The incredible journey of the world’s most influential swamp and those who call it home. Beginning at the end of the last ice age and trekking all the way throu...
Bonus: Decolonising the AfricaMuseum with Bart Ouvry
We sit down with Bart Ouvry, managing director of AfricaMuseum in Tervuren, Belgium, to speak about the challenges he faces attempting to decolonise a colonial museum. Established in 1898, the museum originally served as a propaganda tool to lend support to Belgium's King Leopold II's colonial ambitions in Congo and central Africa. By the late 20th century, the museum was being widely and critically called into question, leading to a five year renovation plan that started in 2013, intended to revamp it both physically and philosophically. Since reopening in late 2018, AfricaMuseum has continued to receive mixed opinions from many different perspectives. This testifies to the complexities and controversies that remain inherent within any discussion about historical narratives and what different and divisive consequences they can bear for people today. To hear more about the museum team’s journey in forging a path through this mire, we were lucky enough to sit down with Bart in his office to ask him about his own background, the importance of history, about his role at the museum and about what it’s like to lead a team that is faced with tackling such difficult and monumental task.
Do you want to know more about Flemish and Dutch history and culture? Visit www.the-low-countries.com.
Our theme music is created by Samuel P K Smith.
Music clips provided by Storyblocks:
"Minimal Documentary Background Music" by Volodymyr Piddubnyk https://www.storyblocks.com/audio/stock/minimal-documentary-background-music-skxjrbbvvketzhdzl.html
"Documentary Corporate Marimba Background Music" by Media-Music Group https://www.storyblocks.com/audio/stock/documentary-corporate-marimba-background-music-rivttg71dkk2oc0dt.html
"Jazz Bass And Drums Solo" by Volodymyr Piddubnyk https://www.storyblocks.com/audio/stock/jazz-bass-and-drums-solo-bjj7ev19vkhjpmbps.html
"Escaping Forever" by Michael Vignola https://www.storyblocks.com/audio/stock/escaping-forever-hog3rptosk2xlgdd7.html
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49:21
53 - Clinker to Carvel (and how to shove sphagnum into wood)
We dumbly delve into the deep and desolate doldrums that define trying to understand the growth and development of Dutch shipbuilding in the late 15th and early 16th centuries, particularly in Holland. Conditions would conspire to allow this industry to flourish across the Low Countries. There is, however, a distinct lack of written information from the shipbuilding sector in the 15th century to speak about it definitively. Historians and archaeologists have put together and continue to put together as many pieces as possible, however much of the detail is forever lost. As such, speculation must play its part. In the second part of the episode, we are going to discuss some of the main sources that historians use to try and get a picture of this very opaque past.
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57:29
BONUS: Amsterdam 750 with Erik Schmitz from Amsterdam City Archive
On October 27, 1275, Count Floris V of Holland issued a toll exemption to the village of Amsterdam as compensation for damage caused by his troops. This document remains the oldest known written reference to Amsterdam and is kept in a dark depot in the Amsterdam City Archives. One of the curators and people responsible for keeping this document safe for the people of Amsterdam is Erik Schmitz. We had the privilege of speaking to him on October 28, 2024, as Amsterdam kicks off its 750th jubilee year. Our conversation spans from looking at the physical document itself, what it meant for Amsterdam's growth over the centuries and how its significance has changed in line with the development of the city itself.
Do you want to know more about Flemish and Dutch history and culture? Visit www.the-low-countries.com.
Music clips provided by Storyblocks:
"Jazz Bass And Drums Solo" by Volodymyr Piddubnyk https://www.storyblocks.com/audio/stock/jazz-bass-and-drums-solo-bjj7ev19vkhjpmbps.html
"Minimal Documentary Background Music" by Volodymyr Piddubnyk https://www.storyblocks.com/audio/stock/minimal-documentary-background-music-skxjrbbvvketzhdzl.html
"Lofi Jazz Beat (Paris Caf Version)" by The Turquoise Moon https://www.storyblocks.com/audio/stock/lofi-jazz-beat-sdve38movkgogrl4f.html
"Documentary Corporate Marimba Background Music" by Media-Music Group https://www.storyblocks.com/audio/stock/documentary-corporate-marimba-background-music-rivttg71dkk2oc0dt.html
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44:04
52 - Draining the Swamp Part 2: Too Drained, Too Furious
Between the years 1000 and 1500 CE the soggy, sphagnum filled bog lands of the western Low Countries were terraformed to support human habitation and, as such, the seeds of future prosperity and hardships were simultaneously, albeit unknowingly, sown. Draining the swamp meant that land was created for agriculture, farming and settlement. This land was crisscrossed by waterways over which products both domestic and foreign could be moved on boats from the sea to the rivers and vice versa. Draining the swamp also meant that those lands sank, due to oxygen seeping into the pierced mass of moss and rotting the previously petrified peat within. People had to invent things like pumping mills to move water out of the swamp and stave off that waterlogged sinking feeling they had been experiencing. By the start of the 16th century, towns in the Low Countries had become important hubs of commercial shipping, with boats sailing from Northern Germany and beyond to the Baltic Sea, preferring to use the relatively calm and peaceful waters “inside the dunes” of Holland to reach markets in Flanders, as opposed to risking the open waters of the North Sea. Although water management required cooperation between the peoples of different towns, all of this economic activity also naturally created competition and rivalry between these towns, particularly in Holland, as they literally fought over their rights to do things like dig new canals, build new locks and charge tolls. It’s Draining the Swamp Part II: Too Drained, Too Furious.
With thanks to Fredrik, Kelly Magee, Laura Isräels, Kevin Bertram and Lars for their Patreon support.
SHOW NOTES: https://www.republicofamsterdamradio.com/episodes/historyofthenetherlands/episode-52-draining-the-swamp-part-2-too-drained-too-furious
PATREON: https://www.patreon.com/historyofthenetherlands
TWITTER: https://www.twitter.com/historyofNL
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59:49
BONUS: Getting to Know The American Netherlander
We chat with comedian and author Greg Shapiro a.k.a. The American Netherlander a.k.a. the voice of Donald Trump in the "America First, the Netherlands Second" video. Greg shares with us his uniquely American insight into the Netherlands' history and culture, especially as to how it relates to the United States, how the two cultures can learn from each other, and how kids books differ between the two countries.
You can find Greg Shaprio's tour dates at https://gregshapiro.nl/greg-shapiro-upcoming-comedy-shows/
Music provided by Storyblocks:
"Jazz Bass And Drums Solo" by Volodymyr Piddubnyk https://www.storyblocks.com/audio/stock/jazz-bass-and-drums-solo-bjj7ev19vkhjpmbps.html
“Cousing Mischief” by Facundo Alvarez https://www.storyblocks.com/audio/stock/cousing-mischief-rpgn65n8dkfs85l7u.html
"Minimal Documentary Background Music" by Volodymyr Piddubnyk https://www.storyblocks.com/audio/stock/minimal-documentary-background-music-skxjrbbvvketzhdzl.html
“Comedy Background Detective Cartoon Version 4 20 Sec” by Volodymyr Piddubnyk https://www.storyblocks.com/audio/stock/comedy-background-detective-cartoon-version-4-20-sec-svoc3fdwpkgc9wmi0.html
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The incredible journey of the world’s most influential swamp and those who call it home. Beginning at the end of the last ice age and trekking all the way through to the modern era, together we step through the centuries and meet some of the cast of characters who fashioned and forged a boggy marshland into a vibrant mercantile society and then further into a sea-trotting global super-power before becoming the centre for modern day liberalism.
Netherlands