Low Countries: Notable Concepts (inc. Technologies)

1400s - Archimedean Screws (All Facts)

• Used for lifting water in Dutch polder dams

1400s - Drift Nets (All Facts)

• Nets which greatly improved the size of herring catches

• Nets in whic hthe fish were preserved by a salting process improved by the Dutch

• Introduced by the Dutch fishing industry, they were towed behind fishing boats and were up to 360 feet long

1400s - Hollow-Post Mills (All Facts)

• Invented in Holland, which were an improved form of windmill in which the size of the rotating sail arms was reduced and a shaft was passed from them through a hollow post to drive machinery in a building below

States General (All Facts)

• Term used to refer to the bicameral Parliament of the Netherlands in the Hague

• In 1581, they deposed King Philip II as ruler of the United Seven Provinces of the Netherlands and thus declared war on Spain (the Eighty Years’ War that was ongoing but initiated by Spain) and independence from Spain

Stadtholder (All Facts)

• Term used to refer to the “steward” or “chief magistrate” of the Low Countries, first appointed as a medieval official and ultimately functioning as a provincial and later national leader

• William of Orange was one of the most famous holders of this position / title