CCTV had a famous documentary "The Rise of great powers" that year, which mentioned the Dutch fishery when talking about the rise of the Netherlands, saying that the Dutch started by catching herring, and later invented a merchant ship with a large cargo capacity, thus becoming a sea coachman, as if the rise of the Netherlands was based on its own business acumen and diligence, relying on herring to become a sea coachman, but in fact, this was completely confusing and removed the key elements of the rise of the Netherlands at that time.
What are the key elements? It was the Netherlands, or the Netherlands, the Low Countries, which were then the territory of the Spanish Habsburgs and part of the Spanish Empire.
The Dutch were industrious and not industrious, industrious, but who was not industrious at that time, and The Chinese india in Asia was not industrious? Wasn't Germany, France, England, europe industrious? The Dutch have inventions, is it any wonder that the English, the French, and the Germans do not? Britain and France later became the real technological powers. Why did the Netherlands follow Spain's rise and not everyone else's?
In fact, the key is that the Netherlands was part of the Spanish Empire and the link between Spain and Germany.
At the beginning of the 16th century, the Netherlands belonged to the Habsburg family, was part of the Spanish Empire at that time, and at this time the Spanish Empire was in the sky, it could be described as punching England, kicking France, invincible in Europe, at that time the Netherlands obediently did not think anything of it, and because of its geographical location, it became the trade center of the Spanish Empire.
How to say it? The Dutch side is exactly the junction of the Holy Roman Empire and France, across the sea there is England, to the other side there is Sweden and Denmark, that is, in all directions, and the Spanish Empire itself is in the westernmost part, and the Habsburg side of Austria or the Holy Roman Empire land is separated by a France, so Spain from the mainland to the Holy Roman Empire mainland, transport gold or goods, need to go to the sea, and then the sea needs a port center, and then chose the Netherlands.
What are the benefits of choosing a transit station? The Spanish Empire had obtained a large amount of gold and silver from the Americas at that time, and was the richest European country, and they shipped this gold and silver back to Europe not to look good, but to spend, and the money spent to buy all kinds of materials was shipped to all parts of the empire as the needs of the empire in the war everywhere.
At that time, the Spanish Empire in the Americas, and France, and England, and the Ottoman Empire, all needed a lot of material support, so the demand for material was extremely strong, requiring a large number of transport fleets, Spain had a huge imperial fleet at that time, but also needed a large number of merchant ships, and the Netherlands was favored, taking on the task of providing logistical supplies for the Spanish Empire.
Simply put, the Netherlands obtained a lot of gold from Spain, and then went to all parts of Europe to buy materials, and then transferred to all parts of the Spanish Empire, in the middle of which naturally they would do some small business and make some money, and then where Spain went, where the business was done, where Spain did not go, Dutch merchants could also go to do business. The business worked for decades, and it was on this that the Netherlands built up a huge fleet of ships and became the richest region at that time.
In fact, there is an example, that is, Hong Kong at that time, when we only had one port to the outside world, and the result was that Hong Kong made a fortune in its counterpart traders and was rich in money.
That is to say, the Netherlands did not make its fortune by any industriousness and wisdom at all, but on the protection of Spain and the concession trade.
The Netherlands was chosen to have its geographical location and fishing advantages, but this was not the point, if there was no France between the Spanish mainland and Germany, or the Spanish Empire and France united, or more simply, the Spanish Empire had only the mainland and did not unite with other places, then Spain did not need the Netherlands as a transit point.
Even if the Netherlands had disobeyed and fought against Spain at the outset, Spain would not have been able to put the transit point in the Netherlands, and Hamburg could have been used as a transit point, and even the Mediterranean route could have been taken, and it could have won over the Bankers of Venice and Genoa.
However, the Netherlands was quite obedient at that time, and it belonged to the empire itself, and its own people naturally entrusted the heavy responsibility of the transit point to the Netherlands, and even gave up the handicraft industry of Spain for the development of the Netherlands. Since the Dutch could buy good and cheap things from all over the world, why should they protect their handicrafts, that's what the Spanish rulers thought.
However, the Netherlands became richer day by day, becoming the richest region of the empire, and merchant ships sailed everywhere, no less than the fleet of the Spanish Empire. The Empire fought on multiple fronts, the pressure was enormous, Spain and the Holy Roman Empire were also divided into two countries, still allies but not close, this time is the most needed time for the Netherlands. When the Spanish rulers wanted to come, I raised you into such a fat cow, and escorted you and kept you safe, and it is normal for you to give back now.
But in the eyes of the Dutch, it was not right for Spain to do so, they thought that their wealth was on their own, had nothing to do with Spain, and it was wrong for Spain to tax it without reason.
In addition, Spain and the Holy Roman Empire separated, Britain and France provoked from it, religious contradictions, of course, the key is that the Netherlands thought that its wings were hard enough to fly, and began to become independent.
At this moment, Britain and France laughed and blossomed, the Netherlands became independent, which was equivalent to the richest region of the Spanish Empire left, equivalent to Japan's Tokyo to be independent, the United States New York California independent state, then how can the Spanish Empire allow, civil war broke out, but with the help of Britain and France, the Netherlands still came out of Spain.
Since then, the Spanish Empire, which was originally in the middle of the day, has collapsed and become a second-rate or even a third-rate and fourth-rate country, and the history of the collapse of the Armada is nothing, the key is the independence of the Netherlands.
The Netherlands became independent, because he was the richest region in Spain, and as soon as he became independent, he became a coachman by sea, because he was not a newly established country out of nothing, but was equivalent to the division of the Spanish family, and the favored little son of the Netherlands took out most of the Spanish family property.
In fact, it is not so much the Dutch Empire, the sea coachman, but the remnants of the Spanish Empire, but this is only the much weaker Spanish Empire, which handed over its hegemony decades later.