This attractive antique hand-colored map features the seventeen provinces of the Netherlands as they appeared at the end of the seventeenth century. Sanson's compass rose orients the map west.
Historically speaking, the borders of the seventeen provinces of the United Kingdom of the Netherlands were primarily based on the former French departments and their borders. It was known as the United Kingdom of the Seventeen Provinces of the Netherlands and existed as a European republic from 1581 to 1795, preceding the modern Kingdom of the Netherlands. The republic was a confederation of provinces, each of which was independent and had its own government, along with a number of so-called Generality Lands, which were governed directly by the States-General, the Dutch federal government, seated in the Hague and consisting of representatives from the provinces.
The religion adopted by the republic was the Lower German Dutch Reformed Church, later call the Reformed Church of the Netherlands. Public display and practice of Catholicism was strictly prohibited. Catholics were viewed with suspicion and supervised by government officials. Catholic chapels and road-side crosses were destroyed and shrines demolished. Though the southern and eastern parts of the country remained almost entirely Catholic throughout the history of the Republic, it was required that civil servants be Calvinist Protestant or Jewish and all were required to take an oath ordering them to take action against any signs or hints of the ‘papist religion’. All Catholic holdings including monasteries and stripped cathedrals remained in the hands of the Protestants, even in entirely Catholic regions of the republic.
This map was made midway through this active persecution and was important for delineating the provinces, as until 1795 the Catholics of the Netherlands had enormous tax burdens and were made to pay large sums of ‘recognition money’ in order to be allowed to function according to the laws of their local governments.

This map is in A condition with light even toning.

8 x 9.5 in