Institute for History
The Leiden University Institute for History is responsible for the main part of the historical research carried out at Leiden University. The institute has a wide-ranging academic scope.
Its strong international orientation and focus on the study of European, American, Asian and African societies in a global context give the institute a unique character. The academic leaders connected to the institute's research programmes are internationally renowned scholars that engage in numerous networks, contribute to important conferences and publish with outstanding academic presses.
- Humanities
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Institute for History
- The Unification of the Mediterranean World 400BC-400AD
- Medieval and Early Modern History: Europe in its Global Context
- Politics, Culture and National Identities 1789-Present
- Colonial and Global History
- Cities, Migration and Global Interdependence 1500-Now
- History and International Studies 1900-Present
News
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Luca Bruls Awarded Fellowship Grant for Research and Ethnographic Filmmaking -
'The Pieterskerk has always defined Leiden's identity' -
Erasmus+ grant for virtual exchanges: 'We want to deliver ecologically aware global citizens' -
What our experts have to say about the key issues in the Dutch elections -
‘Plastic politics’: how ideological debate was supplanted by abstract jargon -
‘Irregular warfare is not going away, however much we’d like it to’ -
Do’s and don’ts for an effective immigration policy -
Spanish village full of Leiden residents: dozens of textile workers once migrated to Guadalajara -
From market-driven thinking to ‘Build, build, build’: Leiden experts on the housing crisis -
Was Suriname expensive or not? ‘The economic situation has never been properly assessed’ -
Karel Berkhoff appointed professor by special appointment: ‘Focus on Ukrainian history a milestone’ -
Three new Master's specialisations in History: ‘More in line with students’ wishes’ -
CfP: Human Development and Its Outliers -
Faculty Teaching Prize for Mike Schmidli -
80 Years of Peace in Europe? -
‘Louisiana wanted to restart the transatlantic slave trade in the mid-nineteenth century’ -
Thirteen NWO Open Competition XS grants for Leiden researchers -
Leiden MAIR Hosts 2nd Humanities & International Relations Graduate Conference -
Veni grants for 18 Leiden researchers -
First joint meeting 'Collecting Global Heritage' in Leiden -
Additional funding for five experimental and innovative research projects
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4 KIEM grants for Humanities -
‘In the second half of the eighteenth century, decisions were made in the stadtholder’s audience chamber.’ -
CfP: Transnational Conversations: Heritage, Memory, Climate, and Reparatory Justice in the Caribbean, Europe, and Beyond
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Spinoza Prize for historian Judith Pollmann: ‘We continually reference the past’ -
Adolescence: Sexual Becoming in Historical and Cross-Cultural Perspectives -
Leiden researchers receive KIEM grant to explore materiality in ancient religions -
Vicente Fisher de Miranda Rodrigues awarded Cornelis Thiele Prize -
CfP: Ethical regimes. Doctors, patients and ethics in colonial and postcolonial medicine -
Resistance against the Dutch and German Occupiers: Indonesian Students in Leiden -
Jamel Buhari: ‘Queer migration is intertwined with other reasons for leaving’ -
How the Republic contributed to the French colonial empire: ‘People like you and me invested’ -
Historical research shows how Leiden University and city council benefitted from colonialism -
Ammodo Science Fellowship for Sophie Rose's research on the perception of mental illness in the Dutch East Indies -
Wreck in the Wadden Sea: ‘Objects tell the story’ -
Keuzegids Masters 2025: History and Classics and Ancient Civilizations score well above average -
The A.G. Leventis Foundation supports Leiden ancient historians -
Rafal Matuszewski elected to the Young Academy of Europe -
Herman Paul new Scientific Director of the Institute of History: ‘A good working atmosphere is important’ -
Call for Papers: Humanities and International Relations Graduate Conference -
Speed dating on Master’s Open Day: ‘What can you do with that master’s degree?’ -
Lydia Boer wins incentive prize for bachelor's thesis -
Now also in Indonesia: The butterflies of Boven-Digoel -
Hundred-year-old causes of death mapped: ‘The past is the laboratory of the present’ -
Punishment or refuge? ‘Women sometimes aimed to be convicted’ -
Healthcare and the Dutch East India Company: Two centuries of arrogance and challenges -
Lewis Wade Wins First Book Prize for 'Privilege, Economy and State in Old Regime France' -
Vicente Fischer de Miranda Rodrigues wins KHMW Brouwer Thesis Prize for History -
Household Slavery: 'An Overlooked Method of Enslaving People' -
Rudi van Maanen receives Cornelis Joppenszoon statuette -
The future of Europe is not about Europe -
‘Polarisation is good. Much better than an uneasy silence’ -
Sarah Cramsey: 'We know very little about which systems influence our first thousand days' -
Research offers surprising insights into historical crime in The Hague -
Mehmet Kentel wins the OTSA Yavuz Sezer Prize -
Rebekka Grossmann awarded Gerald Westheimer Career Development Fellowship for research on the effects of migration on Cold War visual culture -
Wim van den Doel wins 2024 Boerhaave Biography Prize -
Eleven Leiden University researchers receive Vidi grants -
Opinion: The message 'ready for the fight' in the Defence White Paper raises concerns. -
Global Governance Journal comes to Leiden -
Pieter Slaman moved by the LUS Education Prize: ‘The most beautiful prize there is’ -
Thijs Brocades Zaalberg: 'How does the discourse on war influence practice?' -
Leiden students research the Relief of Leiden: ‘It was a divided city’ -
Lotte: 'It was because of my colleagues that I chose history in Leiden' -
The forgotten world of Surinamese cloths and the Leiden Cotton Company -
‘Let politics be the focus at the State Opening of Parliament’ -
Eric Storm: ‘Nationalist politicians have a more international orientation than traditional parties’ -
Pieter Slaman wins 2024 LUS Teaching Prize -
Website shows the history of Sri Lanka’s ‘Slave Island’: ‘Soon there will be none of it left’ -
Historical research helps improve biodiversity in the Leiden city centre -
KIEM grant for 'Making up Migrants' -
Comenius grant for more diverse ancient history: 'Especially in the first year of the bachelor, the impact of a project is great' -
How the care of children was used as a weapon in the Holocaust -
Seven Comenius grants for Leiden lecturers -
Jesse Dijkshoorn: ‘I had to learn to take time off’ -
Visit to Ghana: Leiden University strengthens ties with partners in Africa -
Herman Paul new KNAW member: ‘Challenges enough’ -
From textiles to teaching: Leiden’s role in colonialism and slavery -
Rafal Matuszewski awarded grant for workshop on adolescence and sexual maturity in historical and cross-cultural perspectives -
According to Professor Sarah Wolff, EU migration agreements are a bad solution to a non-existent problem -
Vanessa Mak and Herman Paul new KNAW members -
Esther Captain, Gert Oostindie and Valika Smeulders win Die Haghe Prize 2024 -
‘American’ Black Power movement was also active in the Kingdom of the Netherlands -
Rafal Matuszewski awarded a KNAW Early Career Partnership -
PhD candidate Diego Salama: ‘UN peacekeeping operations have become increasingly important in Israel-Palestine conflict’ -
Santino Regilme Wins International Studies Association's Best Book in Human Rights - Honorable Mention, 2023-2024 -
Sigrid Kaag avant la lettre: Women played a significant role in eighteenth-century diplomacy -
The whole world knows the way to the Leiden institute in Morocco -
Online database with two hundred local chronicle texts launched: A few years ago that wouldn’t have been possible' -
Call for Papers: Humanities and International Relations Graduate Conference
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Karwan Fatah-Black launches book series on slavery and emancipation -
How do we deal with rising tensions? ‘The choice is talk or fight’ -
Mild Intellectual Disability and Loneliness: 'We Need to Handle the Discomfort Better' -
Sarah Wolff: 'Doing research and teaching are inseparable' -
Call for Papers: "Voices of resistance in and against Dutch empire" -
Santino Regilme wins Cecil B. Currey Book Award for ‘Aid Imperium’
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Rector Bijl presented the 'Best Thesis in Jewish Studies' Award at the Leiden Jewish Studies Association first annual conference -
Looted art returned to Sri Lanka: ‘It was a job tracing what came from where' -
Two new Leiden members of The Young Academy
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Underexposed colonial past: 'You can suddenly feel like you are connecting with someone from the past'
In the Media
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Salvador Santino in various media outlets on tensions between USA and Venezuela: ‘Pressure helps Trump claim results’ -
Fenneke Sysling in National Geographic on the Java Man: ‘Scientific proof for Indonesia’s greatness’ -
Nationalism by Eric Storm reviewed in Spanish newspapers
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Nationalism by Eric Storm in several Spanish newspapers -
Eric Storm’s Nationalism in Merdika: ‘A fresh lens on global history’ -
Sarah Wolff on BBC: ‘Denmark is reshaping migration policy in Europe’ -
Colleagues on The Conversation -
Santino Regilme in Public Seminar: 'Naked Oligarchy: How Billionaires Captured Power and Hollowed Out Democracy' -
Santino Regilme in EUobserver: 'The EU needs to research its own oligarchic capture' -
Salvador Santino Regilme in Transforming Society: 'Oligarchic Rivalry: US–China Tariffs and the Global Politics of Inequality' -
Andrew Gawthorpe on The Conversation: 'Trump's Greenland plan ignores a history of segregation' -
Daniel Schade on Deutschland Heute: 'Border controls weaken Schengen' -
Andrew Gawthorpe on The Conversation: 'Trump’s minerals deal unlikely to change the war' -
Salvador Santino Regilme in East Asia Forum: 'The Philippines confronts Duterte’s authoritarian legacy at The Hague' -
Andrew Gawthorpe on The Conversation: 'Trump is less constrained than ever before' -
Daniel Schade in various media: 'Schengen is like the EU, it isn’t perfect and never can be.' -
Sarah Wolff on DW.com: 'It's not a choice to become a refugee or asylum seeker' -
Salvador Santino Regilme in Social Europe: 'Tax billionaires to save democracy' -
Eric Storm on BBC Brasil: 'Trump’s unilateral approach signals a dangerous precedent' -
Reviews of Nationalism in Times Literary Supplement and Foreign Affairs -
Andrew Gawthorpe in Global News: 'We’re heading to a world of much greater instability' -
Eric Storm on The Conversation: ‘Imperial tendencies are resurfacing around the world’ -
Andrew Gawthorpe in Various Media on Trump’s Policies
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Salvador Santino Regilme in The Associated Press: 'The U.S. aid freeze is a return to hard-power coercion' -
Eric Storm in UP ideas podcast: ‘Comparative studies on nationalism were missing ’ -
Eric Storm's book Nationalism in Wall Street Journal: "The conventional understanding of the nation does not reflect reality"
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Daniel Schade in The Washington Post: 'Schengen hasn't been fully functioning as intended since 2015' -
The Washington Post review of Eric Storm’s Nationalism: ‘Grand scale history’
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Miko Flohr in BBC documentary about Pompeii -
Andrew Gawthorpe in the Financial Times about the Republican primaries
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Alistair Kefford on French television on the future of European cities -
Andrew Gawthorpe in The Guardian about the Republicans’ more radical agenda -
Andrew Gawthorpe on ABC Radio about ‘Orbánism’ and the American right -
Henk te Velde on ABC Nightlife about Queen Wilhelmina -
Podcast: Urban Life in Catalonia in the 14th Century with Jeff Fynn-Paul -
Vineet Thakur and Karen Smith on western dominance in International Relations -
André Gerrits: ‘Coronavirus is speeding up social developments' -
Marieke Bloembergen appointed Professor of Archival and Postcolonial Studies -
As with Nixon: will the security services bring Trump down?
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Eugenio Cusumano on Euronews about EU's migration dilemma -
Blog of conference proceedings Connecting in Times of Duress -
Shower of prizes at the World Cultural Council ceremony in Leiden -
Alanna O'Malley on the election of new United Nations secretary-general António Guterres -
Wim Willems and Hanneke Verbeek are the winners of the Die Haghe prize of 2016 -
Book publication Wim Willems ‘Hagenezen die er mochten wezen’ -
Introducing Historians Without Borders -
History and Linguistics in Leiden #19 and #28 in QS ranking 2016 -
In memoriam: Professor Cees Fasseur -
Fulbright Archival Research Trip in New York (October 2015 – January 2016) -
Leiden Students help Create The Hague Manifesto to celebrate UN @ 70
Events
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European integration and the United States: Have we reached the end of the "Cold War aberration"?
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The Psychic Lives of Statues
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The Power of Social Media Networks: Scientific research on the entanglement of online and offline networks in times of conflict in Africa
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Early Modern Academics and their networks: new perspectives on university history
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Research Seminar Medieval and Early Modern History November 2025
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Suicides in Lithuania in the late 19th − early 20th centuries
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Upcoming Elections in Bolivia, Brazil, Chile, and Peru: A New Turn to the Right?
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European Space Policy
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Movie screening: Aman 1967
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The Early Modern Discovery of the Roman limes along the Danube and its impact on 16th-Cen. Austrian Architecture
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Materiality, Religion and the Senses
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Sensing Scripts: Popular Religion, the Senses and Textuality
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In Search of a Homo Economicus Javanicus. From J. H. Boeke to Clifford Geertz.
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Research Seminar Medieval and Early Modern History December 2025
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Ethical regimes. Doctors, patients and ethics in colonial and postcolonial medicine
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Introducing Saskia Jaszoltowski, Visiting Professor Central European Studies
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Research Seminar Medieval and Early Modern History February 2026
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Research Seminar Medieval and Early Modern History March 2026
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East Europe’s Forgotten Peasant Revolution: The Era of World Wars Reconsidered
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Research Seminar Medieval and Early Modern History April 2026
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Research Seminar Medieval and Early Modern History May 2026
Books
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Galileo’s Fame: Science, Credibility, and Memory in the Seventeenth Century -
The Labour Party and European Integration: A Biographical Approach -
Nacionalismo: Una historia mundial -
Knowledge and Expertise in International Politics. A Handbook -
Virtues and Vices in the Nineteenth-Century Humanities: Explorations of a Discourse