Peace of Münster

The Peace of Münster was a treaty between the Dutch Republic and Spain signed on January 30, 1648. It was a landmark treaty for the Dutch Republic and one of the key events in Dutch history; with it, the independence of the United Netherlands was finally recognized by the Spanish crown. The treaty was a part of the Peace of Westphalia which ended both the Thirty Years' War and the Eighty Years' War.

The Dutch Revolt, or Eighty Years' War (1566–1648), was the revolt of the Seven United Provinces of the Netherlands against the Spanish (Habsburg) Empire.

Spain was initially successful in suppressing the rebellion. In 1572, however, the rebels conquered Brielle, and the rebellion resurged. During the revolt the Northern Netherlands became de facto independent and rapidly grew to become a world power through their merchant shipping and experienced a period of economic, scientific, and cultural growth. However at the same time the Southern Netherlands (situated in modern-day Belgium, Luxembourg and Northern France) remained under Spanish rule. Despite various attempts the Dutch never managed to expel the Spanish. In the final years of the war the French allied themselves with the Dutch and they weakened the Spanish in the rear. By 1648 large areas of the Southern Netherlands had been lost to France and despite many military successes Andries Bicker, Cornelis de Graeff and many others wanted to sue for peace.

The negotiations between the fighting parties began in 1641 in the towns of Münster and Osnabrück, in present-day Germany. With the initiation of Spanish-Dutch peace talks, Dutch trade with the Levant and the Iberian Peninsula began to flourish. Dutch merchants, benefiting from both the availability of relatively cheap shipping and the cessation of hostilities, soon dominated the markets that had been previously dominated by English traders. Dutch merchants would also benefit from the foreign upheavals of the English Civil War and gain on English trade in their American colonies.

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