Netherlandish

The Netherlandish group includes the Dutch and Flemings of the Low Franconian group, the Frisians of the coast, the Walloons and Picards of the south, and the Westphalians of the eastern border. Flemish and Brabantine cloth towns made the region rich.

The Dukes of Burgundy gathered the provinces in the fifteenth century, and Mary of Burgundy's marriage brought them to the Habsburgs in 1477. The Dutch Revolt against Philip II began in 1568 under William of Orange, and the northern provinces joined in the Union of Utrecht in 1579. Spain accepted the independence of the Dutch Republic at Münster in 1648, and the East India Company of 1602 built a trading empire.