The Dutch East India Company, which was organized in 1602, sent a fleet of fourteen vessels into the Indian Archipelago to found colonies in Java, Sumatra and the Moluccas. In a short time they had monopolized the entire spice trade, which immediately became a source of great wealth. A cargo of five vessels, which returned to Amsterdam in 1603, consisted of over two million pounds of spices. This cargo was purchased for 588,874 florins and was sold for 2,000,000 florins. It is under these circumstances not surprising that the dividends of the company's stockholders often amounted to 75 per cent., and never went below 12-1/2 per cent. previous to 1720. Holland's colonial trade made Amsterdam the commercial metropolis of Europe. It became the grain market from which Spain, Italy and other countries drew their supplies. All the products of the world found purchasers here, and a well-developed banking system greatly facilitated the exchange. The rapid accumulation of fortunes by the Dutch merchants and bankers was without precedent in Europe. Besides this, the progress which Holland made in ship-building and navigation and the advantages which she derived from her colonial trade placed her in a position to outstrip all other nations in the carrying trade of Europe. During the first half of the seventeenth century the Dutch were justly called the freighters of Europe. But the injury which their policy did to the commercial and manufacturing interests of other European nations led both England and France to adopt measures well calculated to accomplish, in a short time, their commercial emancipation. Louis XIV., in order to build up French shipping, collected a tonnage from every foreign ship which entered a French harbor. England went still further. In 1651 Oliver Cromwell promulgated the Navigation Act, by which foreign ships were prohibited from importing into England any goods except such as were produced or manufactured in their own countries. This was a heavy blow at the Dutch, who were thus deprived of the privilege of effecting the exchange of commercial commodities between England and her colonies as well as the continent. The war which the Dutch Republic waged against England, to force her to revoke this act, resulted in favor of the latter and ended the commercial supremacy of the Dutch in Europe. England, which before this time had played but a secondary role as a commercial power, rose fast to prominence after her successful struggle with the Dutch. She commenced to strengthen her industries by the adoption of a high tariff policy, and her merchants were encouraged to enter into commercial relations with colonists and foreigners. The privileges which had been given to foreign tradesmen were revoked, while ship-building and navigation were greatly favored by the government. As England gained greater strength as a naval power, her foreign policy became more aggressive.