In the Middle Ages, trade became more important and the cities grew. The Netherlands became very rich in the 17th century, and that is why it is called the Golden Age. During this period, the Dutch did many great things in the arts and sciences. By this time people could follow whatever religion they liked in the Netherlands, so many people who had problems in their own country because of their religion came to the Netherlands.

Trade

The Dutch have always sailed the seas and oceans. Hundreds of years ago, sailors set off in wooden ships to discover new lands. During the Golden Age, the Netherlands did a lot of trade in Indonesia and other countries in Southeast Asia. Dutch ships also went to Japan. The Netherlands set up trading posts for buying and selling things in all these countries.

Dutch merchants (traders) made lots of money from their trade with foreign countries. They would sail to distant lands in ships loaded with silver and gold, which they used to buy things you could not get in the Netherlands, such as spices (pepper, cinnamon, nutmeg and cloves), silk, cotton, porcelain, coffee, tea and sugar.

Although things were going well for the Netherlands, some bad things also happened in this period. Trade was so important that there was a lot of fighting between European countries that wanted to do business with the same countries. In those days, the fighting could get pretty nasty.

What is more, the Dutch were not always very nice to the people in the countries where they traded. One example is the slave trade. Dutch sailors took many people from Africa to places like Suriname and America as slaves.

The Dutch East India Company

The ships that sailed to the Far East belonged to the Dutch East India Company. The Dutch name of the company was Verenigde Oost-Indische Compagnie, or VOC for short. The VOC was set up by merchants in 1602 and existed for almost two hundred years. By working together, the merchants were in a strong position. They could build large ships and do a lot of trading. Dutch merchants who were not members of the VOC were not allowed to trade with countries in Southeast Asia.

Life on board a VOC ship was pretty tough. The living quarters on the ships were rather small, for example. The officers had their own cabins, but the sailors just slept wherever they could find a free spot. If they were unlucky, they could end up spending a cold night up on deck. Just imagine how unpleasant that must have been: it often took months to get to the Far East!