Logbook of the Low Countries

Logbook of the Low Countries’ provides a concise chronicle of Belgium, Luxembourg and The Netherlands, setting their major roles against events in world history, together with famous quotations and highlights from art and science. This Logbook is meant for members of the corps diplomatique, expatriates, students from international schools and tourists, giving them easy access to the fascinating history of the country in which they reside. The struggle for political and religious freedom from Spanish domination in the sixteenth century led to the creation of the first democratic republic in the northern Netherlands which, in turn became a model for other countries. In the seventeenth century the Dutch Republic, comprising the Seven Provinces and their colonies, became the world’s chief maritime trading power, only overtaken by Great Britain in the eighteenth century. More recently the Low Countries were at the forefront of European cooperation, first in the formation of the Benelux and later in the creation of the European Union, its capital Brussels and the euro.