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In the northwest of Europe, there is a country across the sea from Britain. Its area is only equivalent to two and a half Beijing today. Its name is Holland.
Eight hundred years ago, there were wetlands and lakes, and there were no people, only tides. From12nd century to14th century, the land inhabited by human beings gradually formed. To this day, one third of the land in the Netherlands is still below sea level. Without a series of complicated water conservancy facilities, the most densely populated areas in the Netherlands would be flooded by tides twice a day. It is such a place that, 300 years ago,17th century, was the economic center and the richest region in the whole world. The Netherlands, with a population of only 6.5438+0.5 million, extended its influence to almost every corner of the earth and was called "the first maritime power" by Marx at that time.
Where should the story of the Dutch miracle be told?
Author: Lonely Hermit 2007-2-3 23: 12 Reply to this speech
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The great cause of a small country episode 2
The sea always makes waves in the calmest place. History, like the sea, always creates miracles in the most unexpected places. The story of the rise of the Dutch began with silver herring.
Due to the change of current, a large number of herring migrate to the northern coastal areas of the Netherlands every summer. The Dutch can catch more than100000 kilograms of herring from the North Sea every year.
Wicher Kerkmeyer, curator of the Northern Navigation Museum in the Netherlands:
It is so important to the Dutch economy that many people make money from it.
/kloc-In the 4th century, the population of the Netherlands was less than100000. At that time, about 200 thousand people were engaged in fishing, and small herring provided a livelihood for one-fifth of the Dutch.
However, herring is a natural resource, and the creator did not give exclusive rights to the Dutch. Other ethnic groups living in Beihai organized a fleet to catch herring. In order to compete for fishing grounds, there were three wars between the Dutch and the Scots. What makes the Netherlands stand out from the fierce competition?
1358, in a small fishing village in the north of the Netherlands, a fisherman named William Boekels Zong invented a method to take out fish intestines with only one knife.
William van der Moran, Professor of History Department, Leiden University, Netherlands:
Cut open the belly of herring, take out the internal organs, remove the head, and then put salt in it, which can be preserved for more than one year. At that time, there was no refrigerator. This method is unique, so that's why Dutch herring can sell well all over Europe, especially in Britain.
A Dutch fisherman's knife turned a natural resource available to everyone into a unique capital in the Netherlands. To this day, many Dutch people still deliberately maintain this eating habit formed hundreds of years ago when eating herring. After the herring is eviscerated, it is swallowed directly with the fish tail without any cooking.
Dutch State Councilor Joris Voorhoeve:
Starting from fishing, (the Netherlands) has developed trade with Northeast Europe, England, Southern Europe and Africa. The tradition of fishing has produced the tradition of ocean (trade).
With the help of herring, the Dutch started their business travel career. Today, herring patterns can still be seen in some old houses in Rotterdam. These humble signs seem to remind people that Rotterdam's history as the world's largest port began with a full tank of pickled herring.
Once the circulation and exchange of goods are taken as a means of making a living, the original unfavorable geographical position begins to show great advantages.
The Netherlands is located in the northwest of Europe, facing the Atlantic Ocean and the North Sea, and backed by the vast European continent. The two main waterways in Europe both enter the sea from here. In order to drain water, the Dutch built many canals, which constituted the most developed water transport network in Europe at that time. These advantages make it possible for the Netherlands to become a new commodity distribution center in Europe.
/kloc-the geographical discovery at the end of 0/5 brought unprecedented commercial prosperity to Europe, and also provided the Netherlands with a historic opportunity to realize a commercial empire.
If Portugal and Spain, the first to set foot on ocean exploration, mainly rely on violence to plunder naked wealth, then the Dutch, who followed closely, naturally chose to rely on commercial trade to accumulate wealth because of the lack of strong kingship and sufficient human resources, and at the same time accumulated competitive skills and commercial systems that were strong enough to make them.
As middlemen, agents, processors and salesmen, the Dutch load spices, silk and gold from Portugal and Spain and then sell them all over Europe. After returning home, they transported wheat, Swedish ironware, Finnish wood and their own naval materials to the first two maritime hegemonic countries.
However, Dutch businessmen soon found that they had to face strong challenges from British businessmen in this lucrative trade. At that time, England was three times bigger than the Netherlands and its population was five times that of the Netherlands. As an island country in the Atlantic Ocean, it has a better geographical position than the Netherlands. This time, what means will the Dutch rely on to defeat their powerful competitors?
Just like inventing a way to take out herring intestines with one knife to defeat their opponents, the Dutch defeated England by designing a cheaper boat.
Yost Scheckenbrook, Director of maritime museum, Netherlands:
Sailors on British merchant ships carry weapons, so their ships need harder wood, while Dutch ships are hardly equipped with weapons. So considering these factors, we can understand why Dutch ships are very cheap, and it is also very cheap to transport goods by Dutch ships, so the Netherlands has become a sea coachman in Europe.
Author: Lonely Hermit 2007-2-3 23: 12 Reply to this speech
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3 defense: the great cause of a small country (Netherlands)
Previously, typical European merchant ships were built with platforms on which artillery could be erected, which could effectively prevent pirate attacks. The Dutch first ventured to build a merchant ship that could only transport goods but could not install guns.
At this cost, every voyage has become an adventurous gamble of fate, but its advantage is that the cost of shipbuilding is low, and the price is only half that of British ships, so the freight rate of goods is also low. Nevertheless, the Dutch are not satisfied. In order to get as much profit as possible, they added special designs to the ship.
Wicher Kerkmeyer, director of the Dutch Northern Shipping Museum:
It has a unique design and a big belly, so the hull is big and round. And the deck is small. This is because in Scandinavia, the tax paid by a ship depends on the width of the deck. The narrower the deck, the less money you pay. Therefore, the Dutch-made ship has a small deck and a big belly, and the more profits it makes.
To a great extent, it is with this kind of boat that the Dutch won the world-famous title of "sea coachman".
However, in order to be invincible in the competition, it is obviously not enough to rely solely on special ships. The key to the final decision is those who drive the ship.
Wicher Kerkmeyer, director of the Dutch Northern Shipping Museum:
From 1596 to 1598, a Dutch captain named Barents tried to find a route from the north to Asia. He has experienced three civilizations and is now an island in Russia, but they are trapped by the frozen sea.
Sanyan Cliff is located in the Arctic Circle, where Captain Barents and 17 Dutch sailors spent a long winter of eight months. They removed the deck of the ship as fuel to keep their body temperature in the cold of MINUS 40 degrees; They hunt for clothes and food to make a living.
Eight people died in such serious danger. However, the Dutch businessman did something unimaginable. They don't touch the goods entrusted to them by others, including clothes and medicines that can save their lives.
When winter went and spring came, the surviving merchants finally brought the goods back to Holland almost intact and delivered them to their customers. At the cost of their lives, they stuck to their beliefs and created business rules that will be passed down from generation to generation. At that time, this practice also brought obvious benefits to Dutch businessmen, that is, won the world market of maritime trade.
Amsterdam, maritime museum, Netherlands. Every Sunday, a special activity is held here, which aims to let children learn Dutch history through personal experience. Such activities are repeated every year, even if only one child takes part. Teachers are volunteers from different occupations. They meticulously lead the children to relive the life of Dutch sailors more than 400 years ago.
Today, Dutch adults often repeat this sentence to their children: "The Netherlands is still the Netherlands because our ancestors took care of their own careers."
Dutch ancestors not only took care of their own business, but actually monopolized European maritime trade at the end of 16 more than 500 years ago.
Author: Lonely Hermit 2007-2-3 23: 13 Reply to this speech
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4 defense: the great cause of a small country (Netherlands)
Yost Scheckenbrook, Director of maritime museum, Netherlands:
In a certain period of time, the number of Dutch fleet is more than that of British, French and Scottish merchant ships combined. There are about 1800 merchant ships in the Netherlands, which can transport goods to all corners of Europe.
With the development of commerce and trade, cities have gradually flourished in the Netherlands, becoming trading markets, warehouses for storing goods and workshops for repairing ships. Gradually, people living in these cities find that a difficult problem beyond commercial trade and even economic life is in front of them. This is who should manage the city and how to manage it.
As in other parts of Europe, in the beginning, the owners of Dutch cities were aristocrats, because cities were always built on the territory of a certain aristocrat. The nobles formed a small army, nominally to protect the city, but in fact to obtain taxes by force.
Professor Ido Hand, Department of Political History, utrecht university, Netherlands;
This means that in cities, the rich have more power, they can dominate the bargaining, and the nobles rely on businessmen to provide them with wealth.
Dutch State Councilor Joris Voorhoeve:
The rise of commerce and cities has aroused people's desire for economic freedom.
More and more affluent citizens finally made a surprising choice. Like buying goods, they bought the autonomy of the city from the nobles. Since then, citizens have made their own laws, and nobles cannot directly collect taxes from them. "Civil autonomy" has injected a strong impetus into the development of Dutch cities. By the end of 15, nearly half of the Dutch people lived in cities.
William van der Moran, Professor of History Department, Leiden University, Netherlands:
Every city strives for more trade opportunities. Cities are ruled by wealthy businessmen, who decide the management of cities.
This city hall, which was built in15th century, will reproduce such an important historical scene every15th minute: the aristocrats hand over the management of the city to the citizens. It happened in a moment in Dutch history and became eternal with the help of this special timing tool.
While the Dutch were busy managing the city, the political map of Europe began to change dramatically.
Some gifted monarchs, relying on gunpowder imported from the Western Expedition by the Mongolian army, destroyed aristocratic castles guarded by knights and established some monarchies such as Portugal, Spain, Britain and France. These countries have incomparable advantages over independent commercial city-states and can effectively mobilize and organize the strength of the whole nation. Portugal and Spain took the lead in entering the ranks of world powers by virtue of such advantages.
At first, the Dutch seemed indifferent to this trend. They are content to live in independent cities whose only concern is to increase their wealth as much as possible.
William van der Moran, Professor of History Department, Leiden University, Netherlands:
If there is a country ruled by a king like Britain, France and Spain, there will be many other problems. For example, it takes a lot of money for the king to expand and make his country the most powerful country in Europe.
But in 1543, the Dutch have to face the problems of the country whether they like it or not. That year, the king of Spain gained the sovereignty of the Netherlands through political marriage.
What happened next was very interesting. When the king of Spain declared that the Netherlands was a sacred and inseparable part of Spain, the Dutch agreed with this statement; When the Spanish king re-divided the administrative regions of the Netherlands, they accepted it frankly; When the king of Spain sent a new governor for the Netherlands, they also obeyed. But when King Philip II of Spain reached into their wallets, the Dutch resisted.
Professor Ido Hand, Department of Political History, utrecht university, Netherlands;
Philip II needs a lot of money, because he and France have been at war and need a lot of money to maintain. He wanted permanent financial security, but the Dutch refused to do so. They only agreed to provide part of the funds for a period of time.
Author: Lonely Hermit 2007-2-3 23: 13 Reply to this speech
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5 defense: the great cause of small countries (Netherlands)
Dutch War of Independence broke out. At first, the Spanish army easily crushed the Dutch resistance. In less than six years, 1.5 million Dutch people died. The grim reality forced the divided Dutch provinces to unite. 1579, representatives of seven northern Dutch provinces signed an agreement to form a military alliance with the enemy in this hall.
From then on, the war began to change in favor of the Netherlands, on the one hand, because of the Dutch alliance, on the other hand, because Philip II made enemies on all sides of Europe, and successive years of hegemonic wars exhausted Spain's national strength.
158 1 On July 26th, 2008, representatives of various uprising cities in the Netherlands solemnly announced in The Hague that the Spanish king's rule over the Dutch provinces would be abolished.
After sending the king home like an incompetent manager, the Dutch suddenly found that they actually owned a country.
So, who should manage and protect this country?
Professor Evert Alkema, School of Law, Leiden University, Netherlands:
They are not in a hurry to say that we don't have a king now, because no one had done so at that time. They can't say that we are * * * and made, because it is too avant-garde for them.
For those businessmen who led the war of independence, what they want most is not political rights, but commercial profits. Therefore, they hope to find a strong protector to take care of the safety of the Netherlands and their own business.
An incredible phenomenon appeared: the Dutch entrusted their country to Queen Elizabeth I, who readily agreed to be their monarch and sent troops to protect the lives and property of the Dutch. However, shrewd businessmen soon discovered that the protection fee charged by the Queen of England was actually higher than the Spanish king they drove away.
Professor Ido Hand, Department of Political History, utrecht university, Netherlands;
The Dutch city said, no, we don't think so. Maybe this is not a good idea. We can have a ruler, but his power will not be too great.
158 1 year, seven provinces united and announced the establishment of the Dutch Union Province * * * and the Republic. This is an unprecedented country in human history. Many historians say that it was the first country in the world to "give the merchant class full political rights".
Dutch State Councilor Joris Voorhoeve:
This is very typical in the Netherlands. It is a mixture of democracy and democracy. The actual political power is in the hands of businessmen and intellectual elites.
William van der Moran, Professor of History Department, Leiden University, Netherlands:
Different provinces, especially those with coastal cities, are ruled by the city's business elites, and the entire national government, representatives and rulers of these provinces are also produced by these families. Therefore, you can think that the Netherlands and state-owned enterprises are a bit like family businesses.
A brand-new country was born, but its future is still in a fog. If measured by land, resources, population and other conditions, the Netherlands hardly has the conditions to survive as a country. What's more, the seven provinces that make up the Republic of China are still fragmented.
Professor Evert Alkema, School of Law, Leiden University, Netherlands
Its structure is very loose, and the provinces are absolutely independent. They can only agree on the decision on taxes. In other respects, if they don't agree, they can't make any decision. So it is very loose, and sometimes it can be compared to the current European Union.
This small country with loose structure had to face a serious crisis almost when it was first established. Before independence, the trade with Spain was one of the most important economic sources of the Netherlands, but after independence, the king of Spain blocked all ports in his country and prohibited Dutch merchant ships from entering Spain.
The economic lifeline was cut off. Where is the way out for the new country?
With its own business intuition, the Netherlands quickly found its own advantages. Because there are a large number of businessmen in this land, they are full of strong desire for wealth. If their love for money is turned into a force, then the Netherlands will have a weapon more powerful than the royal power. According to this advantage, the Dutch decided to change from a shrewd middleman to an ocean fighter and open up their own routes to the East and America. So, where does the large amount of money needed for ocean navigation come from?
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A: The great cause of a small country (Netherlands)
1602, under the leadership of * * * and National Assembly Speaker Oden Barnvelt, the Dutch and East India Company was established. Just as they created an unprecedented country, now they have created an unprecedented economic organization.
Wim Vandendel, Professor of History Department, Leiden University, Netherlands;
Yes, you can say that. This is the first joint-stock company. In order to raise funds, they issue stocks, but not in the modern sense. People come to the company's office and write down the money they lent in their notebooks. The company promises to pay dividends to these stocks. This is how the Dutch East India Company raised funds.
Lodwick Wagenaar, curator of Amsterdam Museum of History, Netherlands:
They collected 6.5 million yuan, which is almost equivalent to 3 million euros. At that time, the money was worth billions, and they set up a company with it.
By financing the whole society, the East India Company successfully transformed its scattered wealth into its own capital for external expansion. Even the maid of the mayor of Amsterdam became one of the shareholders of the East India Company. Thousands of people are willing to invest their savings in this lucrative and risky business activity, on the one hand, out of the desire for wealth, and more importantly, because the Dutch government is also one of the shareholders of the East India Company. The government converted some rights only owned by the state into 25,000 Dutch guilders, which greatly increased the authority and credibility of the East India Company.
Wim Vandendel, Professor of History Department, Leiden University, Netherlands;
The privilege granted by the government to the East India Company is that it can negotiate and sign treaties and wage wars, so that it can become an independent sovereign entity in Asia or the whole region from South Africa to Japan and can operate like a country.
After everything was ready, the fleet of the East India Company set sail. The king of Spain almost despised the overreaching challenger. However, in just five years after the establishment of the East India Company, 50 merchant fleets were sent overseas every year, exceeding the combined fleet of Spain and Portugal.
Lodwick Wagenaar, curator of Amsterdam Museum of History, Netherlands:
In the first ten years, they (East India Company) didn't pay any interest, because investors liked to invest their money in shipbuilding, building houses and establishing a trading kingdom in Asia. After these, ten years later, the company paid dividends to shareholders for the first time.
No dividend has been paid to shareholders for ten consecutive years. Why can such an operation mode be recognized by investors?
This is because the Dutch also created a new capital circulation system. 1609, the first stock exchange in the world history was born in Amsterdam. Shareholders of the East India Company can convert their shares into cash at any time through the stock exchange if they wish.
More than 400 years ago, the Amsterdam Stock Exchange had more than 65,438+0,000 stockbrokers active in the market. Although I haven't put on a red vest yet, fixed trading seats have appeared.
It became the most active capital market in Europe at that time, and not only the Dutch, but also many foreigners came to engage in stock trading. A large amount of dividend income flows into the Dutch treasury and the pockets of ordinary Dutch people from this yard with an area of no more than 1 000 square meters. British bonds alone earn more than 25 million guilders a year, equivalent to 200 tons of silver.
When a large number of gold and silver currencies circulated at an unprecedented speed, the Dutch economic blood began to congest. This time, the Dutch exploration of solving problems directly entered the core field of modern economy-establishing banks.
John Key Vaughan, curator of the British Bank Museum:
The Bank of Amsterdam was founded in 1609, about one hundred years earlier than the Bank of England. It is a city bank, a financial bank and a foreign exchange bank. It absorbs deposits and issues loans. All payments of a certain amount must be made through banks, so Amsterdam Bank plays an important role in the economic stability of the Netherlands. More importantly, it invented what we now call credit. It was called "virtual currency" at that time.
In order to protect the bank's credit, Amsterdam passed legislation, and no one can restrict the bank's trading freedom under any excuse. As a result, a seemingly incredible phenomenon appeared: when the Dutch and Spanish armies were fighting on the ocean, the silver in the hands of Spanish nobles could still freely enter and leave the vault of Amsterdam Bank. Dutch banks can legally lend to their enemies.
William van der Moran, Professor of History Department, Leiden University, Netherlands:
The Dutch set up their governments, including national governments and local governments, to serve their commercial interests.
Dutch State Councilor Joris Voorhoeve:
At that time, there were constant struggles between different kingdoms in Europe, and the Netherlands remained neutral in these struggles and focused more on economic development.
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7 defense: the great cause of small countries (Netherlands)
Historians agree that Dutch citizens are the creators of modern commodity economic system. They organically unified banks, stock exchanges, credit companies and limited liability companies into an interrelated financial and commercial system, which brought explosive wealth growth.
By the middle of17th century, the global commercial hegemony of Holland, Holland and China had been firmly established. At this time, the Dutch East India Company has 65,438+05,000 branches, accounting for half of the total world trade. 10000 More than one merchant ship flying the Dutch tricolor flag is cruising on the five oceans of the world;
In East Asia, they occupied Taiwan Province Province of China and monopolized Japanese foreign trade.
In Southeast Asia, they turned Indonesia into their own colony, and the first colonial stronghold they established, Batavia City, constituted the embryonic form of Jakarta today.
In Africa, they seized the Cape of Good Hope fortress from Portugal to the new route;
In Oceania, they named a country after a province in the Netherlands-New Zealand;
In South America, they occupied Brazil;
At the mouth of the Hudson River on the North American continent, the East India Company built the new Amsterdam City. Today, the name of this city is new york.
Lodwick Wagenaar, curator of Amsterdam Museum of History, Netherlands:
What do Amsterdam people think of themselves? Look at this photo, the goddess of Amsterdam. Amsterdam is the center of the world in the17th century. That's why the goddess Amsterdam put her hand on the earth. Our world, our earth, this world is ours.
Marx's comment: 1648 Holland: It has reached the peak of commercial prosperity.
It was in 1648 that the citizens of Amsterdam decided to build a new city hall. For the sake of quality, the citizens did not set a deadline for the completion of the project in advance. In fact, it took them eight years and more than 70 tons of gold to build this magnificent building.
Only those who are making history will have this ambition to pursue immortality.
1656, new town hall completed. Citizens have been partying for seven days in a row. Vondel, a great Dutch poet known as "Shakespeare", wrote an ode specially for the city hall. The lyrics sang: "... we Amsterdam people keep sailing ... and profits guide us across the ocean. Out of love for money, we traveled all the seaports in the world. "
When Vondel wrote this ode, a diplomatic mission sent by the Dutch East India Company set sail for the Far East.
1656, the Dutch delegation arrived in Beijing. The Qing court, who had just entered the Central Plains for eight years, received them with excitement. However, the Dutch encountered a problem that all diplomatic envoys in China would encounter at that time, that is, they had to pay three respects and knock nine times when they saw the emperor. In fact, until the end of 18, almost no diplomats from European countries were willing to accept such harsh heaven rules. However, the Dutch agreed without hesitation.
The emperor shunzhi received a delegation from the Netherlands and happily sent many gifts to the delegation from the richest country in the world. Back home, a member of the mission named John Niehoff wrote down the reasons why they agreed to bow ... We just don't want to lose huge benefits for the so-called dignity. "
What are the main interests of the Dutch? They are trading and making money.
As a commercial country that dominates the world, the huge wealth that the Netherlands gained from trade in the17th century was not reflected in the luxurious palaces of princes and nobles, but was used by middle-class businessmen to build and decorate their own houses. The rich life picture of the Dutch was truly recorded by a group of outstanding realistic painters such as Vermeer and Rembrandt.
Dr Sandra Ausch, Rembrandt Memorial Hall, Netherlands;
There are many artists in Amsterdam, and we know that in the17th century, a large number of excellent oil paintings appeared in Holland. /kloc-in the middle of the 0/7th century, there were about 8 million to150,000 oil paintings in Amsterdam. At that time, everyone liked oil painting, and every class had oil painting at home. People can buy these works in the market.
In these works, there are almost no kings, ministers and nobles, and ordinary people and ordinary life become the protagonists in the art palace. All the people who have been neglected, their joy, sadness, surging emotions and even hidden desires, are described one by one.
This is an ordinary Dutch morning written by17th century artist Vermeer. Warm colors and normal life order create a calm and peaceful atmosphere. The protagonist is full of energy. Only good nutrition and adequate sleep can shape such a healthy body shape. This expression of concentration and peace will only appear on the faces of people who have no fear of hunger, no need to worry about displacement at all times, and spend their lives in a rich environment.
Today, the life of the Dutch is still as rich and comfortable as this chef, and the business rules initiated by the Dutch business empire are still affecting the world.
1In September, 688, a huge fleet set sail from Amsterdam Port. These ships carried William III, the supreme consul of the Netherlands, and 20,000 Dutch soldiers. The British Parliament invited William III to protect the "religious freedom and property" of British nationals.
The arrangement of history is such a coincidence. /kloc-At the end of 0/7th century, the development of the Netherlands slowed down and gradually lost its hegemony over the world. No matter in time or space, William III's departure from Holland to England has become a very symbolic change on the world center stage.