Dutch primacy in world trade, 1585-1740

The Dutch Republic, despite its small size and population, functioned as the hub of world trade, shipping, and finance for over a century following the fall of Antwerp in 1585. This is the first general account of Dutch world-trade hegemony in all its aspects from its origins as a depot for "bulk-carrying" in the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries to its collapse in the eighteenth century.