The Significance of Spain
The Low Countries had long been part of the Spanish Empire; however, in 1568 the Eighty Years' War broke out, and the Dutch established the Republic of the Seven United Netherlands. A consequence of the war was the raiding of Spanish lands, colonies and ships by Dutch fleets. In 1609 the two countries signed a twelve-year peace treaty in which the Dutch Republic was allowed to trade with Portuguese settlements in Brazil, since Portugal was in a dynastic union with Spain from 1580 to 1640. The Dutch also agreed to delay the creation of a West India Company, a counterpart to the already existing Dutch East India Company. In 1621 the twelve-year peace treaty expired and the Dutch West Indian Company was immediately created. War resumed, and through the new company, the Dutch now started to interfere with the Spanish and Portuguese colonies in America. In 1624 the Dutch sent a large expedition to invade Brazil.
Read more about this topic: Dutch Brazil
Famous quotes containing the words significance and/or spain:
“Politics is not an end, but a means. It is not a product, but a process. It is the art of government. Like other values it has its counterfeits. So much emphasis has been placed upon the false that the significance of the true has been obscured and politics has come to convey the meaning of crafty and cunning selfishness, instead of candid and sincere service.”
—Calvin Coolidge (1872–1933)
“last time I saw you was the hospital
pale skull protruding under ashen skin
blue veined unconscious girl
in an oxygen tent
the war in Spain has ended long ago
Aunt Rose”
—Allen Ginsberg (b. 1926)