234 Ch. 6 • England and the Dutch Republic

Canals and rivers expedited internal trade in the Dutch Republic. These boats

along the Spaarne at Haarlem carried goods to the port, where they were loaded for

distant trade.

The Dutch Republic, small in territory and population, expanded its agri­

cultural resources during the first half of the seventeenth century. Workers

and horses reclaimed much of the country’s most fertile land from the sea.

Increased productivity generated an agricultural surplus that was invested in

commerce or manufacturing; an increased food supply sustained a larger

population. Commercial livestock raising and capital-intensive farming

became lucrative.

The Dutch Republic’s population rose by a third between 1550 and 1650,

to almost 2 million people, which made it Europe’s most densely populated

country after several of the Italian states. More than half of the population

lived in towns. As Amsterdam became a major international port of trade and

London’s primary rival, its population rose from about 50,000 in 1600 to

about 200,000 by 1670.

Early in the seventeenth century, construction of three large canals

expanded Amsterdam’s area by almost four times. These canals permitted

boats to dock outside merchants’ warehouses, where they were loaded with

goods, which they then carried to the large ships of the port. Handsome

townhouses reached skyward above new tree-lined streets along the canals.

Built for bankers and merchants, the townhouses had narrow and increas­

ingly ornamented facades, dauntingly steep staircases, and drains and sew­