Benjamin Asmussen Email & Phone Number

Senior Researcher in Maritime History

Copenhagen, Capital Region, Denmark

Teaching a course on the history of Copenhagen for international students.

Elsinore

Developing exhibitions, research, interpretation, collecting and more...

Porcelænshaven, Frederiksberg

Writing my PhD-thesis: "Networks and Faces between Copenhagen and Canton, 1730-1840"The thesis created new knowledge of the first business encounters between Danes and Chinese. It focuses on the networks and skills of the first Danish-Norwegian businessmen to go to China from 1730-1840.I used the fields of Social Network Analysis, prosopography, micro history and a wiki in order to be able to create faces for the first 400 traders from Copenhagen, who travelled to China for business and trade from 1730-1840. They were employed by the Danish Asiatic Company (DAC), which had a royal monopoly on the Danish trade to China.My dissertation provides a narrative about a company that was both similar and different to a modern firm. While stocks and general assemblies point toward a modern firm, the actions of both directors and traders illustrate how the DAC was as much a platform for individuals as a single organism controlled by a management. Many company traders and directors attempted to use the company for the maximum personal economic gain.At the same time, important networks outside the company seem to have played a crucial role in who was permitted inside and who would rise in the ranks. The company functioned as a platform, not only in regard to individuals, but also as a network hub, tying international networks together to such a degree that the word Danish in the name of the Danish Asiatic Company almost seems misplaced.This dependency also showed the lack of power by the management, despite being as influential and well-connected as they were. For when outside conjunctures shifted, taxes were lifted, wars ended, and politics changed, the company lost its raison d’etre. Thus, the actors described above can be seen less as free agents shaping the world, but rather as helmsmen trying to steer a ship through a storm.My thesis is available here: https://research.cbs.dk/en/publications/networks-and-faces-between-copenhagen-and-canton-1730-1840

Current tasks:- Project leader of a new special exhibition- Writing a book about Danish coastal shipping 1900-1950- Building a school programme- Preparing digital educational material

Frederiksberg

Teaching teens once a week about fencing, mostly sabre and foil.

Doctor Of Philosophy - Phd, Business History

My thesis is titled: "Networks and Faces between Copenhagen and Canton, 1730-1840"

Cand.Mag. (Ma), History

Activities and Societies: Member of the editorial board of the historical quarterly 1066 - Tidsskrift for Historie Thesis on Danish.

Ba, History

Activities and Societies: Mentor for international guest students