As a nation well stocked with sailors and ship-builders, the Republic was able to take advantage of the increasingly global maritime trade that characterised the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. Dutch ships were built from imported timber, using technically advanced construction methods including the use of cranes and wind-powered sawmills. As a result, the Dutch could build ships for half the price of their international rivals. New ship designs were tailored to commercial requirements: for example, the fluit [fluyt] could carry a large cargo with a small crew, producing lower overheads on each voyage.

The provinces which had joined together in 1579 to form the Dutch Republic had strong trading traditions. This was particularly the case in the Baltic Sea, where over half of all ships passing through the Sound in 1578 were Dutch. The Dutch dominated the import trade of grain and timber from Baltic states such as Russia and Sweden, shipping the raw materials back to the Republic for export to other countries. The Baltic trade was the foundation of Dutch trading success: it provided the Republic with a source of raw materials for export and underpinned its trade with Europe. It was a tried and tested source of revenue. However, the Dutch ceased to trade exclusively in low value, bulky goods such as timber, both in the Baltic and elsewhere. The 1590s was the beginning of a crucial phase in the economic progress of the Republic: the development of the 'rich trades'.

The 'rich trades' were expensive commodities, affordable only to the higher strata of society. Such luxury items as spices, sugar, silks and dyes were highly lucrative for the merchants who sold them. Profit margins were much higher than in the 'bulk carrying' trades of timber and grain. In the final decade of the sixteenth century the Dutch Republic become the main centre for the export of the 'rich trades' to northern Europe. Merchants bought up valuable goods in Spain and Portugal, which had been imported from the two countries' colonies, and sold them on the Baltic states and, increasingly, to Russia. However, in 1598 a Spanish embargo of Dutch trade forced the Republic to widen its horizons. The embargo limited the ability of Dutch merchants to act as the middlemen of European trade; the Republic responded by setting up its own trading bases in the East and West Indies.

The East and West India Companies were the vehicles by which the Republic extended its authority overseas, allowing the Dutch to reap the economic benefits of trading directly with Asia, Africa, and the Americans. The high probability of losing ships and crew on every voyage meant that private funding was unlikely to tempt any but the most intrepid investors. The problem was solved by the formation of a joint-stock company in 1602, the East India Company (also known by its Dutch initials as the VOC) which was granted a monopoly between the Cape of Good Hope and the Magellan Strait. The company was a microcosm of the Republic, with federated chambers representing each of the seven provinces. Leading politicians and members of the regent class made up the majority of its shareholders, ensuring that the VOC did not lack political support.

The States General supplied the VOC with troops and gave it the authority to make treaties with local rulers on behalf of the Republic. Collective action and military backing allowed the Dutch merchants to take action against the Portuguese, capturing the Spice Islands from them in 1605 and increasing their footholds around the Indian Ocean, establishing bases in Java, Ceylon, India, Sumatra, Borneo, Formosa and south Africa. This aggressive strategy ensured that the Republic maintained a direct supply of the silks, muslins and spices which made up the 'rich trades.' The East India Company's shareholders benefited from direct trade with Asia, receiving average dividends of 35 percent for the first 30 years of the VOC's existence.

The West India Company, formed in 1621 to exploit the commercial possibilities of the Americas, was less successful than the VOC. This was due in part to its lack of clear direction. Whereas the VOC had doggedly pursued trade as a means to profit, the West India Company divided its resources between trade and piracy against Spanish ships. Privateering was supported by the States General as it was hoped that the Spanish war effort would be damaged by attacks on Spanish bullion ships returning from North America. However, successes were irregular and the West India Company's war fleets were expensive to maintain. Profits were consistently lower than those of the VOC, although there were the West India Company managed to capture the entire Spanish silver fleet. The West India Company traded in furs from its bases around the Manhattan Island confluence of river, and in sugar from its base in Brazil. The Dutch were keen to establish trading bases, but there was little desire for sustained colonization, a trend which would appear increasingly ominous as colonisations by other Europeans powers gained momentum in the second half of the century. Tellingly, VOC dividends had fallen to only ten percent by 1650 as a result of the cost of the military presence required to maintain possession of its overseas territories. But this was a problem for the future. In 1650 the Dutch could feel justifiably proud of their vast trading empire rivalled those of the Spanish and the English. The trading companies had provided the Republic with the goods to maintain its position as the entrepot of Europe.