The Netherlands formed one of the most compact and important parts of the scattered dominions of the Emperor who was also lord of Burgundy and Castile. ♦Their separation from the Empire.♦ But the final union of these lands under the direct dominion of an Emperor at once led to their practical separation from the Empire. ♦The possessions of Philip of Spain. 1555.♦ They passed, with all the remaining possessions and claims of the Burgundian House, to Philip of Spain, and they were reckoned among the crowd of distant dependencies which had come under the rule of the crowns of Castile and Aragon. In Spanish hands they acted less as a middle state than as a power which helped to hem in France on both sides. Had the great revolt of the Netherlands ended in the final liberation of the whole seventeen provinces, the middle state would have been formed in its full strength. ♦The War of Independence. 1568-1609.♦ As it was, the work of the War of Independence was imperfect. The northern provinces won their freedom in the form of a federal commonwealth. The southern provinces remained dependencies of Spain, to become the chosen fighting ground of European armies, the chosen plaything of European diplomacy. ♦The Seven United Provinces. 1578.♦ The end of the long war of independence waged by the northern provinces was the establishment of the famous federal commonwealth of the _Seven United Provinces_, _Holland_, _Zealand_, _Utrecht_, _Gelderland_, _Over-Yssel_, _Friesland_, and _Groningen_. These answered nearly to the dominions of the Counts of Holland and Bishops of Utrecht in earlier times. ♦Gelderland.♦ But besides these, part of the duchy of _Geldern_ formed one of the United Provinces, while its southern part shared the fate of the southern provinces. But, besides the United Seven, the Confederation also kept parts of Brabant, Geldern, and Flanders as common possessions. ♦Formal independence of the Empire. 1648.♦ The power thus formed, one which so long held an European importance quite disproportioned to its geographical extent, had under Burgundian rule become practically independent of the Empire, but it was only by the Peace of Westfalia that its independence was formally acknowledged. The maritime strength of the Confederation made it more than an European power. It became a colonizing power in three parts of the world. ♦Colonies of the Netherlands.♦ In the course of the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, the Seven Provinces extended their dominion over many points on the continent of India and over the neighbouring island of _Ceylon_, over the great equatorial islands of _Java_, _Sumatra_, and the _Moluccas_, over many points in _Guinea_ and southern Africa, and over part of _Guiana_ in South America. ♦New Netherland passes to England. 1664.♦ But the great North American settlement of _New Netherland_ passed to England, and _New Amsterdam_ became _New York_. ♦No real name for the county.♦ Singularly enough,