Being a historian means travelling a lot, although primarily in the dimension of time. By working long enough with a topic, place or person, a feeling of familiarity arises, one a feeling of having actually visited the places or met the persons arises, even though the only contact has been through images and text.
But there is still value to travlling in person and experiencing the places where the historical events took place.
The Chinaman FREDENSBORG SLOT from the Danish Asiatic Company. Built in Copenhagen 1763-64. From gouache by Clement Mogensen Clementsen, about 1765. Photo: Maritime Museum of Denmark.
For the last several months have been sending in homework every tenth day for an interesting PhD-course in Social Network Analysis.
Next week I am going to attend the course in France, and I have just finished the last assignment, which used my own data, so I thought I would share the results here.
In 1735, the young Danish nobleman Count Otto Thott wrote a report, a so-called promemoria, about the economic status and challenges of the Oldenburg Monarchy, especially Denmark and Norway.
Titled Allerunderdanigste uforgribelige Tanker om Commerciens Telstand og Opkomst or “Most humble and personal thoughts about the condition and growth of business”, the report gives an overview of the state of farming, of production and of trade in Denmark and Norway, along with several recommendations for improvement.
At the moment I am diving into the wonderful archive of the Danish Asiatic Company, which is preserved at the Danish National Archives in Copenhagen.
So far the most interesting part is the roll books, where the crew of seemingly all ships in service of the Company is listed. Since I am investigating the merchants, I am especially interested in the section called Negotien, meaning the traders section of the crew.
Between Copenhagen & Canton 1730-1833 