This project examines the role of trust and social networks in the economic growth of the Cape Colony. Rather than viewing the economy only in terms of money and markets, it focuses on something equally important: personal relationships between people.
Recent historical research on early modern credit relations in Europe shows that credit was not only a financial tool, but above all a social system. People gained access to money and trade through trust, reputation, and their place in the community. Who you knew and how trustworthy you were seen to be often determined your economic opportunities. At the same time, research shows that groups often excluded from formal economic systems were able to use informal networks to deal with financial difficulties and to create opportunities.
The postdoc investigates how these complex networks of credit and trust functioned in colonial Cape Town. He combines data from notarial records on loans and debts with court archives dealing with disputes over credit. This makes it possible to see how people seized economic opportunities while also building relationships of mutual obligation in a highly unequal society.
The research also shows how people deliberately used their social connections in the notary’s office and in court to strengthen their credibility and achieve favourable outcomes in disputes. It also examines whether and how official institutions adopted these social relationships and incorporated them into their own practices.
This approach offers a new bottom up perspective on both social relations and economic development. It not only shows how people with limited power still acted and exerted influence, but also challenges traditional ideas about inequality and economic exclusion in colonial societies.
