Biggest Cities in the Netherlands after the Eighty Years' War (1648)
With the help of a map, can you name the most populous cities with an estimated population of over 5,000 in the Republic of the Seven United Netherlands after its formal independence from Spain on January 30th 1648?
Click on the map to zoom in.
Population figures are based off this dataset by Dr. E. Buringh.
Missed the 376th anniversary of the Peace of Münster by a few days with this one. This treaty marked the end of Eighty Years' War, after a long struggle for independence from the Spanish Empire.
While a de facto independent confederation since as early as July 26th 1581, the Netherlands only had its independence formally recognized by this treaty on January 30th 1648.
That scramble of land in the south really makes me think. I know it's probably some complicated monarchical thing, but geez... makes you wonder if they were even tangible, enforced boundaries, or just something that existed on paper.
Thanks! Most of the land in the Low Countries was ruled by the Spanish king in personal union. Since most it was successfully wrestled from the Spanish, it remained part of the newly founded Dutch Republic, including enclaves like that. Most of Belgium remained under Spanish and then Austrian Habsburg rule until Napoleonic times.
Complex borders like that had existed centuries at this point in time as a consequence of feudalism. The states of the bordering Holy Roman Empire is a greater example of the complexity of medieval boundaries.
I have plans to make one for the Spanish Netherlands before the start of the war, which will include most of Belgium and extra parts of France and Germany along with it.
While a de facto independent confederation since as early as July 26th 1581, the Netherlands only had its independence formally recognized by this treaty on January 30th 1648.
That scramble of land in the south really makes me think. I know it's probably some complicated monarchical thing, but geez... makes you wonder if they were even tangible, enforced boundaries, or just something that existed on paper.
Complex borders like that had existed centuries at this point in time as a consequence of feudalism. The states of the bordering Holy Roman Empire is a greater example of the complexity of medieval boundaries.