In this thesis I have examined if and how indigenous religion in north-western Europe (specifically Roman Britain and northern Gaul) changed after the Roman colonization. The basis of my research...Show moreIn this thesis I have examined if and how indigenous religion in north-western Europe (specifically Roman Britain and northern Gaul) changed after the Roman colonization. The basis of my research is the idea that agriculture is a very important factor in shaping culture and religion. Ton Derks (1998) has stated that in northern Gaul, the southern territories were much more accepting of Roman religious customs because the agricultural basis of their society, namely arable farming, was the same as that of the Romans. In the north, were stockbreeding was much more important, people were much less accepting of Roman culture and as a consequence religious habits did not change much after the Roman conquest. In other words, the core of people's beliefs remained the same. I have applied this theory to Roman Britain, as the differences between the highland and lowland zones present us with a very similar agricultural division. This research has shown that, while indigenous religion and world views did become more Roman (especially in the areas were arable farming was more important than stockbreeding), native populations also attempted to preserve, or create new local traditions to retain their own identity. Such changes were not always directly related to local forms of agriculture, but areas were arable farming was dominant were far more susceptible to them than the more conservative pastoral zones.Show less
The theory of the Military Revolution sees military innovation in Europe in the early modern period. Some historians such as Geoffry Parker have argued that due to these kind of innovations, Europe...Show moreThe theory of the Military Revolution sees military innovation in Europe in the early modern period. Some historians such as Geoffry Parker have argued that due to these kind of innovations, Europe could rule over other continents. A comparison is made in this thesis between the conquest of New Mexico and New Granada and military innovation of the sixteenth century. To further research the matter, a battleground in the northern parts of the Low Countries during the Dutch Revolt is also taken into consideration.Show less
In May 1912 the United States Congress approved a proposal for direct election of the members of the United States Senate. Until then, according to the United States Constitution, members of the...Show moreIn May 1912 the United States Congress approved a proposal for direct election of the members of the United States Senate. Until then, according to the United States Constitution, members of the Senate were chosen by the State Legislatures. The new procedure was laid down in the Seventeenth Amendment and became effective May 31, 1913. This thesis goes into the history of the Seventeenth Amendment and its influence on the standing and image of the Senate after 1913.Show less
Research master thesis | History: Societies and Institutions (research) (MA)
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This study compares the role played by Dutch and American engineers in the colonial governments of the Netherlands Indies and the American-controlled Philippines in the 1900-1920 timeframe. It...Show moreThis study compares the role played by Dutch and American engineers in the colonial governments of the Netherlands Indies and the American-controlled Philippines in the 1900-1920 timeframe. It contends that these colonial engineers extensively influenced the practical implementation of the civilizing missions of that were formulated in the United States and the Netherlands around 1900. Through the use of a sustained comparison between the activities of the engineers in these two Western countries and their tropical colonies the unique aspects of the American policy of “benevolent assimilation” and the Dutch “ethical policy” will be drawn into focus. This study makes use of the technocracy heuristic to analyze the behavior and ambitions of the engineers. Technocracy in this case refers to rule by experts, a goal that many members of the engineering profession that had emerged in both countries in the 1890s strove for. Such a political system could not be implemented in the Dutch and American metropoles, but in the colonies the engineers faced fewer obstacles to their political agenda. The technocratic ambitions of the engineers are reconstructed here by analyzing the rhetoric they used and the discourses they drew upon in their journals. In the first part of this study the emergence of the engineering profession in the Netherlands Indies and the United States is compared. The rhetoric of the engineers on either side of the Atlantic evinces important similarities, as does the receptiveness of politicians and public to their ideas. The new mode of imperialism and the civilizing missions that either country articulated concurrently also bear close resemblance. A series of vignettes in the second part of this study describing the practices and ideology of the colonial engineers working in the Netherlands Indies and the Philippines reveals how the meanings of the technologies they used were socially constructed. They show that the Americans possessed a unique willingness to have the Filipinos participate in their developmental strategy, whereas the Dutch did not cross the ethnographic separation from the Indonesians. This finding to an extent confirms the “exceptionalism” of American empire in this period.Show less
Research master thesis | History: Societies and Institutions (research) (MA)
open access
A survey of the methodology used to find information about an author of an anonymous medieval chronicle and guidelines to perform the search for identification of the author if possible. The second...Show moreA survey of the methodology used to find information about an author of an anonymous medieval chronicle and guidelines to perform the search for identification of the author if possible. The second part is a description of the search for the author of the anonymous Latin chronicle 'Chronicon Hollandiae', which has some connection with the chronicles of Holland by Johannes a Leydis.Show less
Research master thesis | History: Societies and Institutions (research) (MA)
open access
A system of subprime plantation mortgages was created by the Dutch in the second half of the 18th century. A credit structure was set up that would link Dutch investors with their West Indian...Show moreA system of subprime plantation mortgages was created by the Dutch in the second half of the 18th century. A credit structure was set up that would link Dutch investors with their West Indian colonies, by providing plantation mortgages (called negotiaties) for those dreaming of becoming planters. Interest rates were high: attractive for investors, but all too cumbersome for the new plantation owners. Many planters, mostly producing coffee, could not repay their loans, leading to the demise of the system as many bankrupt planters returned home and investors lost their capital. That is the case in Suriname at least, because in the near-by colonies of Essequibo and Demerara the plantation economy had only just took-off and continued to expand. This thesis tries to explain that divergence, next to identifying the winners and losers in the system and testing several explanatory concepts in order to gain a better conceptual understanding of the negotiatie structure. Results are that winners and losers were different than previously thought: investors could still be winners, while the fund managers could easily be losers. Additionally, the negotiatie system should be termed a classic mania, that could persist only for a limited time because of the Ponzi aspects, visible in the need for continuous refinancing. Lastly, the plantation mortgage structure could be seen as a failed transition to modernity, one that tried to bridge the commercial and financial interest of the Dutch economy, but was too much rooted in mercantilist thought. This was less the case for Essequibo and Demerara, where an open, but partly illegal, connection with the rest of the Atlantic was more important than the obligatory relationship with the metropolis. Next to legal supplies, illegal trade occurred on a large scale and proved crucial for the development of the two colonies.Show less
Remembering the Great War in the Dominions of the British Empire provides an insight into how the contributions of the British dominions of Australia and Canada have been memorialised in the...Show moreRemembering the Great War in the Dominions of the British Empire provides an insight into how the contributions of the British dominions of Australia and Canada have been memorialised in the aftermath of the First World War?Show less
