Page:The New International Encyclopædia 1st ed. v. 14.djvu/453

* NETHERLANDS. 401 NETHERLANDS. De Morabynes, Consliliilions ctiropi'ennes (2 vols., Paris, ISSl). For aiiiiy and navy, see under Armies and Naviks. Defense. There are few fortresses ]ui)tecting till' national honndaries. The eliief, most etlettive defense lies in the ahility to open the dikes and flood the region between the Lck and the Zuy- <ier Zee. Colonies. The Netherlands are one of the im- portant colonial powers. The Dutch colonics form two groups: the Dutch Ea.st Indies (q.v. ) and the Dutch West Indies. The statistics — to- tals — are ai)proximatcly : Area in square miles, Dutch Kast Indies, 73(i,400; Dutch West Indies, f)0,2:!0; total, 7S0.(i;?0; population in 1807, Dutch East Indies, 34,090.000; Dutch West Indies, 1:33,- 300; total, 34,223,300. The Dutch West Indies comprise the colony of Dutch Guiana, or Surinam (see under Guian.a.), area 49,800 square miles, population 82,000: and the colony of Curacao (q.v.), including the adjacent islands of Aruba (q.v.), Buen Ay re (q.v.), Eustatius (q.v.), Saba (q.v.), and half of Saint Martin (q.v.), total area 430 square miles, population 51.000. History. The name Xetherlands or Low Countries originally covered the territory in- cluded in the present kingdoms of the Nether- lands and Belgium, with Luxemburg. This re- gion vas inhabited in Roman times by the Frisii in the north, the Batavi in the central portion, and the Eelgte in the south. These tribes ■were successively subjugated by the Roman.s — the Bel- ga" by Caesar; the Batavi after Claudius Civilis, a Batavian leader, whose native name is unknown, had broken the Roman alliance and attempted to form a luiited Batavian kingdom (a.d. 09-70); and the Frisii still later after an obstinate resist- ance. The Low Countries were incorporated in the Empire of Charles the Great and Christianized. Upon the breaking up of the Carolingian Empire the new Frankish kingdom acquired the south- ei'n portion, Lotharingia (Lorraine) the central, and the new Ciermany the northern part. Coinci- dentally with tliis division came the rise of feu- dalism, and duchies like Brabant (originally Lower Lorraine), counties like Artois. Flanders, Holland, and Hainault, and bishoprics like Ltrecht and Li&ge, developed a semi-independent authority in this remote district, where the weak- ened royal authority of the period reached with difliculty. (See Belgium.) It resulted also from the division of the country that, -while the people as a whole retained certain traits due to their en- vironment, the Dutch or northern provinces were distinctly Germanic in language and customs, the Flemings or Central Xetherlands showed in both respects a mingling of French and German ele- ments, while the Walloons on the south were as markedly French as the Dutch were German. In the latter part of the Middle Ages the cities of the Netherlands ro.se through their conuncrce and manufactures to an extraordinary state of pros- perity, and some of them were for a time vir- tually independent repul)lics. Next to the Italian States they figured most prominently in the re- vival of art. The cities of Flanders and Brabant were especially flourishing. Bruges, Ghent, and Antwerp had the largest share in this prosperity — . twerp, at the beginning of the sixteenth century, eclipsing all other cities of Europe in the volume of its trade and its financial trans- actions. A marriage alliance between the House of Flanders and that of Burgvuidy (1300) gave the Burgundian dukes, with their unbridled am- bition for empire, a foothold in the Netherlands which they used to such purposqi as to bring the whole country under their sway. (See Burgundy; Fl, i)Ers.) The Hapsburg-Burgun- dian alliance (the marriage of JIaximilian of .Austria and Mary of Burgundy | in 1477 made the Low Countries an appanage of the House of IIapsl)urg. Charles V., the grandson of Maximilian, in 1.549 formally united this rich inheritance with the Spanish crown. In 1555 he resigned the sovereignty over the Netherlands to his son Philip II, At this time they com- prised the four duchies of Brabant, Gelderland, Liiuburg, and Luxenil)Urg: the seven comities of Artois, Flanders, Hainault, Holland, Namur, Zutplien, and Zeeland : the nuirgraviate of Ant- werp, and the seigniories of Friesland, Groningen. Jlechlin, Overyssel, and Utrecht. These provinces were very largely inde])cndent of each other and prized this independence. The States-General, to which each sent deputies, served to unify them to some extent, and a supreme tribunal had jurisilic- tion over all ; but the States-General was, like similar bodies in that age, ]iolitically weak, with- out power of legislation or taxation. The acquisi- tion of the country by Spain brought into close l)olitical conjunction two bitterly antagonistic forces, for all save the Flemish or Southern Netherlands was becoming strongly Protestant, while Spain was the most Catholic cmuiti'y in Europe. Under Charles V. the Netherlands, which were included in the Burgundian Circle of the Holy Roman Empire, had been declared indivisible, and not subject to the Imperial courts. He had subjected the Protestants to severe persecution and had established the Inquisition, but it was reserved for Philip II. to show to what lengths bigotry, cruelty, and bad faith could be carried in the oppression of a people. The Cjovernment during the regency of jiargaret of Parma was carried on by Cardinal Granvella (q.v.), who began at once to break the royal pledges and to trample upon the lib- erties of tile people. Spanisli troops were kept in the country and time-honoreil privileges aiui rights were ignored. Protest and resistance soon began under the leadership of William of Orange, Stadtholder of Holland, Zeeland, and L'trecht, Count Egmont, and the Count of Hoorne. which brought about the dismis.sal of the hated Min- ister (1504), but effected no change in Philip's jiolicy toward the Netherlands. The league of the Beggars (see Gueux) arose in 1566, and field preaching by proscribed Protestant ministers was carried on under the protection of armed multitudes. Jlob violence broke out in manj- parts of the country and the resentment of the people showed it.self in the plundering and desecration of churches and the destruction of images and relics. Philip II. proceeded to sum- mary measures, strengthened by the support of a large peaceful element among the popu- lation who viewe<l with alarm the proceed- ings of the Beggars. In August, •1567, the Duke of Alva (.v. ) arrived with an army of Spanish veterans and authority to deal with the country as rebellious and conquered territory. Alva's Bloody Council, an irresponsible tribiuial, con- demned by wholesale Netherlanders guilty of no offense save their religion and love of country, and in February, 1568, the Holy Office of the Inqiiisition pronounce<l a death sentence against