Date: 23 April 2002. Time: 12:00-14:00.
Venue
University of Southern Denmark, Niels Bohrs Vej 9, 6700 Esbjerg. Held in Room 1.
Head of Mariners: Poul Holm.
Programme
Dr. Paul C. van Royen, Algemeen Rijksarchief and University of Amsterdam.
Title
Basically Baltic: the Dutch merchant marine (1500-1850): ships, men and money.
”Mother of all trades” it was called, the Dutch trade with the Baltic. While the Middle Ages slowly withered away, a new kind of traders and transporters started to sail the coastal waters of Western Europe, untied by guild regulations, self conscious and with just about one goal: making a profit. For many decades – even centuries – Dutch trade with the Baltic was the nucleus of Dutch maritime economic activities. All other trades were based on the ”Moedernegotie”. Thanks to this trade the Dutch learned the technology, acquired the expertise, created the networks, built the ships, got the sailors, and earned the money which helped them ”to conquer the rest of the world”.
Recently, some historians argued that the influence of the Baltic trade was less important to the Dutch economy than has been assumed. Their arguments, however, seem not very convincing. On the other hand, some historians view Dutch trade to the Baltic as an absolute quantitative criterion to measure the fluctuations of Dutch economic and political power on the whole. Whatever implications these two opinions have, foremost they show that this specific branch of seafaring is basic fir a better understanding of the Dutch seaborne empire. Basic for a better understanding is a renewal interest and research into the subject. Since A. E. Christensen’s “Dutch trade to the Baltic about 1600” relatively few historian have tackled the subject in the same way Christensen did, and Christensen published his research about sixty years ago. Maybe, it is time to make some revisions and widen our scope. Indeed, Dutch trade to the Baltic is much more than just Dutch trade to the Baltic.
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