Anglo-Dutch Economic Relations and the Atlantic World, 1688-1783

Abstract

Between the Glorious Revolution and the American Revolution, Britain and the Netherlands had significant economic connections that affected the Atlantic trade of both countries. Anglo-Dutch economic relations had their foundations in various factors. Anglo-Dutch trade had flourished from the Middle Ages onwards. London and Amsterdam were the major financial capitals of Europe, with considerable interaction among them. The English and the Dutch were natural allies as maritime powers between 1674, the end of the third Anglo-Dutch War, and 1780, when after a century of almost complete neutrality in major wars, Britain and Holland became embroiled in conflict during the American revolutionary war. In the period covered in this paper, harmonious relations between Britain and the Netherlands were embedded in formal treaties dated 1674, 1675 and 1678.