The Dutch Empire comprised the overseas territories controlled by the Dutch Republic and, later, the modern Netherlands from the 17th century to the mid-1950s. The Dutch followed Portugal and Spain in establishing an overseas colonial empire. For this, they were aided by their skills in shipping and trade and the surge of nationalism accompanying the struggle for independence from Spain. Alongside the British, the Dutch initially built up colonial possessions on the basis of indirect state capitalist corporate colonialism, via the Dutch East and West India Companies. Dutch exploratory voyages such as those led by Willem Barentsz, Henry Hudson and Abel Tasman revealed vast new territories to Europeans, particularly in the Arctic Sea, North America, in the Pacific, Australia, and New Zealand.