INTRODUCTION

In his essay ‘Observations upon the United Provinces of the Netherlands’ (1694), Sir William Temple, the renowned English diplomat and essayist, wrote that the Dutch Republic was ‘the envy of some, the fear of others, and the wonder of all their neighbours’. Having travelled through continental Europe, Temple had spent considerable time in the Dutch Republic and had been involved in Anglo- Dutch diplomacy. He would surely have been aware of the remarkable position this relatively small seafaring nation had achieved. And though by the time the essay was published the Dutch Golden Age had lost much of its lustre, the Dutch Republic's demise was very much a relative decline. By the end of the 18th century it was no longer Europe's principle commercial and naval nation, but economically it was still among Europe's front-runners.

Various explanations have been offered to account for the economic success of the Dutch Republic. Jan de Vries emphasised the importance of agricultural specialisation as well as a strong internal transport network; the availability of cheap energy in the form of peat has also been highlighted as a possible explanatory factor. The Dutch Republic was, however, first and foremost a ‘seaborne empire’, and its maritime endeavours, and by extension its colonial expansion, have been widely regarded as key drivers behind its economic success.