1600 - 1800 One of the terms signed by the Peace of Westphalia was that the Scheldt estuary be closed to shipping, to destroy the trade and prosperity of Antwerp. By this act, the commercial expansion and pre-eminence of Amsterdam was assured and the Golden Age began. Around 1670 the Republic had some 15,000 vessels (five times the number in the English fleet). This gave it a virtual monopoly over the transport of goods around the world. The sciences and the arts flourished in the robust and economic