EUIResearch interview
Team-member Maarten Draper was interviewed by Stanislav Černega from the EUI communication department about his role in CAPASIA. Please find the interview here.
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Speculating with Rhubarb: The Cargo of the Vrede
On the 23rd of February 1621, the Dutch newspaper Tijdinghe uyt verscheyde quartieren (news from different parts of the world) reported that a yacht named Vrede had returned safely to Zeeland from East India. It listed the full cargo understood to be aboard this ship, including pepper from Sambas (on
An anti-factory? Dutch Ternate and its role in preventing trade and production of a global commodity
In his encyclopedic Oost en Nieuw Oost Indien (1724–26), the Reverend François Valentijn prided himself on providing the first extensive description of Maluku. He began with Ternate, a small volcanic island and the seat of the most powerful Sultanate in the region. Historically, Ternate was a global hub, drawing
Workshop: New directions in Asian histories
23 February 2026, EUI, Florence. Capitalising on the concentration of scholars in and around the ERC-funded CAPASIA project (capasia.eu), this one-day workshop brought together scholars interested in early-modern Asia at the EUI. The workshop sought to foreground new research on the circulation of people, commodities, ideas,
Visualizing Ports for Imperial Oversight: A Case Study of 粵海關志 (the Gazetteer of the Canton Maritime Customs)
On a fine day in eighteenth-century Canton (modern-day Guangzhou), local residents strolling along the bustling waterfront could see the impressive silhouettes of European cargo ships anchored along the Pearl River. With their towering masts and billowing sails, these vessels marked the seasonal arrival of merchants from more than