Straatvaart

The expression Straatvaart (German: Strassfahrt) describes the trading trips of the Dutch to the Mediterranean area in the 16th and 17th centuries. The term is derived from the Strait of Gibraltar , which was the gateway to the Mediterranean for the Western European sea powers.

16th Century

The early phase of the Straatvaart began in the 1580s by Antwerp merchants. After the occupation of the city by Habsburg-Spanish troops in the course of the sectarian conflict (1585), the Straatvaart was continued mainly from Amsterdam but also from Hoorn . The most important trading partners in the Mediterranean were initially the Italian cities of Venice , Genoa and Livorno . In the 1590s, the Straatvaart relied mainly on deliveries of grain to these city republics, due to repeated famine in Italy due to poor harvests. At the turn of the century, the Dutch penetrated into the Levant and began trading with the Ottoman Empire .

17th century

In the second phase in the 17th century, the demand for grain in Italy fell and Dutch exports shifted to textile goods (especially linen, wool), fish and goods from overseas trade. Especially with textiles, the Straatvaart increasingly faced strong competition from English and French merchants. The Dutch merchants asserted themselves by also carrying out transport trips within the Mediterranean area. In particular, the second half of the 1640s brought the Straatvaart a heyday, as the competition from England, due to their civil war , was significantly restricted. During the eighty-year war of independence in the Netherlands, Spanish privateers and barbaric pirates brought with them a constant threat near Gibraltar and in the Alborán Sea . This repeatedly led to military interventions. The Battle of Gibraltar (1607), with the victory of the Dutch East India Company against a large squadron of Spanish warships, was an important event .

Importance and Impact

With the increasing overseas trade, the Straatvaart gradually lost its importance, but as a whole it can be regarded as an important part of the overall Dutch trade of the 16th and 17th centuries. In addition to the Straatvaart, the land routes over the Brenner Pass and through today's Germany continued to be used, although these recorded temporary upswings depending on the threat to the sea route. The Straatvaart led to a diaspora-like formation of communes among Dutch merchants in Italian cities. In Amsterdam there were branches of Italian, Ottoman, Greek, Jewish and Armenian merchants. The cultural and spiritual exchange that the Dutch and Mediterranean regions experienced through the Straatvaart was of great importance in relation to the products of the Renaissance . Examples were the fine arts and humanistic currents.

literature

• Van Gelder, Maartje: Trading Places. The Netherlandish Merchants in early modern Venice . Leiden 2009.
• Van Dillen, Johannes G. Van Rijkdom en Regenten: Handboek tot de economische en sociale geschiedenis van Nederland tijdens de Republiek . The Hague 1970.