Series
history
history
Bart Decroos
3 min reading time
Bart Decroos: The Idyll
Bart Decroos wrote a short story inspired by a 1708 drawing by Dirk Valkenburg, entitled ‘View of a Mill and Cook-house on a Plantation in Surinam’.
history
Tom Christiaens
6 min reading time
Harvest of the University Press (winter 2021)
Our selection of recent university press publications in English on the Low Countries.
Series
History of the Netherlands
history
Babeth Fonchie
1 min reading time
Babeth Fonchie: the formation of a scab
Babeth Fonchie wrote a poem inspired by old wooden stocks and matching iron shackles.
history
Republic of Amsterdam Radio
4 min reading time
Charles in Charge
On our journey exploring the history of the Low Countries, we can't forget the 'Father of Europe': Charlemagne or Charles the Great.
Series
Our Colonial Legacy
history
Marieke van Rooy
7 min reading time
Rijksmuseum Architect Pierre Cuypers was a Catholic Master Builder
The architect of the Rijksmuseum and Amsterdam Central Station made an active contribution to the emancipation of the Catholic church in the Netherlands.
history
Joris Mercelis
8 min reading time
Leo Baekeland. How a Shoemaker’s Son Became the ‘Father of Plastics’
The Ghent-born American inventor of Bakelite brought science and industry closer together.
Series
Migration, the Other Way Around
history
Republic of Amsterdam Radio
4 min reading time
Illuminating the Dark Ages with Monks, Migrations and Merovingians
A common misperception is that once Roman influence ended, the European continent went into a dark abyss with very little happening until the Italian Renaissance in the 14th century.
history
Dirk van Delft
7 min reading time
Christiaan Huygens, the Versatile but Forgotten Scientist
A new biography gives the seventeenth-century Dutch astronomer and inventor the credit he deserves.
Series
Via Belgica
history
Dirk Van Assche
4 min reading time
In Joe Biden’s Bible, You Can Read a History of the Low Countries
The Bible on which Joe Biden swore his oath has a four-hundred-year history that reaches back to a biblical translation that originated in the Low Countries.
history
Reinier Salverda
3 min reading time
Why We Should Not Forget the Berbice Slave Revolt of 1763
The first organised slave revolt on the American continent to a colonial governor took place in Berbice, now part of Guyana.
history
Republic of Amsterdam Radio
6 min reading time
What Have the Romans Ever Done for Us?
Throughout history, the Low Countries would often be defined by their interactions with great powers nearby. This began with the Romans.
history
Remco Vermeulen
7 min reading time
The Story of the Erasmus Huis in Indonesia
The cultural centre of the Netherlands in the Indonesian capital Jakarta reflects a dynamic relationship between the two countries.
history
Hannes Cools
9 min reading time
A Tsar on a Tow Canal Boat
For three centuries, the barge between Bruges and Ghent was a popular and luxurious means of transport.
history
Republic of Amsterdam Radio
5 min reading time
99% of Dutch History
Join us on our journey throughout the history of the Netherlands. We start in so-called "pre-history".
history
Tom Christiaens
2 min reading time
The Top 5 History Stories of the Year
Our best history stories of 2020, handpicked by the editor.
history
Geerdt Magiels
6 min reading time
What Tree Rings and Core Samples Tell Us About Our World
Those who know where to look can read the history of the planet and the human race in trees and landscapes. Two researchers from the Low Countries, Salomon Kroonenberg and Valerie Trouet, tell the story of the earth, our past and perhaps also our future.
history
Derek Blyth
2 min reading time
The Long Farewell
Every evening since 1928, a group of buglers has sounded the Last Post in Ypres to honour the soldiers who died in WWI in Flanders Fields.
history
August Thiry
7 min reading time
King Albert's Heroes. How 400 Young Belgians Fought in Russia and Conquered the US
In the First World War, a Belgian armoured battalion was sent abroad against the Germans and Austrians. It engaged in a worldwide adventure.
Series
Zero Point 1945
history
Dirk Van Assche
3 min reading time
Charles V, the Man Who Bought the Emperorship
Exactly 500 years ago, Charles V was crowned Holy Roman Emperor, much to his French rival Francis I’s chagrin.
