The centre, then, is Amsterdam and the period from 1766 to 1780. In this context, commercial finance and marine insurance found a natural identity. They had long since developed those manifest forms of risk–shifting which characterised the general growth of The Netherlands economy. Almost by definition. The institutions of the market had evolved in close harmony to give the Republic the initial gloss of a golden century. With the spreading opportunities of navigation, it is worth noting that the regulation of insurance came early, and survived at leisure: the great ordinance of 1598 formalised procedures, and remained in force until the revision of 1744. If we take the mere factual sequence of dates, it preceded even the foundation of important corporate bodies such as the Verenigde Oost–Indische Compagnie (1602), The Wisselbank (1609) and the Bourse itself (1611), that pulsating heart of the great city, a clearing–house for Europe. All floated, flourished on a surge of expansion which accompanied the formation of the United Provinces. As the impressive structures matured and deepened, embellished with experience and enlarged by business acumen, the pre–eminent reputation of the Dam penetrated through the arteries of the trading world. Samuel Ricard (1780) could point with understandable partiality to the prompt sense of affairs which enlivened those tall counting–houses lining the tranquil canals of Amsterdam, to the astuteness of merchants combining credit, freight and insurance. These three services, often provided in concert by the same firms, strengthened the market and co–ordinated flows of cargoes through Europe.