The 17th century was Amsterdam's
Golden Age. Ships from the city sailed to North America, Indonesia, Brazil, and Africa and formed the basis of a worldwide trading network. Amsterdam's merchants financed expeditions to the four corners of the world and they acquired the overseas possessions which formed the seeds of the later
Dutch colonies. The most influential of these merchant groups was the
Dutch East India Company, founded 1602, which became the first multi-national corporation to issue stocks to finance its business. By allowing for sailors to invest in the cargo that they transported, it created an incentive for individual laborers to be vested in the goods they carried and tightened their allegiances to corporate outcomes, whereas before sailors were a migratory agents.
Rembrandt painted in this century, and the city expanded greatly around its canals during this time. Amsterdam was the most important hub for the transshipment of goods in Europe and the leading
financial centre of the
western world. In 1611, the
Amsterdam stock exchange was founded. From 1613, Amsterdam expanded around the
Canals and the
port became the largest port in the world. The city had trade relations with 625 foreign ports. At that time, Amsterdam was the third largest city in Europe and the financial center of the world (including with the
Bank of Amsterdam and the family's private bank Deutz of Deutz van Assendelft). The
Tulip mania from 1630 to 1637 was the first large speculative bubble, a house in Amsterdam was sold for only three
tulip bulbs.
Government by regents between the
regent-dynasties
Boelens Loen,
De Graeff,
Bicker (van Swieten),
Witsen and
Johan de Witt in the
Dutch Golden Age By the mid-1660s Amsterdam had reached the optimum population (about 200,000) for the level of trade, commerce and agriculture then available to support it. The city contributed the largest quota in taxes to the States of Holland which in turn contributed over half the quota to the States General. Amsterdam was also one of the most reliable in settling tax demands and therefore was able to use the threat to withhold such payments to good effect. canal, c. 1686 Amsterdam was governed by a body of
Regenten (regents), a large, but closed, oligarchy with control over all aspects of the city's life, and a dominant voice in the foreign affairs of Holland. Only men with sufficient wealth and a long enough residence within the city could join the ruling class. The first step for an ambitious and wealthy merchant family was to arrange a marriage with a long-established regent family. In the 1670s, one such union, that of the Trip family (the Amsterdam branch of the Swedish arms makers) with the son of Burgomaster Valckenier, extended the influence and patronage available to the latter and strengthened his dominance of the council. The oligarchy in Amsterdam thus gained strength from its breadth and openness. In the smaller towns, family interest could unite members on policy decisions but contraction through intermarriage could lead to the degeneration of the quality of the members. In Amsterdam, the network was so large that members of the same family could be related to opposing factions and pursue widely separated interests. The young men who had risen to positions of authority in the 1670s and 1680s consolidated their hold on office well into the 1690s and even the new century. Significant Amsterdam
regent-
patrician dynasties of the Golden Century included the
Boelens Loen,
De Graeff,
Bicker, Pauw and Hooft. At the height of the
Golden Age, the First governorless period from 1650 to
Rampjaar in 1672, political power within Holland was mainly two state-minded: republican, and families. In Amsterdam this was with the brothers
Cornelis and
Andries de Graeff. Amsterdam's regents provided good services to residents. They spent heavily on the water-ways and other essential infrastructure, as well as municipal almshouses for the elderly, hospitals and churches. The regents favoring of private investment also helped to raise standards of living, as construction of commercially viable and advanced windmills brought more efficient factories for refining goods and irrigation pumps to the region, allowing for one of the earliest industrial driven economies. Amsterdam's wealth was generated by its commerce, which was in turn sustained by the judicious encouragement of entrepreneurs whatever their origin. This arrangement was supported by low interest-rates to private businesses, whereas communities governed by monarchies at the time sought to siphon profits. This open-door policy has been interpreted as proof of a tolerant ruling class. But toleration was practiced for the convenience of the city. Therefore, the wealthy Sephardic Jews from Portugal were welcomed and accorded all privileges except those of citizenship, but the poor Ashkenazi Jews from Eastern Europe were far more carefully vetted and those who became dependent on the city were encouraged to move on. Similarly, provision for the housing of Huguenot immigrants was made in 1681 when
Louis XIV's religious policy was beginning to drive these Protestants out of France; no encouragement was given to the dispossessed Dutch from the countryside or other towns of Holland. The regents encouraged immigrants to build churches and provided sites or buildings for churches and temples for all but the most radical sects and the native Catholics by the 1670s (although even the Catholics could practice quietly in a chapel within the Begijnhof).
Immigration Until 1584,
Antwerp was the largest
Dutch city and the cultural, economic, and financial centre of the
Seventeen Provinces and of
Northwestern Europe. However, the
Fall of Antwerp in 1585 offered Amsterdam unprecedented opportunities since Amsterdam took over that position. There was a large influx of Antwerp merchants who chose to live in Amsterdam; the blockade of the
Scheldt by the
Geuzen caused Antwerp's influence to decline even further. The extent of which the migration of Antwerp (and other Southern Dutch) merchants contributed to the rise of Amsterdam remains a disputed matter. Some believe that their role was not decisive. Others argue that this migration movement brought the necessary expertise (particularly in financial markets and insurance) and international trade contacts that would give Amsterdam its prosperity. . Amsterdam did not have restricted residential quarters, so immigrants could live anywhere. Engraving by
Romeyn de Hooghe c. 1695 During the 17th and 18th century, Amsterdam was a city where immigrants formed the majority. According to calculations by Erika Kuijpers, almost a third of the population were immigrants in the first half of the 17th century. Most immigrants were
Germans who were usually
Lutheran Protestant. Smaller groups were French
Huguenots, and Ashkenazi/Sephardic Jews. The integration of immigrants was smooth. It was not hard to find work as a craftsman, but craftsmen were forced to join guilds, to serve in the city patrol and to cooperate in the local district to compete with other districts. These were powerful institutions that resulted in quick integration, especially since all these institutions were mainly filled with immigrants or children of immigrants. The city council of Amsterdam consisted of people with all kinds of backgrounds: Dutch, German, Flemish, French, Scottish. Immigration completely changed Amsterdam's social fabric: a city of artisans and small merchants, without too stark differences between rich and poor, became a metropolis with internationally oriented trade princes and a large
proletariat. Although Armenian traces in the Netherlands go back to the 4th century, Armenian merchants started appearing on mass in the 12th century, and the highest numbers were in the 17th century. The Armenian traders imported and exported almost everything, selling spices, gold, pearls, diamonds, and silk to the Dutch and buying yellow amber from them, which they sold in Smyrna. Due to religious and ethnic tolerance, the Armenians built their own churches, cultural centers, schools, universities, and printing presses in Amsterdam and the rest of the Netherlands. These churches and cultural centers exist to this day. In response to Dutch generosity, the Armenians integrated into their society very smoothly, and they became part of its society. A Dutch writer said in the magazine
De Amsterdammer (14 August 1887): "The story of the Armenian community is a golden page in the history of the city of Amsterdam."
Plague However, the city's trading status meant it suffered from an outbreak of
bubonic plague from 1663 to 1666, supposed to have come from
Algiers to Amsterdam. (The plague also broke out in the trading center of
London in June 1665.) Though it had little initial effect, the impact grew in autumn 1663 and in 1664. The wife and youngest daughter of well known collector of paintings
Jan J. Hinlopen, as well as Rembrandt's partner
Hendrickje Stoffels, fell victim to it that autumn. According to
Samuel Pepys, for a few weeks at the end of 1663, ships from Hamburg and Amsterdam were quarantined for thirty days. In 1664, 24,148 people were buried in Amsterdam. More than 10% of the population died in this period - everybody that came into contact with the plague was at risk. At the time people assumed the plague was caused by the digging of new canals. Surprisingly, tobacco smoke was regarded as an effective prophylactic against the plague. With the prospect of the plague, as well as war with England looming, the English ambassador commented in May 1664: "there are dead this last week to the number 338 at Amsterdam and if the plague thus increases within, and a warre with His Majestie without, there will be little need of that vast new towne which they are making there". Rich people left the cities to avoid the disease, but in the worst week of the pandemic of 1664, in Amsterdam there were 1,041 burials compared with 7,000 in the late summer of 1665 in London, a city twice its size. The mayors warned the population that eating salad, spinach or prunes could be unhealthy. The
vroedschap shut the
theatre, allowing performances to resume only in 1666, though Jan J. Hinlopen's own death in 1666 is ascribed to the plague. Sailors on ships out to sea were relatively safe. ==Decline and modernization==