States General of the Netherlands

The central representative assembly of the Dutch Republic, composed of delegates from its provinces. It directed common affairs, especially foreign policy, war, and colonial administration.

Union of Utrecht: A 1579 alliance among northern Dutch provinces that became the constitutional foundation of the Dutch Republic. Its terms established the provincial union whose common affairs the States General administered.
Dutch Revolt: The uprising of the Low Countries against Habsburg Spanish rule, beginning in 1568 and ending with Dutch independence. The revolt created the need for a shared political authority among rebellious provinces.
Dutch East India Company: A chartered Dutch trading company founded in 1602 with a monopoly on Dutch trade east of the Cape of Good Hope. The States General granted its charter and delegated powers to wage war and make treaties overseas.
Dutch Republic: A confederation of seven northern Dutch provinces that existed from 1588 to 1795. The Republic was the political system governed in part through this assembly.
Provincial States: Representative assemblies that governed the provinces of the Dutch Republic. Each province sent delegates from its own assembly to the States General.
Act of Abjuration: The 1581 declaration in which several Dutch provinces rejected Philip II of Spain as their ruler. It asserted the provinces’ right to govern themselves before the Republic took shape.
Dutch West India Company: A Dutch chartered company founded in 1621 to trade and wage war in the Atlantic world. Its charter gave the company overseas powers under the States General’s authority.
States General of France: A French representative assembly of the clergy, nobility, and commoners, convened by the monarch. Unlike the Dutch body, the French assembly represented social orders and depended on royal summons.
Grand Pensionary: The chief legal and administrative officer of the States of Holland, influential in Dutch Republic politics. The Grand Pensionary often coordinated Holland’s influential position within the assembly.
Pacification of Ghent: A 1576 agreement uniting the provinces of the Low Countries against Spanish military rule. It briefly established a wider provincial coalition that preceded the northern union.

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