Dutch Republic

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Republic of the Seven United Netherlands
Republiek der Zeven Verenigde Nederlanden
Flag Coat of arms
Concordia res parvae crescunt[1]
"Unity makes strength"
Het Wilhelmus
"The William"
Location of the Dutch Republic in 1789
Capital Amsterdam
Religion Dutch Reformed
Government Confederative republic
 •  1581–1584 William I (first)
 •  1751–1795 William V (last)
Grand Pensionary
 •  1581–1585 Paulus Buys (first)
 •  1787–1795 Laurens van de Spiegel (last)
Legislature States General
 •  State council Council of State
Historical era Early modern
 •  Union of Utrecht 23 January 1579
 •  Act of Abjuration 26 July 1581
 •  Peace of Münster 30 January 1648
 •  Batavian Revolution 19 January 1795
 •  1795 est. 1,880,500[2] 
Currency Guilder
Preceded by
Succeeded by
Habsburg Netherlands
Batavian Republic
Today part of



For history and links to the earlier history of each of the provinces, see Seventeen Provinces. For the revolt and war leading to the creation of the Republic, see Dutch Revolt and Eighty Years' War. For the southern provinces that did not secede from Habsburg control in 1581, see Spanish Netherlands.





During the Anglo-French war (1778), the internal territory was divided into groups: the Patriots, who were pro-French and pro-American and the Orangists, who were pro-British.[4] The Republic of the United Provinces faced a series of republican revolutions in 1783–1787. During this period, republican forces occupied several major Dutch cities. Initially on the defence, the Orangist forces received aid from Prussian troops and retook the Netherlands in 1787. The republican forces fled to France, but then successfully re-invaded alongside the army of the French Republic (1793–95), ousting stadtholder William V, abolishing the Dutch Republic and replacing it with the Batavian Republic (1795–1806). After the French Republic became the French Empire under Napoleon, the Batavian Republic was replaced by the Napoleonic Kingdom of Holland (1806–1810).

The Netherlands regained independence from France in 1813. In the Anglo-Dutch Treaty of 1814 the names "United Provinces of the Netherlands" and "United Netherlands" were used. In 1815 it was rejoined with the Austrian Netherlands and Liège (the "Southern provinces") to become the Kingdom of the Netherlands, informally known as the United Kingdom of the Netherlands, to create a strong buffer state north of France. On 16 March 1815, the son of stadtholder William V crowned himself King William I of the Netherlands. Between 1815 and 1890 the King of the Netherlands was also in a personal union the Grand Duke of the sovereign Grand Duchy of Luxembourg. After Belgium gained its independence in 1830, the state became unequivocally known as the "Kingdom of the Netherlands", as it remains today.


Dutch East-India trading ship 1600
Onrust Island near Batavia, 1699


Courtyard of the Amsterdam Stock Exchange, 1653

The free trade spirit of the time received a strong augmentation through the development of a modern, effective stock market in the Low Countries.[5] The Netherlands has the oldest stock exchange in the world, founded in 1602 by the Dutch East India Company. While Rotterdam has the oldest bourse in the Netherlands, the world's first stock exchange, that of the Dutch East-India Company, went public in six different cities. Later, a court ruled that the company had to reside legally in a single city so Amsterdam is recognized as the oldest such institution based on modern trading principles. While the banking system evolved in the Low Countries, it was quickly incorporated by the well-connected English, stimulating English economic output.

Between 1590 and 1712 the Dutch also possessed one of the strongest and fastest navies in the world, allowing for their varied conquests, including breaking the Portuguese sphere of influence on the Indian Ocean and in the Orient, as well as a lucrative slave trade from Africa and the Pacific.



  1. The Duchy of Guelders (Gelderland in Dutch)
  2. The County of Holland
  3. The County of Zeeland
  5. The Lordship of Overijssel
  6. The Lordship of Frisia
  7. The Lordship of Groningen and Ommelanden.


In theory, the stadtholders were freely appointed by and subordinate to the states of each province. However, in practice the princes of Orange of the House of Orange-Nassau, beginning with William the Silent, were always chosen as stadtholders of most of the provinces. Zeeland and usually Utrecht had the same stadtholder as Holland.


After the Peace of Westphalia, several border territories were assigned to the United Provinces. They were federally governed Generality Lands (Generaliteitslanden). They were Staats-Brabant (present North Brabant), Staats-Vlaanderen (present Zeeuws-Vlaanderen), Staats-Limburg (around Maastricht) and Staats-Oppergelre (around Venlo, after 1715).


The framers of the US Constitution were influenced by the Constitution of the Republic of the United Provinces, as Federalist No. 20, by James Madison, shows.[6] Such influence appears, however, to have been of a negative nature, as Madison describes the Dutch confederacy as exhibiting "Imbecility in the government; discord among the provinces; foreign influence and indignities; a precarious existence in peace, and peculiar calamities from war." Apart from this, the American Declaration of Independence is similar to the Act of Abjuration, essentially the declaration of independence of the United Provinces,[7] but concrete evidence that the former directly influenced the latter is absent.


Interior of the Oude Kerk at Delft during a Sermon, 1651






  • Wars to contain the expansionist policies of France in various coalitions after the Glorious Revolution, mostly including England, burdened the republic with huge debts, although little of the fighting after 1673 took place on its own territory. The necessity to maintain a vast army against France meant that less money could be spent on the navy, weakening the Republic's economy. After William III's death in 1702 the Second Stadtholderless Period was inaugurated. Despite having contributed much in the War of Spanish Succession, the Dutch Republic gained little from the peace talks in Utrecht (1713). The end of the War of Austrian Succession in 1748, and Austria becoming allies with France against Prussia, marked the end of the republic as a major military power.[11]


Common names in Dutch for the Republic in official correspondence were:

  • De Republiek ("the Republic")
  • Republiek der Verenigde Nederlanden ("Republic of the United Netherlands")
  • Republiek der Verenigde Provinciën ("Republic of the United Provinces")
  • Republiek der Zeven Provinciën ("Republic of the Seven Provinces")
  • Republiek der Zeven Verenigde Nederlanden ("Republic of the Seven United Netherlands")
  • Republiek der Zeven Verenigde Provinciën ("Republic of the Seven United Provinces")
  • Verenigde Provinciën ("United Provinces")
  • Verenigde Provinciën der Nederlanden ("United Provinces of the Netherlands")
  • Verenigde Staten der Nederlanden ("The United States of the Netherlands")
  • De Verenigde Gewesten ("The United Regions" or one translation would be "The United States")
  • De Zeven Verenigde Gewesten ("The Seven United Regions" or one translation would be "The Seven United States")

And in Latin:

  • Belgica Respublicae Foederatae[12]:58[13]

See also[edit]


  4. ^ Ertl 2008, p. 217.
  6. ^ James Madison (11 December 1787). Fœderalist No. 20. 
  8. ^ Text of Union of Utrecht
  11. ^ O. van Nimwegen, De Republiek der Verenigde Nederlanden als grote mogendheid. Buitenlandse politiek en oorlogvoering in de eerste helft van de achttiende eeuw en in het bijzonder tijdens de Oostenrijkse Successieoorlog (1740–1748)
  13. ^ ">De Witt, Johan (10 May 1652). Brieven van Johan de Witt. I. pp. 61–62. De Witt to Shaep(?), 'these United Provinces must not be given the name of respulbica (in the singular) but rather respublicae foederatae or unitae (in the plural).' 

Further reading[edit]

External links[edit]
