A History of Modern Europe - From the Renaissance to the Present

The Golden Age of the Dutch Republic 231

lar disorder ebbed. Benefiting from the consensus of 1688, the elite of

wealthy landowners, increasingly more open to newcomers than their conti­

nental counterparts, would continue to shape British political life in the

eighteenth century. The English Civil War and the Glorious Revolution

affirmed the principle of representation not only in England, but also in the

North American colonies, an important legacy for the future.

The Golden Age of the Dutch Republic

The Dutch Republic of the United Provinces (usually known today as the
Netherlands, or sometimes simply—and erroneously—as Holland, its most
populated and prosperous province) was the other European power (besides

Map 6.2 The Netherlands, 1648 At the conclusion of

the Thirty Years’ War, the Dutch war of independence also

ended, with the northern United Provinces becoming the

Dutch Republic and the southern provinces remaining under

Spain as the Spanish Netherlands.