The Eighty Years War explores the military puzzle of the Dutch Republic. When a revolt broke out in the Low Countries against the rule of the King of Spain, no one could foresee that it would ultimately lead to the partition of the provinces.

Only the northern provinces succeeded in holding their own militarily. They formed an independent republic that was increasingly able to withstand the might of Spain. How did they do it? To answer that question this study examines the operations of the in...

For the first time more than seventy South African women’s voices, from 1652 until today, are collected and published in one volume. Initially we hear their voices in Dutch, then in different varieties of Afrikaans, bearing witness to the fascinating development of a new language. We share the joys and sorrows of these women; their entertaining, sometimes gruesome stories.

The printing press arrived late at the Cape, and when it finally did, it took another century before the first publica...

How did Reformed Christianity, the public faith of the Netherlands, influence the Dutch experience abroad? How did the Reformed Church and the West India Company (WIC) interact in each setting? What effect did the major religious issues and divisions of the period have on the WIC and its directors, merchants, employees, settlers, and indigenous allies? Conversely, what effect did expansion have on Dutch Calvinism?

In answering these and other questions, D. L. Noorlander argues against prevaili...