Successful PhD Defence Posthumus alumnus Stan Pannier

On 12 February 2025, Posthumus alumnus Stan Pannier successfull defended his PhD thesis ‘Enterprising Merchants in the Global Atlantic – Frederic Romberg and the Austrian Netherlands Trade with West and Central Africa, 1775-1795’ at KU Leuven. Promotors were Professor Maïka De Keyzer (KU Leuven) and Dr Torsten Feys (Flanders Marine Institute (VLIZ)).

By examining the ties of the Southern Netherlands with the Atlantic complex, using the case-study of Frederic Romberg, an eighteenth-century merchant settled in Brussels who moved into the slave trade during the American War of Independence (1775-83), Stan demonstrates how Romberg partnered with foreign slave traders, acquired slaving licences from the Spanish court, and forcibly transported thousands of captive Africans toward the Americas. By conducting a micro-study of the organization, strategies, and consequences of Romberg’s operations, Stan dispels the idea that the Southern Netherlands were disconnected from the European colonial project.

The staff of the N.W. Posthumus Institute congratulates Stan with this achievement!