For a long time it was thought that seafarers in the 17th century were unable to support a family because of low wages. This turns out to be a misconception. Sailors wives contributed significantly to the family income and were often avid defenders of the interests and rights of their husbands at se
The pack of our ancestors caused genetic adaptations in wolves. The animals evolved from carnivores to starch-eating dogs. From a wild animal to a faithful four-legged friend who guides the blind and who can lie in bed with us. When comparing the DNA of 60 dogs of 14 different breeds with that of 1
A hare jaw that was found this summer at the Sand Motor near Ter Heijde turns out to be more than 35,000 years old. The animal must therefore have roamed the steppe during the last ice age, among mammoths, rhinoceroses and bison. Whoever thinks of a mammoth steppe probably already envisions the lon
Outside it is freezing that it cracks and the snow is centimeters high:real Dutch winter weather. The perfect time to sit inside on the couch and read a historical book. Here are two recommendations from the History editors of Kennislink to get through the winter. Hans Goedkoop and Kees Zandvliet, T
A guest column appears on Kennislink every two weeks. The columnist is always a different researcher, who writes from his or her field of expertise about the science behind a current event. This week on the occasion of Christmas and the radio campaign Serious Request :historian Danielle Teeuwen on c
Did Columbus and the Spanish explorers of the New World cast off the Indians living there with mirrors and beads to enrich themselves with mountains of gold? No, it didnt work that way, argues Floris Keehnen, student of Caribbean Archeology at Leiden University in his masters thesis. With this he wo
Joep Leerssen won the Spinoza Prize in 2008, also known as the Dutch Nobel Prize. He received the prize for his innovative contributions to European Studies, cultural nationalism and imagology, the study of national stereotypes. Four years later, Kennislink is curious:what has he done with the prize
The good Pieterbaas is regularly the cause of complaints about the racist nature of the traditional Dutch Sinterklaas party. But where does the black helper of the Saint actually come from? The veneration of Saint Nicholas as a Roman Catholic saint has been around for centuries. That he managed to
Last week the exhibition Tutankhamun, his grave and his treasures . was opened in Amsterdam ’ opened. The exhibition contains accurate replicas of all the artifacts that Egyptologist Howard Carter found in the virtually intact tomb of this pharaoh ninety years ago. The discovery of his tomb made Tut
The Euro as a common European currency is a political project, you often hear it said in the current crisis. Did the currency indeed arise out of political expediency? In any case, a lot has to do with the controversial reunification of Germany after the fall of the Berlin Wall. On February 7, 1992
The English Pilgrim Fathers, persecuted for their faith, settled in Leiden in 1609. Here they came into contact with a different culture and innovative ideas. After an eleven-year stay, the Pilgrims set out again. They sailed to America and founded the first permanent colony. Their Dutch period is s
Without the Nile there would be no Egypt. The modern Nile has been flowing through Egypt for thousands of years, taking not only water with it, but also sediment in the form of sand, silt and clay. This sediment ensures that the delta has been created and continues to exist. But what if the sediment
Archaeologists from Leiden University and the municipality of Apeldoorn excavated two prehistoric burial mounds from around 300 BC on Kroondomein Het Loo near the Echoput. They recently had the opportunity to present the results to Her Majesty the Queen. In the woods of Kroondomein Het Loo are doze
Theres always a lot of news to catch up on at one of the worlds largest geological conferences:the annual meeting of the Geological Society of America . This years conference was held in Charlotte, North Carolina, from November 4-7. Kennislink was there to score the best news. Here are a few short m
The image of the Neanderthal, a prehistoric congener of humans that lived in Europe until about 32,000 years ago, is still not very good. But new research suggests they may have been able to make sophisticated tools and jewelry for themselves. They adopted the technique from modern humans (Homo sapi
Historian Bart van der Boom wins with his book We knew nothing about their fate. Ordinary Dutch and the Holocaust the Libris History Prize. “This is a difficult and sensitive topic. Yet Van der Boom is nowhere pushy. He takes the reader along like a guide and does so very convincingly, according to
A guest column appears on Kennislink every two weeks. The columnist is always a different researcher, who writes from his or her field about the science behind an event in society or from our daily lives. This week Susan Leclercq, project officer of the recently launched website www.vijfeeuwen Migra
Every month the Meertens Institute, a research institute for the study and documentation of the Dutch language and culture, answers a pressing question. This month:When did Sinterklaas first arrive in the Netherlands by steamboat? And when did he make his first entry? The idea of having a real Si
We have not always been afraid of dying, although that of course depended on what we expected to come after death. In addition to a heaven, many cultures also had a kind of hell, and you didnt want to end up there. Fortunately, you yourself, or else your relatives, could do things that influenced yo
“From her desk, she initiated ambassadorial meetings and international treaties and influenced diplomatic relations, sieges and skirmishes in a war-torn early modern Europe.” For example, the Queen of Bohemia is described by the literary scholar Nadine Akkerman in her new book about Elizabeth Stuar
Joan of Arc, also known as the Maid of Orleans in the only contemporary portrait that has come down to us By Joan of Arc , the brave Maid of Orleans condemned to the stake for heresy in 1431 (https://www.pilloledistoria.it/7340/medioevo/la-morte-di-giovanna-darco-secondo-un-testimone-oculare
Marco Polo may be one of the worlds most famous men. He left his hometown at a young age to travel to Asia with his father and uncle. A book about his travels was published and became an overnight bestseller, although many did not believe him. It is a miracle that we are not yet to understand about
Mercury seems to have magical properties. It is metal and at the same time a liquid; causes fatal poisoning, but can also heal many diseases ... And people, over the centuries, just couldnt take their hands off it! Today we know the unusual metal under the symbol Hg, it was known and used alread
The capital of Saxony was one of the most beautiful cities in Germany. Capital of the former kingdom of Saxony, the city was known as the Florence of the Elbe due to the large number of monumental buildings built during the 18th century. Despite its beauty, the city was completely flattened by a mas