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| Dutch purchase Manhattan, today's New York, May 6, 1626 |
Rembrandt also painted his masterpieces during that time in Amsterdam.
As a result of the Reformation business and religion mixed easily and their combined intellectual and entrepreneurial efforts brought great prosperity to the Netherlands.
When Spain and Portugal forced Sephardic
Jews to flee, some went to the Netherlands, which was Europe’s center of
religious toleration and also to the Ottoman Empire ( today's Turkey)
Jews migrated to Holland’s largest city of Amsterdam, which in the 1600s became the wealthiest city in the world.
The Republic of the Seven United
Netherlands was in its golden age from 1568 until Napoleon, being one of
the few nations not to have a king occupied the Netherlands.
From 1575 on, Holland’s University of Leiden was a center for the studies of Hebrew, Aramaic and Syriac, with a Jewish rabbi as a the leading professor.
The original Pilgrims also lived in Leiden before sailing to Massachusetts, and identified themselves with the ancient Hebrew republic.
Medieval Europe forbade paying interest – the sin of usury – but after the Reformation, Amsterdam was where some of the first corporations were started, such as the Dutch East India Company.
Individuals could invest in an expedition of ships going around the world for spices and when the ships returned, interest or “dividends” were paid to the investors from the profit.
If an individual wanted to sell his piece of ownership, he could at the first Amsterdam Stock Exchange. Individual investors had limited liability, only risking the amount they invested. In case the ships sank or were captured by Muslim Barbary pirates, as a consequence the Dutch also invented insurance companies.
From 1575 on, Holland’s University of Leiden was a center for the studies of Hebrew, Aramaic and Syriac, with a Jewish rabbi as a the leading professor.
The original Pilgrims also lived in Leiden before sailing to Massachusetts, and identified themselves with the ancient Hebrew republic.
Medieval Europe forbade paying interest – the sin of usury – but after the Reformation, Amsterdam was where some of the first corporations were started, such as the Dutch East India Company.
Individuals could invest in an expedition of ships going around the world for spices and when the ships returned, interest or “dividends” were paid to the investors from the profit.
If an individual wanted to sell his piece of ownership, he could at the first Amsterdam Stock Exchange. Individual investors had limited liability, only risking the amount they invested. In case the ships sank or were captured by Muslim Barbary pirates, as a consequence the Dutch also invented insurance companies.
On May 6, 1626, Peter Minuit, Dutch
governor of the New Netherlands Province, gave 60 guilders of brass
buttons, scarlet cloth and trade goods to the Manhattan Indian tribe in
exchange for Manhattan Island, today's New York
The Articles for the New Netherlands’ Colony, issued by the Chamber of Amsterdam, 1624, stated: “They shall within their territory practice no other form of divine worship than that of the Reformed religion … and thus by their Christian life and conduct seek to draw the Indians and other blind people to the knowledge of God and His word, without, however, persecuting any on account of his faith, but leaving each one the use of his conscience.”
New Netherlands’ original Charter of Freedoms and Exemptions, June 1, 1629, stated: “Patroons and colonists shall in particular, and in the speediest manner, endeavor to find out ways and means whereby they may support a Minister and Schoolmaster, that thus the service of God and zeal for religion may not grow cool and be neglected among them, and they shall, for the first, procure a Comforter of the sick there.”
The Dutch set up a New Amsterdam Stock Exchange along the wall of their fort. After a series of Anglo-Dutch Wars, the city of New Amsterdam was unfortunately taken over by the British and renamed New York City.
The New Amsterdam Stock Exchange then became the New York Stock Exchange on Wall Street and the rest is history.
EU-Digest
The Articles for the New Netherlands’ Colony, issued by the Chamber of Amsterdam, 1624, stated: “They shall within their territory practice no other form of divine worship than that of the Reformed religion … and thus by their Christian life and conduct seek to draw the Indians and other blind people to the knowledge of God and His word, without, however, persecuting any on account of his faith, but leaving each one the use of his conscience.”
New Netherlands’ original Charter of Freedoms and Exemptions, June 1, 1629, stated: “Patroons and colonists shall in particular, and in the speediest manner, endeavor to find out ways and means whereby they may support a Minister and Schoolmaster, that thus the service of God and zeal for religion may not grow cool and be neglected among them, and they shall, for the first, procure a Comforter of the sick there.”
The Dutch set up a New Amsterdam Stock Exchange along the wall of their fort. After a series of Anglo-Dutch Wars, the city of New Amsterdam was unfortunately taken over by the British and renamed New York City.
The New Amsterdam Stock Exchange then became the New York Stock Exchange on Wall Street and the rest is history.
EU-Digest
