Netherlands (Chaos)

In the 13th century, the later Netherlands were still split into many smaller states, of which Holland was the most important one. One ruler of them, Wilhelm of Holland, who died in 1256, made it Roman king.

In the year 1287, a great flood swallowed lots of lands in the Netherlands, creating the Zuider Zee, which made it possible for Amsterdam to become an important harbor later.

In 1331, (the strong man in ) married countess Margarethe of Holland, Zeeland and Hennegau (part of Wallonia).

Later in the century, the Netherlands had to suffer under various famines. In 1391, a group of radical Begines (a religious movement) toppled the bishop of Utrecht in the Eastern Netherlands, working together with his peasants. Although they were relatively peaceful, and probably couldn't have lasted in a war, the stupid bishop managed to anger all his potential allies in the area (the Netherlands were divided between Holstein-Holland-Hennegau, -Limburg, Brabant, Geldern and the (quasi-)republics of and  at this time). So the new republic continued for a while, until in 1401 Holy Roman Emperor Gerhard of Holstein crushed it, adding it to his empire.

Rise to kingdom
In 1414, Holland (important for its trade) got the eighth electoral vote in the. In the same year, under king  made alliances with  and the Netherlands, to attack  again. A bit later, in 1419 Roman king was crowned emperor and also appointed himself king of the Netherlands, with the pope's OK. 1421, France made a seperate peace with the Netherlands, giving emperor Gerhard, which was incorporated into the Netherlands too.

1430, emperor Gerhard died. His lands were divided: His older son Gerhard became king of the Netherlands and Roman king, Heinrich became king of. This lead to some trouble in Atlantis. The Hanseatic League also saw more internal competition: The cities in Holstein competed with the Dutch and Flemish cities, and the cities in the Baltic (and also those in OTL Hanover) stood aside a bit.

1435, the new king Gerhard was defeated by the Frisians under chief (yes, they had chiefs) Enno of the Cirksena family when he tried to conquer their lands.

1442: A primitive kind of printing was developed in Antwerp, center of cloth printing. It had no movable letters yet, but used wood blocks instead. Thanks to government contracts, the new technology soon spread through the Netherlands.

Colonies in the New World
Since ~1400, Europeans had taken up more or less regular trade contact with. While they only imported tobacco first (which wasn't smoked ITTL first, but burned and inhaled instead, and mostly used as a medicine), the Europeans soon discovered the value of beaver and raccoon pelts. At the beginning, the trade was in the hands of the, which helped the lords of Holstein-Holland-Hennegau to become pretty rich.

1438, The kings of Denmark and the Netherlands finally agreed for a compromise in the New World, negotiated by the pope: Denmark kept the northern colonies, which were extended with time over the whole OTL Canadian Maritimes and the Hudson valley. The Netherlands got the Southern colony of, which had been founded by the brothers , and were allowed to colonize the lands further South. Since 1450, the Dutch sailed down the coast of Atlantis, founded settlements (i.e. trading places) in OTL Carolina, Georgia.

Under the Wassenberg dynasty
1454, king Gerhard II of the Netherlands died without heir, so his lands fell to his old brother-in-arms Reinald of Geldern, who married Gerhard's daughter (although she was 30 years younger than him... but well, this is royalty).

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