A vivid portrait of the exoticism of the Dutch Republic at a critical moment in its cultural and political history The seventeenth century witnessed a great flourishing of Dutch trade and culture. Politically, the Netherlands secured independence from Spain, becoming a sovereign state in 1648 at the conclusion of the Eighty Years' War. Over the course of the first half of the century, the nascent republic sought to establish a place in global trade and engaged in diplomatic relations with the Ottoman Empire and other Muslim powers. Central to the political and cultural emergence of the Dutch Republic were curious foreign goods the Dutch called "rarities." Rarities of These Lands offers an episodic account of the role that rarities played in the formation of the Dutch Republic. It explores how rarities were obtained, exchanged, and valued, tracing their global trajectories and considering their role within the politics of the new state. Claudia Swan examines...
Description:
A vivid portrait of the exoticism of the Dutch Republic at a critical moment in its cultural and political history
The seventeenth century witnessed a great flourishing of Dutch trade and culture. Politically, the Netherlands secured independence from Spain, becoming a sovereign state in 1648 at the conclusion of the Eighty Years' War. Over the course of the first half of the century, the nascent republic sought to establish a place in global trade and engaged in diplomatic relations with the Ottoman Empire and other Muslim powers. Central to the political and cultural emergence of the Dutch Republic were curious foreign goods the Dutch called "rarities."
Rarities of These Lands offers an episodic account of the role that rarities played in the formation of the Dutch Republic. It explores how rarities were obtained, exchanged, and valued, tracing their global trajectories and considering their role within the politics of the new state. Claudia Swan examines...