Organisation: Koninklijke Belgische Marine Academie, de geschied- en heemkundige kring De Plate en het VLIZ
This year marks the 300th anniversary of the creation of the General East India Company, better known as the Ostend Company.
A new company
This year marks the 300th anniversary of the creation of the General East India Company, better known as the Ostend Company. In August 1723, a considerable capital was raised in just a few days through the issue of shares, with prominent traders from Antwerp, Brussels, and Ghent subscribing. With the funds raised, ships were purchased and prepared in Ostend. Ostend, the outer port of Bruges, thus became the centre of overseas trade expansion for our region in the eighteenth century. Dozens of ships sailed from Ostend to India and China (Canton). Thanks to a number of niche products such as tea (accounting for over 50% of the European market), the Ostend Company became a major global player in the China trade in the 1720s.
Record profits lead to international pressure
The Company’s shareholders were rewarded with a net profit of approximately 150%, and the port and city of Ostend flourished like never before. The Austrian Netherlands as a whole also benefited from the revived maritime trade. Despite its great success, the Ostend Company had to cease its trading activities in 1731 under pressure from Britain, the Netherlands, and France.
Not just a footnote in history
For a long time, historians believed that the Ostend Company was an insignificant footnote in our history. Recent research, however, has shown that the Ostend Company played a much more important role in our maritime past. The success of the Ostend Company made both policymakers in Brussels and the commercial elites realise the importance of maritime trade for our prosperity. Starting in 1748 and keeping the spirit of the Ostend Company in mind, they committed to the maritime revival of our regions. By the end of the eighteenth century, Ostend became one of the most important European ports. The maritime expertise thus accumulated in Ostend played a crucial role in restarting and expanding the shipping activities in Antwerp after the reopening of the river Scheldt in 1795.
The importance of the Ostend Company for the Flemish seaports and Belgian history should not be underestimated. It was not only the first multinational enterprise in our regions, but also the precursor to our current commercial relationships with the Far East. In addition, the Ostend Company played an important innovative role in shipbuilding and logistics.
To commemorate this significant milestone in our maritime history, a series of events will be organised in Ostend throughout 2023 and 2024.
Venue: Stadsmuseum, Langestraat 69, 8400 OostendeURL: https://oostendsecompagnie.wordpress.com/english-version-300[...]
Organisation: Osher Map Library and Smith Center for Cartographic Education
Chromolithography was used in the nineteenth century to create full-color and realistic images of the world. In geography, the process was used especially for the scenic, the special, and the spectacular. This exhibition explains the printing process and explores some of its particular applications to maps and bird’s-eye viewsVenue: Osher Map Library and Smith Center for Cartographic EducationEntry fee: FreeURL: https://oshermaps.org/news
Organisation: Archives départementales et métropolitaines
The Archives départementales et métropolitaines invite you to follow the way in which the representation of space in these areas has evolved over time.
Maps have had to respond to different, increasingly varied and complex functions. However, certain demands can be observed at all periods, such as when it comes to developing land or fortifying places.
Lyon naturally occupies a special place in this respect: cities were the focus of political and military attention from a very early stage, and mapping issues were particularly important there.Venue: Archives du département du Rhône et de la métropole de Lyon, 34 rue Général Mouton-Duvernet, 69003 LyonURL: https://ichc2024.univ-lyon3.fr/exhibition-the-detail-and-the[...]
What is the distant? Another world, a country, a piece of land or sea, a piece of the universe that is difficult - sometimes impossible - to reach and apprehend. A double distance is imposed with the distant, spatial and mental, physical and cultural. The distant is considered on different scales: on the scale of a region, a continent, the globe, the cosmos... Its perception evolves over time, according to the lifestyles, political projects and technical means of those who perceive it.
We will adopt a point of view: the distant seen from Europe and by Europeans since what we commonly call "the great discoveries" and the diffusion of printing in which Lyon played an essential role. The integration of America into the image of the world was indeed a turning point. From the end of the 15th century onwards, Europeans perceived themselves as the centre of the world, over which they gradually extended their economic, political and cultural influence. The appearance of planispheres on which Europe occupies a central place is the most obvious figurative translation of this. The aim is not to retrace the history of European exploration and domination of the world, but to show - in the literal sense of the term - how they represented distant spaces and the people they sheltered. The period chosen, from around 1450 to 1950, will allow us to address these questions over a long period of time and to underline the depth of historical constructions by questioning the critical dimension of these representations.
The exhibition will particularly highlight documents (cartographic and iconographic) and actors from Lyon in order to underline the place of the city in international information networks over the centuries.Venue: Bibliothèque Part-Dieu, 30 Boulevard Marius Vivier Merle, 69003 LyonURL: https://www.bm-lyon.fr/les-rendez-vous-des-bibliotheques-mun[...]
The city of Lyon is vulnerable to a variety of events, whether sudden or long and undetectable, until they take hold and threaten. Most of these events have left behind only words, which are not enough to help us understand what happened, or how people dealt with it.
This history is sometimes represented on maps or by images that allow us to grasp its scale and particularities. From this point of view, maps came late, accompanying a vision that was increasingly informed by science.
This exhibition looks at the city from the point of view of its vulnerabilities, through documents that are rarely seen and even less shown, while today's cities are full of measures to ensure the utmost security.Venue: Archives municipales de Lyon, 1 place des archives, 69002 LyonURL: https://ichc2024.univ-lyon3.fr/exhibition-vulnerability-what[...]
From the 18th century onwards, and especially during the 19th century, individual mobility underwent considerable development in Europe, characterized by the growing importance of tourism. These travel practices were accompanied by a renewed print production, the work of various actors with complementary objectives. Maps and guidebooks in particular, inseparable instruments of travel and its representation, underwent numerous changes, reflecting the techniques and cultures of their time.
The exhibition combines objects, archival documents, travel reports and commercial publications in a chronological and thematic approach that illustrates the evolution of practices and representations associated with mobility. Several scales are covered, from long continental journeys to short stays in the Lyon region and its surroundings, to tourist trips across France. The documents gathered come mainly from the heritage collections of the Diderot Library in Lyon and from the Michelin company, a major French player in cartographic and tourist publications. Guidebooks from major publishers (Hachette, Michelin, Baedeker) are presented alongside lesser-known works that illustrate a local conception of the areas to be visited.
Exhibition organized at the Denis Diderot Library, as part of the "International Conference on the History of Cartography" (ICHC) 2024.Venue: Bibliothèque Diderot de Lyon, ENS de Lyon, 5 parvis René Descartes, 69007 LyonURL: https://ichc2024.univ-lyon3.fr/exhibition-paper-trails-maps-[...]
The cartographic approach has accompanied changes in the teaching of geography, always present, its place has gradually been asserted within the University of Lyon.
Through the cartographic productions and collections of the various geographers who have succeeded one another in the different universities of Lyon, we invite you to follow 150 years of geographical analyses, sometimes local, sometimes distant, developed on the spot.Venue: Campus de la Manufacture des Tabacs, Bibliothèque de la Manufacture, Université Jean Moulin Lyon 3URL: https://ichc2024.univ-lyon3.fr/exposition-teaching-maps-sur-[...]
