Events

Upcoming events

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Please check out current events of our partner IISH Slavery Projects.

Past events


Navigating Worlds of Coerced Labour 

16-17 October 2025

International Workshop, IISH Amsterdam


From slave trade to contract labour and shipping in Asia:
Digital methods and collaboration

9 May 2025

ESTA Network Workshop, University of Bonn, Bonn CDSS)


ESTA Database Launch

6 December 2023 (16:00 – 17:00 CET)

International Institute of Social History

On 6 December 2023 (16:00 – 17:00 CET), the International Institute of Social History hosted the launch of the ESTA Database that gives access to data on more than 4,000 slave trade voyages across the Indian Ocean region. This is a milestone in Asian slavery studies and opens the way to more accurate reconstructions of the slave trade in the Indian Ocean region.

During the launch, the database and ESTA project was presented and explained. After the presentation of the map viewer, experts Wim Manuhutu and Daniel Domingues da Silva provided reflections, and there was room for questions from the audience.


On 17 November 2023, the ESTA Database was presented for international academic audiences during a hybrid event hosted by the Bonn Center for Dependency and Slavery Studies.


“Colonialism, Slavery and Local Histories in Early Modern Asia” 

15 – 16 September 2023

International conference organised by Hans Hägerdal and Merve Tosun in Växjö, Sweden.


“Reconstructing Global Slave Trade: New Data Initiatives in Slave Trade and Slavery Studies”

7 April 2021

Webinar organised by Merve Tosun.


“Capture, Bondage, and Forced Relocation in Asia, 1400 – 1900”

13 – 14 March 2019

International conference organised by Claude Chevaleyre and Jennifer L. Gaynor at ENS Lyon.


“Towards an Indian Ocean and Maritime Asia Slave Trade Database”

27 – 28 September 2018

International workshop organised by Matthias van Rossum and Merve Tosun at the International Institute for Social History.


“Enslavement in the Indian Ocean World”

8 – 9 September 2017

International conference organised by Hans Hägerdal at Linnaeus University.


“Slave Trade in the Indian Ocean and Indonesian Archipelago Worlds, 16th – 19th Century: New Research, Results and Comparisons”

9 – 10 November 2016

International workshop organised by Matthias van Rossum at the International Institute for Social History.

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