This project addresses one of the major questions in Dutch migration history: what happened to the descendants of the hundreds of thousands of Germans, Flemings and Scandinavians who migrated to the Dutch Republic in the early modern period?
The early modern Netherlands (1600-1800) witnessed high levels of immigration, not dissimilar to those today. Attracted by high wages and ample employment opportunity, the cities of the Dutch Republic were the main magnet for labour migrants in Europe, especially from what is now Germany, Belgium and Scandinavia. Immigrants constituted a large segment of the urban population: in Amsterdam around 1650 circa 40 percent of the resident population was born abroad.
This project zooms in on Amsterdam between 1660 and 1811 and focuses on the fate of the German, Belgian and Scandinavian immigrants and their offspring: how did the descendants of early modern immigrants integrate in Dutch society, and what were their chances of having a better life than their parents?
In the project, previously unavailable techniques in data linkage will be used to reconstruct four generations of immigrants. Combining this approach with an innovative digital and analogue methodology to assess the processes of integration and social mobility both on a macro and micro level, the project addresses not only one of the major lacunae in migration history, but also speaks to one of the key issues in society today.
