1648: Spanisch-Niederländischer Friede in Münster

"Allegorie auf Amsterdam als Zentrum das Welthandels". Gemälde von Pieter Isaacsz. auf dem Deckel eines Flügels im Rathaus von Amsterdam, 1606.

Text zum Gemälde: "Exclusam hesperia perituram Hispane putasti| Me? Frustra: nam cura Dei mihi pandit ad Afros| Primo iter, atque Indos, et qua patet extima China| Quaque etiam priscis non cognitus Orbis in Orbe.| Perge favere Deus, daque his agnoscere Christum."
("Did you think that, barred from the spanish West, I would be lost? Wrong: because with God's help I opened the way to Africa and India, to where exotic China streches out, and to a part of the world that even the Ancients did not know. Continue to favour us, God, and pray that they learn of Christ.")

Quelle: Zandvliet, Kees u.a.: "The Dutch Encounter With Asia 1600-1950". Rijksmuseum Amsterdam, 2002.