Dominions of Sweden German principalities, the Swedish kings in their roles as princes and dukes, or "Reichsfürsten", of the Holy Roman Empire took part in the German diets from 1648 until the dissolution of the Holy Roman Empire in 1806. Following the Thirty Years' War, the Peace of Westphalia in 1648 assigned to Sweden the two bishoprics of Bremen-Verden, with the exclave of Wildeshausen. All of them were ceded to Hanover in the peace treaty of 1719. By the Peace of Westphalia in 1648 Sweden received Swedish Pomerania, situated along the German Baltic Sea coast. The whole Duchy of Pomerania was under Swedish
Piracy in the Caribbean of the Americas all beckoned to those eager to make their fortunes and a large assortment of Frenchmen and Englishmen began new colonial ventures during the early 17th century, both in North America, which lay basically empty of European settlement north of Mexico, and in the Caribbean, where Spain remained the dominant power until late in the century. As for the Dutch Netherlands, after decades of rebellion against Spain fueled by both Dutch nationalism and their staunch Protestantism, independence had been gained in all but name (and that too would eventually come with the Treaty of Westphalia in 1648). The