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Treaty of Münster
Appears in
Published 2023
The date of 15 May 1648 marks the final blow to Antwerp, when the Treaty of Münster ended the 80-year war between Spain and the Republic of the Seven United Netherlands or the northern provinces. Antwerp, being in Brabant in Southern Netherlands, lost sovereignty over the river Scheldt to the Republic after a state border was established on the river. Ships could no longer get through and reach Antwerp.
In 1715 there were 18–20 sugar refineries; by 1740 only four to five remained.4 The difficulty was that raw sugar was no longer brought to Antwerp’s shores from its country of origin; it had to come from Amsterdam, which meant Antwerp lost the best position, as there was a large tax to be paid on export to the Southern Netherlands. Antwerp tried to bypass the taxes by buying sugar via Ostend, but the transport through waterways would prove too inefficient and too expensive, as duties had to be paid to Bruges and Ghent. The refineries in Liège also had to import raw sugar from Holland or Zeeland, but they had the advantage of having coals for fuel locally, while Antwerp also had to import fuel.