The 

United Provinces of the Netherlands, officially the Republic of the Seven United

Netherlands (Dutch: Republiek der Zeven Verenigde Nederlanden), and commonly referred to
in historiography as the Dutch Republic, was a confederation that existed from 1579 until
the Batavian Revolution in 1795. It was a predecessor state of the present-day Netherlands. The
republic was established after seven Dutch provinces in the Spanish
Netherlands revolted against Spanish rule, forming a mutual alliance against Spain in 1579
(the Union of Utrecht) and declaring their independence in 1581 (the Act of Abjuration). It
comprised Groningen, Frisia, Overijssel, Guelders, Utrecht, Holland and Zeeland.
Although the state was small and contained only around 1.5 million inhabitants, it controlled a
worldwide network of seafaring trade routes. Through its trading companies, the Dutch East India
Company (VOC) and the Dutch West India Company (GWC), it established a Dutch colonial empire.
The income from this trade allowed the Dutch Republic to compete militarily against much larger
countries. It amassed a huge fleet of 2,000 ships, initially larger than the fleets of England and
France combined. Major conflicts were fought in the Eighty Years' War against Spain (from the
foundation of the Dutch Republic until 1648), the Dutch–Portuguese War (1602–1663), four Anglo-
Dutch Wars (the first against the Commonwealth of England, two against the Kingdom of England,
and a fourth against the Kingdom of Great Britain: 1652–1654, 1665–1667, 1672–1674 and 1780–
1784), the Franco-Dutch War (1672–1678), War of the Grand Alliance (1688–1697), the War of the
Spanish Succession (1702–1713), the War of Austrian Succession (1744–1748) and the War of the
First Coalition (1792–1795) against the Kingdom of France.