ABSTRACT
This chapter examines how the Dutch merchants continued to expand their overseas networks during the Wars of Independence. The Dutch navy modernized, initially under pressure from the Spanish and then because of the English threat. Meanwhile the local admiralty boards and colonial companies made significant economic demands on their home communities. Privateers damaged Dutch trade, but Dutch privateers did well too - not least thanks to the infamous West India Company. Rotterdam was assigned the central navy organization, but the decentralization of political power led to the establishment of no fewer than four additional admiralty boards. The navy was extremely important for the 'protection-selling capacity' of the Dutch Republic, to employ Frederick Lane's term. The expansion of the VOC continued after 1650, but at a slower pace. In the 1670s the English East India Company (EIC) increasingly became a competitor, which caused pepper prices to fall sharply in Europe.
