Series
history
history
Anne-Goaitske Breteler
2 min reading time
Anne-Goaitske Breteler: The prayer meeting
Anne-Goaitske Breteler wrote a short story inspired by a letter written in response to the abolition of slavery on the French side of Sint Maarten.
history
Jens Meijen
1 min reading time
Jens Meijen: The Undersigned declares to have been informed of the nature and methods of historiography
Jens Meijen wrote a poem inspired by a contract from 1706 between a plantation owner and a painter.
Series
History of the Netherlands
history
Lotte Jensen
7 min reading time
Dear Government, Please Make Use Of Historical Knowledge to Defeat the Pandemic
Four leading Dutch historians call for insights from the past to be used to defeat today's pandemic.
history
Tom Christiaens
2 min reading time
18 Dutch Books You Need To Read This Spring (2021)
Our selection of Dutch-language books that have recently been translated into English.
Series
Our Colonial Legacy
history
Republic of Amsterdam Radio
6 min reading time
Ploughin' Forward. An Agricultural Revolution in the Middle Ages
At the end of the first millennium, an agricultural revolution was about to change the lives of the peasants in the Low Countries.
history
Pelumi Adujemo
3 min reading time
Pelumi Adejumo: When another person’s happiness hurts us
Pelumi Adejumo gives a voice to a collar from 1689 bearing the coat of arms of William of Orange.
Series
Migration, the Other Way Around
history
Republic of Amsterdam Radio
10 min reading time
Welcome to Family Feudalism
After the collapse of Charlemagne's empire at the end of the 9th century, the lowlands became the playground for many family feuds.
history
Marie Borremans
1 min reading time
Marie Borremans: What our grandparents said and we will/won’t say to our children
Marie Borremans wrote a poem inspired by a letter from Pieter Mortamer, commander in Luanda, addressed to Johan Maurits, the then governor-general of Dutch Brazil.
Series
Via Belgica
history
Derek Blyth
2 min reading time
On the Road With DAF, a Quintessential Dutch Car
Back in the 1960s, the Germans had their VWs, the Italians their Fiat 500s, the French the Citroën 2CVs, and the Dutch? A sensible car called the DAF.
history
Filip Matthijs
6 min reading time
Our Man in Havana and Other Facts about the Belgo-Cuban Connection
Huib Billiet Adriaansen wrote an exciting book about the shared history of Cuba and Belgium since the early sixteenth century.
history
Chris Lomans
3 min reading time
Chris Lomans: In the stomach of the world
Chris Lomans gives a voice to machetes from the early 19th century that were intended for sugar cane plantations.
history
Derek Blyth
2 min reading time
The Handelsbeurs in Antwerp, the World’s First Stock Exchange
After having stood empty for 22 years, the Antwerp Stock Exchange building or the Handelsbeurs, opened to the public again.
history
Peter Daerden
8 min reading time
When Brussels Was a Paradise for the Colombian Elite
Between the two world wars, a strange kind of snobbery arose among the Colombian elite: the siren call of distant Brussels.
history
Ellis Meeusen
3 min reading time
Ellis Meeusen: To all who read or hear this, salute?
Ellis Meeusen took inspiration from the 1863 law, drawn up by King Willem III, that set out the Netherlands’ official abolition of slavery in Suriname.
history
Bart Decroos
3 min reading time
Bart Decroos: The Idyll
Bart Decroos wrote a short story inspired by a 1708 drawing by Dirk Valkenburg, entitled ‘View of a Mill and Cook-house on a Plantation in Surinam’.
history
Tom Christiaens
6 min reading time
Harvest of the University Press (winter 2021)
Our selection of recent university press publications in English on the Low Countries.
history
Babeth Fonchie
1 min reading time
Babeth Fonchie: The formation of a scab
Babeth Fonchie wrote a poem inspired by old wooden stocks and matching iron shackles.
history
Republic of Amsterdam Radio
4 min reading time
Charles in Charge
On our journey exploring the history of the Low Countries, we can't forget the 'Father of Europe': Charlemagne or Charles the Great.
history
Marieke van Rooy
7 min reading time
Rijksmuseum Architect Pierre Cuypers was a Catholic Master Builder
The architect of the Rijksmuseum and Amsterdam Central Station made an active contribution to the emancipation of the Catholic church in the Netherlands.
history
Joris Mercelis
8 min reading time
Leo Baekeland. How a Shoemaker’s Son Became the ‘Father of Plastics’
The Ghent-born American inventor of Bakelite brought science and industry closer together.
