The seventeen provinces of the Netherlands occupied the
flat, low country along the North Sea—the Holland, Belgium, and northern France
of the present day. During the fifteenth century they became Hapsburg
possessions and thus belonged to the Holy Roman Empire. As we have learned,
Charles V received them as a part of his inheritance, and he, in turn,
transmitted them to Philip II.
CONDITION OF THE NETHERLANDS
The inhabitants of the Netherlands were not racially
united. In the southernmost provinces Celtic blood and Romance speech
prevailed, while farther north dwelt peoples of Teutonic extraction, who spoke
Flemish and Dutch. Each province likewise kept its own government and customs.
The prosperity which had marked the Flemish cities during the Middle Ages
extended in the sixteenth century to the Dutch cities also. Rotterdam, Leyden,
Utrecht, and Amsterdam profited by the geographical discoveries and became
centers of extensive commerce with Asia and America. The rise of the Dutch
power, in a country so exposed to destructive inundations of both sea and
rivers, is a striking instance of what can be accomplished by a frugal,
industrious population.
