In March, Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte visited China, and many friends paid attention to the Netherlands. The Netherlands is a country with a population of only about 18 million, and its presence is neither weak nor strong.
In the past, much of what we know about the Netherlands comes from history textbooks, where the Dutch colonists were defeated by our national hero, Zheng Chenggong. Later, we learned that the country has a legal red light district, that many Eastern European women are engaged in the leather and meat business here, and that the Netherlands is a very "open" society. Also, due to the developed agriculture and the abundance of dairy products, people in this country are very tall, 1.9 meters for men and 1.8 meters for women, which are considered common heights. Now, we know that there is a very powerful company in this country, ASML, which is the strongest lithography machine manufacturer in the world. TSMC wants to produce chips, and it can't do without it.
Dutch lithography giant ASML
All of the above is true, but it is slightly superficial. The rise of the Netherlands is worth studying.
Britain had the famous East India Company, which was the pioneer of British colonization around the world. In fact, since the beginning of the 17th century, there has been a boom in the establishment of the East India Company throughout Europe, and the Netherlands, France, Sweden, and Denmark all have East India Company, not only the United Kingdom. All Europeans wanted to go to the East, which was rumored to be full of gold, to establish colonies and obtain an endless source of wealth. However, it was only the British and Dutch East India Companies that really had a significant impact on the shaping of the global business map.
The Dutch East India Company was founded in 1602, two years later than the British, during the Wanli period of the Ming Dynasty in China. At this time, the emperor of the Zhu family was vigorously implementing a sea ban and taking the initiative to cut off trade with the world. The Dutch East India Company was the main executor of Dutch colonization in Southeast Asia, the Dutch army occupying Taiwan, and the armed forces supported by the East India Company. In 1642, the Dutch defeated Spain at Keelung and occupied Taiwan.
From the middle of the 17th century, not only in Taiwan, but also throughout Southeast Asia, the Dutch East India Company continued to expand its territory, whether it was real war or commercial war, the Dutch were the last, and continued to seize colonies and market share from the Spanish and Portuguese.
In that era, the colonizers of the West were mainly divided into three schools. The first two were the British and the Portuguese were the two, the former being the Angsa system and the latter being the Latin peoples, and their colonial styles were different. The advantage of the British is that they are more advanced in technology and business systems. They had better muskets, cannons, and warships, a joint-stock company system that was more conducive to financing, and commercial insurance instruments that were more risk-diversifying. In short, the Angsa nation has a great technological advantage.
The advantage of Spain and Portugal is that it is more "down-to-earth", the British rarely intermarry with the local people of the colonies, but the colonists of Spain and Portugal are more willing to establish blood ties with the indigenous peoples, and the colonizers marry a large number of local upper-class women, and there are also many Spanish and Portuguese women who marry local upper-class men. As a result, Spain and Portugal were able to gain more support from the upper echelons of indigenous peoples in Latin America and Southeast Asia. This advantage was enough to compensate for their technological inferiority, so that their colonies bloomed everywhere, and they were not inferior to the British in terms of area.
The style of the Dutch is just between the Ansa nation and the Spanish and Portuguese peoples, and it can be said that they can play to their strengths and avoid their weaknesses and take their essence. First of all, the Dutch did not lag behind the British in any way in terms of business technology, the East India Company was the first joint-stock company in the world, and the Amsterdam Exchange in the Netherlands was also the first in the world. At the same time, the Netherlands also learned from the Spaniards and the Portuguese, intermarrying with the local upper class of the colony.
Amsterdam Stock Exchange, Netherlands
Taking Indonesia, the most populous country in Southeast Asia, as an example, until the 20th century, many of Indonesia's political, business, and military elites still had obvious European face styles on their faces, with high noses and deep white skin. They are the mixed descendants of Dutch colonists and locals, and a hundred years later, the blood of these people still occupies the upper echelons.
In 1799, the Dutch East India Company was dissolved. However, in the process of colonization, the Dutch colonists also continued to shape the survival and development style of the Dutch country.
As a small country, only by being open enough (not only the market is open, but even the blood dimension is open) can we overcome the disadvantages of small countries and achieve the continuous development of the country with small and large countries. This spirit never goes out of style.
Some of the illustrations in the article are from Visual China
Author | Paul Tan
Edit | Li Chunfeng
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