During the early seventeenth century, Amsterdam developed into Europe's leading center for commodity trade and finance, supported by the founding of the Amsterdam Stock Exchange around 1602 and the Amsterdam Exchange Bank in 1609. Warehousing, insurance, and credit institutions grew alongside the VOC and other trading ventures, allowing merchants to finance long, risky voyages and trade in futures for goods like grain and herring. The city's commercial infrastructure made it the primary clearinghouse for European and colonial trade for much of the Dutch Golden Age.
Relevance to Trade History
Amsterdam's financial innovations provided institutional foundations later adopted by other European trading and financial centers.
Read the full story in our article The Dutch Golden Age and the Rise of Global Finance.
Source: Rijksmuseum. See our Sources & Methodology page for how we select and verify references.