EH.N: ANN: Lecture, Library of Congress: "Economic Globalization in the Mirror of History"

[Robert Saladini]

Economic Historian Herman Van der Wee To Discuss 
Globalization Through the Centuries, Jan. 17

Economic globalization is a new word for an old 
process, according to economic historian Herman 
Van der Wee, holder of the Chair of the Countries 
and Cultures of the North in the John W. Kluge 
Center at the Library of Congress.

Van der Wee will explain this concept in a 
lecture titled "Economic Globalization in the 
Mirror of History" at 4 p.m. on Thursday, Jan. 
17, in Room 119 of the Thomas Jefferson Building, 
10 First St. S.E., Washington, D.C.

Sponsored by the Kluge Center, the event is free 
and open to the public; no tickets or 
reservations are needed.

In his lecture, Van der Wee will present a 
historical perspective, starting with Europe's 
first dynamic move toward economic globalization 
from the 11th to the 14th centuries, followed - 
during the Late Middle Ages - by a long period of 
stagnation and de-globalization. According to Van 
der Wee, Europe moved toward economic 
globalization from the middle of the 15th century 
onward, followed once again by a period of 
de-globalization between 1650 and 1750.

One of the world's foremost economic historians, 
Van der Wee is professor emeritus of economic 
history at the Katholieke Universiteit Leuven in 
Belgium. At the Library of Congress, Van der Wee 
is continuing his research on Belgian economic 
history, especially during the Ancien Régime, the 
period approximately from 1100 to 1820.

Van der Wee received a doctorate in law from 
Katholieke Universiteit Leuven with further 
degrees in history and political and social 
sciences. He has pursued further study in Paris 
at the Sorbonne and the Ecole Pratique des Hautes 
Etudes and at the London School of Economics, and 
he has worked as a visiting professor and 
research fellow at many universities around the 
world.

A widely published author, Van der Wee is a 
member of numerous national and international 
organizations, including the Royal Academy of 
Science, Arts and Fine Arts of Belgium, the Royal 
Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences, the 
British Academy and the American Academy of Arts 
and Sciences. He is past president of the 
International Economic History Association and 
founder of the Workshop on Quantitative Economic 
History at the Katholieke Universiteit Leuven.

Through a generous endowment from John W. Kluge, 
the Library of Congress established the Kluge 
Center in 2000 to bring together the world's best 
thinkers to stimulate and energize one another to 
distill wisdom from the Library's rich resources 
and to interact with policymakers in Washington. 
For further information on the Kluge Center, 
visit www.loc.gov/kluge.


Robert Saladini
Program Officer
John W. Kluge Center
Office of Scholarly Programs
The Library of Congress
101 Independence Avenue S.E.
Washington, DC 20540-4860

Email: rsal at loc.gov
Phone: 202-707-2692
FAX: 202-707-3595