Introduction

The decisive event in the financial history of The Netherlands during the eighteenth and the nineteenth centuries is the transformation from fragmentation to unification. After the so-called Batavian Revolution of 1795 the provincial debts of the united provinces were amalgamated into one national debt. The first national budget was presented to an elected parliament. In 1806 a national taxation system was realised, by which the fiscal autonomy of the seven provinces was ended. Moreover, the charters of the West and East Indian Companies were not renewed after their expiration. Their tasks were handed over to a state department of colonial affairs. The local Bank of Amsterdam died a silent death in 1820 and a new national bank modelled on the example of the Bank of England was erected in 1814. In the meantime, the pound sterling had taken over the role of the depreciated Bank of Amsterdam guilder as the main international key currency at the turn of the century. London replaced Amsterdam as the main international financial centre (see chapter 3). Thus, the Dutch lead in the international financial and economic system definitely came to an end, the ancien regime federal republic became a modern unitary state, ready to embark on financial policy on a national scale.

In the seventeenth century the Dutch Republic had been remarkable for the success of its financial system. In the beginning of the eighteenth century its debts were hardly any longer compatible with its small size. Owing to their central position in the international system, however, the Dutch could not back out silently.