Het plotseling verschijnen van portolaankaarten in de 13de en 14de eeuw houdt historici en cartografen al eeuwen bezig. Deze scriptie probeert een nieuw licht op dit mysterie te werpen, door de...Show moreHet plotseling verschijnen van portolaankaarten in de 13de en 14de eeuw houdt historici en cartografen al eeuwen bezig. Deze scriptie probeert een nieuw licht op dit mysterie te werpen, door de vroegste portolaankaarten te vergelijken met portolaanschriften en mappae mundi. Dit werk zal niet alleen een bijdrage leveren aan de herkomst van portolaankaarten, maar probeert ook de Nederlandstalige discussie hierin nieuw leven in te blazen. The sudden appearance of portolan charts in the 13th and 14th century has puzzled historians and cartographers for centuries. This thesis tries to shine a new light on this mystery, by comparing the earliest portolan charts with ‘portolano’ portolan writings and mappae mundi. This work will not only contribute to the search for the source of portolan charts, but will also attempt to revitalize the Dutch-language discussion on this topic.Show less
This thesis aims to shed light on legal practice of the nineteenth century in France and The Netherlands and contrast it with legal theory and current historiography. In both older and newer French...Show moreThis thesis aims to shed light on legal practice of the nineteenth century in France and The Netherlands and contrast it with legal theory and current historiography. In both older and newer French and Dutch historiography, the nineteenth century is described as the century of legalism, also referred to as exegetical thinking. This exegetical school of law considers the codified law to be the highest and practically the only source of law on which the judge and legal scholar must rely. This historiography is mainly based on the development of legal theory as practised at universities. Implicitly or sometimes even explicitly, legal practice is equated with this legal theory. This fallacy obscures the practice of law, which did not take place in the university or the chambers of scholars, but in the courtroom. To address this lacuna, the following question was answered: To what extent was legalism in the Netherlands and the exegetical school in France really the dominant approach in legal practice and how can possible differences between both countries be explained? In order to know the practice of law and to assess whether judges, like legal theorists, were under the spell of exegetical thinking, judgments of courts were analysed. These can be found in case law journals that emerged in the nineteenth century. This study looked specifically at the judges' references to case law; the work of colleagues. The reference to case law is contrary to the doctrine of the exegetical school which accepts codification as the sole source of law. Referral to sources of law outside the codification by the courts, either implicit or explicit, imply a freer attitude towards the codification than legal scholars of the nineteenth century and current historiography would have us believe. Analysis of approximately two thousand Dutch and French judgments throughout the nineteenth century showed a difference in the quantity and nature of the references between both countries. In France, judges themselves referred explicitly to specific case law or to case law in general, whereas in the Netherlands judges did not refer to case law themselves, but relied on the arguments of the litigants and the Advocate-General, who did explicitly invoke case law. My research gives cause to adjust the image of nineteenth century legal history. The nineteenth-century judge was a child of his time, but not a puppet of legal theory. Lex semper dabit remedium: The law always provides a remedy; this was the starting point, but case law often supplemented it. The demonstrated difference between legal theory and legal practice fits within a broader development in current historiography, emphasising continuity of politics, culture, and in this case legal practices, in the wake of the French Revolution.Show less
A microhistorical approach to the history of New Netherland, which dives into the lives of several families and individuals that lived in the colony of New Netherland to, one, determine what their...Show moreA microhistorical approach to the history of New Netherland, which dives into the lives of several families and individuals that lived in the colony of New Netherland to, one, determine what their influence was on the development of the colony, and two, to show that a microhistory of New Netherland can shed new light on the existing historiography.Show less
After the conquest of Banda in 1621, the Dutch East India Company (VOC) introduced the perkeniersstelsel to ensure a monopoly on nutmeg and mace. Due to the commercial nature of the spices and the...Show moreAfter the conquest of Banda in 1621, the Dutch East India Company (VOC) introduced the perkeniersstelsel to ensure a monopoly on nutmeg and mace. Due to the commercial nature of the spices and the use of slave production, the perkeniersstelsel is often compared to the Atlantic plantation system. This study traces the development of the perkeniersstelsel between 1621 and 1640 and compares it to the Atlantic plantation system. This study argues that although the VOC was attempting to develop the perkeniersstelsel in the direction of the Atlantic mode, Banda’s unique environment and the VOC’s weaknesses in accessing terrestrial resources led the system down its own path. Furthermore, it proposes that Banda slavery should be regarded as the first expansion of slavery into rural areas in Southeast Asia, rather than the first penetration of European slavery into Southeast Asia.Show less
When the Dutch East India Company (VOC) came to Asia, its presence was contingent on relations with Asian polities. Elephant gift-giving was one of the practices the VOC conducted and experienced...Show moreWhen the Dutch East India Company (VOC) came to Asia, its presence was contingent on relations with Asian polities. Elephant gift-giving was one of the practices the VOC conducted and experienced with Asian rulers alongside trade. The VOC acted as a giver and a receiver; it received gift-elephants from Southeast Asian polities plus Kandy and transferred them westward. This study examines the Dutch-Asian elephant diplomacy and sociocultural foundations behind the diplomatic scene during the seventeenth century. It argues that the existing Dutch acknowledgment of elephant gift-giving traditions and imaginations and perceptions of the emblematic elephant facilitated the elephant diplomacy between the VOC and Asian polities. In other words, these mentalities were integral to the commensurability in the Dutch-Asian elephant gift-giving. Furthermore, the case of the emblematic elephant imagined and perceived by the Dutch shows that the seventeenth-century historical change in worldview from emblematic to empirical was more nuanced and not linear.Show less
Between 1639 and 1854 was the Netherlands the only European country allowed to trade with Japan. After 1854, when Commodore Perry uses gunboat diplomacy to open diplomatic contact with Japan, the...Show moreBetween 1639 and 1854 was the Netherlands the only European country allowed to trade with Japan. After 1854, when Commodore Perry uses gunboat diplomacy to open diplomatic contact with Japan, the unique position of the Netherlands had changed drastically. Nonetheless, the Dutch government was not eager to give up its monopoly on Japan that easily. As a result, after Japan opened, the Dutch government can be observed undertaking many projects in Japan to convince the Japanese that unique relations with the Dutch were still in the Japanese interest. Especially in Nagasaki, where the Dutch had a trading post for since the 17th century, the Dutch undertook many projects and this started to shape the city going forward. This thesis examines how Dutch influence shaped three prominent sectors in Nagasaki throughout the nineteenth century; the rising military & industrial sectors and the declining trade sector in Nagasaki. The developments in these sectors are framed within wider Japanese history of that era and also the decline of Dutch influence in the nineteenth century. The conclusion of this thesis is that the Dutch still fulfilled a prominent position within Japanese, and then especially Nagasaki, after the years of the opening in 1854. The Dutch worked hard to introduce Japan with new military and industrial knowledge, while simulataneously aiming to include within a new trade network. The Dutch supplied new materials, worked as teacher and also worked as intermediaries with other Western nations. Eventually the Dutch could not keep up with other Western nations and by the 1870s most Dutch experts had disappeared from Japan. Nonetheless, by this time their influence had played a major role in Nagasaki. The basis had been laid for the rise of many factories in the city, the city had become a centre for military knowledge and trade had dwindled from the city. Byt the time the last of the Dutch experts left, Nagasaki had been set on a course to become a military-industrial complex, which would play an important part in the next century.Show less
This thesis provides an insight in how cross-cultural relations took place and how the VOC legal system functioned in the 17th century in a multi-cultural place like Cochin on the southwest coast...Show moreThis thesis provides an insight in how cross-cultural relations took place and how the VOC legal system functioned in the 17th century in a multi-cultural place like Cochin on the southwest coast of India. This is done through legal sources that are from fort Cochin. Of these legal sources the emphesis lies on cases between non-Europeans vs Europeans and non-Europeans vs non-Europeans.Show less
Australia and New Zealand have been known for their British Child Migrants Programme (1920-1970). The Netherlands stimulated emigration after the Second World War as well. Considering overseas...Show moreAustralia and New Zealand have been known for their British Child Migrants Programme (1920-1970). The Netherlands stimulated emigration after the Second World War as well. Considering overseas demand for child migrants was high in the British context, this thesis explores the Dutch perspectives on the phenomenon of child migration. Following a governance perspective the thesis sets out to identify contributing factors and actors in order to explain the rejection of child migration from The Netherlands. The research is built on various primary sources including newspaper articles, personal publications, radio interviews and letter exchanges between governments and NGOs. These sources have identified both the Australian/New Zealand perspectives and the Dutch situation regarding children in The Netherlands during the post-war period. Ultimately establishing that the Australian and New Zealand governments were certainly interested in taking in Dutch children, but that the Dutch government were mostly apprehensive due to perceived Australian inexperience, a lack of parentless children and a lack of adoption regulations.Show less
