Where people meet, trade arises. This is evident from the seventh episode of our ancestors, in which the development of North Holland trade is central. From barter trade in the Bronze Age to the rise of world trade and prosperity of the 17th century. Economic flowering with a taste of it.
Texel speech
From the late Middle Ages to the beginning of the 19th century, the speech of Texel was the logistics center of Dutch shipping. Here, off the coast of Oudeschild, hundreds of ships were ready to sail over the world. In Museum Kaap Skil brings a model that time to life. According to conservator Alec Ewing lay throughout the entire length of the island, from grain sailors to whales. “A complete VOC fleet left three times a year. Sometimes there were dozens of up to one hundred ships in one storm. The wrecks that are still in the Wadden Sea are a treasure room for archaeologists,” he explains.
The whistle ship
One of the biggest innovations from that time was the flute ship: the truck of the 17th century. This ship was designed in such a way that it could transport as much charge as possible with as little crew as possible, which kept the costs low and the profit high. “The deck was so low that the crew could not even stand upright, but the hold was huge,” says Ewing. “Thanks to these Dutch tricks, we could sail cheaper than anyone else.”
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Wealth with a bitter taste
The unprecedented wealth that the trade yielded was not fairly distributed. While some merchants earned millions, the ordinary worker lived on a poor wage. Moreover, economic flowering had a dark side. The Dutch government and merchants founded the VOC and the WIC, which you can compare with contemporary multinationals. These companies put the markets to their hands with violence and exploitation. “That led to wars, genocide and large -scale slavery,” said Ewing.
As a result, the wealth of the Golden Age is inextricably linked to exploitation and oppression of people in Asia, Africa and the Caribbean, Ewing emphasizes. The objects from the shipwrecks at Texel are silent witnesses of this glorious and painful history.