Project description
Uncovering the hidden labour force behind the Portuguese Asian Empire
The Portuguese Asian empire’s development and sustainability during the 16th and 17th centuries relied heavily on labour. However, the extent to which free and unfree non-European labour contributed to this remains underexplored. Understanding this labour dynamic is crucial for understanding the broader mechanisms of imperial dominance. Moreover, comparing Portuguese practices with those of the Dutch and English in the Indian Ocean can reveal insights. With the support of Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions programme, the EMPIRELAB will investigate the Estado da Índia (EI) from 1510 to 1663. By analysing military, urban and rural labour markets, EMPIRELAB will explore its hypotheses that El’s endurance was due to intensive labour extraction.
Objective
How and to what extent did 'free' and unfree non-European labour contributed to build and sustain the Portuguese Asian empire during the 16th and 17th centuries? This is the main question I will address in this project, by exploring the case study of the Estado da ndia (henceforth EI) between 1510 and 1663. The main hypothesis I want to test is that the EI was able to develop and sustain itself (even in times of decline) due to a highly intensive extraction and allocation of non-European labour, especially when compared with other European counterparts in the Indian Ocean, namely the Dutch and the English. This project dialogues therefore with a wider trend in the historiography that analyses the importance of the populations under European imperial dominion for empire building and economic development, especially in what concerns non-European capital, natural resources, and labour. The allocation of labour in colonial settings was noticeable in many dimensions of the everyday life. This project will focus on three intertwined locus of observation: the military, the urban and the rural labour markets. By gathering evidence from European and Asian archives, building and testing a dataset on occupational structures and labour relations in the Portuguese EI, EMPIRELAB will offer a first insight in labour dynamics in Portuguese Asia. The findings of EMPIRELAB will provide historians of the European and non-European empires with comparative data and an innovative perspectivein order to feed larger debates both in academic and non-academic contexts regarding the impact of colonialism in our societies. It will raise awareness about labour and migration in historical perspective, thus helping to overcome established preconceptions about the relevance of labour for imperial history. Moreover, it will contribute to an improved assessment of the origins and maintenance of inequalities in the early modern colonial period.
Fields of science (EuroSciVoc)
CORDIS classifies projects with EuroSciVoc, a multilingual taxonomy of fields of science, through a semi-automatic process based on NLP techniques. See: The European Science Vocabulary.
CORDIS classifies projects with EuroSciVoc, a multilingual taxonomy of fields of science, through a semi-automatic process based on NLP techniques. See: The European Science Vocabulary.
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Keywords
Project’s keywords as indicated by the project coordinator. Not to be confused with the EuroSciVoc taxonomy (Fields of science)
Project’s keywords as indicated by the project coordinator. Not to be confused with the EuroSciVoc taxonomy (Fields of science)
Programme(s)
Multi-annual funding programmes that define the EU’s priorities for research and innovation.
Multi-annual funding programmes that define the EU’s priorities for research and innovation.
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HORIZON.1.2 - Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions (MSCA)
MAIN PROGRAMME
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Topic(s)
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Calls for proposals are divided into topics. A topic defines a specific subject or area for which applicants can submit proposals. The description of a topic comprises its specific scope and the expected impact of the funded project.
Funding Scheme
Funding scheme (or “Type of Action”) inside a programme with common features. It specifies: the scope of what is funded; the reimbursement rate; specific evaluation criteria to qualify for funding; and the use of simplified forms of costs like lump sums.
Funding scheme (or “Type of Action”) inside a programme with common features. It specifies: the scope of what is funded; the reimbursement rate; specific evaluation criteria to qualify for funding; and the use of simplified forms of costs like lump sums.
HORIZON-TMA-MSCA-PF-EF - HORIZON TMA MSCA Postdoctoral Fellowships - European Fellowships
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Call for proposal
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Procedure for inviting applicants to submit project proposals, with the aim of receiving EU funding.
(opens in new window) HORIZON-MSCA-2023-PF-01
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Net EU financial contribution. The sum of money that the participant receives, deducted by the EU contribution to its linked third party. It considers the distribution of the EU financial contribution between direct beneficiaries of the project and other types of participants, like third-party participants.
1011 JV AMSTERDAM
Netherlands
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