1. By: Hagop Tanashian Melissa Ferriter Ivy Villela

2. The “Dutch” Century The Dutch Republic was Europe’s leading commercial power during most of the seventeenth century. Stable, thriving economy. This era was known to be the “Dutch Golden Age”. Trade was a major part in their economy.

4. Shipbuilding Building ships and trading them was what made the Dutch economy so powerful. They had the largest fleet of ships in the world; 10,000 ships. The Dutch replaced the Italians in banking as the trading routes shifted from the Mediterranean to the Atlantic.

5. Religious Toleration The dominant religion was Calvinism. Their were also Jews, Catholics, Lutherans, Anabaptists due to religious freedom. This religious freedom helped create a cosmopolitan society that promoted commerce.

6. Art Because the Dutch Republic was a protestant nation this made their art very different from baroque art. Baroque art was meant to glorify the Catholic Church where as the Dutch art was more free. Dutch artist focused on painting individual and group portraits, landscapes, and genre scenes of everyday life.

7. Frans Hals Born in 1580. Hals helped introduce a lively style of painting into Dutch art. One of his notable paintings was De Magere Compagnie. This was drawn in 1637 and later finished by Pieter Codde.

8. Rembrandt Considered one of the greatest painters and printmakers in European history His greatest triumphs were in his self portraits and in portraits of his contemporaries

9. Fall of the Dutch Republic In contrast to the strong central monarchies of Europe, each province of the Netherlands had considerable power. The central authority of the Republic (the States General) only had authority to negotiate with the seven provinces.

10. Fall of the Dutch Republic cont. After the death of William III of Britain in 1702, no new stadtholder (hereditary chief executive) emerged. Political unity vanished Fishing industries and naval supremacy declined

11. Fall of the Dutch Republic (3) Domestic industries of the Dutch also suffered and trading partners were lost. Disunity amongst the provinces only hastened the decline. The Netherlands lost much of their political influence in European affairs.

12. Fall of the Dutch Republic (4) However, the Dutch remained financially dominant. Dutch banking continued to finance trade The Amsterdam stock exchange was still a significant institution This prevented the Netherlands from becoming completely irrelevant to European affairs.