Arms Exports and Export Control of the Dutch Republic 1585–1621

Abstract The Dutch Republic underwent a process of state formation, accelerated economic growth and military reforms during the Eighty Years War. In particular between 1585 and 1621, Dutch merchant-entrepreneurs built up a burgeoning arms industry and sector of arms exports. These exports required a system of passports, still an under-researched theme in current literature, organized by the States-General and admiralties in order to support exports to neutral and allied states, but to forestall these did not fall into enemy hands. In particular, the system of passports shows how merchants, act... Mehr ...