Judging Migrants

The Dutch Golden Age is often referred to as a prime example of Dutch tolerance with regard to the ‘open’ policies towards migration and the harmonious co-existence of migrants with their local neighbours. Considering that, before 1800, migrants made up approximately 25-60 percent of the urban communities of the early modern Dutch Republic, and that there is evidence of the rise of many stereotypes about these migrants, this rosy picture of Dutch tolerance is drawn into question. How exactly this tension between tolerance and the persistence of these stereotypes played out in the daily realiti... Mehr ...