Flocculencio
Donor
Trouble was IIRC, by that time period the VOC was completely in the red and collapsing which is why it was absorbed first into the government of the Batavian Repbulic and then the Kingdom of the Netherlands.
AH Challenge - The Dutch Empire
- Thread starter Ran Exilis
- Start date
Trouble was IIRC, by that time period the VOC was completely in the red and collapsing which is why it was absorbed first into the government of the Batavian Repbulic and then the Kingdom of the Netherlands.
Thande
Donor
Could we duplicate the same sort of scenario but earlier, say during one of the Anglo-Dutch Wars?
I doubt it will last. The son of William and Mary will probably still appointed stadholder, but you will see that Brittain will become more important than the Netherlands in the union soon. I doubt the Dutch will like that. So they will appoint someoneelse as stadholder than the Brittish king. The second son or perhaps the stadholder of the northern provinces.
Hmm....
Karel van Luxemburg keeps his court in the Low Countries and raises his kids there.
Brussels or Gent may eclipse Amsterdam and the Hague, but if the Cortes in Iberia can be kepts sweet we are looking at a pretty big empire.
HTG
Karel van Luxemburg keeps his court in the Low Countries and raises his kids there.
Brussels or Gent may eclipse Amsterdam and the Hague, but if the Cortes in Iberia can be kepts sweet we are looking at a pretty big empire.
HTG
It could be that Gent becomes the royal capital while Amsterdam remians the commercial capital, due to it's access to the sea and large shipping industry.
As a variant, we could have the French revolutionary armies passing the Netherlands by, and Britain leaving the Dutch colonies alone. That would imply a TL without Napoleon (or at least with a diminished / less ambitious Napoleon).
The Cape colony could expand in that case, leading to a bigger Dutch presence in Southern Africa. Ceylon would also be a part of the Dutch "commonwealth".
Actually, Brussels and Gent were already more important than Amsterdam and the Hague prior to the Eighty Years' War in OTL. During the 15th and 16th century, Flanders was economically one of the most important regions of the Netherlands, and during the time of Charles V/Karel van Luxemburg, the Flemish city Antwerp was by far the largest and richest city in the Low Countries.
In fact - it is only because of the Spanish conquest of Antwerp went into a sharp decline. Just over half the city's population fled after the fall of the city, and almost all of the refugees from Antwerp fled to the northern Netherlands, and many of them ended up in Amsterdam.
In fact, it is even quite likely that, if Antwerp hadn't fallen to the Spanish,
Amsterdam would never have become the economic centre of the Netherlands.
It is also noteworthy that, IIRC, Antwerp was the capital of the Dutch separatists until its conquest by the Spanish in 1585.
If the Eighty Years' War would end in a total defeat for the Spanish,
it is actually quite likely that Antwerp becomes the capital and economic centre of the Netherlands.
Agreed, the south was by far the most important part of the Low Countries.
As a matter of fact, even in 1830, when Belgium seceded from the United Kingdom of the Netherlands, it had a population of 4.5 million versus the North's 2,5 million. (Nowadays it's 16 in the Netherlands and 10 in Belgium: how things have changed...).
Another interesting factoid: during the Second Anglo-Dutch War (1665-1667 or something), the total urban population of the Republic in absolute numbers was larger than the urban population of England and the Spanish Netherland's urban population was at least half again as large at the time.
The advantage this gave the Republic is clear when realised that the cities provided the largest part of taxes by far. During the war, the Republic was able to outbuild the English seven to one in ships, for example. Other factors also played a role, like having a larger merchant marine than the rest of the world combined, but this large constant source of revenue also played an important part.
The economical centre probably not, although it might depend on where the VOC or its analogue starts the world's first stock exchange. If it's Amsterdam as in reality, it might very well still become the financial centre of the Low Countries. Amsterdam was already rapidly growing in th period leading up to the Eighty Year's War and was advantageously positioned to take advantage of the Baltic trade which generated the majority of the Republic's trade income during its Golden Age. It would still have become the economical centre of the North in the 17th century.
Of coure, in this scenario, Antwerp won't ondergo its disastrous sack and the closing of the Scheld and would probably remain a bigger city than Amsterdam and a major (quite likely still the largest of the Low Countries) economical centre in itself. And with the amount of money available around 1600, the VOC would probably place its main office in Antwerp instead of Amsterdam.
True, although William the Silent was based in Delft from 1572 to his death in 1584.
Depends, it could also revert to Brussels, which was the capital since the Burgundian era (after first Bruges) like before the revolt. Antwerp is definately the most plausible second choice though, way before The Hague, which was a sort of compromise after Antwerp was captured by the Spanish in 1585.
As an aside, it would have probably gone to Delft if it had been decided The Hague (which had just been sacked by the Spanish) was not worth the effort rebuilding.