&pg=PA321 |place=Amsterdam |publisher=Amsterdam University |isbn=978-90-8964-078-9 |access-date=30 August 2017 |archive-date=30 August 2017 |editor2-last=Roymans |editor2-first=Nico |url-status=dead}}</ref><ref>[http://www.bertsgeschiedenissite.nl/ijzertijd/eeuw1ac/frisii.html Frisii en Frisiaevones, 25–08–02 (Dutch)] {{Webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111003101550/http://www.bertsgeschiedenissite.nl/ijzertijd/eeuw1ac/frisii.html |date=3 October 2011}}, Bertsgeschiedenissite.nl. Retrieved 6 October 2011</ref> (Because the early Frisians and Anglo-Saxons were formed from largely identical tribal confederacies, their respective languages were very similar. [[Old Frisian]] is the most closely related language to [[Old English]]<ref>{{Cite web |last=Kortlandt |first=Frederik |date=1999 |title=The origin of the Old English dialects revisited |url=https://openaccess.leidenuniv.nl/bitstream/1887/1937/1/344_121.pdf |publisher=[[University of Leiden]]}}</ref> and the modern Frisian dialects are in turn the closest related languages to contemporary English.) By the end of the 6th century, the Frisian territory in the northern Netherlands had expanded west to the [[North Sea]] coast and, by the 7th century, south to [[Dorestad]]. During this period most of the northern Netherlands was known as [[Frisia]]. This extended Frisian territory is sometimes referred to as ''[[Frisian Kingdom|Frisia Magna]]'' (or [[Greater Frisia]]).

[[File:Dorestad and trade routes.jpg|thumb|Dorestad and main trade routes]]
In the 7th and 8th centuries, the [[Franks|Frankish]] chronologies mention this area as the [[Frisian Kingdom|kingdom of the Frisians]]. This kingdom comprised the coastal provinces of the Netherlands and the German North Sea coast. During this time, the Frisian language was spoken along the entire southern North Sea coast. The 7th-century [[Frisian Kingdom]] (650–734) under King [[Aldegisel]] and King [[Redbad, King of the Frisians|Redbad]], had its centre of power in [[Utrecht (city)|Utrecht]].

Dorestad was the largest settlement ([[Emporia (early medieval)|emporia]]) in northwestern Europe. It had grown around a former Roman fortress. It was a large, flourishing trading place, three kilometers long and situated where the rivers [[Rhine]] and [[Lek river|Lek]] diverge southeast of [[Utrecht (city)|Utrecht]] near the modern town of [[Wijk bij Duurstede]].<ref>Willemsen, A. (2009), ''Dorestad. Een wereldstad in de middeleeuwen,'' Walburg Pers, Zutphen, pp. 23–27, {{ISBN|978-90-5730-627-3}}</ref><ref name="Atlas">{{Cite book |last1=MacKay |first1=Angus |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=q50IyzCMQxgC&q=dorestad&pg=PA57 |title=Atlas of Medieval Europe |last2=David Ditchburn |publisher=[[Routledge]] |date=1997 |isbn=978-0-415-01923-1 |page=57}}</ref> Although inland, it was a North Sea trading centre that primarily handled goods from the Middle [[Rhineland]].<ref name="Atlas" /><ref name="MC&OE">{{Cite book |last1=Hodges |first1=Richard |url=https://archive.org/details/mohammedcharlema00hodg_0 |title=Mohammed, Charlemagne and the Origins of Europe |last2=David Whitehouse |publisher=Cornell University Press |date=1983 |isbn=978-0-8014-9262-4 |page=[https://archive.org/details/mohammedcharlema00hodg_0/page/99 99] |quote=dorestad. |url-access=registration}}</ref> Wine was among the major products traded at Dorestad, likely from vineyards south of [[Mainz]].<ref name="MC&OE" /> It was also widely known because of its [[Mint (coin)|mint]]. Between 600 and around 719 Dorestad was often fought over between the Frisians and the Franks.

===Franks===
{{Main|Franks|Salian Franks}}
[[File:Franks expansion.gif|thumb|left|Expansion of the [[Franks]] from 481 to 870]]

After [[Roman Empire|Roman]] government in the area collapsed, the [[Franks]] expanded their territories until there were numerous small Frankish kingdoms, especially at [[Cologne]], [[Tournai]], [[Le Mans]] and [[Cambrai]].<ref name="Previté-Orton" /><ref name="Milis, L.J.R. pp. 6-18">Milis, L.J.R., "A Long Beginning: The Low Countries Through the Tenth Century" in J.C.H. Blom & E. Lamberts ''History of the Low Countries'', pp. 6–18, Berghahn Books, 1999. {{ISBN|978-1-84545-272-8}}.</ref> The kings of Tournai eventually came to subdue the other Frankish kings. By the 490s, [[Clovis I]] had conquered and united all the Frankish territories to the west of the [[Meuse]], including those in the southern Netherlands. He continued his conquests into [[Gaul]].

After the death of [[Clovis I]] in 511, his four sons partitioned his kingdom amongst themselves, with [[Theuderic I of Austrasia|Theuderic I]] receiving the lands that were to become Austrasia (including the southern Netherlands). A line of kings descended from Theuderic ruled [[Austrasia]] until 555, when it was united with the other Frankish kingdoms of [[Chlothar I]], who inherited all the Frankish realms by 558. He redivided the Frankish territory amongst his four sons, but the four kingdoms coalesced into three on the death of [[Charibert I]] in 567. Austrasia (including the southern Netherlands) was given to [[Sigebert I]]. The southern Netherlands remained the northern part of [[Austrasia]] until the rise of the [[Carolingians]].

The Franks who expanded south into [[Gaul]] settled there and eventually adopted the [[Vulgar Latin]] of the local population.<ref name="Verhaal" /> However, a Germanic language was spoken as a second tongue by public officials in western [[Austrasia]] and [[Neustria]] as late as the 850s. It completely disappeared as a spoken language from these regions during the 10th century.<ref>[[Urban T. Holmes Jr.|Holmes, U.T]] and A. H. Schutz (1938), ''[https://books.google.com/books?id=jbjX4ebc2lsC&q=history+of+french+language A History of the French Language]'', p. 29, Biblo & Tannen Publishers, {{ISBN|0-8196-0191-8}}</ref> During this expansion to the south, many Frankish people remained in the north (i.e. southern Netherlands, Flanders and a small part of northern France). A widening cultural divide grew between the Franks remaining in the north and the rulers far to the south in what is now France.<ref name="Milis, L.J.R. pp. 6-18" /> Salian Franks continued to reside in their original homeland and the area directly to the south and to speak their original language, [[Old Frankish]], which by the 9th century had evolved into [[Old Dutch]].<ref name="Verhaal" /> A Dutch-French language boundary came into existence (but this was originally south of where it is today).<ref name="Verhaal" /><ref name="Milis, L.J.R. pp. 6-18" /> In the Maas and Rhine areas of the Netherlands, the Franks had political and trading centres, especially at [[Nijmegen]] and [[Maastricht]].<ref name="Milis, L.J.R. pp. 6-18" /> These Franks remained in contact with the Frisians to the north, especially in places like [[Dorestad]] and [[Utrecht]].

===Doubts over archaeological divisions===
[[File:Willibrord e.jpg|thumb|[[Saint Willibrord]], [[Anglo-Saxon]] missionary from [[Northumberland]], Apostle to the Frisians, first bishop of Utrecht]]

In the 19th century, Dutch historians believed that the Franks, Frisians, and Saxons had populated and inhabited the Low Countries, but this theory fell out of favour in the 20th century.<ref name="Marnix Beyen 1850" /> Due to the scarcity of written sources, knowledge of this period depends to a large degree on the interpretation of archaeological data. The traditional view of a clear-cut division between Frisians in the north and coast, [[Franks]] in the south and [[Saxons]] in the east has proven historically problematic.<ref>Blok, D.P. (1974), ''De Franken in Nederland'', Bussum: Unieboek, 1974, pp. 36–38 on the uncertain identity of the Frisians in early Frankish sources; pp. 54–55 on the problems concerning "Saxon" as a tribal name.</ref><ref>van Eijnatten, J. and F. van Lieburg, ''Nederlandse religiegeschiedenis'' (Hilversum, 2006), pp. 42–43, on the uncertain identity of the "Frisians" in early Frankish sources.</ref><ref>de Nijs, T, E. Beukers and J. Bazelmans, ''Geschiedenis van Holland'' (Hilversum, 2003), pp. 31–33 on the fluctuating character of tribal and ethnic distinctions for the early Medieval period.</ref> Archeological evidence suggests dramatically different models for different regions, with demographic continuity for some parts of the country and depopulation and possible replacement in other parts, notably the coastal areas of Frisia and Holland.<ref>Blok (1974), pp. 117 ff.; de Nijs et al. (2003), pp. 30–33</ref>

===Emergence of the Dutch language===
The language from which [[Old Dutch]] arose is unknown with certainty, but it is thought to be the language spoken by the [[Salian Franks]]. Even though the Franks are traditionally categorized as [[Weser–Rhine Germanic]], Dutch has a number of [[Ingvaeonic]] characteristics and is classified by modern linguists as an Ingvaeonic language.{{Citation needed|date=November 2022}} Dutch also has a number of [[Old Saxon]] characteristics. There was a close relationship between Old Dutch, Old Saxon, [[Old English]] and [[Old Frisian]]. Because texts written in the language spoken by the Franks are almost non-existent, and Old Dutch texts scarce and fragmentary, not much is known about the development of Old Dutch. Old Dutch made the transition to [[Middle Dutch]] around 1150.<ref name="Verhaal" />

===Christianization===
The Christianity that arrived in the Netherlands with the Romans appears not to have died out completely (in [[Maastricht]], at least) after the withdrawal of the Romans in about 411.<ref name="Milis, L.J.R. pp. 6-18" />

The [[Franks]] became Christians after their king [[Clovis I]] converted to Catholicism, an event which is traditionally set in 496. Christianity was introduced in the north after the conquest of [[Friesland]] by the Franks. The [[Saxons]] in the east were converted before the conquest of [[Saxony]], and became Frankish allies.

[[Hiberno-Scottish mission|Hiberno-Scottish]] and [[Anglo-Saxon mission|Anglo-Saxon]] missionaries, particularly [[Willibrord]], [[Wulfram of Sens|Wulfram]] and [[Boniface]], played an important role in converting the Frankish and Frisian peoples to Christianity by the 8th century. Boniface was martyred by the Frisians in [[Dokkum]] (754).

===Frankish dominance and incorporation into the Holy Roman Empire===
{{Main|Frisian-Frankish Wars}} 	
[[File:Radboud doopvont.jpg|thumb|left|An early 16th-century tapestry depicting the near baptism of [[Redbad, King of the Frisians]], who died in 719]]
In the early 8th century the Frisians came increasingly into conflict with the [[Franks]] to the south, resulting in a [[Frisian–Frankish wars|series of wars]] in which the [[Frankish Empire]] eventually subjugated Frisia. In 734, at the [[Battle of the Boarn]], the Frisians in the Netherlands were defeated by the Franks, who thereby conquered the area west of the [[Lauwers]]. The Franks then conquered the area east of the Lauwers in 785 when [[Charlemagne]] defeated [[Widukind]].

The linguistic descendants of the Franks, the modern [[Dutch people|Dutch]] [[Dutch language|-speakers]] of the [[Netherlands]] and [[Flanders]], seem to have broken with the [[Exonym and endonym|endonym]] "Frank" around the 9th century. By this time Frankish identity had changed from an ethnic identity to a national identity, becoming localized and confined to the modern ''[[Franconia]]'' and principally to the French province of ''[[Île-de-France]]''.<ref>van der Wal, M., ''Geschiedenis van het Nederlands'', 1992 {{Full citation needed|date=November 2012}}, p. {{Page needed|date=October 2011}}</ref>

Although the people no longer referred to themselves as "Franks", the Netherlands was still part of the Frankish empire of Charlemagne. Indeed, because of the Austrasian origins of the Carolingians in the area between the Rhine and the Maas, the cities of Aachen, Maastricht, Liège and Nijmegen were at the heart of Carolingian culture.<ref name="Milis, L.J.R. pp. 6-18" /> Charlemagne maintained his ''palatium''<ref>{{Cite encyclopedia |title=Charlemagne: Court and administration |encyclopedia=[[Encyclopædia Britannica]] |date=15 May 2023 |url=https://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/106546/Charlemagne/256621/Court-and-administration}} ("Charlemagne relied on his palatium, a shifting assemblage of family members, trusted lay and ecclesiastical companions, and assorted hangers-on, which constituted an itinerant court following the king as he carried out his military campaigns and sought to take advantage of the income from widely scattered royal estates.")</ref> in [[Nijmegen]] at least four times.

The [[Carolingian empire]] would eventually include France, Germany, northern Italy and much of Western Europe. In 843, the Frankish empire was divided into three parts, giving rise to [[West Francia]] in the west, [[East Francia]] in the east, and [[Middle Francia]] in the centre. Most of what is today the Netherlands became part of Middle Francia; Flanders became part of West Francia. This division was an important factor in the historical distinction between Flanders and the other Dutch-speaking areas.

Middle Francia ({{Langx|la|Francia media}}) was an ephemeral [[Francia|Frankish]] kingdom that had no historical or ethnic identity to bind its varied peoples. It was created by the [[Treaty of Verdun]] in 843, which divided the Carolingian Empire among the sons of [[Louis the Pious]]. Situated between the realms of East and West Francia, Middle Francia comprised the Frankish territory between the rivers Rhine and [[Scheldt]], the [[Frisia]]n coast of the [[North Sea]], the former [[Kingdom of Burgundy]] (except for a western portion, later known as [[Duchy of Burgundy|''Bourgogne'']]), [[Provence]] and the [[Kingdom of Italy (medieval)|Kingdom of Italy]].

Middle Francia fell to [[Lothair I]], the eldest son and successor of [[Louis the Pious]], after an intermittent civil war with his younger brothers [[Louis the German]] and [[Charles the Bald]]. In acknowledgement of Lothair's [[Holy Roman Emperor|Imperial]] title, Middle Francia contained the imperial cities of [[Aachen]], the residence of Charlemagne, as well as Rome. In 855, on his deathbed at [[Prüm Abbey]], Emperor Lothair I again partitioned his realm amongst his sons. Most of the lands north of the [[Alps]], including the Netherlands, passed to [[Lothair II of Lotharingia|Lothair II]] and consecutively were named [[Lotharingia]]. After Lothair II died in 869, Lotharingia was partitioned by his uncles Louis the German and Charles the Bald in the [[Treaty of Meerssen]] in 870. Although some of the Netherlands had come under Viking control, in 870 it technically became part of East Francia, which became the [[Holy Roman Empire]] in 962.

===Viking raids===
[[File:Rorik by H. W. Koekkoek.jpg|thumb|[[Rorik of Dorestad]], [[Viking]] conqueror and ruler of [[Friesland]]; a romantic 1912 depiction by [[Johannes Hermanus Koekkoek|Johannes H. Koekkoek]]]]
In the 9th and 10th centuries, the Vikings raided the largely defenceless Frisian and [[Franks|Frankish]] towns lying on the coast and along the rivers of the [[Low Countries]]. Although Vikings never settled in large numbers in those areas, they did set up long-term bases and were even acknowledged as lords in a few cases. In Dutch and Frisian historical tradition, the trading centre of [[Dorestad]] declined after Viking raids from 834 to 863; however, since no convincing Viking archaeological evidence has been found at the site (as of 2007), doubts about this have grown in recent years.<ref>More info about Viking raids can be found online at L. van der Tuuk, [http://home.tiscali.nl/gjallar/index.html Gjallar. Noormannen in de Lage Landen]</ref>

One of the most important Viking families in the Low Countries was that of [[Rorik of Dorestad]] (based in [[Wieringen]]) and his brother the "younger Harald" (based in [[Walcheren]]), both thought to be nephews of [[Harald Klak]].<ref>Baldwin, Stephen, [http://archiver.rootsweb.ancestry.com/th/read/GEN-MEDIEVAL/2002-09/1031544685 "Danish Haralds in 9th Century Frisia"]. Retrieved 9 October 2011.</ref> Around 850, [[Lothair I]] acknowledged Rorik as ruler of most of Friesland. And again in 870, Rorik was received by [[Charles the Bald]] in [[Nijmegen]], to whom he became a vassal. Viking raids continued during that period. Harald's son Rodulf and his men were killed by the people of [[Oostergo]] in 873. Rorik died sometime before 882.

Buried Viking treasures consisting mainly of silver have been found in the Low Countries. Two such treasures have been found in Wieringen. A large treasure found in Wieringen in 1996 dates from around 850 and is thought perhaps to have been connected to Rorik. The burial of such a valuable treasure is seen as an indication that there was a permanent settlement in Wieringen.<ref>"[http://www.museumkennis.nl/lp.rmo/museumkennis/i000412.html Vikingschat van Wieringen"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110718064223/http://www.museumkennis.nl/lp.rmo/museumkennis/i000412.html |date=18 July 2011}}, Museumkennis.nl. Retrieved 9 October 2011.</ref>

Around 879, Godfrid arrived in Frisian lands as the head of a large force that terrorised the Low Countries. Using [[Ghent]] as his base, they ravaged Ghent, [[Maastricht]], [[Liège]], [[Stavelot]], [[Prüm]], [[Cologne]], and [[Koblenz]]. Controlling most of Frisia between 882 and his death in 885, Godfrid became known to history as [[Godfrid, Duke of Frisia]]. His lordship over Frisia was acknowledged by [[Charles the Fat]], to whom he became a vassal. Godfried was assassinated in 885, after which [[Gerolf of Holland]] assumed lordship and Viking rule of Frisia came to an end.

Viking raids of the Low Countries continued for over a century. Remains of Viking attacks dating from 880 to 890 have been found in [[Zutphen]] and [[Deventer]]. In 920, King [[Henry I of Germany|Henry]] of Germany liberated [[Utrecht (city)|Utrecht]]. According to a number of chronicles, the last attacks took place in the first decade of the 11th century and were directed at [[Tiel]] and/or [[Utrecht (city)|Utrecht]].<ref>Jesch, Judith, ''[https://books.google.com/books?id=RkNY2KrdvscC&pg=PA82 Ships and Men in the Late Viking Age: The Vocabulary of Runic Inscriptions and Skaldic Verse]'', Boydell & Brewer, 2001. {{ISBN|978-0-85115-826-6}}. p. 82.</ref>

These Viking raids occurred about the same time that French and German lords were fighting for supremacy over the middle empire that included the Netherlands, so their sway over this area was weak. Resistance to the Vikings, if any, came from local nobles, who gained in stature as a result.

==High and Late Middle Ages (1000–1433)==
{{unreferenced section |find=Holy Roman Empire |find2=Netherlands |date=February 2022}}

===Part of the Holy Roman Empire===
The German kings and emperors ruled the Netherlands in the 10th and 11th century, with the assistance of the [[Dukes of Lotharingia]], and the bishops of Utrecht and Liège. Germany was called the Holy Roman Empire after the coronation of [[Otto I, Holy Roman Emperor|King Otto the Great]] as emperor. The Dutch city of [[Nijmegen]] used to be the spot of an important domain of the German emperors. Several German emperors were born and died there, including for example [[Byzantine]] empress [[Theophanu]], who died in Nijmegen. Utrecht was also an important city and trading port at the time.

===Political disunity===
[[File:Valkhofkapel.JPG|thumb|Chapel of St Nicholas ({{Interlanguage link|Sint-Nicolaaskapel (Nijmegen)|nl}} or Valkhofkapel) in [[Nijmegen]], one of the oldest buildings in the Netherlands]]

The Holy Roman Empire was not able to maintain political unity. In addition to the growing independence of the towns, local rulers turned their counties and duchies into private kingdoms and felt little sense of obligation to the emperor who reigned over large parts of the nation in name only. Large parts of what now comprise the Netherlands were governed by the Count of Holland, the Duke of [[Gelre]], the Duke of Brabant and the Bishop of Utrecht. [[Friesland]] and [[Groningen (province)|Groningen]] in the north maintained their independence and were governed by the lower nobility.

The various feudal states were in a state of almost continual war. [[Gelre]] and Holland fought for control of [[Utrecht (province)|Utrecht]]. Utrecht, whose bishop had in 1000 ruled over half of what is today the Netherlands, was marginalised as it experienced continuing difficulty in electing new bishops. At the same time, the dynasties of neighbouring states were more stable. Groningen, [[Drenthe]] and most of Gelre, which used to be part of Utrecht, became independent. Brabant tried to conquer its neighbours, but was not successful. Holland also tried to assert itself in Zeeland and Friesland, but its attempts failed.

===The Frisians===
The language and culture of most of the people who lived in the area that is now Holland were originally [[Frisia]]n. The sparsely populated area was known as "West Friesland" (''Westfriesland''). A common theory states that Frankish migration from either Flanders, Utrecht or both displaced the Frisians in Holland, however no evidence has been found in support of this theory and more recent studies have suggested that Frisians from the mouth of the Rhine adopted the Franconian language, feudal system and religion,<ref>{{Cite book |last=Dijkstra |first=M.F.P. |title=Rondom de mondingen van Rijn & Maas: landschap en bewoning tussen de 3e en 9e eeuw in Zuid-Holland, in het bijzonder de Oude Rijnstreek |publisher=Sidestone Press |year=2011}}</ref><ref name=":0">{{Cite book |last=Vaan |first=Michiel de |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=eEVADwAAQBAJ&pg=PA42 |title=The Dawn of Dutch: Language contact in the Western Low Countries before 1200 |date=15 December 2017 |publisher=John Benjamins Publishing Company |isbn=9789027264503 |pages=42–44 |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last=Levelt |first=Sjoerd |title=Jan van Naaldwijk's Chronicles of Holland |publisher=Verloren |year=2011 |pages=37}}</ref> spreading this new 'Hollandic' identity northward over the centuries (the part of North Holland situated north of [[Alkmaar]] is still colloquially known as West Friesland).

The rest of [[Friesland]] in the north continued to maintain its independence during this time. It had its own institutions (collectively called the "[[Frisian freedom]]") and resented the imposition of the feudal system and the patriciate found in other European towns. They regarded themselves as allies of Switzerland. The Frisian battle cry was "better dead than a slave". They later lost their independence when they were defeated in 1498 by the German [[Landsknecht]] mercenaries of [[Albert III, Duke of Saxony|Duke Albrecht of Saxony-Meissen]].

===The rise of Holland===
[[File:Rochussen Egmond.jpg|thumb|left|[[Dirk VI, Count of Holland]], 1114–1157, and his mother Petronella visiting the work on the [[Egmond Abbey]], Charles Rochussen, 1881. The sculpture is the [[commons:File:Egmond tympanum.jpg|Egmond Tympanum]], depicting the two visitors on either side of Saint Peter.]]
[[File:The Saint Elizabeth’s Day Flood by Master of the St Elizabeth Panels c1490-1495.jpg|thumb|Two wings of an altar piece, {{circa|1500}}, depicting the [[St. Elizabeth's flood (1421)|St Elizabeth Flood]] of 18–19 November 1421, with Dordrecht at the front left]]

The center of power in these emerging independent territories was in the [[County of Holland]]. Originally granted as a fief to the Danish chieftain [[Rorik of Dorestad|Rorik]] in return for loyalty to the emperor in 862, the region of [[Kennemerland|Kennemara]] (the region around modern [[Haarlem]]) rapidly grew under Rorik's descendants in size and importance. By the early 11th century, [[Dirk III, Count of Holland]] was levying tolls on the Meuse estuary and was able to resist military intervention from his overlord, the Duke of Lower Lorraine.

In 1083, the name "Holland" first appears in a deed referring to a region corresponding more or less to the current province of South Holland and the southern half of what is now North Holland. Holland's influence continued to grow over the next two centuries. The [[counts of Holland]] conquered most of [[Zeeland]] but it was not until 1289 that Count [[Floris V]] was able to subjugate the Frisians in West Friesland (that is, the northern half of North Holland).

===Expansion and growth===
{{Main|History of urban centers in the Dutch Low Countries}}
Around 1000 C.E. there were several agricultural developments (described sometimes as an agricultural revolution) that resulted in an increase in production, especially food production. The economy started to develop at a fast pace, and the higher productivity allowed workers to farm more land or to become tradesmen.{{Citation needed|date=November 2014}}

Draining of low-lying swampy areas and flood control was expanded significantly after 1200 CE. Before that, towns were built north of the major rivers, Utrecht, Kampen, Deventer, Zwolle, Nijmegen, and Zutphen, but with the expansion of dikes and drainage, cultivable land was created and population expanded. In this period, Holland expanded relative to the other regions. From the thirteenth century onwards, the necessity of controlling water in this northern was a given, transforming the physical environment, but also requiring institutions and cooperation between areas for water management. Drainage boards (''heemraadschappen'') were established and the "dike count", took on responsibilities not only for water management issues, but also fiscal, policing, and judicial functions. By the end of the thirteenth century, Holland emerged in the dominant position of the northern region.<ref>Israel, Jonathan. ''The Dutch Republic'', pp. 9-11</ref>

The southern Low Countries remained highly populous and developed and was among the most highly urbanized areas in Europe. Because of the east–west flow of the Low Countries' large rivers, they were a military and political barrier between north and south. The southern Low Countries could not exert influence over the north.  This division meant that the counts of Holland became politically important in the north. Holland extended its political power over Zeeland.<ref>Israel, ''The Dutch Republic'', p. 12-14</ref>
 	
[[Guilds]] were established and markets developed as production exceeded local needs. Also, the introduction of currency made trading a much easier affair than it had been before. Existing towns grew and new towns sprang into existence around [[monasteries]] and [[castles]], and a mercantile middle class began to develop in these urban areas. Commerce and town development increased as the population grew.

The [[Crusade]]s were popular in the Low Countries and drew many to fight in the [[Holy Land]]. At home, there was relative peace. Viking pillaging had stopped. Both the Crusades and the relative peace at home contributed to trade and the growth in commerce.

Cities arose and flourished, especially in [[Flanders]] and [[Duchy of Brabant|Brabant]]. As the cities grew in wealth and power, they started to buy certain privileges for themselves from the [[monarch|sovereign]], including [[City rights in the Low Countries|city rights]], the right to self-government and the right to pass laws. In practice, this meant that the wealthiest cities became quasi-independent republics in their own right. Two of the most important cities were [[Bruges]] and [[Antwerp]] (in [[Flanders]]) which would later develop into some of the most important cities and ports in Europe.

===Hook and Cod Wars===
{{Main|Hook and Cod wars}}[[File:Jacoba van Beieren (1401-1436), gravin van Holland en Zeeland.jpg|thumb|[[Jacqueline, Countess of Hainaut]], 1401–1436, known to the Dutch as "Jacoba of Bavaria"]]
The [[Hook and Cod Wars]] ({{Langx|nl|Hoekse en Kabeljauwse twisten}}) were a series of wars and battles in the [[County of Holland]] between 1350 and 1490. Most of these wars were fought over the title of [[count of Holland]], but some have argued that the underlying reason was because of the power struggle of the traders in the cities against the ruling nobility.

The Cod faction generally consisted of the more progressive cities of [[Holland]]. The Hook faction consisted for a large part of the conservative noblemen. Some of the main figures in this multi-generational conflict were [[William IV, Count of Holland|William IV]], [[Margaret II, Countess of Hainaut|Margaret]], [[William V, Count of Hainaut|William V]], [[William VI, Count of Holland]] and Hainaut, [[John, Duke of Bavaria-Straubing|John]] and [[Philip III, Duke of Burgundy|Philip the Good]], [[Duke of Burgundy]]. But perhaps the most well known is [[Jacqueline, Countess of Hainaut]].

The conquest of the county of Holland by the Duke [[Philip the Good]] of Burgundy was an odd affair. Leading noblemen in Holland invited the duke to conquer Holland, even though he had no historical claim to it. Some historians{{Who|date=February 2010}} say that the ruling class in Holland wanted Holland to integrate with the [[Flanders|Flemish]] economic system and adopt Flemish legal institutions. Europe had been wracked by many civil wars in the 14th and 15th centuries, while Flanders had grown rich and enjoyed peace.

== Burgundian and Habsburg period (1433–1567) ==
{{More citations needed|date=January 2024}}
[[File:Political map of the Low Countries (1350)-NL.svg|thumb|The Low Countries in the late 14th century CE]]

===Burgundian period===
{{Main|Burgundian Netherlands}}

Most of what is now the Netherlands and Belgium was eventually united by the [[Duke of Burgundy]], [[Philip the Good|Phillip the Good]] (1396–1467).<ref>{{CathEncy|wstitle= Burgundy |volume= 3 |last= Kurth |first= Godefroid |author-link= Godefroid Kurth|quote= see para entitled: Effects of Philip's Rule:- The chief work of Philip the Good was to reunite under his authority most of the Netherland provinces |short=1 }}</ref> Before the Burgundian union, the Dutch identified themselves by the town they lived in, their local duchy or county or as subjects of the [[Holy Roman Empire]]. These collections of fiefs were ruled under the personal union of the [[House of Valois-Burgundy]].

Trade in the region developed rapidly, especially in the areas of shipping and transport. The new rulers defended Dutch trading interests. Amsterdam grew and in the 15th century became the primary trading port in Europe for grain from the Baltic region. Amsterdam distributed grain to the major cities of Belgium, Northern France and England. This trade was vital to the people of the region as they could no longer produce enough grain to feed themselves. Land drainage had caused the peat of the former [[wetland]]s to reduce to a level that was too low for drainage to be maintained.

===Habsburg rule from Spain===
[[File:Map of Seventeen Provinces of Low Germanie (Zeventien Provincien der Nederlanden) 1626.jpg|thumb|Map of the [[Seventeen Provinces]] (Low Germania)]]
[[File:Portrait of Pope Adrian VI (by Jan van Scorel).jpg|thumb|Influential [[Utrecht (city)|Utrecht]] theologian Adriaan Florenszoon Boeyens, 1459–1523, was an advisor to Charles; in the last year of his life he became pope as [[Pope Adrian VI|Adrian VI]] (1522–1523).]]
[[Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor|Charles V]] (1500–1558) was born and raised in the [[County of Flanders|Flemish]] city of [[Ghent]]; he spoke French. Charles extended the Burgundian territory with the annexation of [[Tournai]], Artois, [[Utrecht (province)|Utrecht]], [[Groningen (province)|Groningen]] and [[Guelders]] to create the [[Seventeen Provinces]]. The towns of the region had already been unified by Charles's Burgundian ancestors, but were nominally fiefs of either France or the Holy Roman Empire. When he was a minor, his aunt [[Margaret of Austria, Duchess of Savoy|Margaret]] acted as regent until 1515. France relinquished its ancient claim on [[Flanders]] in 1528.<ref>{{Cite book |last=James D. Tracy |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=tXKMvr09dB4C&pg=PA258 |title=Emperor Charles V, Impresario of War: Campaign Strategy, International Finance, and Domestic Politics |publisher=Cambridge U.P. |date=2002 |isbn=9780521814317 |page=258}}</ref>
	
[[File:Hans Holbein d. J. - Erasmus - Louvre.jpg|left|thumb|[[Desiderius Erasmus]], 1466–1536, [[Rotterdam]] Renaissance humanist, Catholic priest and theologian, by [[Hans Holbein the Younger]], 1523]]
From 1515 to 1523, Charles's government in the Netherlands had to contend with the rebellion of [[Arumer Zwarte Hoop|Frisian peasants]] (led by [[Pier Gerlofs Donia]] and [[Wijard Jelckama]]). [[Gelre]] attempted to build up its own state in northeast Netherlands and northwest Germany. Lacking funds in the 16th century, Gelre had soldiers provide for themselves by pillaging enemy lands. These soldiers were a great menace to the [[Habsburg Netherlands]], as when they pillaged [[The Hague]].

The dukes of Burgundy over the years through astute marriages, purchases and wars, had taken control of the Seventeen Provinces that made up the Low Countries. They are now the Netherlands in the north, the [[Southern Netherlands]] (now Belgium) in the south, and Luxemburg in the southeast. Known as the "Burgundian Circle", these lands came under the control of the Habsburg family.

Charles became the ruler in 1506, but in 1515 he left the territory to become king of Spain and later Holy Roman Emperor. Charles turned over control to regents (his close relatives), and in practice the rule over the Low Countries were exercised by the Spaniards under his authority. The provinces each had their own governments and courts, controlled by the local nobility, and their own traditions and rights ("liberties") dating back centuries. Likewise the numerous cities had their own legal rights and local governments, usually controlled by the merchants. On top of this the Spanish had imposed a somewhat centralized government, the Estates General of the Netherlands, with its own officials and courts.<ref>H.G. Koenigsberger, "The Beginnings of the States General of the Netherlands", ''Parliaments, Estates and Representation'' (1988) 8#2 pp. 101–114.</ref> The Spanish officials sent by Charles ignored traditions and the Dutch nobility as well as local officials, inciting an anti-Spanish sense of nationalism which led to the [[Dutch Revolt]]. With the emergence of the Protestant Reformation, Charles—now the Emperor—was determined to crush Protestantism. Unrest began in the south, centered in the large rich metropolis of Antwerp. The Netherlands was an especially rich unit of the Spanish realm, especially after the [[Treaty of Cateau-Cambrésis]] of 1559; it ended four decades of warfare between France and Spain and allowed Spain to reposition its army.<ref name="Albert Guerard 1959 pp. 134">Albert Guerard, ''France, A Modern History'', (1959), pp. 134–136.</ref>

In 1548, Charles granted the Netherlands status as an entity in which many of the laws of the Holy Roman Empire became obsolete. The "Transaction of Augsburg"<ref>{{Cite book |last=Martin van Gelderen |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=hXK2fxzn2lAC&pg=PA18 |title=The Political Thought of the Dutch Revolt 1555–1590 |publisher=Cambridge U.P. |date=2002 |isbn=9780521891639 |page=18}}</ref> created the Burgundian Circle of the Holy Roman Empire, which comprised the Netherlands and Franche-Comté. A year later the [[Pragmatic Sanction of 1549]] stated that the Seventeen Provinces could only be passed on to his heirs as a composite entity.<ref name="Kamen">{{Cite book |last=Kamen |first=Henry |url=https://archive.org/details/spain14691714soc00kame |title=Spain, 1469–1714: a society of conflict |publisher=Pearson Education |date=2005 |isbn=978-0-582-78464-2 |edition=3rd |location=Harlow, United Kingdom}}</ref>

===The Reformation===
[[File:Statenvertaling title page.jpg|thumb|right|Title page of the 1637 [[Statenvertaling]], the first Bible translated from the original Hebrew and Greek into Dutch, commissioned by the Calvinist [[Synod of Dort]], used well into the 20th century]]
During the 16th century, the [[Protestant Reformation]] rapidly gained ground in northern Europe, especially in its [[Lutheran]] and [[Calvinist]] forms.<ref>R. Po-chia Hsia, ed. ''A Companion to the Reformation World'' (2006) pp. 118–134</ref> Dutch [[Protestants]], after initial repression, were tolerated by local authorities. By the 1560s, the Protestant community had become a significant influence in the Netherlands, although it clearly formed a minority then.{{Sfnp|Israel|1995|page=104}} In a society dependent on trade, freedom and tolerance were considered essential. Nevertheless, the Catholic rulers Charles V, and later [[Philip II of Spain|Philip II]], made it their mission to defeat Protestantism, which was considered a heresy by the Catholic Church and a threat to the stability of the whole hierarchical political system. On the other hand, the intensely moralistic Dutch Protestants insisted their Biblical theology, sincere piety and humble lifestyle was morally superior to the luxurious habits and superficial religiosity of the ecclesiastical nobility.<ref>Hsia, ed. ''A Companion to the Reformation World'' (2006) pp. 3–36</ref> The rulers' harsh punitive measures led to increasing grievances in the Netherlands, where the local governments had embarked on a course of peaceful coexistence. In the second half of the century, the situation escalated. Philip sent troops to crush the rebellion and make the Netherlands once more a Catholic region.{{Sfnp|Israel|1995|page=155}}

In the first wave of the Reformation, [[Lutheranism]] won over the elites in Antwerp and the South. The Spanish successfully suppressed it there, and Lutheranism only flourished in east Friesland.{{Sfnp|Israel|1995|pages=374–375}}

The second wave of the Reformation, came in the form of [[Anabaptism]], that was popular among ordinary farmers in [[Holland]] and [[Friesland]]. Anabaptists were socially very radical and equalitarian; they believed that the apocalypse was very near. They refused to live the old way, and began new communities, creating considerable chaos. A prominent Dutch Anabaptist was [[Menno Simons]], who initiated the [[Mennonite]] church. The movement was allowed in the north, but never grew to a large scale.{{Sfnp|Israel|1995|pages=86-91}}

The third wave of the Reformation, that ultimately proved to be permanent, was [[Calvinism]]. It arrived in the Netherlands in the 1540s, attracting both the elite and the common population, especially in [[Flanders]]. The Catholic Spanish responded with harsh persecution and introduced the [[Inquisition of the Netherlands]]. Calvinists rebelled. First there was the [[Beeldenstorm|iconoclasm]] in 1566, which was the systematic destruction of statues of saints and other Catholic devotional depictions in churches. In 1566, [[William the Silent]], a Calvinist, started the [[Eighty Years' War]] to liberate all Dutch of whatever religion from Catholic Spain. Blum says, "His patience, tolerance, determination, concern for his people, and belief in government by consent held the Dutch together and kept alive their spirit of revolt."<ref>[[Jerome Blum]], et al., ''The European World: A History'' (1970) pp. 160–161</ref> The provinces of [[Holland]] and [[Zeeland]], being mainly Calvinist by 1572, submitted to the rule of William. The other states remained almost entirely Catholic.{{Sfnp|Israel|1995|pages=361-395}}<ref>Diarmaid MacCulloch, ''The Reformation'' (2005) pp. 367–372</ref>

===Prelude to war===
{{Multiple image|perrow=1/2/1|total_width=300|caption_align=center
| title =
| image1 = Isaac Claesz. van Swanenburg - The Removal of the Wool from the Skins and the Combing - WGA21986.jpg|caption1=1595 painting by [[Isaac van Swanenburg]] illustrating [[Leiden]] textile workers.
| image2 = WilliamOfOrange1580.jpg|caption2=William I, Prince of Orange, called [[William the Silent]].
| image3 = The Low Countries.png|caption3=Low countries 1559–1609.
}}
The Netherlands was a valuable part of the Spanish Empire, especially after the Treaty of Cateau-Cambresis of 1559. This treaty ended a forty-year period of warfare between France and Spain conducted in Italy from 1521 to 1559.<ref name="Albert Guerard 1959 pp. 134" /> The Treaty of Cateau-Cambresis was somewhat of a watershed—not only for the battleground that Italy had been, but also for northern Europe. Spain had been keeping troops in the Netherlands to be ready to attack France from the north as well as from the south.

With the settlement of so many major issues between France and Spain by the Treaty of Cateau-Cambresis, there was no longer any reason to keep Spanish troops in the Netherlands. Thus, the people of the Netherlands could get on with their peacetime pursuits. As they did so they found that there was a great deal of demand for their products. Fishing had long been an important part of the economy of the Netherlands. However, now the fishing of herring alone came to occupy 2,000 boats operating out of Dutch ports. Spain, still the Dutch trader's best customer, was buying fifty large ships full of furniture and household utensils from Flanders merchants. Additionally, Dutch woolen goods were desired everywhere. The Netherlands bought and processed enough Spanish wool to sell four million florins of wool products through merchants in Bruges. So strong was the Dutch appetite for raw wool at this time that they bought nearly as much English wool as they did Spanish wool. Total commerce with England alone amounted to 24 million florins. Much of the export going to England resulted in pure profit to the Dutch because the exported items were of their own manufacture. The Netherlands was just starting to enter its "Golden Age." Brabant and Flanders were the richest and most flourishing parts of the Dutch Republic at the time.<ref name="Claflin">Claflin, W. Harold, ed. ''History of Nations: Holland and Belgium'', (New York: P.F. Collier & Son, 1907), pp. 72–74, 103–105</ref> The Netherlands was one of the richest places in the world. The population reached 3 million in 1560, with 25 cities of 10,000 people or more, by far the largest urban presence in Europe; with the trading and financial center of Antwerp being especially important (population 100,000). Spain could not afford to lose this rich land, nor allow it to fall from Catholic control. Thus came 80 years of warfare.

A devout Catholic, Philip was appalled by the success of the [[Protestant Reformation|Reformation]] in the [[Low Countries]], which had led to an increasing number of [[Calvinism|Calvinists]]. His attempts to enforce religious persecution of the Protestants, and his centralization of government, law enforcement, and taxes, made him unpopular and led to a [[revolt]]. [[Fernando Alvarez de Toledo, Duke of Alba]], was sent with a Spanish Army to punish the unruly Dutch in 1567.<ref name="Motley">John Lathrop Motley, ''The Rise of the Dutch Republic'' (Harper & Bros.: New York, 1855) pp. 106–115, 121, 122, 207, 213</ref>

The only opposition the Duke of Alba faced in his march across the Netherlands were the nobles, [[Lamoral, Count of Egmont]]; [[Philippe de Montmorency, Count of Horn]] and others. With the approach of Alba and the Spanish army, [[William the Silent]] of Orange fled to Germany with his three brothers and his whole family on 11 April 1567. The Duke of Alba sought to meet and negotiate with the nobles that now faced him with armies. However, when the nobles arrived in Brussels they were all arrested and Egmont and Horn were executed.<ref name="Motley" /> Alba then revoked all the prior treaties that Margaret, the [[Duchess of Parma]] had signed with the Protestants of the Netherlands and instituted the Inquisition to enforce the decrees of the [[Council of Trent]].

==The Eighty Years' War (1568–1648)==
{{Main|Eighty Years' War}}
[[File:Slag bij Nieuwpoort.jpg|thumb|[[Maurice of Nassau, Prince of Orange|Prince Maurits]] at the [[Battle of Nieuwpoort]], 1600 CE, by Paulus van Hillegaert]]
[[File:Sitting Leo Belgicus - Visscher.jpg|thumb|[[Leo Belgicus]], a map of the [[Low Countries]] drawn in the shape of a lion, by [[Claes Jansz. Visscher]] (II), 1611 CE]]
The Dutch War for Independence from Spain is frequently called the Eighty Years' War (1568–1648). The first fifty years (1568 through 1618) were a war solely between Catholic Spain and the Protestant rebels of the Netherlands. It was a military conflict with integral religious elements. During the last thirty years (1618–1648) the conflict between Spain and the Netherlands was submerged in the general European War that became known as the [[Thirty Years' War]].<ref>Geoffrey Parker, ed. ''The Thirty Years' War'', New York: Routledge Press, 1987, p. 2.</ref> The seven rebellious provinces of the Netherlands were eventually united by the [[Union of Utrecht]] in 1579 and formed the [[Republic of the Seven United Netherlands]] (also known as the "United Provinces"). The [[Act of Abjuration]] or ''Plakkaat van Verlatinghe'' was signed on 26 July 1581, and was the formal [[declaration of independence]] of the northern [[Low Countries]] from the Spanish king.  [[Religious toleration]] was a key element of Protestant ideology.

[[William the Silent|William of Orange]] (1533–1584), the founder of the Dutch royal family, led the Dutch during the first part of the war. The very first years were a success for the Spanish troops. However, the Dutch countered subsequent sieges in [[Holland]]. In November and December 1572, all the citizens of [[Zutphen]] and [[Naarden]] were slaughtered by the Spanish. From 11 December that year the city of [[Haarlem]] was besieged, holding out for seven months until 13 July 1573. [[Oudewater]] was conquered by the Spanish on 7 August 1575, and most of its inhabitants were killed. Maastricht was besieged, sacked and destroyed twice in succession (in 1576 and 1579) by the Spanish.

In a war largely of sieges rather than battles, [[Alexander Farnese, Prince of Parma|Governor-General Alexander Farnese]] proved his mettle. His strategy was to offer generous terms for the surrender of a city: there would be no more massacres or looting; historic urban privileges were retained; there was a full pardon and amnesty; return to the Catholic Church would be gradual. Conservative Catholics in the south and east supported the Spanish. Farnese recaptured [[Antwerp]] and nearly all of what became Belgium.<ref>Violet Soen, "Reconquista and Reconciliation in the Dutch Revolt: The Campaign of Governor-General Alexander Farnese (1578–1592)", ''[[Journal of Early Modern History]]'' (2012) 16#1 pp. 1–22.</ref> Most of the Dutch-speaking territory in the Netherlands was taken from Spain, but not in [[Flanders]], which to this day remains part of [[Belgium]]. Flanders was the most radical anti-Spanish territory. Many Flemish fled to Holland, among them half of the population of Antwerp, 3/4 of Bruges and Ghent and the entire population of Nieuwpoort, Dunkerque and countryside.<ref>Bart de Groof, "Alexander Farnese and the Origins of Modern Belgium", ''Bulletin de l'Institut Historique Belge de Rome'' (1993) Vol. 63, pp. 195–219.</ref> His successful campaign gave the Catholics control of the lower half of the Low Countries, and was part of the [[Counter-Reformation|Catholic Counter-Reformation]].

The war dragged on for another half century, but the main fighting was over. The [[Peace of Westphalia]], signed in 1648, confirmed the independence of the United Provinces from Spain. The Dutch people started to develop a national identity, beginning in the 15th century, but they officially remained a part of the Holy Roman Empire until 1648. National identity was mainly formed by the province people came from. Holland was the most important province by far.

The Catholics in the Netherlands were an outlawed minority that had been suppressed by the Calvinists. After 1572, however, they made a striking comeback (also as part of the Catholic Counter-Reformation), setting up seminaries, reforming their Church, and sending missionaries into Protestant districts. Laity often took the lead; the Calvinist government often arrested or harassed priests who seemed too effective. Catholic numbers stabilized at about a third of the population in the Netherlands; they were strongest in the southeast.<ref>see [http://www.quirksmode.org/politics/kuyper.html religion map]</ref><ref>Charles H. Parker, Charles H. ''Faith on the Margins: Catholics and Catholicism in the Dutch Golden Age'' (Harvard University Press, 2008)</ref>

== Golden Age ==
{{Main|Dutch Golden Age}}
{{See|Economic history of the Netherlands (1500–1815)}}
[[File:Meisje met de parel.jpg|thumb|upright=.8|[[Johannes Vermeer]]'s ''[[Girl with a Pearl Earring]]'']]

The ''Dutch Golden Age'' was a period which roughly lasted from 1588, when the [[Dutch Republic]] was established, to 1672, when the ''[[Rampjaar]]'' occurred. During this period, Dutch [[trade]], [[Science and technology in the Netherlands|scientific developments]], [[Dutch art|art]] and [[Dutch colonial empire|overseas colonisation]] was among the most prominent in Europe. The first half of the period spanned from the beginning of the [[Eighty Years' War]] until its conclusion in 1648, with the second half lasting until the outbreak of the [[Franco-Dutch War]]. During the period, Dutch colonialists, many of them affiliated with the [[Dutch East India Company|East India Company]] and [[Dutch West India Company|West India Company]], established trading posts and colonies in the [[Americas]], [[Southern Africa]] and [[Asia]], protected by the powerful [[Dutch States Navy]]. The Dutch dominated the [[triangular trade]] and [[Atlantic slave trade]].

[[Culture of the Netherlands|Dutch culture]] experienced a renaissance. However, by the end of the 17th century, conflicts with neighbouring powers as well as a declining economic influence led to waning of Dutch power. The process by which the Dutch Republic became one of the foremost maritime and economic powers of the world during the era has been referred to as the "Dutch Miracle" by historian [[K. W. Swart]].<ref>{{cite book|url=http://www.dianamuirappelbaum.com/?p=583|title=The miracle of the Dutch Republic as seen in the seventeenth century|last=Swart|first=Koenraad Wolter|date=1969|publisher=H.K.Lewis & Co Ltd|location=London|access-date=12 March 2015|archive-date=19 March 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150319225519/http://www.dianamuirappelbaum.com/?p=583|url-status=live}}</ref> The term "Dutch Golden Age" has been controversial in the 21st century due to the extensive Dutch involvement in [[History of Dutch slavery|slavery]] and [[colonialism]]  during the period, and it has been deprecated by several museums in the [[Netherlands]], including the [[Amsterdam Museum]].<ref>{{Cite web |last=Trouw |date=2019-09-21 |title=Het debat over de naam Gouden Eeuw is waardevol en nodig |url=https://www.trouw.nl/opinie/het-debat-over-de-naam-gouden-eeuw-is-waardevol-en-nodig~b64e6ac2/ |access-date=2023-05-13 |website=Trouw |language=nl-NL}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |date=2019-09-13 |title=Amsterdam Museum gebruikt term 'Gouden Eeuw' niet meer |url=https://historiek.net/amsterdam-museum-gebruikt-term-gouden-eeuw-niet-meer/125421/ |access-date=2023-05-13 |website=Historiek |language=nl}}</ref>

==Dutch Empire==
=== The Dutch in the Americas ===
{{Main|Dutch West India Company|New Netherland|New Amsterdam}}

The Dutch West India Company was a [[chartered company]] (known as the "GWC") of Dutch merchants. On 2 June 1621, it was granted a [[:wikisource:Charter of the Dutch West India Company|charter]] for a trade monopoly in the [[West Indies]] (meaning the Caribbean) by the [[Republic of the Seven United Netherlands]] and given jurisdiction over the [[African slave trade]], Brazil, the Caribbean, and North America. Its area of operations stretched from West Africa to the Americas, and the Pacific islands. The company became instrumental in the [[Dutch colonization of the Americas]]. The first forts and settlements in [[Guyana]] and on the [[Amazon River]] date from the 1590s. Actual colonization, with Dutch settling in the new lands, was not as common as with England and France. Many of the Dutch settlements were lost or abandoned by the end of that century, but the Netherlands managed to retain possession of [[Suriname]] and a number of Dutch Caribbean islands.

[[File:Petrus (Peter Pieter) Stuyvesant portrait c1660.jpg|thumb|[[Peter Stuyvesant]], Director-General of [[New Netherland]] (New York). His provincial capital, [[New Amsterdam]], was located at the southern tip of the island of [[Manhattan]].]]
The colony was a private business venture to exploit the [[fur trade]] in beaver pelts. New Netherland was slowly settled during its first decades, partially as a result of policy mismanagement by the [[Dutch West India Company]] (WIC), and conflicts with Native Americans. During the 1650s, the colony experienced dramatic growth and became a major port for trade in the [[Atlantic World]], tolerating a highly diverse ethnic mix. The surrender of [[Fort Amsterdam]] to the British control in 1664 was formalized in 1667, contributing to the [[Second Anglo–Dutch War]]. In 1673 the Dutch re-took the area, but later relinquished it under the 5 April 1674 [[Treaty of Westminster (1674)|Treaty of Westminster]] ending the [[Third Anglo-Dutch War]].<ref>{{Cite EB1911 |wstitle=Holland |volume=13 |page=601 |first=George |last=Edmundson}}</ref>

Descendants of the original settlers played a prominent role in the history of the United States, as typified by the Roosevelt and Vanderbilt families. The Hudson Valley still boasts a Dutch heritage. The concepts of civil liberties and [[Pluralism (political philosophy)|pluralism]] introduced in the province became mainstays of American political and social life.<ref>Jaap Jacobs, ''The Colony of New Netherland: A Dutch Settlement in Seventeenth-Century America'' (2nd ed. 2009) [https://www.questia.com/read/109275503/new-netherland-a-dutch-colony-in-seventeenth-century online] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170525213649/https://www.questia.com/read/109275503/new-netherland-a-dutch-colony-in-seventeenth-century |date=25 May 2017}}</ref>

===Slave trade===
{{Main|History of Aruba|History of Curaçao|History of Saint Martin|History of Suriname}}
Although slavery was illegal inside the Netherlands it flourished in the Dutch Empire, and helped support the economy.<ref>Postma, Johannes, ''The Dutch in the Atlantic Slave Trade, 1600–1815'' (2008){{Full citation needed|date=November 2012}}, p. {{Page needed|date=October 2011}}</ref> In 1619 The Netherlands took the lead in building large-scale [[Atlantic slave trade|slave trading]] between Africa and Virginia, by 1650 becoming the pre-eminent slave trading country in Europe. It was overtaken by Britain around 1700. Historians agree that in all the Dutch shipped about 550,000 African slaves across the Atlantic, about 75,000 of whom died on board before reaching their destinations. From 1596 to 1829, the Dutch traders sold 250,000 slaves in the Dutch Guianas, 142,000 in the Dutch Caribbean islands, and 28,000 in Dutch Brazil.<ref>van Welie, Rik, [http://www.kitlv-journals.nl/index.php/nwig/article/view/3580/4340 "Slave Trading and Slavery in the Dutch Colonial Empire: A Global Comparison"], ''NWIG: New West Indian Guide / Nieuwe West-Indische Gids,'' 2008, Vol. 82 Issue 1/2, pp. 47–96, Table 2 & Table 3. Retrieved 9 October 2011.</ref> In addition, tens of thousands of slaves, mostly from India and some from Africa, were carried to the Dutch East Indies<ref>Markus Vink, [https://historycooperative.org/journal/the-worlds-oldest-trade-dutch-slavery-and-slave-trade-in-the-indian-ocean-in-the-seventeenth-century-3/ "'The World's Oldest Trade': Dutch Slavery and Slave Trade in the Indian Ocean in the Seventeenth Century"], ''Journal of World History'', 14.2 (2003):</ref> and slaves from the East Indies to Africa and the West Indies.

===The Dutch in Asia: The Dutch East India Company===
{{Main|Dutch East India Company|Dutch East Indies}}
[[File:De handelsloge van de VOC in Hougly in Bengalen Rijksmuseum SK-A-4282.jpeg|thumb|260px|[[Dutch East India Company]] factory in [[Hugli-Chuchura]], [[Mughal Bengal]]. ''Hendrik van Schuylenburgh, 1665'']]
[[File:Andries Beeckman - The Castle of Batavia.jpg|thumb|left|250px|Dutch Batavia built in what is now [[Jakarta]], by [[Andries Beeckman]] {{circa|1656 CE}}]]
The Dutch East India Company (also called the VOC) emerged in 1602, when the government gave it a monopoly to trade with Asia, mainly to [[Mughal India]]. It had many world firsts—the first [[multinational corporation]], the first company to issue stock, and the first [[megacorporation]], possessing quasi-governmental powers, including the ability to wage war, negotiate treaties, coin money, and establish colonial settlements.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Ames, Glenn J. |title=The Globe Encompassed: The Age of European Discovery, 1500–1700 |date=2008 |pages=102–103}}</ref>

England and France soon copied its model but could not match its record. Between 1602 and 1796 the VOC sent almost a million Europeans to work in the Asia trade on 4,785 ships. It returned over 2.5&nbsp;million tons of Asian trade goods. The VOC enjoyed huge profits from its spice monopoly through most of the 17th century. The VOC was active chiefly in the [[Dutch East Indies]], now [[History of Indonesia|Indonesia]], where its base was [[Batavia, Dutch East Indies|Batavia]] (now [[Jakarta]]), which remained an important trading concern and paid an 18% annual dividend for almost 200 years; colonized parts of [[Taiwan]] between [[Taiwan under Dutch rule|1624–1662 and 1664–1667]] and was the only western trading post in Japan, [[Dejima]].

During the period of [[Proto-industrialization]], the empire received 50% of textile and 80% of silk imports from the Mughal Empire, chiefly from its most developed region known as the [[Bengal Subah]].<ref name="tong">{{Cite book |last=Junie T. Tong |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=_UQGDAAAQBAJ&pg=PA151 |title=Finance and Society in 21st Century China: Chinese Culture Versus Western Markets |publisher=CRC Press |date=2016 |isbn=978-1-317-13522-7 |page=151}}</ref><ref name="esposito">{{Cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=KZcohRpc4OsC&pg=PT190 |title=The Islamic World: Past and Present |publisher=Oxford University Press |date=2004 |isbn=978-0-19-516520-3 |editor-last=John L. Esposito |editor-link=John L. Esposito |volume=1: Abba - Hist. |page=174}}</ref><ref>Nanda, J. N (2005). {{Cite book |title=Bengal: the unique state |publisher=Concept Publishing Company. p. 10. |date=2005 |isbn=978-81-8069-149-2 |quote=Bengal [...] was rich in the production and export of grain, salt, fruit, liquors and wines, precious metals and ornaments besides the output of its handlooms in silk and cotton. Europe referred to Bengal as the richest country to trade with.}}</ref><ref name="Prakash">[[Om Prakash (historian)|Om Prakash]], "[http://link.galegroup.com/apps/doc/CX3447600139/WHIC?u=seat24826&xid=6b597320 Empire, Mughal]", ''History of World Trade Since 1450'', edited by [[John J. McCusker]], vol. 1, Macmillan Reference USA, 2006, pp. 237–240, ''World History in Context''. Retrieved 3 August 2017</ref>

[[File:De Lannoy Surrender.JPG|250px|thumb|right|[[Eustachius De Lannoy]] of the [[Dutch East India Company]] surrenders to Maharaja [[Marthanda Varma]] of the Indian [[Kingdom of Travancore]] after the [[Battle of Colachel]]. (Depiction at [[Padmanabhapuram Palace]])]]
By the 17th century, the Dutch East India Company established their base in parts of Ceylon (modern-day Sri Lanka). Afterward, they established ports in [[Dutch Malabar|Dutch occupied Malabar]], leading to [[Dutch India|Dutch settlements and trading posts in India]]. However, their expansion into India was halted, after their defeat in the [[Battle of Colachel]] by the [[Travancore|Kingdom of Travancore]], during the [[Travancore-Dutch War]]. The Dutch never recovered from the defeat and no longer posed a large colonial threat to India.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Koshy |first=M. O. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ro8SLhyAc9AC |title=The Dutch Power in Kerala, 1729–1758 |publisher=Mittal Publications |year=1989 |isbn=978-81-7099-136-6 |page=61}}</ref><ref>[http://mod.nic.in/samachar/april15-04/body.html#l1 http://mod.nic.in] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160312081154/http://mod.nic.in/samachar/april15-04/body.html |date=12 March 2016}} 9th Madras Regiment</ref>

Eventually, the 18th century saw the Dutch East India Company weighted down by corruption, and the VOC eventually went bankrupt in 1800. Its possessions were taken over by the government and turned into the [[Dutch East Indies]].

=== The Dutch in Africa ===
{{Main|History of Cape Colony before 1806|History of South Africa (1652–1815)|Afrikaners|Afrikaans}}
[[File:Charles Bell - Jan van Riebeeck se aankoms aan die Kaap.jpg|left|thumb|200px|Painting of an account of the arrival of [[Jan van Riebeeck]], by [[Charles Bell (surveyor)|Charles Bell]]]]
In 1647, a Dutch vessel was wrecked in the present-day [[Table Bay]] at [[Cape Town]]. The marooned crew, the first Europeans to attempt settlement in the area, built a [[fort]] and stayed for a year until they were rescued. Shortly thereafter, the [[Dutch East India Company]] (in the Dutch of the day: ''Vereenigde Oostindische Compagnie'', or VOC) decided to establish a permanent settlement. The VOC, one of the major European trading houses sailing the [[Spice trade|spice route]] to East Asia, had no intention of colonizing the area, instead wanting only to establish a secure base camp where passing ships could shelter, and where hungry sailors could stock up on fresh supplies of meat, fruit, and vegetables. To this end, a small VOC expedition under the command of [[Jan van Riebeeck]] reached [[Table Bay]] on 6 April 1652.<ref name="Noble-141">{{Cite book |last=Noble |first=John |url=https://archive.org/stream/illustratedoffic00nobliala#page/141/mode/1up |title=Illustrated Official Handbook of the Cape and South Africa; A résumé of the history, conditions, populations, productions and resources of the several colonies, states, and territories |publisher=J.C. Juta & Co. |date=1893 |page=141 |access-date=25 November 2009}}</ref>{{Unreliable source?|date=October 2011}}

To remedy a labour shortage, the VOC released a small number of VOC employees from their contracts and permitted them to establish farms with which they would supply the VOC settlement from their harvests. This arrangement proved highly successful, producing abundant supplies of fruit, vegetables, wheat, and wine; they also later raised livestock. The small initial group of "free burghers", as these farmers were known, steadily increased in number and began to expand their farms further north and east.

The majority of burghers had Dutch ancestry and belonged to the [[Calvinist Reformed Church of the Netherlands]], but there were also numerous Germans as well as some Scandinavians. In 1688 the Dutch and the Germans were joined by French [[Huguenots]], also Calvinists, who were fleeing religious persecution in France under [[Louis XIV of France|King Louis XIV]]. The [[Huguenots in South Africa]] were absorbed into the Dutch population but they played a prominent role in South Africa's history.

From the beginning, the VOC used the cape as a place to supply ships travelling between the Netherlands and the Dutch East Indies. There was a close association between the cape and these Dutch possessions in the far east. Van Riebeeck and the VOC began to import large numbers of slaves, primarily from [[Madagascar]] and Indonesia. These slaves often married Dutch settlers, and their descendants became known as the [[Cape Coloureds]] and the [[Cape Malays]].

[[File:Aernout Smit Table Bay, 1683 William Fehr Collection Cape Town.jpg|thumb|200px|[[Table Bay|De Tafelbaai]] by Aernout Smit, 1683]]
During the 18th century, the Dutch settlement in the area of the cape grew and prospered. By the late 1700s, the [[Dutch Cape Colony|Cape Colony]] was one of the best developed European settlements outside Europe or the Americas.<ref name="Smith">Smith, Adam (1776), [http://www2.hn.psu.edu/faculty/jmanis/adam-smith/Wealth-Nations.pdf Wealth of Nations] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131020042323/http://www2.hn.psu.edu/faculty/jmanis/adam-smith/Wealth-Nations.pdf |date=20 October 2013}}, Penn State Electronic Classics Edition, republished 2005, p. 516</ref> The two bases of the Cape Colony's economy for almost the entirety of its history were shipping and agriculture. Its strategic position meant that almost every ship sailing between Europe and Asia stopped off at the colony's capital [[Cape Town]]. The supplying of these ships with fresh provisions, fruit, and [[South African wine|wine]] provided a very large market for the surplus produce of the colony.<ref name="Smith" />

Some free burghers continued to expand into the rugged hinterlands of the north and east, many began to take up a semi-nomadic [[pastoralism|pastoralist]] lifestyle, in some ways not far removed from that of the [[Khoikhoi]] they had displaced. In addition to its herds, a family might have a wagon, a tent, a Bible, and a few guns. As they became more settled, they would build a mud-walled cottage, frequently located, by choice, days of travel from the nearest European settlement. These were the first of the [[Trekboer]]s (Wandering Farmers, later shortened to [[Boer]]s), completely independent of official controls, extraordinarily self-sufficient, and isolated from the government and the main settlement in [[Cape Town]].

[[File:TrekBoers crossing the Karoo.jpg|thumb|left|200px|An account of the first [[trekboer]]s]]
[[Dutch language|Dutch]] was the official language, but a dialect had formed that was quite distinct from Dutch. The [[Afrikaans]] language originated mainly from 17th-century Dutch dialects.<ref>[http://www.omniglot.com/writing/afrikaans.htm "Afrikaans"], Omniglot.com. Retrieved 9 October 2011.</ref><ref>[https://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/8437/Afrikaans-language "Afrikaans language"], ''Encyclopædia Britannica''. Retrieved 9 October 2011.</ref>

This Dutch dialect sometimes referred to as the "kitchen language" (''kombuistaal''),<ref>Alatis, James E., Heidi E. Hamilton and Ai-Hui Tan (2002). ''Linguistics, language and the professions: education, journalism, law, medicine, and technology''. Washington, DC: University Press. {{ISBN|978-0-87840-373-8}}. p. {{Page needed|date=October 2011}}</ref> would eventually in the late 19th century be recognised as a distinct language called [[Afrikaans]] and replace Dutch as the official language of the [[Afrikaners]].

As the 18th century drew to a close, Dutch mercantile power began to fade and the [[Kingdom of Great Britain|British]] moved in to fill the vacuum. They seized the Cape Colony in 1795 to prevent it from falling into French hands, then briefly relinquished it back to the Dutch (1803), before definitively conquering it in 1806. British sovereignty of the area was recognised at the [[Congress of Vienna]] in 1815. By the time the Dutch colony was seized by the British in 1806, it had grown into an established settlement with 25,000 slaves, 20,000 white colonists, 15,000 [[Khoisan]], and 1,000 freed black slaves. Outside Cape Town and the immediate hinterland, isolated black and white [[pastoralists]] populated the country.

Dutch interest in South Africa was based chiefly on the strategically located VOC port. Yet in the 17th and 18th centuries the Dutch created the foundation of the modern state of South Africa. The Dutch legacy in South Africa is evident everywhere, but particularly in the Afrikaner people and the Afrikaans language.

==Dutch Republic: Regents and Stadholders (1649–1784)==
{{Main|Dutch Republic}}
[[File:Hendrick Avercamp - A Scene on the Ice - WGA01076.jpg|thumb|''Skating fun'', a traditional rural scene by 17th-century Dutch painter [[Hendrick Avercamp]]]]The ''United Provinces of the Netherlands'', commonly referred to in [[historiography]] as the ''Dutch Republic'', was a [[confederation]] of provinces that existed from 1579 until the [[Batavian Revolution]] in 1795. It was the first independent Dutch state. The republic was established after seven Dutch provinces revolted against [[Spanish Empire|Spanish rule]], declaring their independence in 1581. As the Netherlands was a republic, it was largely governed by an aristocracy of city-merchants called the [[Regenten|regents]], rather than by a king. Every city and province had its own government and laws, and a large degree of autonomy. After attempts to find a competent sovereign proved unsuccessful, it was decided that sovereignty would be vested in the various provincial Estates, the governing bodies of the provinces. The [[Estates-General of the Netherlands|Estates-General]], with its representatives from all the provinces, would decide on matters important to the Republic as a whole. Each province was led by an official known as the {{lang-for|nl|[[stadtholder]]|steward}}; this office was nominally open to anyone, but most provinces appointed a member of the [[House of Orange]]. The position gradually became hereditary, with the [[Prince of Orange]] simultaneously holding most or all of the stadtholderships, making him effectively the [[head of state]]. This created tension between political factions: the [[Orangism (Dutch Republic)|Orangists]] favoured a powerful stadtholder, while the Republicans favoured a strong States General. The Republicans forced two [[Stadtholderless Period (disambiguation)|Stadtholderless Periods]], 1650–1672 and 1702–1747, with the latter causing [[Orangist revolution|national instability]] and the end of [[Great Power]] status. In the [[Peace of Westphalia]] (1648) the republic gained approximately 20% more territory, located outside the member provinces, which was ruled directly by the States General as [[Generality Lands]].

Although the state was small and had only around 1.5&nbsp;million inhabitants, it controlled a worldwide network of seafaring [[trade route]]s. Through its trading companies, the [[Dutch East India Company]] (VOC) and the [[Dutch West India Company]] (GWC), it established an empire. These companies were based on the English model and the success of England's joint-stock enterprises and trading guilds.<ref>{{Cite web |last=KENNARD |first=MATT |date=2023-05-18 |title=How the modern corporation was invented in England |url=https://www.declassifieduk.org/how-the-modern-corporation-was-invented-in-england/ |access-date=2024-07-23 |website=Declassified Media Ltd |language=en-US}}</ref>

&nbsp; The income from this trade allowed the Dutch Republic to compete militarily against much larger countries. It amassed a huge fleet of 2,000 ships, initially larger than the fleets of England and France combined. Major conflicts were fought in the Eighty Years' War against Spain, the [[Dutch–Portuguese War]] (1602–1663), four [[Anglo-Dutch Wars]], the [[Franco-Dutch War]] (1672–1678), [[War of the Grand Alliance]] (1688–1697), the [[War of the Spanish Succession]] (1702–1713), the [[War of Austrian Succession]] (1744–1748), and the [[War of the First Coalition]] (1792–1795) against the [[Kingdom of France]].

The republic was more tolerant of different religions and ideas than contemporary states, allowing [[freedom of thought]] to its residents. Artists flourished under this regime, including painters such as Rembrandt. So did scientists, such as [[Hugo Grotius]], [[Christiaan Huygens]] and [[Antonie van Leeuwenhoek]]. Dutch trade, science, armed forces, and art were among the most acclaimed in the world during much of the 17th century, a period which became known as the Dutch Golden Age.

The economy, based on Amsterdam's role as the center of world trade, was strong in the 17th century. In 1670 the Dutch merchant marine totalled 568,000 tons of shipping—about half the European total.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Tim William Blanning |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=rmkcaEfwcsQC&pg=PA96 |title=The Pursuit of Glory: Europe, 1648–1815 |publisher=Penguin |date=2007 |isbn=9780670063208 |page=96}}</ref> The province of Holland was highly commercial and dominated the country. Its nobility was small and closed and had little influence, for it was numerically small, politically weak, and formed a strictly closed caste. Most land in the province of Holland was commercialized for cash crops and was owned by urban capitalists, not nobles; there were few links between Holland's nobility and the merchants. By 1650 the burgher families which had grown wealthy through commerce and become influential in government controlled the province of Holland, and to a large extent shaped national policies. The other six provinces were more rural and traditional in life style, had an active nobility, and played a small role in commerce and national politics. Instead they concentrated on their flood protections and land reclamation projects.<ref>{{Cite book |last=E.H. Kossmann |title=The Dutch Republic |editor-first=F. L. |editor-last=Carsten |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=FzQ9AAAAIAAJ&pg=PA275 |volume =5. The Ascendancy of France, 1648–88 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |date=1961 |isbn=9780521045445 |pages=275–276 |author-link=Ernst Kossmann}}</ref>{{Sfnp|Israel|1995|pages=277–279, 284}}

Economic decline led to a period of political instability known as the [[Patriottentijd]] (1780–1787).<ref name=":022">{{Cite book |last=Rietbergen |first=P. J. A. N. |url=https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/52849131 |title=A Short History of the Netherlands: From Prehistory to the Present Day |publisher=Bekking |year=2000 |isbn=90-6109-440-2 |edition=4th |location=Amersfoort |pages=159 |oclc=52849131 |access-date=26 September 2023 |archive-date=26 November 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231126115046/https://search.worldcat.org/title/52849131 |url-status=live}}</ref> This unrest was temporarily suppressed by a [[Prussian invasion of Holland|Prussian invasion]] in support of the stadtholder. The [[French Revolution]] and subsequent [[War of the First Coalition]] reignited these tensions. Following military defeat by France, the stadtholder was expelled in the [[Batavian Revolution]] of 1795, ending the Dutch Republic, which was succeeded by the [[Batavian Republic]].

==Batavian Republic (1795–1806)==
{{Main|Batavian Republic}}
[[File:Feest_der_Vrijheid_op_de_Dam_te_Amsterdam,_4_maart_1795_Vreugde-Feest,_ter_inwyding_van_de_Vryheids-boom_in_Amsterdam,_Gevierd_den_4.den_Maart_1795._het_eerste_Jaar_der_Bataafsche_Vrijheid_(titel_op_object),_RP-P-OB-86.446.jpg|thumb|Liberty tree erected in Dam Square in Amsterdam, 1795 by H. Numan]]
The [[French Revolution]] was popular, and numerous underground clubs were promoting it when in January 1795 the [[Low Countries theatre of the War of the First Coalition|French army invaded]]. The underground rose up, overthrew the municipal and provincial governments, and proclaimed the [[Batavian Republic]] ({{Langx|nl|Bataafse Republiek}}) [[Batavian Revolution in Amsterdam|in Amsterdam]]. Stadtholder William V fled to England and the States General dissolved itself. The new government was virtually a puppet of France.<ref>C. Cook & J. Stevenson, ''The routledge companion to European history since 1763'' (Abingdon: Routledge, 2005), p. 66; J. Dunn, ''Democracy: A history'' (NY: Atlantic Books, 2005), p. 86.</ref> The Batavian Republic enjoyed widespread support and sent soldiers to fight in the French armies. The 1799 [[Anglo-Russian invasion of Holland]] was repulsed by Batavian–French forces. Nevertheless, Napoleon replaced it because the regime of [[Grand Pensionary]] [[Rutger Jan Schimmelpenninck]] (1805–1806) was insufficiently docile.<ref>[[R.R. Palmer|Palmer, R.R.]] "Much in Little: The Dutch Revolution of 1795", ''Journal of Modern History'' (1954) 26#1 pp. 15–35 [https://www.jstor.org/stable/1874870 in JSTOR]</ref>

The confederal structure of the old Dutch Republic was permanently replaced by a unitary state. The 1798 constitution had a genuinely democratic character, though a coup d'état of 1801 put an authoritarian regime in power. Ministerial government was introduced for the first time in Dutch history and many of the current government departments date their history back to this period.

The exiled stadholder [[Kew Letters|handed over the Dutch colonies]] in "safekeeping" to Great Britain and ordered the colonial governors to comply. This permanently ended the colonial Dutch empire in Guyana, Ceylon and the Cape Colony. The Dutch East Indies was returned to the Netherlands under the [[Anglo-Dutch Treaty of 1814]].<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Tarling |first=Nicholas |date=1978 |title="A Vital British Interest": Britain, Japan, and the Security of Netherlands India in the Inter-War Period |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/20062724 |journal=Journal of Southeast Asian Studies |volume=9 |issue=2 |pages=180–218 |issn=0022-4634}}</ref>

==Kingdom of Holland to William I (1806–1815)==
{{Main|Kingdom of Holland}}

[[File:France L-2 (1812)-fr.svg|thumb|Administrative divisions of the [[First French Empire]] in 1812, illustrating the incorporation of the Netherlands and its internal reorganisation]]

In 1806 Napoleon transformed the Netherlands (along with a small part of what is now Germany) into the [[Kingdom of Holland]], putting his brother [[Louis Bonaparte]] (1778–1846), on the throne. The new king was unpopular, but he was willing to cross his brother for the benefit of his new kingdom. Napoleon forced his abdication in 1810 and [[Incorporation (Netherlands)|incorporated]] the Netherlands directly into the [[First French Empire|French empire]], imposing economic controls and conscription of all young men as soldiers. 

[[File:Landing Willem Frederik Scheveningen 1813.png|thumb|''Landing of the future king [[William I of the Netherlands|William I]] at [[Scheveningen]] on 30 November 1813'']]
When the French retreated from the northern provinces in 1813, a [[Triumvirate of 1813|Triumvirate]] took over at the helm of a [[Sovereign Principality of the United Netherlands|provisional government]]. Although most members of the provisional government had been among the men who had driven out William V 18 years earlier, the leaders of the provisional government knew that any new regime would have to be headed by his son, [[William I of the Netherlands|William Frederick]]. They also knew that it would be better in the long term if the Dutch people themselves installed the prince, rather than have him imposed on the country by the anti-French alliance. Accordingly, the Triumvirate called William Frederick back on 30 November and offered him the crown. He refused, but instead proclaimed himself "[[Sovereign Principality of the United Netherlands|hereditary sovereign prince]]" on 6 December.

The [[Great Powers]] had [[Eight Articles of London|secretly agreed]] to merge the northern Netherlands with the more populated [[Austrian Netherlands]] and the smaller [[Prince-Bishopric of Liège]] into a single constitutional monarchy. Having a stronger country on France's northern border was considered (especially by [[Alexander I of Russia|Tsar Alexander]]) to be an important part of the strategy to keep France's power in check. In 1814, William Frederick gained sovereignty over the Austrian Netherlands and Liège as well. Thus, William Frederick had fulfilled his family's three-century quest to unite the Low Countries under a single rule.

On 15 March 1815; with the encouragement of the powers gathered at the [[Congress of Vienna]], William Frederick raised the Netherlands to the status of a kingdom and proclaimed himself [[William I of the Netherlands|King William I]]. This was made official later in 1815, when the Low Countries were formally recognized as the [[United Kingdom of the Netherlands]]. The crown was made a hereditary office of the [[House of Orange-Nassau]].

==United Kingdom of the Netherlands (1815–1839)==
[[File:Nieuwe Kaart Koningrijk der Nederlanden en Hertogdom Luxemburg C van Baarsel 1815.jpg|thumb|Map of the United Kingdom of the Netherlands and Luxembourg, 1815]]
{{Main|United Kingdom of the Netherlands|Dutch monarchy}}
[[William I of the Netherlands|William I]] became king and also became the hereditary [[Grand Duke of Luxembourg]], that was part of the Netherlands but at the same time part of the German Confederation. The newly created country had two capitals: [[Amsterdam]] and [[Brussels]]. The new nation had two equal parts. The north (Netherlands proper) had 2 million people. They spoke chiefly Dutch but were divided religiously between a Protestant majority and a large Catholic minority. The south (which would be known as "Belgium" after 1830) had a population of 3.4&nbsp;million people. Nearly all were Catholic, but it was divided between French-speaking Walloons and Dutch-speaking Flemings. The upper and middle classes in the south were mostly French-speaking. About 60,000 Belgians were eligible to vote, compared to about 80,000 Dutchmen. Officially Amsterdam was the capital, but in a compromise the government met alternately in Brussels and The Hague.{{Sfnp|Kossmann|1978|pages=112–133}}

[[Adolphe Quetelet]] (1796–1874), the great Belgian statistician, calculated that the new nation was significantly better off than other states. Mortality was low, the food supply was good, education was good, public awareness was high and the charity rate was the highest in the world. The best years were in the mid-1820s.{{Sfnp|Kossmann|1978|pages=115–116}}

The quality of schooling was dismal, however. According to Schama, about 1800 the local school teacher was the "humble auxiliary of the local priest. Despised by his co-villagers and forced to subsist on the gleanings of the peasants, he combined drumming the catechism into the heads of his unruly charges with the duties of winding the town clock, ringing the church bells or digging its graves. His principal use to the community was to keep its boys out of mischief when there was no labour for them in the fields, or setting the destitute orphans of the town to the 'useful arts' of picking tow or spinning crude flax. As one would expect, standards in such an occupation were dismal."<ref>{{Citation|first=Simon |last=Schama |author-link=Simon Schama | title=The Rights of Ignorance: Dutch Educational Policy in Belgium 1815–30 |journal=History of Education |date=1972 |volume=1 |issue=1 |pages=81–89 |doi=10.1080/0046760720010106}}</ref> But in 1806 the Dutch, led by Adriaan van den Ende, energetically set out to modernise education, focusing on a new system for advanced training of teachers with an elaborate system of inspectors, training courses, teacher examinations and teaching societies. By 1826, although much smaller than France, the Dutch national government was spending 12 times more than Paris on education.{{Sfnp|Schama|1972|pages=84–85}}

===Constitutional monarchy===
[[File:Verenigd Koninkrijk der Nederlanden (tot 1830).png|thumb|left|'''The [[Netherlands]], [[Belgium]], [[Luxembourg]] and [[Duchy of Limburg (1839–1867)|Limburg]] in 1839'''<br />'''1''', '''2''' and '''3''' United Kingdom of the Netherlands (until 1830)<br />'''1''' and '''2''' [[Netherlands|Kingdom of the Netherlands]] (after 1839)<br />'''2''' [[Duchy of Limburg (1839–1867)]] (in the German Confederacy after 1839 as compensation for Waals-Luxemburg)<br />'''3''' and '''4''' [[Belgium|Kingdom of Belgium]] (after 1839)<br />'''4''' and '''5''' [[Grand Duchy of Luxembourg]] (borders until 1839) <br />'''4''' [[Luxembourg (Belgium)|Province of Luxembourg]] (Waals-Luxemburg, to Belgium in 1839)<br />'''5''' [[Grand Duchy of Luxembourg]] (German Luxemburg; borders after 1839)<br />In blue, the borders of the [[German Confederation]].]]

William I, who reigned from 1815 to 1840, had great constitutional power. An [[enlightened despot]], he accepted the modernizing transformations of the previous 25 years, including equality of all before the law. However, he resurrected the [[Estates of the realm|estates]] as a political class and elevated a large number of people to the nobility. Voting rights were still limited, and only the nobility were eligible for seats in the upper house. The old provinces were reestablished in name only. The government was now fundamentally unitary, and all authority flowed from the center.

William I was a Calvinist and unsympathetic to the religious culture and practices of the Catholic majority. He promulgated the "Fundamental Law of Holland", with some modifications. This entirely overthrew the old order of things in the southern Netherlands: it abolished the privileges of the Catholic Church, and guaranteed equal protection to every religious creed and the enjoyment of the same civil and political rights to every subject of the king. It reflected the spirit of the French Revolution and in so doing did not please the Catholic bishops in the south, who had detested the Revolution.<ref>Godefroid Kurth, "Belgium" in [http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/02395a.htm ''Catholic Encyclopedia'' (1907) online]</ref>

William I actively promoted economic modernization. The first 15 years of the Kingdom showed progress and prosperity, as industrialization proceeded rapidly in the south, where the [[Industrial Revolution]] allowed entrepreneurs and labor to combine in a new textile industry, powered by local coal mines. There was little industry in the northern provinces, but most overseas colonies were restored, and highly profitable trade resumed after a 25-year hiatus. Economic liberalism combined with moderate monarchical authoritarianism accelerated the adaptation of the Netherlands to the new conditions of the 19th century. The country prospered until a crisis arose in relations with the southern provinces.

===Belgium breaks away===
{{Main|Belgian Revolution}}
William was determined to create a united people, even though the north and south had drifted far apart in the past three centuries. Protestants were the largest denomination in the North (population 2 million), but formed a quarter of the population in the overwhelmingly Catholic South (population 3.5&nbsp;million). Nevertheless, Protestants dominated William's government and army. The Catholics did not consider themselves an integral part of the United Netherlands, preferring instead to identify with mediaeval Dutch culture. Other factors that contributed to this feeling were economic (the South was industrialising, the North had always been a merchants' nation) and linguistic (French was spoken in [[Wallonia]] and a large part of the bourgeoisie in Flemish cities).<ref>{{Cite web |last=Times |first=The Brussels |title=How economics explains Belgium's rifts |url=https://www.brusselstimes.com/45009/how-economics-explains-belgium-s-rifts |access-date=2024-06-28 |website=www.brusselstimes.com |language=en}}</ref>

After having been dominant for centuries, the French-speaking elite in the Southern Netherlands now felt like second-class citizens.
In the Catholic South,<ref>see [http://www.zum.de/whkmla/region/lowcountries/neth18151830.html online maps 1830, 1839]</ref> William's policies were unpopular. The French-speaking Walloons strenuously rejected his attempt to make Dutch the universal language of government, while the population of [[Flanders]] was divided. Flemings in the south spoke a Dutch dialect ("Flemish") and welcomed the encouragement of Dutch with a revival of literature and popular culture. Other Flemings, notably the educated bourgeoisie, preferred to speak French. Although Catholics possessed legal equality, they resented their subordination to a government that was fundamentally Protestant in spirit and membership after having been the state church for centuries in the north. Few Catholics held high office in state or army. Furthermore, political liberals in the south complained about the king's authoritarian methods. All southerners complained of underrepresentation in the national legislature. Although the south was industrializing and was more prosperous than the north the accumulated grievances allowed the multiple opposition forces to coalesce.
[[File:Révolution belge de 1830 - La rue de Flandre le jeudi 23 septembre 1830.jpg|thumb|Fighting between Belgian rebels and the Dutch military expedition in [[Brussels]] in September 1830]]
The outbreak of [[July Revolution|revolution in France]] in 1830 was a signal for action, at first on behalf of autonomy for Belgium, as the southern provinces were now called, and later on behalf of total independence. William dithered and his half-hearted efforts to reconquer Belgium were thwarted both by the efforts of the Belgians themselves and by the diplomatic opposition of the great powers.

At the [[London Conference of 1830]], the chief powers of Europe ordered (in November 1830) an armistice between the Dutch and the Belgians. The first draft for a treaty of separation of Belgium and the Netherlands was rejected by the Belgians. A second draft (June 1831) was rejected by William I, who resumed hostilities. Franco-British intervention forced William to withdraw Dutch forces from Belgium late in 1831, and in 1833 an armistice of indefinite duration was concluded. Belgium was effectively independent but William's attempts to recover Luxembourg and Limburg led to renewed tension. The London Conference of 1838–1839 prepared the final Dutch-Belgian [[Treaty of London (1839)|separation treaty of 1839]]. It divided Luxembourg and Limburg between the Dutch and Belgian crowns. The Kingdom of the Netherlands thereafter was made up of the 11 northern provinces.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Blom |first=J. C. H. |title=History of the Low Countries |date=1999 |pages=297–312}}</ref>

==Democratic and Industrial Development (1840–1900)==
[[File:Anton Mauve - Herderin met kudde schapen.jpg|thumb|left|''Shepherdess With a Flock of Sheep'' by [[Anton Mauve]] (1838–1888), of the [[Hague School]]]]

The Netherlands did not industrialize as rapidly as Belgium after 1830, but it was prosperous enough. Griffiths argues that certain government policies facilitated the emergence of a national economy in the 19th century. They included the abolition of internal tariffs and guilds, a unified coinage system, modern methods of tax collection, standardized weights and measures, and the building of many roads, canals, and railroads. However, compared to Belgium, which was leading in industrialization on the Continent, the Netherlands moved slowly. Possible explanations for this difference are the higher costs due to geography and high wages, and the emphasis of entrepreneurs on trade rather than industry.<ref>Richard T. Griffiths, ''Industrial Retardation in The Netherlands, 1830–1850'' (The Hague: Martinus Nijhoff, 1979).</ref>

For example, in the Dutch coastal provinces agricultural productivity was relatively high. Hence, industrial growth arrived relatively late – after 1860 – because incentives to move to labour-intensive industry were quite weak.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Baten, Jörg |title=A History of the Global Economy. From 1500 to the Present. |date=2016 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |isbn=9781107507180 |page=19}}</ref>
However, the provinces of North Brabant and Overijssel did industrialize, and they became the most economically advanced areas of the country.<ref>Richard T. Griffiths, "The Creation of a National Dutch Economy: 1795–1909", ''Tijdschrift voor Geschiedenis,'' 1982, Vol. 95 Issue 4, pp. 513–553 (in English)</ref><ref>Joel Mokyr, "The Industrial Revolution in the Low Countries in the First Half of the Nineteenth Century: A Comparative Case Study", ''Journal of Economic History'' (1974) 34#2 pp. 365–399 [https://www.jstor.org/stable/2116987 in JSTOR]</ref>

As in the rest of Europe, the 19th century saw the gradual transformation of the Netherlands into a modern middle-class industrial society. The number of people employed in agriculture decreased, while the country made a strong effort to revive its stake in the highly competitive shipping and trade business. The Netherlands lagged behind Belgium until the late 19th century in industrialization, and caught up around 1920. Major industries included textiles and (later) the great Philips industrial conglomerate. Rotterdam became a major shipping and manufacturing center.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Loyen, Reginald |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=QG1R4StCc1gC |title=Struggling for Leadership: Antwerp-Rotterdam Port. Competition 1870–2000 |publisher=Springer |date=2003 |isbn=9783790815245 |display-authors=etal}}</ref> Poverty slowly declined as begging largely disappeared along with steadily improving working conditions for the population.

===1848 Constitutional reform and liberalism===
[[File:Van Gogh - Bäuerin, sitzend, mit weißer Haube.jpeg|thumb|''Peasant woman, seated, with a white hood'', painted in Nuenen in December 1884 by [[Vincent van Gogh]] (1853–1890). Born in [[Zundert|Groot-Zundert]], van Gogh was a Dutch post-Impressionist painter whose work, notable for its rough beauty, emotional honesty and bold color, had a far-reaching influence on [[20th-century art]].]]

In 1840 William I abdicated in favor of his son, [[William II of the Netherlands|William II]], who attempted to carry on the policies of his father in the face of a powerful liberal movement. In 1848 [[Revolutions of 1848|unrest broke out all over Europe]]. Although there were no major events in the Netherlands, these foreign developments persuaded King [[William II of the Netherlands|William II]] to agree to liberal and democratic reform. That same year [[Johan Rudolf Thorbecke]], a prominent liberal, was asked by the king to draft a constitution that would turn the Netherlands into a [[constitutional monarchy]]. The new constitution was proclaimed on 3 November 1848. It severely limited the king's powers (making the government accountable only to an elected parliament), and it protected [[civil liberties]]. The new liberal constitution, which put the government under the control of the States General, was accepted by the legislature in 1848. The relationship between monarch, government and parliament has remained essentially unchanged ever since. In fact, the current Constitution of the Netherlands is the 1848 Constitution, albeit with amendments.

William II was succeeded by [[William III of the Netherlands|William III]] in 1849. The new king reluctantly chose Thorbecke to head the new government, which introduced several liberal measures, notably the extension of suffrage. However, Thorbecke's government soon fell, when Protestants rioted against the Vatican's reestablishment of the Catholic episcopate, in abeyance since the 16th century. A conservative government was formed, but it did not undo the liberal measures, and the Catholics were finally given equality after two centuries of subordination. Dutch political history from the middle of the 19th century until the [[First World War]] was fundamentally one of the extension of liberal reforms in government, the reorganization and modernization of the Dutch economy, and the rise of trade unionism and socialism as working-class movements independent of traditional liberalism. The growth in prosperity was enormous, as real per capita GNP soared from 106 guilders in 1804 to 403 in 1913.{{Sfnp|Kossmann|1978|loc=chapter 5}}

===Religion and pillarisation===
[[File:Nederlandgodsdienst1849.PNG|thumb|Religion in the Netherlands in 1849.
{{Legend|#008000|[[Roman Catholic Church|Roman Catholicism]]}}
{{Legend|#FF0000|[[Protestantism]] ([[Calvinism|Calvinist]])}}]]
Religion was a contentious issue with repeated struggles over the relations of church and state in the field of education. In 1816, the government took full control of the [[Dutch Reformed Church]] ({{langx|nl|Nederlands Hervormde Kerk}}). In 1857, all religious instruction was ended in public schools, but the various churches set up their own schools, and even universities. Dissident members broke away from the Dutch Reformed Church in the Secession of 1834. They were harassed by the government under an onerous Napoleonic law prohibiting gatherings of more than 20 members without a permit. After the harassment ended in the 1850s, a number of these dissidents eventually created the Christian Reformed Church in 1869; thousands migrated to Michigan, Illinois, and Iowa in the United States. By 1900, the dissidents represented about 10% of the population, compared to 45% of the population who were in the [[Dutch Reformed Church]], which continued to be the only church to receive state money.<ref>Corwin, "Holland" [http://www.ccel.org/ccel/schaff/encyc05.h.ix.html ''The New Schaff-Herzog Encyclopedia of Religious Knowledge,'' (1914) 5:319–22]</ref>

At mid-century, most Dutch belonged either to the [[Dutch Reformed Church]] or dissenter groups that separated from it (around 55%), or the [[Roman Catholic Church]] (35% to 40%), together with smaller [[Protestant]] (for example, [[Lutheran]]) and Jewish groups. A large and powerful sector of nominal Protestants were in fact secular liberals seeking to minimize religious influence. In reaction a novel alliance developed with Catholics and devout Calvinists joining against secular liberals. The Catholics, who had been loosely allied with the liberals in earlier decades, turned against them on the issue of state support, which the liberals insisted should be granted only to public schools, and joined with Protestant political parties in demanding equal state support to schools maintained by religious groups.<ref>J. C. H. Blom and E. Lamberts, eds. ''History of the Low Countries'' (1999) pp. 387–403</ref>

The Netherlands remained one of the most tolerant countries in Europe towards religious belief, although conservative Protestants objected to the liberalization of the Dutch Reformed Church during the 19th century and faced opposition from the government when they tried to establish separate communities (Catholics and other non-Protestants were left unmolested by Dutch authorities). Some moved to the United States as a consequence, but as the century drew to a close, religious persecution had totally ceased.

[[File:Old-Amsterdam 1891-street-1.jpg|thumb|upright=.7|Street in Amsterdam in 1891 ({{Interlanguage link|Vijzelstraat|nl}} looking towards Muntplein)]]
Dutch social and political life became divided by fairly clear-cut internal borders that were emerging as the society pillarized into three separate parts based on religion. The economy was not affected. One of the people most responsible for designing pillarization was [[Abraham Kuyper]] (1837–1920), a leading politician, [[neo-Calvinist]] theologian, and journalist. Kuyper established orthodox Calvinist organizations, and also provided a theoretical framework by developing such concepts as "sphere-sovereignty" that celebrated Dutch society as a society of organized minorities. ''Verzuiling'' ("pillarization" or "pluralism") after 1850 became the solution to the danger of internal conflict. Everyone was part of one (and only one) pillar (''zuil'') based chiefly on religion (Protestant, Catholic, secular). The secular pillar eventually split into a socialist/working class pillar and a liberal (pro-business) secular pillar. Each pillar built a full set of its own social organizations, including churches (for the religious pillars), political parties, schools, universities,<ref>The oldest universities, in Leiden, Utrecht, and Groningen, had a secular-liberal character. In 1880 Kuyper opened a Protestant university in Amsterdam and in 1923 a Catholic one opened in Nijmegen. The Amsterdam municipal university, which opened in 1877, leaned toward secular-socialism, but was formally neutral.</ref> labor unions, sport clubs, boy scout unions and other youth clubs, and newspapers. The members of different ''zuilen'' lived in close proximity in cities and villages, spoke the same language, and did business with one another, but seldom interacted informally and rarely intermarried.<ref>A Dutch rhyme forbade intermarriage thus: ''Twee geloven op één kussen, daar slaapt de Duivel tussen'' [Two religions on one pillow, there the Devil sleeps in between.] On the decline of intermarriage see Erik Beekink, et al. "Changes in Choice of Spouse as an Indicator of a Society in a State of Transition: Woerden, 1830–1930." ''Historical Social Research'' 1998 23(1–2): 231–253. {{ISSN|0172-6404}}</ref> In politics Kuyper formed the [[Anti-Revolutionary Party]] (ARP) in 1879, and headed it until 1905.

Pillarization was officially recognized in the [[Pacification of 1917]], whereby socialists and liberals achieved their goal of universal male suffrage and the religious parties were guaranteed equal funding of all schools.{{Sfnp|Kossmann|1978|page=57}} In 1930 radio was organized so that each pillar had full control of its own network. When television began in the late 1940s the pillars divided up time equally on the one station. In politics and civic affairs leaders of the pillar organizations cooperated and they acknowledged the right of the other pillars, so public life generally ran smoothly.<ref>Arend Lijphart, ''The Politics of Accommodation. Pluralism, and Democracy in the Netherlands'' (1975) is the standard analysis from a leading political scientist; Michael Wintle, "Pillarisation, Consociation, and Vertical Pluralism in the Netherlands Revisited: a European View." ''West European Politics'' 2000 23(3): 139–152, defends the concept; more critical is J. C. H. Blom, "Pillarisation in Perspective." ''West European Politics'' (2000) 23(3): 153–164.</ref><ref>Johan Sturm, et al. "Educational Pluralism: A Historical Study of So-Called "Pillarization" in the Netherlands, Including a Comparison with Some Developments in South African Education", ''Comparative Education'', (1998) 34#3 pp. 281–297 [https://www.jstor.org/pss/3099832 in JSTOR]</ref>

===Flourishing of art, culture and science===
The late 19th century saw a cultural revival. The [[Hague School]] brought a revival of realist painting, 1860–1890. The world-famous Dutch painter was [[Vincent van Gogh]], but he spent most of his career in France.<ref>Richard Bionda and [[Carel Blotkamp]], eds. ''The Age of Van Gogh: Dutch Painting 1880–1895'' (1997)</ref> Literature, music, architecture and science also flourished. A representative leader of science was [[Johannes Diderik van der Waals]] (1837–1923), a working class youth who taught himself physics, earned a PhD at the nation's leading school Leiden University, and in 1910 won the Nobel Prize for his discoveries in thermodynamics. [[Hendrik Lorentz]] (1853–1928) and his student [[Pieter Zeeman]] (1865–1943) shared the 1902 Nobel Prize in physics. Other notable scientists included biologist [[Hugo de Vries]] (1848–1935), who rediscovered Mendelian genetics.<ref>Leo Beek, ''Dutch Pioneers of Science'' (1986)</ref>

==1900 to present==
{{main|History of the Netherlands (1900–present)}}
{{See|Netherlands in World War I|Great Depression in the Netherlands|Netherlands in World War II}}
[[File:Population of the Netherlands 1900-2000.png|thumb|Population growth 1900–2000]]

From 1900 to 1940, the Netherlands experienced significant population growth. This era included significant colonial expansion, particularly in the [[Dutch East Indies]], coupled with the challenges posed by World War I and the [[Great Depression]]. Although the Netherlands maintained neutrality during World War I, its strategic geographic location and colonial resources had profound implications for its economic and political stability. The period saw the rise of socialism and labor unrest, which were partly driven by industrialization and the shifting dynamics of Dutch society. A half-hearted socialist revolution attempt during the [[Red Week (Netherlands)|Red Week]] in November 1918 failed.

World War II marked a devastating period for the Netherlands, which suffered under German occupation from 1940 until liberation in 1945. The war's impact was severe, with the [[Rotterdam Blitz]] causing extensive destruction and loss of life. Dutch resistance was significant, though the nation also faced collaboration from within. Post-war, the Netherlands underwent a painful process of recovery and retribution against collaborators. The immediate post-war years were focused on rebuilding and economic stabilization, facilitated by U.S. aid through the [[Marshall Plan]], which helped to revive the Dutch economy and infrastructure.

[[File:President Trump Meets with the Prime Minister of the Netherlands (48317652116).jpg|thumb|Dutch Prime Minister [[Mark Rutte]] and U.S. President [[Donald Trump]] in the [[Oval Office]] on 18 July 2019]]The post-war period saw significant changes in the [[Dutch empire]], with Indonesia proclaiming independence in 1945, leading to a violent and tumultuous decolonization process completed in 1949. This era brought about substantial social change within the Netherlands, including the establishment of a welfare state in the subsequent decades. Economic prosperity in the 1960s and 1970s led to social liberalization, culminating in progressive policies on immigration, drugs, and euthanasia. The Netherlands also became a founding member of key international institutions, including the [[European Union]], reflecting its deepening commitment to international cooperation.
==Historians==
* Julia Adams, economic and social history<ref>{{Citation |first=Julia |last=Adams |title=The Familial State: Ruling Families and Merchant Capitalism in Early Modern Europe |publisher=Ithaca: Cornell University Press |date=2005}}</ref>
* [[Petrus Johannes Blok]], survey<ref>{{Citation |first=Petrus Johannes |last=Blok |title=History of the People of the Netherlands |author-link=Petrus Johannes Blok}}
* {{Citation |title=History of the People of the Netherlands |volume=Part 1. From the Earliest Times to the Beginning of the Fifteen Century |url=https://archive.org/details/historypeoplene02blokgoog |publisher=G.P. Putnam's Sons |date=1898 |translator1=Oscar A. Bierstadt |translator2=Ruth Putnam |lccn=01029643}}
* {{Citation |title=History of the People of the Netherlands |volume=Part 2. From the Beginning of the Fifteenth Century to 1559 |url=https://archive.org/details/bub_gb_0coOAAAAIAAJ |publisher=G.P. Putnam's Sons |date=1898 |translator=Ruth Putnam |lccn=01029643}}
* {{Citation |title=History of the People of the Netherlands |volume=Part 3. The War With Spain|url=https://archive.org/details/historypeoplene02blokgoog |publisher=G.P. Putnam's Sons |date=1900 |translator=Ruth Putnam |lccn=01029643}}
* {{Citation |title=History of the People of the Netherlands |volume=Part 4. Frederick Henry, John De Witt, William III. |url=https://archive.org/details/historypeoplene02blokgoog |publisher=G.P. Putnam's Sons |date=1907 |translator=Oscar A. Bierstadt |lccn=01029643}}
* {{Citation |title=History of the People of the Netherlands |volume=Part 5. Eighteenth and Nineteenth Centuries |url=https://archive.org/details/historypeoplene02blokgoog |publisher=G.P. Putnam's Sons |date=1912 |translator1=Oscar A. Bierstadt |translator2=Ruth Putnam |lccn=01029643}}</ref>
* [[Hans Blom (historian)|J. C. H. Blom]], survey<ref>{{Citation |editor-first1=J. C. H. |editor-last1=Blom |editor-first2=E. |editor-last2=Lamberts | title=History of the Low Countries |date=2006 |orig-date=1982 |isbn=978-1-84545-272-8}}</ref>
* M. R. Boxell, political history<ref>{{Citation |editor-last1=Besamusca |editor-first1=Emmeline |editor-first2=Jaap |editor-last2=Verheul |title=Discovering the Dutch: on Culture and Society of the Netherlands |publisher=Amsterdam: Amsterdam University Press |date=2010 |isbn=9789089647924}}</ref>
* [[Pieter Geyl]], Dutch revolt; historiography<ref>Pieter Geyl, ''The Revolt of the Netherlands: 1555–1609'' (1958) [https://www.questia.com/read/98720656?title=The%20Revolt%20of%20the%20Netherlands%20(1555-1609) online edition] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110729091303/http://www.questia.com/read/98720656?title=The%20Revolt%20of%20the%20Netherlands%20(1555-1609) |date=29 July 2011}}</ref>
* [[Johan Huizinga]] (1872–1945), cultural history<ref>Peter Burke, "Historians and Their Times: Huizinga, Prophet of 'Blood and Roses.'" ''History Today'' 1986 36(Nov): 23–28. {{ISSN|0018-2753}} Fulltext: [[EBSCO Information Services|EBSCO]]; William U. Bouwsma, "The ''Waning of the Middle Ages'' by Johan Huizinga." ''Daedalus'' 1974 103(1): 35–43. {{ISSN|0011-5266}}; R. L. Colie, "Johan Huizinga and the Task of Cultural History." ''American Historical Review'' 1964 69(3): 607–630 [https://www.jstor.org/pss/1845780 in JSTOR]; Robert Anchor, "History and Play: Johan Huizinga and His Critics", ''History and Theory'', Vol. 17, No. 1 (Feb. 1978), pp. 63–93 [https://www.jstor.org/pss/2504901 in JSTOR]</ref>
* [[Jonathan Israel]], Dutch Republic,{{Sfnp|Israel|1995}} [[Age of Enlightenment]], [[Baruch Spinoza]]<ref>Jonathan I. Israel, ''Democratic Enlightenment: Philosophy, Revolution, and Human Rights, 1750–1790'' (2011) [https://www.amazon.com/Democratic-Enlightenment-Philosophy-Revolution-1750-1790/dp/019954820X/ excerpt and text search]</ref>
* [[Loe de Jong|Louis De Jong]], World War II<ref>J. C. H. Blom, "Ludovico Locuto, Porta Aperta: Enige Notities over Deel XII En XIII Van L. De Jongs Koninkrijk Der Nederlanden in De Tweede Wereldoorlog." [After Louis Spoke, Everything Was Clear: Some Notes on Volumes 12 and 13 of Louis De Jong's Kingdom of the Netherlands in World War II]. ''Bijdragen En Mededelingen Betreffende De Geschiedenis Der Nederlanden'' 1990 105(2): 244–264. {{ISSN|0165-0505}}. A review of a great masterpiece. (in Dutch)</ref>
* [[John Lothrop Motley]], American historian of the Dutch Revolt<ref>John Lothrop Motley, ''The Rise of the Dutch Republic, 1555–84'' (2 vol. 1856)
[http://www.gutenberg.org/files/4836/4836.txt Gutenberg editions online] and ''History of the United Netherlands, 1584–1609'' (4 vol., 1860–1867) [http://www.gutenberg.org/files/4885/4885.txt Gutenberg editions online] For a criticism of Motler see Robert Wheaton, "Motley and the Dutch Historians." ''New England Quarterly'' 1962 35(3): 318–336. [https://www.jstor.org/stable/363823 in JSTOR]</ref>
* [[Jan Romein]] (1893–1962), theoretical and world history<ref>A. C. Otto, "Theorie En Praktijk in De Theoretische Geschiedenis Van Jan Romein" [Theory and Practice in the "Theoretical History" of Jan Romein]. ''Theoretische Geschiedenis'' 1994 21(3): 257–270. {{ISSN|0167-8310}} (in Dutch).</ref>
* [[Jan de Vries (historian)|Jan de Vries]], economic history<ref>See Arthur van Riel, "Review: Rethinking the Economic History of the Dutch Republic: The Rise and Decline of Economic Modernity Before the Advent of Industrialized Growth", ''The Journal of Economic History,'' Vol. 56, No. 1 (Mar. 1996), pp. 223–229 [https://www.jstor.org/pss/2124027 in JSTOR]</ref>

==Historiography==
The American [[John Lothrop Motley]] was the first foreign historian to write a major history of the Dutch Republic. In 3500 pages he crafted a literary masterpiece that was translated into numerous languages; his dramatic story reached a wide audience in the 19th century. Motley relied heavily on Dutch scholarship and immersed himself in the sources. His style no longer attracts readers, and scholars have moved away from his simplistic dichotomies of good versus evil, Dutch versus Spanish, Catholic versus Protestant, freedom versus authoritarianism. His theory of causation overemphasized ethnicity as an unchanging characteristic, exaggerated the importance of William of Orange, and gave undue importance to the issue of religious tolerance.<ref>{{Citation |first=Robert |last=Wheaton |title=Motley and the Dutch Historians |journal=New England Quarterly |date=1962 |volume=35 |issue=3 |pages=318–336 |doi=10.2307/363823 |jstor=363823}}</ref>

The pioneering Dutch cultural historian [[Johan Huizinga]], author of ''The Autumn of the Middle Ages'' (1919) (the English translation was called ''The Waning of the Middle Ages'') and ''Homo Ludens: A Study of the Play Element in Culture'' (1935), which expanded the field of cultural history and influenced the historical anthropology of younger historians of the French [[Annales School]]. He was influenced by art history and advised historians to trace "patterns of culture" by studying "themes, figures, motifs, symbols, styles and sentiments".<ref>{{Citation |first=Peter |last=Burke |title=Historians and Their Times: Huizinga, Prophet of 'Blood and Roses |journal=History Today |date=November 1986 |issue=36 |pages=23–28}};<br/>{{Citation |first=William U. |last=Bouwsma |title=The ''Waning of the Middle Ages'' by Johan Huizinga |journal=Daedalus |date=1974 |volume=103 |issue=1 |pages=35–43}};<br/>{{Citation |first=R. L. |last=Colie |title=Johan Huizinga and the Task of Cultural History |journal=American Historical Review |date=1964 |volume=69 |issue=3 |pages=607–630 |doi=10.2307/1845780 |jstor=1845780}};<br/>{{Citation |first=Robert |last=Anchor |title=History and Play: Johan Huizinga and His Critics |journal=History and Theory |date=1978|volume=17 |issue=1 |pages=63–93 |doi=10.2307/2504901 |jstor=2504901}}</ref>

The "polder model" continues to strongly influence historians as well as Dutch political discussion. The polder model stressed the need for finding consensus and discouraged furious debate and angry dissent in both academia and politics – in contrast to the highly developed, intense debates in Germany.<ref>{{Citation |first=Chris |last=Lorenz |title=Het 'Academisch Poldermodel' En De Westforschung in Nederland", [The Dutch Academic Polder Model and Westforschung in the Netherlands] |journal=Tijdschrift voor Geschiedenis |date=2005 |volume=118 |issue=2 |pages=252–270 |issn=0040-7518}}</ref>

The [[H-Net]] list ''H-Low-Countries'' is published free by email and is edited by scholars. Its occasional messages serve an international community with diverse methodological approaches, archival experiences, teaching styles, and intellectual traditions, promotes discussion relevant to the region and to the different national histories in particular, with an emphasis on the Netherlands. H-Low-Countries publishes conference announcements, questions and discussions; reviews of books, journals, and articles; and tables of contents of journals on the history of the Low Countries (in both Dutch and English).<ref>See [http://www.h-net.org/~lowc h-net.org home page, with discussion logs]</ref> After World War II both research-oriented and teaching-oriented historians have been rethinking their interpretive approaches to Dutch history, balancing traditional memories and modern scholarship.<ref>{{Citation |first=Alexander |last=Albicher |title=A forced but passionate marriage: The changing relationship between past and present in Dutch history education 1945–1979 |journal=Paedagogica Historica |date=2012 |volume=48 |issue=6 |pages=840–858|doi=10.1080/00309230.2012.709526 |s2cid=145489228 }}</ref> In terms of popular history, there has been an effort to ensure greater historical accuracy in museums and historic tourist sites.<ref>{{Citation |first1=Susan |last1=Broomhall |first2=Jennifer |last2=Spinks |title=A Interpreting place and past in narratives of Dutch heritage tourism |journal=Rethinking History |date=2010 |volume=14 |issue=2 |pages=267–285 |doi=10.1080/13642521003710854 |s2cid=145474831 |author-link=Susan Broomhall}}</ref>

Once heralded as the leading event of modern Dutch history, the [[Dutch Revolt]] lasted from 1568 to 1648, and historians have worked to interpret it for even longer. In 2007, Laura Cruz explained the major debates among scholars regarding the Dutch bid for independence from Spanish rule. While agreeing that the intellectual milieus of late 19th and 20th centuries affected historians' interpretations, Cruz argued that writings about the revolt trace changing perceptions of the role played by small countries in the history of Europe. In recent decades grand theory has fallen out of favor among most scholars, who emphasize the particular over the general. Dutch and Belgian historiography since 1945 no longer says the revolt was the culmination of an inevitable process leading to independence and freedom. Instead scholars have put the political and economic details of the towns and provinces under the microscope, while agreeing on the weaknesses of attempts at centralization by the Habsburg rulers. The most influential new studies have been rooted in demographic and economic history, though scholars continue to debate the relationship between economics and politics. The religious dimension has been viewed in terms of mentalities, exposing the minority position of Calvinism, while the international aspects have been studied more seriously by foreign historians than by the Dutch themselves.<ref>{{Citation |first=Laura |last=Cruz |title=The 80 Years' Question: the Dutch Revolt in Historical Perspective |journal=History Compass |date=2007 |volume=5 |issue=3 |pages=914–934|doi=10.1111/j.1478-0542.2007.00400.x }}</ref>

[[Pieter Geyl]] was the leading historian of the Dutch Revolt, and an influential professor at the University of London (1919–1935) and at the State University of Utrecht (1936–1958). He wrote a six-volume history of the Dutch-speaking peoples.<ref>Three volumes appeared in English translation, ''The Revolit of the Netherlands (1555–1609)'' (1932); and ''The Netherlands in the Seventeenth Century'' (2 vol 1936, 1964).</ref> The Nazis imprisoned him in World War II. In his political views, Geyl adopted the views of the 17th-century Dutch Louvestein faction, led by [[Johan van Oldenbarneveldt]] and [[Johan de Witt]]. It stood for liberty, toleration, and national interests in contrast to the Orange stadholders who sought to promote their own self-interest. According to Geyl, the Dutch Republic reached the peak of its powers during the 17th century. He was also a staunch nationalist and suggested that Flanders could split off from Belgium and join the Netherlands. Later he decried what he called radical nationalism and stressed more the vitality of Western Civilization. Geyl was highly critical of the [[World history (field)|world history]] approach of [[Arnold J. Toynbee]].<ref>{{Citation |first=Herbert H. |last=Rowen |title=The Historical Work of Pieter Geyl |journal=Journal of Modern History |date=1965 |volume=37 |issue=1 |pages=35–49 |doi=10.1086/239563 |issn=0022-2801 |jstor=1874563|s2cid=143576090 }}</ref>

[[Jan Romein]] created a "theoretical history" in an attempt to reestablish the relevance of history to public life in the 1930s at a time of immense political uncertainty and cultural crisis, when Romein thought that history had become too inward-looking and isolated from other disciplines. Romein, a Marxist, wanted history to contribute to social improvement. At the same time, influenced by the successes of theoretical physics and his study of [[Oswald Spengler]], [[Arnold J. Toynbee]], [[Frederick John Teggart]], and others, he spurred on the development of theoretical history in the Netherlands, to the point where it became a subject in its own right at the university level after the war. Romein used the term integral history as a substitute for cultural history and focused his attention on the period around the turn of the century. He concluded that a serious crisis occurred in European civilization in 1900 because of the rise of anti-Semitism, extreme nationalism, discontent with the parliamentary system, depersonalization of the state, and the rejection of positivism. European civilization waned as the result of this crisis which was accompanied by the rise of the United States, the Americanization of the world, and the emergence of Asia. His interpretation is reminiscent of that of his mentor Johan Huizinga and was criticized by his colleague Pieter Geyl.<ref>{{Citation |first=A. C. |last=Otto |title=Theorie En Praktijk in De Theoretische Geschiedenis Van Jan Romein [Theory and Practice in the "Theoretical History" of Jan Romein] |journal=Theoretische Geschiedenis |date=1994 |volume=21 |issue=3 |pages=257–270 |issn=0167-8310}}; {{Citation |first=P. |last=Blaas |title=An Attempt at Integral History |journal=Acta Historiae Neerlandica |date=1971 |volume=5 |pages=271–315 |issn=0065-129X}}</ref>

==See also==
{{Div col|colwidth=22em}}
* [[Canon of the Netherlands]]
* [[Culture of the Netherlands]]
* [[Demographics of the Netherlands]]
* [[Dutch diaspora]]
* [[Dutch East Indies]]
* [[Economy of the Netherlands]]
* [[Geography of the European Netherlands]]
* [[History of religion in the Netherlands]]
* [[List of prime ministers of the Netherlands]]
* [[List of monarchs of the Netherlands]]
* [[Politics of the Netherlands]]
* [[Provinces of the Netherlands]]
* [[Netherlands in World War II]]
{{Div col end}}

==Notes==
{{Reflist |30em}}

=== Sources ===
{{Refbegin |30em}}
* {{Cite book |first=Jonathan |last=Israel |title=The Dutch Republic: Its Rise, Greatness, and Fall, 1477–1806 |date=1995 |isbn=978-0-19-820734-4 |author-link=Jonathan Israel}}
* Kennedy, James C.  ''A Concise History of The Netherlands''. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press 2017. {{ISBN|978-0521699174}}
* {{Citation |last=Kossmann |first=E. H. |title=The Low Countries 1780–1940 |date=1978 |isbn=9780198221081 |author-link=Ernst Kossmann}}, Detailed survey
{{Refend}}

==Further reading==
{{Refbegin |30em}}
* Abbenhuis, Maartje. ''The art of staying neutral: the Netherlands in the First World War, 1914-1918'' (Amsterdam University Press, 2006) [https://library.oapen.org/bitstream/handle/20.500.12657/35154/1/340189.pdf online].
* Bieleman, Jan. ''Five centuries of farming: a short history of Dutch agriculture 1500-2000'' (BRILL, 2023) [https://books.google.com/books?hl=en&lr=&id=4s37EAAAQBAJ&oi=fnd&pg=PA3&dq=History+of+the+Netherlands+&ots=DjoZjHGBxU&sig=D01tntQasv8zWS31wu0hd1ptCkQ online].
* Blok, Petrus Johannes. ''History of the People of the Netherlands'' (Putnam's, 1912) [https://books.google.com/books?hl=en&lr=&id=gf8bAAAAMAAJ&oi=fnd&pg=PA1&dq=History+of+the+Netherlands+&ots=cnbFutsAR2&sig=y8unfTok_hoiJ45pNQU4GWxqBK8 online].
* C't Hart, Marjolein, Joost Jonker, and Jan Luiten van Zanden, eds. ''A financial history of the Netherlands'' (Cambridge University Press, 1997) 
* Kennedy, James C.  ''A Concise History of The Netherlands''. (Cambridge University Press 2017) [https://books.google.com/books?hl=en&lr=&id=EdUlDwAAQBAJ&oi=fnd&pg=PR7&dq=History+of+the+Netherlands+&ots=l81RxpV7gv&sig=XyQV6Mfb5TEL7BpTf1ZC6YPjLAc online]
* Meijer, Reinder. ''Literature of the low countries: a short history of Dutch literature in the Netherlands and Belgium'' (Springer Science & Business Media, 2012) [https://books.google.com/books?hl=en&lr=&id=2j3qCAAAQBAJ&oi=fnd&pg=PP7&dq=History+of+the+Netherlands+&ots=P2b6J3oNR6&sig=Tp7wzgz2nwpnS48YzoSJBEcNqrY online].
* Schulte Nordholt, Jan Willem. ''The Dutch Republic and American Independence'', trans. Herbert H. Rowen. Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press 1982 {{ISBN|0807815306}}
* Van Zanden, Jan L. ''The economic history of the Netherlands 1914-1995: A small open economy in the 'long' twentieth century'' (Routledge, 2005).
* Wielenga, Friso. ''A history of the Netherlands: From the sixteenth century to the present day'' (Bloomsbury, 2024).
* Wintle, Michael. ''An economic and social history of the Netherlands, 1800–1920: demographic, economic and social transition'' (Cambridge University Press, 2000).
{{Refend}}

== External links ==
{{Commons category|History of the Netherlands}}
* [http://www.ingentaconnect.com/content/maney/dtc/ ''Dutch Crossing: Journal of Low Countries Studies''], a scholarly journal
* [http://eudocs.lib.byu.edu/index.php/History_of_the_Netherlands:_Primary_Documents History of Netherlands: Primary Documents]
* [http://nlgis.nl Netherlands Geographic Information System (1812–1997)]

{{Netherlands topics}}
{{Years in the Netherlands}}
{{History of Europe}}
{{European history by country}}

[[Category:History of the Netherlands| ]]
[[Category:Articles which contain graphical timelines]]