In my post-doctoral research project, I study the role of maritime transport in the early-modern Dutch commercial system.
This study is part of the NWO-project 'The Ascent of the Frisians'.
My research focuses on the following topics:
1. The economic geography of early-modern Dutch maritime transport
2. The changing geography of demand for Dutch maritime transport in the early-modern period
3. The development of specialized shipping services regions in the early-modern Dutch commercial system
Analysis of the supply, demand and origins of maritime
transport and its role in the Dutch commercial system in the early-modern period,
will be carried out using three types of data:
1)
Data on volumes, origins and directions of trade, ideally:
-
commodity chain data
-
trade statistics
2)
Data on merchant business strategies, with a focus on merchant-shipmaster relations and
underlying conceptualization of the ship as a business entity
3)
Data about the spatio-temporal structure of maritime transport, like:
-
location and size of shipping communities
-
routes and routines of shipmasters
Analysis of supply, demand and origins of maritime transport in the Dutch commercial system will be
synthesized as the analysis of maritime business knowledge and its evolution. Changes in maritime business
knowledge depend on changes in hinterland and foreland which, in turn, provoke changes in maritime
business strategies and the spatial structure of maritime transport. At the same time, the spatial structure of maritime
transport itself is also influenced by changes in hinterland and foreland. Thus, t
he overall picture is complex and has many co-evolving layers, but the key analytical unit must be m
aritime business knowledge and its analysis will be warranted only if maritime business strategies, the
spatial structure of maritime transport, hinterland, foreland and their respective developments are fully taken
into account.
