The Dutch weren't slackers in seafaring either
I'll say! At their heyday the Dutch were all over the globe, claiming and conquering land. This is a map of the Dutch Empire:
Dutch Empire Clearly the Netherlands doesn't control all this land today. According to Wikipedia, the Netherlands was at its strongest in the second half of the 17th century. But just think of it, when the Dutch landed in North America the firstm thing they did was found New Amsterdam - a settlement which later became, yes indeed, the most important city in the world, New York!
The arguably greatest seafaring nation of all time and the greatest conqueror is England.
Here is a map showing all the parts of the world that belonged to the British Empire at one time or another. Wow!
And it is of course the enormous strength of the British Empire that explains why English is the international language of today. (Yes, of course it also has to do with the enormous power and prestige of the United States, but the reason why English is the official language of the United States has to do with the British settlers there, doesn't it?) Another thing that has been exported by the Brits is capitalism. According to Wikipedia, it was really the Dutch that were the super-capitalists - they created the first stock exchange, for example - but when they started declining in the 18th century to be replaced by Great Britain as the seafaring and conquering nation per exellence, the British had already taken over the Dutch captialism and started exporting it all over the world.
Let's not forget the mighty empire founded by a much older seafaring nation:
The Roman Empire Rome, of course! This is what Wikipedia says about Rome:
Because of the Empire's vast extent and long endurance, Roman influence upon the language, religion, architecture, philosophy, law, and government of nations around the world lasts to this day.
I would like to stress the importance of the Roman Empire for our alphabet, our Roman letters, but also for the global importance of the Christian religion. Most people know that the early Christians were persecuted in Rome, but it is far less known that this persecution was generally local and sporadic, and that the average Christians in early Rome didn't suffer because of their belief. Instead, the Christian movement in Rome grew and became ever more organized. A turning point came with Emperor Constantine in the early fourth century. Constantine supported the Christians in various ways, for example by promoting Christians to high ranking offices, granting tax exemptions to clergymen and building churches. Also Constantine summoned the Council of Nicea, a get-together of the most important Christian leaders of the time. According to Wikipedia, the Council agreed on the "Nicene Creed", a belief in "One Holy Catholic Apostolic Church." Then in 380, Christianity became the state religion of Rome.
Here is a map of the spread of Christianity. The dark blue patches show where Christianity was established by AD 325, and the light blue area show how far it had advanced by AD 600. Note how well the spread of Christianity follows the geographical areas that were controlled at one time or another by the Roman Empire.
It's interesting to contemplate how our culture has developed in response to the power and influences of seafaring nations. Personally, I also find it interesting to contemplate how tiny some of those former seafaring dominants are today - Denmark and the Netherlands are prime examples. But even Great Britain has certainly shrunk. And Italy is so far from its Roman Imperial glory.
Ann
