Descriptio Batavorum Insulae et Continentis. Auctore Mensone Alting.

Title

Descriptio Batavorum Insulae et Continentis. Auctore Mensone Alting.

Description

Map shows a part of the Netherlands with the Rhine and two magnificent cartouches. From the atlas ‘Toonneel der Vereeigden Nederlanden en Onderhoorige Landschappen’, cartographer: Menso Alting, 1541-1612 in Emden.

ca. 1722

Artist

Halma (1653-1722)

Francois Halma was a netherland printer, editor and bookseller in Utrecht, Amsterdam and Leeuwarden.

Historical Description

After the division of the Franconian Empire, the lower lands belonged to the East Franconian Kingdom (Regnum Teutonicum) and then to the Holy Roman Empire. Under Emperor Charles V, who was also King of Spain, the country was divided into seventeen provinces and also included what is now Belgium and parts of northern France and western Germany. The rift between Catholics loyal to Spain and radical Calvinists was torn too deep and led to the Calvinist provinces of Holland, Zeeland and Utrecht joining together in a defensive alliance in 1579, the Union of Utrecht. This treaty became the charter of a new state, the Republic of the United Netherlands. Only after an eighty-year war was the independence of the Netherlands from Spain recognized in the Peace of Westphalia in May 1648. This date is considered the birthday of today's Netherlands. As a result, as the republic of the Seven United Provinces, the Netherlands grew to become the greatest trading and economic power of the 17th century. This era is known as the Golden Age. However, this did not come from the state, but from the first two public companies in history, the Dutch East India Company (VOC) and the Dutch West India Company (WIC). The founding of New Amsterdam is well known (Nieuw Amsterdam), which was later renamed New York. In Asia, the Dutch created their colonial empire, the Dutch East Indies, what is now Indonesia. The Netherlands also gained colonies in northeastern South America. In Europe, the Netherlands was a great power in the 17th century, led by bourgeois politicians like Johan van Oldenbarnevelt and Johan de Witt.