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Despite their seemingly never-ending war against Spain, the Dutch United Provinces developed a flourishing economy and a global empire. Building upon strong grain-importing, fishing and ship-building industries, and aided by the arrival of those fleeing religious persecution in the south and elsewhere in Europe, the Dutch were able not only to amass wealth but also to devise ingenious solutions on how to manage it. The Bank of Amsterdam – the first central bank in the world – was established in 1609, largely to finance trade. Good re-payers of debt, the Dutch were able to get credit at advantageous interest rates, thereby allowing them to finance the expansion of their trade and their wars. Their investment in ship-building made them the most effective world naval power until the late 17th century.
Pushed to find new markets by Spanish embargoes, the Dutch gained a strong presence in the Americas and in Asia, where the Dutch East India Company (established in 1602) became the first multinational corporation. Dutch privateers sacked Portuguese ships with impunity in both the Atlantic and Indian Oceans and succeeded in achieving a near monopoly on trade with the Spice Islands. Furthermore, in an attempt to protect their routes to the East, they established an outpost at the Cape of Good Hope, over which they would fight the English centuries later. The Dutch held the largest trading empire in the world until the English surpassed it, and they were to fight doggedly to keep it, notably going to war with the English three times in the 17th century.