ASIA-DATA SET AND THE NETHERLANDS HISTORICAL DATA ARCHIVE (NHDA)

During the seventies, the Department of the History of European Expansion
at the University of Leiden carried out an extensive research project
regarding voyages to and from Asia in the VOC period. Virtually all
voyages, circa 8000, between the Dutch Republic and Asia between 1595 and
1795 have been recorded in computer files. In 1979 the data were published
in the series 'Rijks Geschiedkundige Publicati‰n'. 

By P.K. Doorn

In 1988 it was decided that the data should be made available to all
interested researchers in electronic form. The datasets were deposited at
the NHDA. The VOC dataset is now accessible at the (worldwide) Internet by
Gopher. The NHDA can be reached by choosing the Expertise centres in the
main Gopher menu of the Netherlands, next choosing Netherlands Historical
Data Archive. To find the VOC-dataset choose NHDA-datasets and then Dutch
Asiatic Shipping-D0001.  Other datasets on expansion history are
Anglo-African Trade 1699-1808, Demography of Batavia 1689-1789, Netherlands
Indies trade 1870-1940 and South China Sea trade 1681-1792.
   
THE MAIN TASK OF THE NHDA
The Netherlands Historical Data Archive (NHDA) is a national expertise
centre for the use of computers in history. The aim of the NHDA is to
preserve and disseminate computer data
containing historical source material and to support projects in the
historical discipline in which computers are used. An increasing number of
source collections are being converted into machine-readable form. The NHDA
documents and catalogues these data sets. The NHDA also registers
information on large data-entry projects and functions as an intermediary
between users and suppliers of historical data. 
For an accurate and complete description of data sets, the NHDA developed
the Historical Data Description Scheme (HDDS). This scheme pays special
attention to the documentation of sources and contains other features that
are specific to historical data sets. There is also available a
Do-It-Yourself Data Documentation Program "DOCIT!", intended for everyone
who is constructing a historical data set and who wishes to document it.

OTHER NHDA SERVICES
Besides data documentation and data-archiving, the NHDA also supports
several projects which study the application of modern information
technology in the historical discipline and makes new developments known to
the public. One of the areas of interest to the NHDA is the conversion of 
historical documents into machine readable form, especially printed
materials that are difficult to process with standard software. The
Scan/Optical Character Recognition Laboratory of the NHDA has built up a
considerable expertise and possesses advanced equipment for scanning and
Optical Character Recognition, which is available for researchers.  
Furthermore, the NHDA organizes post-doctoral courses on historical
information science, and is concerned with the transnational post-graduate
- programme 'Data Bank of Urban and Regional History (DABURH)' 
The NHDA keeps a library with documentation materials, like books and
reports on historical information science, and information on CD-ROMs and
On-line data banks. One special multimedia-project is the
"Voorcompagnie‰n", which is made by one of the DABURH students. The
"Voorcompagnie‰n" contains voyages to Asia between 1595 and 1602. 
                         
Visiting address: Department of History, Leiden University,
Doelensteeg 16, Leiden, office # 024. 
Mailing address: PO Box 9515, 2300 RA Leiden, The Netherlands
Tel. NHDA: +31-71-272742
Data-Documentation: +31-71-272228
Scan-OCR Lab.: +31-71-272719
Fax: +31-71-272615 
E-Mail: NHDA@let.leidenuniv.nl