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Project

Measuring the long-distance trade of the Low Countries: processing the mid-sixteenth-century tax registers into a relational database

In this project a series of mid-sixteenth-century ledgers concerning the import and export to and from the Low Countries will be digitalized and entered into a relational database, which will be accessible online through the research center website of the applicant. The data allow a detailed analysis of international trade in the region during a phase of economic growth. The volumes of certain commodities (for example, textiles), the relative role of certain merchant groups (natives and foreign merchants) and that of commercial centers will be calculated. Hence, we can compose commercial profiles, both for the commercial centers and for the groups of merchants, a step beyond the current research which relies heavily on total numbers for this trade (and not the more detailed ones which await analysis in the archives). The data-input will be executed by history students during the summer break under the supervision of the applicant. The data will be used in the publication of the applicant's PhD-dissertation; the applicant wants to have his work published by a major US or UK university press. Moreover, the data will lead to one (or several, dependent on the results of the database) separate journal article in one of the top journals in economic history. Belgian and European historians and researchers can access the online database and compare the data with similar sources from other European regions, which will enhance the research on European trade in the early modern era.
Date:1 Feb 2013 →  31 Dec 2013
Keywords:ECONOMIC HISTORY, LOW COUNTRIES, INTERNATIONAL TRADE, DATABASES
Disciplines:Economic history, History