Why go
This period explains why the history of the Netherlands cannot be confined to its modern borders. Burgundian and Habsburg rulers joined territories across the Low Countries, including much of present Belgium. The northern revolt later broke that union apart. Utrecht provides a named anchor for the alliance that helped lay the foundations of the Dutch Republic.
The full story
Burgundian rulers brought many previously separate territories of the Low Countries under one dynasty. People who had identified mainly with a town, county or duchy increasingly shared a ruler, though local differences remained. Trade strengthened Holland’s position. Amsterdam distributed Baltic grain to cities farther south and across the Channel. The trade mattered because drainage had caused peat soils in Holland to sink, making local grain production more difficult. Economic growth and changes to the landscape were closely linked. Under the Habsburg ruler Charles V, the Seventeen Provinces included much of today’s Netherlands, Belgium and Luxembourg, with neighbouring territories beyond them. The revolt against Spanish rule developed into the Eighty Years’ War from 1568. In 1579, northern provinces formed the Union of Utrecht for mutual defence. Their Act of Abjuration in 1581 rejected Philip II as ruler, although recognition of independence would take decades more.