The total value of merchandise yearly shipped in Dutch bottoms, in all seas, exceeded a thousand million francs.

The Dutch had made themselves, to use a contemporary phrase, the wagoners of all seas."[18] It was through its colonies that the republic had been able thus to develop its sea trade.

It had the monopoly of all the products of the East.

Produce and spices from Asia were by her brought to Europe of a yearly value of sixteen million francs.

The powerful East India Company, founded in 1602, had built up in Asia an empire, with possessions taken from the Portuguese.