Historical Context:

- 1533: Willem of Orange is born (d. 1584)

1. -1520, 1552 and 1562: storms expose the ruins of Batavorum Lugdunum (a Roman fortress) in the North Sea dunes between Katwijk and Noordwijk. Batavorum Lugdunum was an outpost on the northern boundary of the Roman Empire (circa 12 AD).
   

2. -1568: beginning of Eighty Years’s War and Dutch War of Independence (1568 - 1609)
   

- 1581: Seven northern provinces renounce Philip II and write  Declaration of Independence

1. -1573/1574:Siege of Leiden
   

2. -1584: Assassination of Willem of Orange
   

3. -1588: The Dutch Republic (through 1609)
   

4. -1588: English defeat the Spanish Armada (w/Dutch assistance)
   

5. -1591: Dutch forces, led by Willem and Mauritis of Orange, (re)capture Nijmegen, Zutphen and Deventer
   

6. -1590’s: Tulips introduced to Netherlands by Charles de l’Ecluse (Carolus Clusius) at the University of Leiden (Hortus Botanicus)
   

7. -1600: British East India Company is chartered by Elizabeth I (England) to compete with Dutch traders
   

8. -1600: Population estimates:
   

    ..World - 550 million

    ..Europe - 75 million

    ..Netherlands - 1.5 million

    ..Leiden - 15,000

1. -1600‘s William Shakespeare writes secular plays
   

2. -1602: Dutch East Indies company is granted Asian trading monopoly
   

3. -1604: King James (England) authorizes the translation of the Bible (King James version)
   

4. -1606: Rembrandt (Harmenszoon van Rijn) is born in Leiden
   

5. -1608: Champlain founds Quebec City
   

6. -1608: Puritans (temporarily) move to Leiden
   

7. -1609: Henry Hudson (working for Dutch East India Company) anchors off Manhattan Island and sails up the Hudson River
   

8. -1615: Champlain sails into Lake Huron
   

9. -1618: Rene Descartes (“I think, therefore I am”) moves to The Netherlands
   

10. -1626: Dutch West India Company establishes Nieuw Amsterdam (later NYC)
    

11. -1630 (to 1654): Netherlands conquers Brazil
    

12. -1637: peak of Tulip Mania
    

13. -1639: Dutch universities being teaching Descartes’ principles and philosophies
    

14. -1642: Taj Mahal is built in India
    

15. -1642: Rembrandt van Rijn paints “The Night Watch”
    

16. -1645: Seventy year period of extremely cold winters begins (Maunder Minimum/Little Ice Age). Canals regularly freeze in Netherlands
    

Pilgrims’ Leiden Letter

(1608)

Charles de l’Ecluse

Rembrandt’s 

“The Night Watch”

(1642)