Page 33 - All About History - Issue 18-14

What was it like?

AMSTERDAM, 1637

Industry

As Antwerp, previously Europe’s foremost
sugar refiner, fell during the Eighty
Years’ War, Amsterdam took its place and
increased its sugar refineries from three
to 50 in just 60 years. Dairy farming and The urban merchant class rose to
prosperity in Dutch society
grain production rose rapidly as the city’s
landscape was transformed, with its lakes
being turned into polders. Another major
industry was textiles, increasing from
The Nightwatch by Rembrandt is one
f the most famous pieces of artwork 50,000 pieces a year to 130,000.
roduced during the Dutch golden age
Art Finance

The Dutch golden age was a unique period Skilled craftsmen who had been ostracised
for art as the decreasing support for the by their own countries for their religion
church, combined with the flood of wealth poured into the city, transforming it into the
from merchants, shifted the focus from most important trading centre in the world
biblical subjects to the everyday. Realistic thanks to these workers, as well as its central
portraits of ordinary people, objects and location. Vessels laden with exotic animals,
landscapes soured in popularity with spices, coffee and plants laid anchor at port
masters such as Rembrandt, Johannes creating so much revenue for the flourishing
Vermeer and Frans Hals producing some city that the first central bank, the Bank of
of their most acclaimed pieces. Amsterdam, was established.

Military

The Dutch military was at its strongest during this
period, and this was just as well as it was fighting a war
against Spain, which did not officially end until 1648.
Funded by the ample gold from new trade flooding into The Dutch East India Company was
the city as well as the invention of the sawmill, the Dutch thefirst-evermultinationalcorporation
Navy was headed by an impressive fleet of ships that
would lead them to their eventual independence. The Siege of Schenkenschans was
an important success for the Dutch
during the Eighty Years’ War

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