Economic historian Sabine Go has been appointed as Endowed Professor of the History of Rotterdam at the Erasmus School of History, Culture and Communication (ESHCC) at Erasmus University Rotterdam, with effect from 1 September 2026. The chair has been established by the J.E. Jurriaanse Foundation, in collaboration with the Roterodamum Historical Society. Go succeeds Paul van de Laar, who held the chair for almost 30 years.
A chair for the city
Thanks to the J.E. Jurriaanse Foundation and Roterodamum, the history of Rotterdam has a permanent place in research and teaching at Erasmus University. Paul van de Laar has laid a solid foundation for the Chair, both at the university and in the city. “I’m keen to build on what Paul has established,” says Go. “At the same time, I come from a slightly different background, and you’ll see that reflected in my research and teaching.”
The invisible city
Go examines institutions: the rules that determine how people act and work together. “When you think of Rotterdam, your mind immediately turns to the harbour, the bridges and the skyline. But behind that visible city lies an invisible city of laws, rules, norms and agreements. These structures determine how the port was able to grow, how trade was financed and insured, but also where homes are built and which school you attend if you live in a particular neighbourhood. I look at those structures, and at the people who create them or, conversely, want to change them.”
Go knows from her earlier research into marine insurance that Rotterdam has its own unique story in this regard. “Rotterdam conducted business in a very distinctive way, with its own structure and its own approach to dealing with institutions. Collaboration played a central role in this. That is what makes the city so interesting to me.”
Rotterdam in a global perspective
Rotterdam is also significant for academic research. By studying the history of a city with a global port, one can explore many questions. How do port cities grow? How is trust built between trading partners? And how does a city adapt in times of crisis – because it is precisely during a crisis that networks, patterns and institutions come under pressure. Go brings an international network to this research. Among other things, she was a fellow at the Institute for Advanced Study in Princeton and has received various national and international grants and research funding.
Making sources accessible
Go is also working on making historical sources accessible. In the NWO-funded FORTES (Framework for Open Research on Trade and Economic Sources) project, she is collaborating with, amongst others, the Rotterdam City Archives and colleagues from ESHCC. The aim is to make handwritten sources legible and searchable, such as merchants’ ledgers, mortality tables and ship’s logs. “This isn’t just important for researchers. I hope that, in time, people outside academia, such as genealogists and local historians, will also find it useful.”
Through her chair, Go aims to bring the university, the city and heritage institutions such as the Rotterdam City Archives closer together.
Teaching
Like her predecessor, Go teaches the elective module ‘Urban History: Rotterdam in a Global Perspective’ in Term 2.
About Sabine Go
Sabine Go obtained her PhD in 2009 from VU University Amsterdam on the history of marine insurance in the Netherlands. In addition to her special chair in Rotterdam, she works at VU University Amsterdam and at the International Institute of Social History (IISG), an institute of the Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences (KNAW).
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Do you want to know more or contact the researcher? Contact our Communications Office: communicatie@eshcc.eur.nl.
