This book brings together the results of fresh scholarly research to present a unique overview of the financial history of the Netherlands from the sixteenth century onwards. The Netherlands has always occupied a role in international finance way out of proportion with its geographical size. Since the eighteenth century, the country has been one of the largest exporters of capital in the world. In addition, several important financial innovations were pioneered in the Netherlands, such as a funded public debt, the famous Amsterdam Wisselbank, large public limited companies with transferable shares, and securitized international loans. The book shows the evolution of the Dutch financial system during nearly four and a half centuries, detailing the close interrelationship between currency policy, public finance, and banking.

In "The Dutch Wars of Independence," Marjolein t Hart assesses the success of the Dutch in establishing their independence through their eighty years struggle with Spain - one of the most remarkable achievements of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. Other rebellions troubled mighty powers of this epoch, but none resulted in the establishment of an independent, republican state. This book:

• tells the story of the Eighty Years War and its aftermath, including the three Anglo-Dutch Wars and the Guerre de Hollande (1570-1680).
• explores the interrelation between war, economy and society, explaining how the Dutch could turn their wars into commercial successes.
• illustrates how war could trigger and sustain innovations in the field of economy and state formation; the new ways of organization of Dutch military institutions favoured a high degree of commercialized warfare.
• shows how other state rulers tried to copy the Dutch way of commercialized warfare, in particular in taking up the protection for capital accumulation. As such, the book unravels one of the unknown pillars of European state formation (and of capitalism).

The volume investigates thoroughly the economic profitability of warfare in the early modern period and shows how smaller, commercialized states could sustain prolonged war violence common to that period. It moves beyond traditional explanations of Dutch success in warfare focusing on geography, religion, diplomacy while presenting an up-to-date overview and interpretation of the Dutch Revolt, the Anglo-Dutch Wars and the Guerre de Hollande."

This innovative work in comparative urban history explores why outstanding achievements in material and intellectual culture in early modern Europe tended to cluster in certain maritime cities. Patrick O'Brien and his co-editors have assembled a team of eighteen distinguished historians from Belgium, the Netherlands, Britain and North America, who have collaborated to make detailed comparisons of economic, architectural, artistic, publishing and scientific achievements in three renowned mercantile and imperial cities during their golden ages: Antwerp (c. 1492-1585), Amsterdam (c. 1585-1659) and London (c. 1660-1730). The book examines growth and fluctuations in the fortunes of all three cities in the context of broader trends in the growing urbanization of Europe's populations, cultures, societies and economies. The study is located in the histories of politics, warfare and culture in early modern Europe and offers fascinating insights to scholars and students of economic, social and cultural history.

Combining developments in the field of social movement theory regarding framing, collective identity, and emotions with insights from humourology, the seventeen essays in this book show the power of humour in framing social and political protest across a wide range of historical and spatial settings. The authors explore under what conditions laughter can serve the cause of the protesters; how humour has strengthened social protest; to what degree humour has been an effective tool for contentious social movements; and how humour can further the development of the collective identity of a social movement. The essays deal with a broad variety of historical and spatial settings, in quite different political structures, from open democratic societies to harsh repressive regimes, from the Zapatistas in Mexico to Vietnamese garment workers, from sixteenth-century Augsburg to Madrid and Stockholm in the 1990s.

This innovative work in comparative urban history explores why outstanding achievements in material and intellectual culture in early modern Europe tended to cluster in certain maritime cities. Patrick O'Brien, his coeditors and eighteen distinguished historians from Belgium, the Netherlands, Britain, and North America, have collaborated to compare economic, architectural, artistic, publishing and scientific achievements in three European cities during their golden ages: Antwerp (c. 1492-1585), Amsterdam (c. 1585-1659) and London (c. 1660-1730). This study offers fascinating insights to scholars and students of economic, social and cultural history.

This book brings together the results of fresh scholarly research to present a unique overview of the financial history of the Netherlands from the sixteenth century onwards. The Netherlands has always occupied a role in international finance way out of proportion with its geographical size. Since the eighteenth century, the country has been one of the largest exporters of capital in the world. In addition, several important financial innovations were pioneered in the Netherlands, such as a funded public debt, the famous Amsterdam Wisselbank, large public limited companies with transferable shares, and securitized international loans. The book shows the evolution of the Dutch financial system during nearly four and a half centuries, detailing the close interrelationship between currency policy, public finance, and banking.

In The Dutch Wars of Independence, Marjolein 't Hart assesses the success of the Dutch in establishing their independence through their eighty years struggle with Spain - one of the most remarkable achievements of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. Other rebellions troubled mighty powers of this epoch, but none resulted in the establishment of an independent, republican state. This book: tells the story of the Eighty Years War and its aftermath, including the three Anglo-Dutch Wars and the Guerre de Hollande (1570-1680). explores the interrelation between war, economy and society, explaining how the Dutch could turn their wars into commercial successes. illustrates how war could trigger and sustain innovations in the field of economy and state formation ; the new ways of organization of Dutch military institutions favoured a high degree of commercialized warfare. shows how other state rulers tried to copy the Dutch way of commercialized warfare, in particular in taking up the protection for capital accumulation. As such, the book unravels one of the unknown pillars of European state formation (and of capitalism). The volume investigates thoroughly the economic profitability of warfare in the early modern period and shows how smaller, commercialized states could sustain prolonged war violence common to that period. It moves beyond traditional explanations of Dutch success in warfare focusing on geography, religion, diplomacy while presenting an up-to-date overview and interpretation of the Dutch Revolt, the Anglo-Dutch Wars and the Guerre de Hollande.

Throughout all ages, the activities of mankind have weighed heavily upon the environment. In turn, changes in that environment have favoured the rise of certain social groups and limited the actions of others. Despite this, environmental history has remained a 'blind spot' for most social and economic historians. This is to be regretted, as the various and unequal effects of environmental change often explain the strengths and weaknesses of certain social groups, irrespective of their being defined along the lines of class, gender and ethnicity. This volume brings together the expertise of social and environmental historians in an effort to assess the extent to which transnational agents changed socioecological space as a consequence of globalization since the Late Middle Ages.

This is the first book to examine the history of the country in a way that connects global processes to local developments. Taking account of social, political and economic dynamics over the last thousand years, the book addresses key questions that get to the heart of the Netherlands' role in the world, both historically and in more recent times: * Why did the 'West' become such a significant actor in the world, and what part did the Netherlands play? * What were the driving forces in state-formation, and in what respects and why did the Netherlands take a different path to most of Europe? * How did globalisation impact economic structures and socio-cultural life, and how did the Netherlands react to these new challenges? * How did this very Christian and bourgeois nation develop into a flagship for liberal tolerance? The book carefully balances a wider investigation of these issues with close inspections of how ordinary people experienced the changes they prompted. It also provide a convincing, judicious assessment of the ebbs and flows of this small country's global influence over time: prominent as a Golden Age economic powerhouse, colonial power, and bastion of political freedom in some eras, and yet impotent on the world stage at others. Supplemented with 35 images, 10 maps, a wealth of text boxes, charts and tables, as well as a companion website, this book is the definitive history of the Netherlands in a global context.

This is the first book to examine the history of the country in a way that connects global processes to local developments. Taking account of social, political and economic dynamics over the last thousand years, the book addresses key questions that get to the heart of the Netherlands' role in the world, both historically and in more recent times: * Why did the 'West' become such a significant actor in the world, and what part did the Netherlands play? * What were the driving forces in state-formation, and in what respects and why did the Netherlands take a different path to most of Europe? * How did globalisation impact economic structures and socio-cultural life, and how did the Netherlands react to these new challenges? * How did this very Christian and bourgeois nation develop into a flagship for liberal tolerance? The book carefully balances a wider investigation of these issues with close inspections of how ordinary people experienced the changes they prompted. It also provide a convincing, judicious assessment of the ebbs and flows of this small country's global influence over time: prominent as a Golden Age economic powerhouse, colonial power, and bastion of political freedom in some eras, and yet impotent on the world stage at others. Supplemented with 35 images, 10 maps, a wealth of text boxes, charts and tables, as well as a companion website, this book is the definitive history of the Netherlands in a global context.