This self-study pack traces the way the Dutch, from the sixteenth century onwards, defined their collective identity with reference to their ancestors, the Batavians of Roman times.

This self-study pack covers the Dutch efforts to find a Northern sea passage to Asia at the end of sixteenth century. Three voyages were undertaken in the mid-1590s, with the final expedition of Willem Barentsz and Jacob van Heemskerck acquiring canonical status in Dutch historical conciousness. Their ship got stuck in the ice off Nova Zembla, but the crew survived the harsh Arctic winter and returned to Amsterdam the next spring.