1-Plunder is quite simply wealth creation and accumulation. It is capital raising in the most direct form! Do you not understand that? Chinese plunder western manufacturing technology for example. And they get rich upon it, by combining that plunder with government support of manufacturing sector competitiveness. The early British empire did similar with its pirates raiding Spanish Galleons...who had in turn plundered Latin America. Its a great way to raise capital if you can get away with it and if your government is stronger than the one you are plundering. The continuum between what might be called plunder and trade is often proportional to the degree of force one trader can exert of the other and often that force is coming from the first traders government and their military.

2- 'it was only with the support of the Dutch government and the consistent ability to make and enforce contracts'

It is really very simple. Merchants cannot confidently raise capital and embark on trading ventures or manufacturing ventures if there is not a reliable legal system in place with which to enforce those financing, manufacturing and trading contracts. The Dutch government provided the sound and predictable legal system for a capital raising market to confidently develop and flourish. The Spanish failed to do that and their empire went into decline.

This is indicative of the fundamental interdependence of free enterprise and government. The reality is not black or white- it is understood when you grasp the synergies between the different players in the economy- government and enterprise when working together can create huge wealth and opportunity. Alone and without the other, neither is very productive.