Editing Netherlands (section)

===Dutch Republic (1581–1795)===
{{Main|Dutch Republic|Evolution of the Dutch Empire}} 	
[[File:Hendrick Avercamp - Winterlandschap met schaatsers bij de stad Kampen.jpg|thumb|left|''Winter landscape with skaters near the city of [[Kampen, Overijssel|Kampen]]'' by [[Hendrick Avercamp]] (1620s)]]
Following the declaration of independence, the provinces of [[County of Holland|Holland]], [[County of Zeeland|Zeeland]], [[Lordship of Groningen|Groningen]], [[Lordship of Friesland|Friesland]], [[Lordship of Utrecht|Utrecht]], [[Lordship of Overijssel|Overijssel]], and [[Duchy of Gelderland|Gelderland]] entered into a [[confederation]]. All these duchies, lordships and counties enjoyed a significant degree of autonomy and was governed by its own administrative body known as the [[States-Provincial]]. The confederal government, known as the [[States General of the Netherlands|States General]], was headquartered in [[The Hague]] and comprised representatives from each of the seven provinces. The sparsely populated region of [[Lordship of Drenthe|Drenthe]] was part of the republic, albeit not considered a province in its own right. Moreover, during the [[Eighty Years' War]], the Republic came to occupy a number of [[Generality Lands]] located in [[County of Flanders|Flanders]], [[Duchy of Brabant|Brabant]] and [[Duchy of Limburg|Limburg]]. These areas were primarily inhabited by Roman Catholics and lacked a distinct governmental structure of their own. They were utilized as a buffer zone between the Republic and the Spanish-controlled [[Southern Netherlands]].<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=XjTSBgAAQBAJ&pg=PA66|title=The Dutch Republic in the Seventeenth Century: The Golden Age|last=Prak|first=Maarten|date=22 September 2005|publisher=Cambridge University Press|isbn=978-1-316-34248-0|language=en}} p. 66</ref>

[[File:Johannes Lingelbach 001.jpg|thumb|[[Amsterdam]]'s [[Dam Square]] in 1656 by [[Johannes Lingelbach]]]]
In the [[Dutch Golden Age]], spanning much of the 17th century, the [[Dutch Empire]] grew to become one of the major seafaring and economic powers. Science, military and art (especially [[Dutch Golden Age painting|painting]]) were among the most acclaimed in the world. By 1650, the Dutch owned 16,000 merchant ships.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.digitalhistory.uh.edu/database/article_display_printable.cfm?HHID=682 |title=The Middle Colonies: New York |access-date=14 January 2012 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120114182245/http://www.digitalhistory.uh.edu/database/article_display_printable.cfm?HHID=682 |archive-date=14 January 2012}} Digital History.</ref> The [[Dutch East India Company]] and the [[Dutch West India Company]] established [[Dutch colonial empire|colonies]] and [[trading post]]s all over the world. The [[New Netherland|Dutch settlement in North America]] began with the founding of [[New Amsterdam]] in 1614. In South Africa, the Dutch settled the [[Cape Colony]] in 1652. [[Dutch colonisation of the Guianas|Dutch colonies in South America]] were established along the many rivers in the fertile [[Guyana]] plains, among them [[Surinam (Dutch colony)|Colony of Surinam]] (now [[Suriname]]). In Asia, the Dutch established a presence in [[Dutch India|India]], the [[Dutch East Indies]] (now [[Indonesia]]), [[Dutch Formosa|Formosa]] (now [[Taiwan]]), and the only western trading post in Japan, [[Dejima]].<ref>{{Cite encyclopedia |title=Dutch West India Company {{!}} Dutch trading company  |url=https://www.britannica.com/topic/Dutch-West-India-Company |access-date=21 June 2023 |encyclopedia=Encyclopedia Britannica |language=en}}</ref> During the period of [[Proto-industrialisation]], the empire received 50% of textiles and 80% of silks import from the India's [[Mughal Empire]].<ref name="tong">{{cite book |author=Junie T. Tong |year=2016 |title=Finance and Society in 21st Century China: Chinese Culture Versus Western Markets |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=_UQGDAAAQBAJ&pg=PA151 |publisher=CRC Press |page=151 |isbn=978-1-317-13522-7}}</ref><ref name="esposito">{{cite book |editor1=John L. Esposito |editor1-link=John L. Esposito |year=2004 |title=The Islamic World: Past and Present |volume=1|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=KZcohRpc4OsC&pg=PT190 |publisher=Oxford University Press |page=174 |isbn=978-0-19-516520-3}}</ref><ref>Nanda, J. N (2005). {{cite book |year=2005 |title=Bengal: the unique state |publisher=Concept Publishing Company. p. 10. |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:Storck, Four Days Battle.jpg|thumb|left|The [[Four Days' Battle]] during the [[Second Anglo-Dutch War]], 1–4 June 1666]]
Many economic historians regard the Netherlands as the first thoroughly capitalist country. In early modern Europe, it had the wealthiest trading city in [[Amsterdam]], and the first full-time [[Euronext Amsterdam|stock exchange]]. The inventiveness of the traders led to insurance and retirement funds as well as phenomena such as the [[Boom and bust|boom-bust cycle]], the world's first [[Asset price inflation|asset-inflation bubble]], the [[tulip mania]] of 1636–1637, and the world's first [[bear raid]]er, [[Isaac le Maire]].<ref>{{cite magazine|url=http://www.lrb.co.uk/v23/n07/murray-sayle/japan-goes-dutch|title=Japan Goes Dutch|magazine=London Review of Books|date=5 April 2001|author=Sayle, Murray |volume=23|issue=7|pages=3–7}}</ref> In 1672 – known in Dutch history as the [[Rampjaar]] (Disaster Year) – the Dutch Republic was attacked by France, England and three German Bishoprics simultaneously, in what would become known as the [[Franco-Dutch War]]. [[Third Anglo-Dutch War|At sea]], it could successfully prevent the English and French navies from blockading the western shores. On land, however, it was almost taken over by the advancing French and German armies from the east. It managed to turn the tide by [[Hollandic Water Line|inundating parts of Holland]].<ref name="Rowman & Littlefield">{{cite book|last1=Koopmans|first1=Joop W.|title=Historical Dictionary of the Netherlands|publisher=Rowman & Littlefield|isbn=978-1-4422-5593-7|pages=233|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=GU-xCgAAQBAJ&q=main+political+factions+dutch+society+18th+century&pg=PA271|language=en|date=5 November 2015}}</ref>

[[File:Nederlandse troepen tijdens de Slag bij Malplaquet (cropped).jpg|thumb|Dutch troops at the [[Battle of Malplaquet]].]]
From 1672 to 1712, the Republic, led by [[William III of England|William III of Orange]] and [[Anthonie Heinsius]] would regularly clash with France in what some historians have come to call the ''Forty Years' War''. In the [[Nine Years' War]] and the [[War of the Spanish Succession]], the Republic was at the centre of anti-French coalitions. The Dutch ultimately successfully defended the [[Spanish Netherlands]], established a [[Barrier Treaty|barrier]] there, and their troops proved central to the alliance which halted French territorial expansion in Europe until a new cycle began in 1792 with the [[French Revolutionary Wars]].{{sfn|Van Nimwegen|2020|p=354}} However, the wars left them effectively bankrupt, and inflicted permanent damage on the Dutch merchant navy; while they remained the dominant economic power in the Far East, Britain took over as the pre-eminent global commercial and maritime power.{{sfn|Elliott|2014|p=8}} Between 1590 and 1713, the [[Dutch States Army|Dutch army]] had been one of Europe's largest and most capable armies. However, following the [[Peace of Utrecht|conclusion of the War of the Spanish Succession]], other major powers such as Prussia, Austria, Britain, and Russia significantly expanded their military forces. The Republic struggled to match these developments, and gradually assumed the status of a mid-tier power. However, historians have sometimes overstated the extent of this decline, especially when considering the period up to the 1750s.{{sfn|Israel|1995|pp=985–986}}