History

Startpagina > Nieuws > Doing business in the Netherlands > Knowing the Netherlands > History

Doing business in the Netherlands

Recent bezochte pagina's

Inhabited since pre historic times, the territory had foreign domination for most of its existence. Romans, Franks, Vikings, Germans, French and spanish have dominated the country. Dutch territorial history starts in the sixteenth century, when the Dutch lead by William the silent, Prince of Orange, revolted against spanish rule. By 1579 the Northern provinces formed the union of utrecht which became the basis for the Netherlands as it is today.

Throughout the 15th and 16th century the merchant cities of Holland, especially Amsterdam, where booming and became very prosperous. This became known as the Golden Age. The Dutch East Indian company became the largest company of the 17th century. The company monopolized key trading routes like west of the strait of Magellan and east of Africa´s Cape of Good Hope.

The country became a colonial power. Culturally the country flourished as the new prosperity supported famous painters as Rembrandt and Vermeer.

After a short period of French domination around 1800, the kingdom of the Netherlands was formed at the Vienna Congress of 1815. The kingdom included the Netherlands in the North and Belgium in the south. The Belgians revolted in 1830. The Netherlands in more or less its current shape was born.

In World War I the Netherlands remained neutral but Nazi occupation of the country in World War II has left an everlasting scar on the Dutch.

After the war the post-war reconstruction was supported by the discovery of natural gas reserve in the north of the county.

The overseas colonies of Indonesia and surinam became independent and some of the islands of the Antilles established home rule (Aruba, Curaçao and st. Maarten).

<< Previous page | Knowing the Netherlands | Next page >>