As Professor of Early Modern Urban History at the University of Amsterdam, Maartje van Gelder investigates how cities and their inhabitants navigated political conflict, social change, and environmental crises in the early modern period. Her work explores how historical records were shaped by power—examining what was documented, what was silenced, and what the implications of these archival absences are. Earlier research focused on migration, commerce, famine, and Christian-Islamic encounters in early modern Italy.  

Her current book project, Uncovering Protest in Venice, challenges the myth of Venice as politically stable by revealing how popular uprisings were actively erased from official records. Drawing on postcolonial theory and diplomatic dispatches, the project traces how ordinary Venetians were excluded from historical narratives, raising the central question: Who owns the past?

Van Gelder will also lead the NWO-funded VICI project Daily Bread (2025), exploring how early modern cities responded to climate-induced food crises. 

Photographer: Bob Bronshoff