International Conference
Maritime transport and its actors in early-modern Europe, from the North Sea to the Mediterranean
University of Western Britanny – Brest 14 – 15 october 2010
Coordination : Pierrick Pourchasse (University of Brest – CRBC), Werner Scheltjens (ENS Lyon – University of Groningen)
Call for papers
Maritime shipping is known to have been one of the major engines of economic growth and a driving force of the first wave of globalisation in the early-modern period. Its outcome has been the object of many historical studies covering a myriad of different topics, of which import and export trade, merchant networks and economic development are but a few. While the results of the development of maritime shipping has been studied at length, this is less so for maritime shipping itself. Many aspects of its operational structure still remain to be discovered. The dominant view of transportation being organised in a highly flexible manner, randomly attracting ships and their shipmasters to the most profitable cargo available, has been challenged recently in a study of Dutch shipping in the Gulf of Finland and on Archangel. However, much work remains to be done in order to provide a comprehensive picture of the operational practices that were employed in early-modern maritime shipping.
With this call for papers we would like to create an opportunity to gather existing knowledge on the subject and to discuss a number of topics related to the operational structure of early-modern martime shipping. Papers are welcomed in any of the following subject areas:
(1) Comparative analysis of operational practices in early-modern maritime shipping. Were different operational practices in vigor in different regions? What were their characteristics? How did the operational structure of maritime shipping change over time? What is the position of regional ports and intra-regional gateways in the development of maritime shipping? Did different transports systems employ different techniques?
(2) The organisation of transport. How were the complex relations between commissionners, freighters, shipowners and captains organised? Do these relations have consequences for the spatial organisation of transport? How did the actors collect and manage information as an important element in the profitability of transport?
(3) Shipping service regions. Which European regions develop intense maritime shipping activities while others don't? What were the spatial characteristics of these shipping service regions? How did they evolve? Which factors provoked regional development as a shipping service region? Possible topics related to this theme include the analysis of transportation costs, relations with the shipbuilding industry and labour market dynamics.
Proposals must be submitted in French or English and must include a paper title and a short abstract of approximately 15 lines. Please include the following information in your proposal:
author(s), function, affilliation, e-mail, work address and telephone number, paper title and short abstract.
Proposals can be sent to Werner.Scheltjens@ens-lsh.fr before May 7, 2010. Each proposal will be examined by a scientific committee. Selection results will be sent on May 21, 2010.
Scientific committee
Dr. Pierrick Pourchasse, Lecturer in Modern History, University of West-Brittanny Dr. Werner Scheltjens, Post-doctoral fellow, Ecole Normale Supérieure de Lyon
Prof. Dr. Silvia Marzagalli, Professor in Moden History, University of Nice-Sophia Antipolis
Practical details
The duration of each presentation is limited to 20 minutes.
The official conference languages are French and English.
Participants are requested to precise any special equipment they may need for their presentation.
Travel and accommodation expenses will be take over by the organizers.
