Short answers, pulled from the story.
Charles V was born in Ghent on the 24th of February 1500 and grew up in the Low Countries. He inherited the Burgundian Netherlands at the age of six following the death of his father Philip the Handsome in 1506.
Cities like Antwerp, Ghent, and Bruges became the commercial heart of the continent by the early 16th century. These cities surpassed even the great cities of Italy in terms of trade volume and served as the economic engine of the Habsburg Netherlands.
The northern provinces declared their independence in 1581 through the Act of Abjuration. This declaration formed the Dutch Republic and marked the beginning of the division between the northern and southern Low Countries.
Fernando Álvarez de Toledo, the 3rd Duke of Alba, was appointed governor of the Netherlands in 1567 with a mission to crush the rebellion and restore Catholic orthodoxy. He established the Council of Troubles and executed thousands of nobles and commoners alike.
Isabella Clara Eugenia became the sovereign of the Spanish Netherlands in 1598 and ruled jointly with her husband Archduke Albert VII of Austria. She continued to rule as governess until her own death in 1633 under the sovereignty of King Philip IV of Spain.
Habsburg rule in the Low Countries officially ended in 1797 when Austria relinquished all claims to the province through the Treaty of Campo Formio. The Austrian Netherlands had been invaded by Revolutionary France in 1794 and annexed by the French First Republic in 1795.