1648
The Ratification of the Treaty of Münster, painted by Gerard ter Borch, who was present, in 1648 (Rijksmuseum).Image: Gerard ter Borch · Public domainpolitics · Europe
Spain accepts Dutch independence at Münster
The northern provinces of the Netherlands rose against their Spanish Habsburg rulers in the 1560s and declared their independence in 1581, but Spain never accepted it. Apart from a twelve-year truce, the Eighty Years’ War dragged on for generations while the Dutch Republic grew into Europe’s richest trading nation. Peace was finally negotiated at Münster in Westphalia as part of the wider settlement of Europe’s wars, and the treaty between Spain and the Dutch was signed on 30 January 1648. Spain recognised the United Provinces as a free and sovereign state. The ratification was sworn in Münster’s town hall on 15 May, a scene painted by Gerard ter Borch.
Source: Encyclopaedia Britannica: Peace of Westphalia ↗
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