Johan Visser MA

PhD candidate

Area(s) of interest: Environmental History, Global History, Maritime History

Cohort/Start PhD: 2022-2023

Hunger and the provisioning of the Dutch Atlantic world in the seventeenth century

Leiden University

Supervisor(s): Prof. Michiel van Groesen, Dr Anita van Dissel

During the existence of the ‘old’ West India Company between 1621 and 1674, supplying the Atlantic empire was a permanent problem. Persistent hunger haunted Dutch ships across the seas of the Western Hemisphere, compounded by a lack of knowledge and technological know-how about growing local crops in tropical conditions. This project examines why the Dutch failed to get their food supply in order and ties in with new historiographical trends such as food history and environmental history.