The Dutch Republic, despite its small size and population, functioned as the hub of world trade, shipping, and finance for over a century following the fall of Antwerp in 1585. This is the first general account of Dutch world-trade hegemony in all its aspects from its origins as a depot for "bulk-carrying" in the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries down to its collapse during the course of the eighteenth.
The Dutch Republic, despite its small size and population, functioned as the hub of world trade, shipping, and finance for over a century following the fall of Antwerp in 1585. This is the first general account of Dutch world-trade hegemony in all its aspects from its origins as a depot for "bulk-carrying" in the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries down to its collapse during the course of the eighteenth.