FOREIGN TRADE ZONES 
Belgium. One of the chief reasons why the merchants of this time 
selected Antwerp as the place in which to develop business was the 
fact that trade there was almost entirely unrestricted. It is said 
that, although there have been greater cities and greater markets, 
never before nor since has the world seen such concentration of the 
trade of different peoples as at Antwerp during the first part of the 
sixteenth century. During the sixteenth century Spain was by far 
the greatest power in Europe. The decay of Spain’s power began 
with the revolt of the Netherlands in 1579 and the unsuccessful attack 
of the armada on England in 1588. The Netherlands rapidly out- 
stripped the southern low countries (now Belgium) on account of the 
colonial commerce of the Dutch merchants and because this com- 
merce was reflected in business activity at home, and the great com- 
merce of Antwerp passed to Amsterdam. In the beginning of the 
seventeenth century the Dutch had hardly any serious rivalry to 
contend with in commerce. The latter half of the seventeenth cen- 
tury, however, and the first of the eighteenth were filled with a bitter 
struggle for supremacy in the shipping and carrying trade between 
the Dutch and the English, and in the course of the period the English 
took from the Dutch the leadership in this trade, and London devel- 
oped as the great consignment market of the world, a position which 
it still holds. 
During all this period commerce was hindered by the persistence 
of barriers to the development of trade and manufacture which had 
grown up in the medieval system of tolls and guilds and by local vari- 
ations in laws. The various States and even the individual cities 
had their own tariff laws, and in some the tariff wall was constructed 
so high as to threaten destruction of the great international trade 
which had grown up through the centuries. Thus the peninsula of 
Italy was divided among seven independent States, six of which had 
protective tariffs. As late as 1840 a Milan manufacturer shipping 
silks to Florence had to pass eight customs stations in 150 miles. 
In Spain duties were levied on both imports and exports, and there 
were many absolute prohibitions. Indeed, the enormously high cus- 
toms duties and the heavy taxes levied on trade are among the reasons 
why Spain failed to maintain her position and build up a great com- 
mercial empire. During the seventeenth century the Government of 
England drew a considerable portion of its revenue from the customs 
duties, the main purpose of these duties, however, being the protection 
of trade. The importation of manufactured wares was in many 
cases forbidden or heavily taxed in order that foreigners might not 
draw money for work which Englishmen might do. Raw materials 
like wool were kept in the country by duties or taxes, while the export 
of other wares which put foreigners in debt to England was encour- 
aged. Prior to the nineteenth century most of the separate States