ABSTRACT
Prosperity was an old acquaintance of the people of the Low Countries. It was not, to be sure, the prosperity that rises from a luxuriant soil or is the gift of an easy climate. The year 1609 saw the foundation of the Bank of Amsterdam, 1611 that of its Bourse. Amsterdam was becoming the financial centre of the world. The greater security that came with the twelve years’ truce brought about a new growth of enterprise and prosperity. The discovery and the conquest of the Dutch East Indies is an epic story which cannot find a place in these pages. It is a tale of ruthlessness and unscrupulous cupidity, the story of the collective sin of Spain, Portugal, Holland, England and France. The industry which gradually arose in the Dutch Republic was permeated by the same stern spirit of endeavour and economy. Shipping seems to have been the inspiration and the central preoccupation of the new industry.
