The Netherlands in the Golden Age was almost unrecognisable compared with today, and yet, in some ways, it was not. Refugees sought a safe haven there, migrants did the heavy work and youngsters created a youth culture. Consumers wanted the latest fashions, investors bought shares and large shareholders made risky speculations.
The story of the seventeenth century is and remains a miracle. A hotchpotch of provinces revolted against the Spanish king and then, in a series of ups and downs, built a new state that developed into an experiment unlike anything the world had ever seen before. A society emerged that was ruled by its citizens, a society of unprecedented freedoms and myriad religions, ships that sailed the world over and trading posts from Indonesia to Brazil. Scientists unravelled the mysteries of nature and painters presented a new vision of reality.
So how should we regard such a miracle? This book sees the Dutch seventeenth century, the Golden Age, as a gateway to today's modern times, a period in which the Netherlands, and Holland and Amsterdam in particular, became a laboratory that the world used for experimental research on globalisation, migration, tolerance, consumerism, investment and media hypes, and many other modern trends.
The story of the seventeenth century is and remains a miracle. A hotchpotch of provinces revolted against the Spanish king and then, in a series of ups and downs, built a new state that developed into an experiment unlike anything the world had ever seen before. A society emerged that was ruled by its citizens, a society of unprecedented freedoms and myriad religions, ships that sailed the world over and trading posts from Indonesia to Brazil. Scientists unravelled the mysteries of nature and painters presented a new vision of reality.
So how should we regard such a miracle? This book sees the Dutch seventeenth century, the Golden Age, as a gateway to today's modern times, a period in which the Netherlands, and Holland and Amsterdam in particular, became a laboratory that the world used for experimental research on globalisation, migration, tolerance, consumerism, investment and media hypes, and many other modern trends.
