History, Wonder Tales, Fairy Tales, Myths and Legends The Flemish | Page 20

Belgium and the Netherlands. The Dutch (as they later became known) had managed
to reclaim enough of Spanish-controlled Flanders to close off the river Scheldt,
effectively cutting Antwerp off from its trade routes.
First the fall of Antwerp to the Spanish and later also the closing of the Scheldt were
causes of a considerable emigration of Antverpians. Many of the Calvinist merchants
of Antwerp and also of other Flemish cities left Flanders and emigrated to the north. A
large number of them settled in Amsterdam, which was at the time a smaller port, only
of significance in the Baltic trade. In the following years Amsterdam was rapidly
transformed into one of the world's most important ports. Because of the contribution
of the Flemish exiles to this transformation, the exodus is sometimes described as
"creating a new Antwerp".
Flanders and Brabant, due to these events, went into a period of relative decline from
the time of the Thirty Years War. In the Northern Netherlands however, the mass
emigration from Flanders and Brabant became an important driving force behind the
Dutch Golden Age.

Ghent

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