I'm Dutch, so we are tough about the Dutch golden age, which spans about the seventeenth century. Trade science and art were at a high point back then, but looking deeper it turns out the life expectancy for common people was lower than in the surrounding countries. The wealth was all concentrated in the Holland province(s), which explains why the Netherlands is commonly referred as Holland in other countries. Another thing was the schism between catholics and Calvinists, which meant Catholic cities didn't benefit at all from the golden age. It also wasn't benificial to the 1.7 million people who were enslaved by the Dutch.
So all in all, the Dutch golden age was very much golden for the merchants and aristocrats of cities like Amsterdam, Rotterdam, Leiden or Haarlem, and for the protestant ministers. For the rest, of you didn't live near these cities you probably were dirt poor.
db2@lemmy.world 4 weeks ago
But it’s always about something specific, they know too much to ever say an “era” was objectively good.