Exploring Slave Trade in Asia : First Steps towards an International Database

Pascal Konings; Maartje Hids; Sam J. Miske; Matthias van Rossum; Merve Tosun; Hannah de Korte

doi:10.52024/tseg.13647

Authors

Pascal Konings International Institute of Social History
Maartje Hids
Sam J. Miske Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam
Matthias van Rossum International Institute of Social History
Merve Tosun International Institute of Social History
Hannah de Korte

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.52024/tseg.13647

Abstract

Since its conception in 2016, the Exploring Slave Trade in Asia (ESTA) project has been working towards solidifying research on the slave trade in the Indian Ocean region and Maritime Asia world by means of a collaborative database. This article briefly discusses ESTA’s roots and goals, showcasing the first results that its database yielded. We discuss and evaluate the database’s structure and content up until this point, as well as its ramifications, aspirations, and challenges. Based on the first observations, this article further signifies the value of the ESTA database for comparative slave trade research, taking its first steps towards a reconstruction of the Indian Ocean and Maritime Asia slave trade by connecting global long-distance slave trade with local systems of slavery and forced labour.

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Author Biographies

Pascal Konings, International Institute of Social History

Pascal Konings (1990) obtained his MA degree in History from the University of Amsterdam, with a focus on early modern literacy in the Dutch Republic’s countryside. He is currently working as Research Assistant on the ESTA project at the International Institute for Social History. His research interests include the Dutch East India Company, early modern education, historical quantitative methods, and Baltic history.

Maartje Hids

Maartje Hids (1999) received her MA in Economic History from Leiden University, with a focus on economic networks in the maritime, colonial world of the Dutch Republic. She is currently working as Research Assistant on the GLOBALISE project at the Huygens Institute and is obtaining a second master’s degree to become a history teacher.

Sam J. Miske, Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam

Sam J. Miske (1996) obtained his MA degree in Heritage, Memory, and Archaeology from the University of Amsterdam in 2022. He is currently pursuing a PhD at the Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam on the topic of land dispossession under the Dutch East India Company in the early modern period. His research interests include early modern Dutch colonialism, colonial heritage, and the global history of capitalism.

Matthias van Rossum, International Institute of Social History

Matthias van Rossum (1984) is Senior Researcher at the International Institute of Social History. He is project leader of the digital humanities infrastructure project GLOBALISE, the NWO Vidi project Resisting Enslavement, and amongst others involved in the projects Exploring Slave Trade in Asia and the Terreinverkenning en onderzoeksagenda slavernijverleden. His recent publications include Slavery and Europe: Exploring the Economic Impact of Atlantic Slavery (2022, ed., with T. Combrink).

Merve Tosun, International Institute of Social History

Merve Tosun (1993) is a historian of early modern colonialism and slave trade in Asia. She is Data Manager at the International Institute of Social History and Outreach Coordinator for GLOBALISE at the Huygens Institute. One of her recent publications is Revisualising Slavery: Visual sources on slavery in the Indonesian Archipelago & Indian Ocean (University of Washington Press 2021) with W. Manuhutu, M. van Rossum and N. Jouwe. She has published works in Journal of Social History (2020), Yearbook of Women’s History (2020), and Journal of Asian Studies (2021).

Hannah de Korte

Hannah de Korte (1995) is an environmental historian who graduated from the Research Master History at Utrecht University. She recently worked on the history of the nature protection movement and environmental thought. Her research interests include the history of sustainable tourism and consumption, missionary societies and geography, and studies on the African diaspora, black intellectual history and the history of slavery. Among her recent publications is ‘Maps Matter. The 10/40 Window and Missionary Geography’ in Exchange 49:2 (2020) 110-144 (with D. Onnekink).