Please read:
– Misa, Chapter 2
– Richard W. Unger, “Dutch Herring, Technology, and International Trade in the Seventeenth Century,’ The Journal of Economic History, Vol. 40, No. 2 (Jun., 1980), pp. 253-280, available in the Readings Folder on JSTOR at: http://www.jstor.org/stable/2120179
– Wiebe E. Bijker, “The Oosterschelde Storm Surge Barrier: A Test Case for Dutch Water Technology, Management, and Politics,” Technology and Culture, Vol. 43, No. 3, ‘Water Technology in the Netherlands’ (Jul., 2002), pp. 569-584; Available in the Readings Folder and on JSTOR at: http://www.jstor.org/stable/25147960
Discuss: In chapter two, Misa writes that “The emergence of specialized ship designs in the Netherlands was another early signal that the Dutch understood how to bring technology and trade together in pursuit of commerce.” In Part I of your essay this week, connect an example that Misa offers to support his claim with one that Unger discusses in his essay on Dutch Herring. How does this help us to understand the relationship between the Dutch successes and other social, economic, political or cultural trends at that time? In Part II of your essay, discuss how Bijker’s story is, or is not, a modern continuation of the relationship between technology, geography, commerce and other aspects of Dutch society.
