1609 - Political Events

Political Events

Spain's Felipe III signs a truce with the Dutch April 9 after mediation by France's Henri IV (see 1604). He recognizes the independence of the Netherlands but does not seize the opportunity to reform a society that is rapidly decaying through the extravagance of the court and nobility. Shipments of silver from the Americas have diminished, sheep herding is replacing agriculture, and the country must import large quantities of food while exporting olive oil, wine, wool, and luxury goods, much of it to America. The truce with the Dutch will continue until 1619, giving Felipe's son-in-law Albrecht VII time to strengthen Catholicism in the 10 provinces that he and his wife, Isabella, control; they will also promote the arts.

Bavaria's Duke Maximilian organizes a Catholic League July 10 to oppose the Protestant Evangelical Union organized last year by the Palatine elector Friedrich IV.

Mare liberum by Hugo Grotius (Huigh de Groot) urges freedom of the seas to all nations. The work is premised on the assumption that the sea's major known resource—fish—exists in inexhaustible supply (see 1604; 1625).

A long period of hostility begins between America's Five Nations Iroquois and the French. Samuel de Champlain has precipitated the conflict by killing some Mohawks at the behest of the Hurons (see 1604). As lieutenant to the owner of the French fur trade monopoly, Champlain has gone west with a Huron and Algonquin war party, explored an area that will later be called Vermont, found a lake that he has named for himself, and ventured into the forests of the Adirondacks (possibly a corruption of the Iroquois word ratirontacks, meaning "those who eat bark," but the word Adirondack will not appear in print until 1837). Hostilities with the Iroquois will continue until 1763 (see Lake Huron, 1615).

Spanish authorities dismiss colonial official Hernando Arias de Saavedra in South America after 7 years as governor of the Rio de la Plata district; he has inadvertently hurt the area's economy by enforcing laws against smuggling, which has been tolerated by previous (and corruptible) governors and become institutionalized. Saavedra will be reappointed in 1614 and serve until 1618, encouraging the establishment of Jesuit and Franciscan missions and establishing closer ties with the Church.