KUKU

KU ScholarWorks

  • myKU
  • Email
  • Enroll & Pay
  • KU Directory
    • Login
    View Item 
    •   KU ScholarWorks
    • Dissertations and Theses
    • Dissertations
    • View Item
    •   KU ScholarWorks
    • Dissertations and Theses
    • Dissertations
    • View Item
    JavaScript is disabled for your browser. Some features of this site may not work without it.

    Floods, Worms, and Cattle Plague: Nature-induced Disaster at the Closing of the Dutch Golden Age, 1672-1764

    Thumbnail
    View/Open
    Sundberg_ku_0099D_13893_DATA_1.pdf (11.72Mb)
    Issue Date
    2015-05-31
    Author
    Sundberg, Adam David
    Publisher
    University of Kansas
    Format
    371 pages
    Type
    Dissertation
    Degree Level
    Ph.D.
    Discipline
    History
    Rights
    Copyright held by the author.
    Metadata
    Show full item record
    Abstract
    The Golden Age of the Dutch Republic was waning by the end of the seventeenth century. The dramatic economic growth and cultural efflorescence that had defined this era was stagnant. The catastrophic "disaster year" of 1672 was a watershed event that revealed the Republic's increasing fragility. It also signaled the beginning of an era of nature-induced disaster. Between 1672 and 1764, environmental catastrophes repeatedly tested Dutch cultural, technological, and economic resiliency. The four most dramatic nature-induced disasters included a massive coastal flood in 1717 that devastated communities across the North Sea coastal region, an infestation of invasive mollusks (shipworms) into the wooden components of sea dikes in the 1730s, and two outbreaks of cattle plague (1713-20; 1744-1764) that decimated herds in the Netherlands and across Europe. Dutch religious figures, government officials, technocrats, and the public wrestled with the meaning and consequences of these disasters in the context of Dutch decline. This dissertation argues that nature-induced disaster was a central element in the decline of the Dutch Republic. For contemporaries, disastrous events reflected increasing cultural and moral anxieties about the decay of this once-dominant European power. Disaster events also created social and economic instability that amplified the cultural resonance of these traumas. The repeated disasters of the period between 1672 and 1764 compounded these effects. Decline was far from homogenous, however. Disasters tested Dutch resiliency, but they also sparked introspection and innovation. Nature-induced disaster prompted reappraisal and redesign of institutional, technological, and medical strategies to manage and control environmental vulnerabilities. They also prompted providential reassessments of the ultimate cause and meaning of these events. Four case studies evaluate catastrophic disaster events that occurred between 1672 and 1764, highlighting the contingencies and continuities that shaped Dutch interpretation and response. Ideas about natural change mirrored shifting environmental realities as the seemingly novel, or uniquely devastating condition of disasters during this era conditioned Dutch moral, technological, and medical reactions. Disasters were also long-term processes. They were the cumulative outcome of long-standing natural and cultural relationships. Disasters often underscored increasing disequilibria in Dutch relationships between a changing environment and their cultural and social systems of control. Contemporaries conceptually integrated multiple disaster episodes into a longer period of disaster that lasted from 1672-1764. The repeated nature-induced catastrophes during this post-Golden Age era of disaster entered into a conjuncture of economic, cultural, and climatic disasters that created a devastating and deadly synergy. The cumulative and compounding nature of this synergy was a significant factor in Dutch Golden Age decline.
    URI
    http://hdl.handle.net/1808/19477
    Collections
    • Dissertations [4660]
    • History Dissertations and Theses [250]

    Items in KU ScholarWorks are protected by copyright, with all rights reserved, unless otherwise indicated.


    We want to hear from you! Please share your stories about how Open Access to this item benefits YOU.


    Contact KU ScholarWorks
    785-864-8983
    KU Libraries
    1425 Jayhawk Blvd
    Lawrence, KS 66045
    785-864-8983

    KU Libraries
    1425 Jayhawk Blvd
    Lawrence, KS 66045
    Image Credits
     

     

    Browse

    All of KU ScholarWorksCommunities & CollectionsThis Collection

    My Account

    Login

    Statistics

    View Usage Statistics

    Contact KU ScholarWorks
    785-864-8983
    KU Libraries
    1425 Jayhawk Blvd
    Lawrence, KS 66045
    785-864-8983

    KU Libraries
    1425 Jayhawk Blvd
    Lawrence, KS 66045
    Image Credits
     

     

    The University of Kansas
      Contact KU ScholarWorks
    Lawrence, KS | Maps
     
    • Academics
    • Admission
    • Alumni
    • Athletics
    • Campuses
    • Giving
    • Jobs

    The University of Kansas prohibits discrimination on the basis of race, color, ethnicity, religion, sex, national origin, age, ancestry, disability, status as a veteran, sexual orientation, marital status, parental status, gender identity, gender expression and genetic information in the University’s programs and activities. The following person has been designated to handle inquiries regarding the non-discrimination policies: Director of the Office of Institutional Opportunity and Access, IOA@ku.edu, 1246 W. Campus Road, Room 153A, Lawrence, KS, 66045, (785)864-6414, 711 TTY.

     Contact KU
    Lawrence, KS | Maps