Title: The Dutch seaborne empire, 1600-1800 /
Authors: Boxer, C. R.
Date: 1965
Publisher: Knopf,
Physical description: xxvi, 326 p., [17] leaves of plates, ill., maps (1 fold.), ports., 22 cm.
Language: English
LC classification: J
Abstract: How did two low-lying and relatively uninviting provinces on the North Sea join to become the principal seafaring nation of the world within a single generation? Why was this spectacular rise, accompanied by an equally impressive flourishing of the arts and sciences in the Dutch "Golden Age" of the seventeenth century, succeeded by a loss of dynamism and impetus in the "Periwig Period" of the eighteenth century? Here is a vivid picture of the rise and fall of a remarkable society. Boxer investigates such themes as the attitudes of the ruling class and the working class to each other and to Dutch expansion overseas; who emigrated to the East and West Indies, and why and how; the commercial monopolies of the chartered India Companies; the daily life of Dutch merchants and mariners in the tropics; South Africa as a colony sui generis; and the true nature of the decline into the stagnant "Periwig Period."--Adapted from dust jacket.
Contents: The Eighty Years War and the evolution of a nation -- Burgher-oligarchs and merchant-adventurers -- Sedentary workers and seafaring folk -- Mare Liberum and Mare Clausum -- Gain and godliness (a) at home ; (b) abroad -- Pallas and Mercury -- Port and factory -- Assimilation and apartheid -- The tavern of two seas -- The 'Golden Century' and the 'Periwig Period' -- Appendices: Chronology 1568-1795 ; Some salary scales of seafaring and overseas personnel 1645-1700 ; A note on the principal coins, weights and measures mentioned in the text.
Subject headings (LCSH): Netherlands--Colonies--Social conditions.; Netherlands--History--1648-1714.