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I was just wondering about this scenario the other day. Let's say that, in TTL, we never see an independent and unified state covering the low countries, or at least a good portion of it, until the 19th century or so. There are many POD's from which to choose, but I'm more interested in the early modern period, around the 15th-16th century. Whether the region is conquered, inherited or fragmented by any said power makes no difference, as long as it stays that way, without managing to eventually become independent in the form of a unified state, like OTL Netherlands. The objective here is to explore the power vacuum in the absence a 5th big colonizer/ naval power (Portugal, Spain, England and France being the others) in western europe.

The Netherlands became an unprecedented trading power in the 16th century, and within it many of the financial innovations and institutions we still use today were born. With the lower countries playing no major role aside from a rich market for goods, what are we left with? How do the other european powers fare, and how does capitalism develop in this scenario, meaning where could those same financial developments happen?
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