Immigrant integration, gender, and citizenship in the Dutch Republic

Abstract

Most contemporary studies of immigrant integration take place in the context of stable, strong, and relatively centralized states able to craft policies and see them enacted. In contrast, this article considers immigrant integration in an emerging state – the early Dutch Republic, a political entity whose legitimacy was confirmed only later with the Peace of Westphalia, the treaty that arguably established the institution of state sovereignty. A confederation of 7 of the 17 Netherlandic provinces, the boundaries of the new republic were unsettled and a distinct national consciousness was lacking. But despite its tenuous early existence, the Dutch Republic became a major destination for immigrants. The reconquest of Antwerp by the Spanish sent migrants from the southern provinces, mainly Protestants whose numbers would grow to approximately one-tenth the new republic's population. They were joined by Jews from Portugal and elsewhere and religious and economic migrants chiefly from Germany, Scotland, and Scandinavia and, later, Huguenots from France. The immigrants settled mainly in the cities; the Dutch Republic overtook northern Italy as the most urbanized region in Europe, with immigrants comprising half the population of many cities. A multivalent inquiry that includes gender is critical for understanding immigrant integration in the Dutch Republic. I argue that attracting and integrating immigrants simultaneously ushered in the Dutch “Golden Age” and helped create the (nation-)state.