History of the Dutch Golden Age
The 17th century in the Netherlands is generally described as the "Dutch Golden Age". Contemporaries in other countries were aware of developments in this period and were amazed by them. The Golden Age continued in peacetime during the Dutch Republic until the end of the century. The Netherlands's transition from a possession of the Holy Roman Empire in the 1590s to the foremost maritime and economic power in the world has been called the "Dutch Miracle" by historian K. W. Swart.
Note: in addition to the Wikipedia article which you can access by clicking on the words Dutch Republic above, I have collected a lot more information, from various sources, on that subject
and you can access it by clicking HERE
In 1932, Johan Huizinga, in his cultural history of the Netherlands, remarked that the Dutch Republic, in the 17th century, was a small and fairly remote area in comparison with the rest of Europe and asked how it was possible that, despite this, "as a state, as a trading power and a source of culture, it was able to be so much in the foreground".
And indeed even in the 17th century this development was perceived and observed with amazement far beyond the republic's borders. For example, in 1669, the Briton William Aglionby (died 1705) wrote in the preface to his history of the Netherlands:
Scarce any Subject occurs more in the learned discourse of ingenious man than that of the marvelous progress of this little state … which has grown to a height infinitely transcending all the ancient Republicks of Greece but not much inferior in some respects even to the greatest Monarchies of these latter Ages.
In his attempt to explain this phenomenon Aglionby gave a series of reasons: the political structure, success in trade, an excellent infra-structure based on numerous waterways, canals and the sea, religious freedom, prosperity and the zeal for hard work.
"[They] are rather given to Trade and getting, and they seem as if they had suck'd in with their milk the insatiable desire of acquiring"
In his bestseller, Observations upon the United Provinces of the Netherlands, Sir William Temple (1628–1699) the English ambassador to The Hague during the 1660s, attributed the success of the small republic to similar factors and expressed the judgment that the country had not grown rich
by any native commodities, but by force of Industry; by Improvement and Manufacture of all Foreign Growth; by being the general magazine of all Europe, and furnishing all parts with whatever the Market wants or invests; and by their Seamen, being, as they have properly been called, of the World.
In that era, observers from all over Europe were generally impressed by the variety of novelties and inventions found in almost all areas of life, and they admired the Netherlands' technical innovations and economic success, as well as its cleanliness and order, its art and architecture, poor-relief and religious diversity.