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BBC Radio 4 is a radio channel that started transmitting on the 30th September 1967. It replaced BBC Home Service.

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The Invention Of...

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Factual: History

Factual: Politics

The Invention of...

Misha Glenny investigates the histories and the people that make nations what they are.

Misha Glenny investigates the borders, the histories and the people that make different nations what they are.

BBC Radio 4 LW

The Invention of...: The Netherlands

The Invention Of...: The Netherlands: Episode 2: The Golden Age

The Netherlands

Episode 2

Episode 2: The Golden Age

The Golden Age

BBC Radio 4 - The Invention Of..., The Netherlands, The Golden Age

Misha Glenny on the astonishing golden age of the Netherlands.

Misha Glenny on the Dutch golden age - when a few boggy Netherlandish provinces turned into one of the military and trading heavyweights of the world.

In 1607 the Dutch took on and defeated the mighty Spanish in their own backyard at Gibraltar, Sixty years later they sailed up the Medway and humiliated another trading nation by towing away the flagship of the English fleet. It was called the Royal Charles, and parts can still be seen in the Rijksmuseum. This was the golden age - when North America, South Africa, north east Brazil and the Dutch East Indies all received visits from this violent upstart nation. How did this happen? How did Amsterdam transform itself from a small fishing town into the hub of a global super power in a few short decades?

With contributions from Rebecca Rideal, author of 1666: Plague, War and Hellfire; Ben Kaplan of University College London; Gils Rommelse, author of the Second Anglo-Dutch War; Judith Pollmann of Leiden University; Maarten Prak of Utrecht University; and the Dutch journalist Geert Mak.

From the team behind The Invention of Germany, the USA and of Brazil. The presenter is Misha Glenny.

The producer in Bristol is Miles Warde.

The Invention Of...: The Netherlands

Intelligent speech, the most insightful journalism, the wittiest comedy, the most fascinating features and the most compelling drama and readings anywhere in UK radio.

Misha Glenny explores a pivot of western history, the Netherlands.

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The Invention Of...

The Netherlands

Episode 2: The Golden Age

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