In the seventeenth century the Dutch Republic, or, more formally, the Republic of the Seven United Netherlands was the envy of all of Europe, described by historian Richard Unger as “the most prosperous economy in Europe and probably the world at the time.” The History Guy remembers the Dutch Golden age, when the small republic dominated world trade, was founded on her merchant fleet, the largest in the world, and the Dutch ship builders who were the envy of Europe's other powers.