Periodic Reporting for period 1 - EuMeDE (European Mercenaries in the Dutch Empire. A Connected History of Continental Europe and Colonial Indonesia, c. 1800—1900)
Período documentado: 2021-07-01 hasta 2023-06-30
What legacy did Europe's imperial expansion in the 19th century leave not only in the former colonies, but also in Europe itself? This project took a new approach to this timely question. It sought to examine how some 70,000 mercenaries from Germany, Belgium and France, who served in the Dutch colonial army between 1816 and 1914, contributed simultaneously to the building of the Dutch empire and the European regions from which they came. Uncovering this largely unknown historical link between colonial Indonesia and continental Europe is important for global European history, Dutch colonial history and the national histories of the countries mentioned.
Since all these soldiers were embedded in vast cross-border economic, financial, social, medical and scientific networks between Europe and Southeast Asia, understanding their life trajectories allows European societies outside the former Dutch metropolis to understand how and why they share an often violent, but connected history with what is now the Republic of Indonesia. These legacies can be found, for example, in the vast collections of regional museums of all the above countries. They contain cultural, zoological, botanical, etc. objects from the distant archipelago under Dutch imperial rule. These objects were brought back by European soldiers serving in the Dutch Colonial Army and handed over to local museums in their home towns. There they shaped scientific disciplines such as anthropology, geography and zoology. But they also became part of the imperial worldview in Europe.
With Indonesia now one of the fastest growing economies in the so-called global south, and the largest Muslim-majority democracy, it is important for European countries (many of which are members of the EU) to appreciate this shared history. In order to build equitable and sustainable relations in the future, it is important to reflect on how a shared violent imperial history has affected Europe and Indonesia in different ways.
Since all these soldiers were embedded in vast cross-border economic, financial, social, medical and scientific networks between Europe and Southeast Asia, understanding their life trajectories allows European societies outside the former Dutch metropolis to understand how and why they share an often violent, but connected history with what is now the Republic of Indonesia. These legacies can be found, for example, in the vast collections of regional museums of all the above countries. They contain cultural, zoological, botanical, etc. objects from the distant archipelago under Dutch imperial rule. These objects were brought back by European soldiers serving in the Dutch Colonial Army and handed over to local museums in their home towns. There they shaped scientific disciplines such as anthropology, geography and zoology. But they also became part of the imperial worldview in Europe.
With Indonesia now one of the fastest growing economies in the so-called global south, and the largest Muslim-majority democracy, it is important for European countries (many of which are members of the EU) to appreciate this shared history. In order to build equitable and sustainable relations in the future, it is important to reflect on how a shared violent imperial history has affected Europe and Indonesia in different ways.
Together with my former PhD student, I wrote an article about the economic and financial interconnections between Europe and Indonesia that were created by European mercenaries in Dutch colonial service. Every soldier who died in the Dutch East Indies left a (often modest) financial inheritance, which the Dutch colonial administration transferred to his relatives in Europe. Veterans who survived their service received lifelong pensions from the Dutch colonial army, which enabled them to build a career after returning to their home regions.
In the article, we calculated how much money the Dutch colonial administration transferred from its Southeast Asian empire to Europe between about 1850 and 1914. We calculated a sum of about 11 million guilders. The article discusses how this money affected the lives of the veterans and their families in Europe, but also their mostly illegal families (concubines and children) in the Dutch colonies.
The article with the working title "Welfare for War Veterans. How the Dutch Empire provided for European mercenary families, ca. 1850 to 1914" has been accepted for publication in the journal 'Itinerario'. It will be published in 2022 or 2023.
I also organised an international conference that brought together other scholars to look at how European regions not normally considered typical imperial powers (Hungary, Finland, Slovakia, etc.) were involved in overseas empire-building projects through their larger European neighbours. The conference report can be accessed here: https://www.hsozkult.de/conferencereport/id/tagungsberichte-9260(se abrirá en una nueva ventana)
In the article, we calculated how much money the Dutch colonial administration transferred from its Southeast Asian empire to Europe between about 1850 and 1914. We calculated a sum of about 11 million guilders. The article discusses how this money affected the lives of the veterans and their families in Europe, but also their mostly illegal families (concubines and children) in the Dutch colonies.
The article with the working title "Welfare for War Veterans. How the Dutch Empire provided for European mercenary families, ca. 1850 to 1914" has been accepted for publication in the journal 'Itinerario'. It will be published in 2022 or 2023.
I also organised an international conference that brought together other scholars to look at how European regions not normally considered typical imperial powers (Hungary, Finland, Slovakia, etc.) were involved in overseas empire-building projects through their larger European neighbours. The conference report can be accessed here: https://www.hsozkult.de/conferencereport/id/tagungsberichte-9260(se abrirá en una nueva ventana)
I was awarded an SNSF professorship and therefore had to abandon the project prematurely.