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One Response to “When Did Amsterdam Really Begin To Become A Very Cosmopolitan City And Were There Many Pple From Spain/italy?”

1. 1
   altusqui Says:
   December 5th, 2009 at 4:48 am

   The main reason is trade.
   During the time of the Italian Renaissance, the Italian city states were by far the richest, most prosperous and most cosmopolitan places in the world because they had monopolies on Mediterranean trade and the commerce coming through the Middle East and the Silk road from China and India. At this time therefore, places such as Venice, Florence, Greece and other southern European areas were a far cry from the subsistence farming cultures of England, Scotland, northern France and the Low Countries.
   However, the Ottoman Empire made trade with the east increasingly difficult and expensive for Europe. England, Amsterdam and Bruges meanwhile rapidly became centres of the textile and wool trade. The discovery of the New World in the late middle ages, along with faster trade routes made possible by sea, meant that the focus shifted to the north and west, so coastal countries such as Portugal, Spain, England, and Holland could take advantage of this and so became much richer. London, Amsterdam, Lisbon and Serville were now overtaking Venice, Sienna, Florence and Constantinople and by the mid 16th century were becoming very cosmopolitan. Of course, competition for trade often made them enemies, and so for a long time Spain occupied Flanders, fighting the English there as well. Religious differences also caused war between the Catholic Portugal, France and Spain and the Protestant Enlgand and Holland. Eventually by the 18th Century Holland was rid of Spanish garrisons and London, Paris and Amsterdam were truly cosmopolitan in the modern sense, with colonies across the globe. As an example, you could say that the Dutch had really began to organise themselves when William of Orange became king of England (peacefully!) when only a few years before ships from Holand had sailed up the Thames to burn the English fleet.
   There is a whole lot more to find out but I hope this is OK.

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