Ana María

Crespo Solana

I have participated in diverse research projects funded by several national and international institutions. This participation has become solid foundations for my specialisation in Economic History of the Early Modern Age and, specially, in the study of the European colonial and commercial expansion over the Atlantic World and its impact on the socioeconomic and cultural. My education in Spain and The Netherlands has provided me with an important opportunity for scientific experience in the research line of Economic and Social History, and has allowed me to establish strong academic links in both countries. During my PhD training I worked in a research project on the rise of Capitalism in the XVIII century, with a special focus on financial instruments in Euro-American maritime and trading connections and foreign merchants in the Spanish trade with America. Between 1989 and 1999, I combined my work in Cadiz and Leiden. In 1994 I was rewarded an Extraordinary Award by the University of Cadiz. I also studied at the Katholieke Universiteit Leuven (Belgium) and obtained a Master Degree in Latinoamerican History at the International University of Andalucía (La Rábida, Huelva). During my pre-doctoral training period I was the recipient of several grants and awards from the Spanish, Dutch and Belgium governments, the Dutch-Spanish Agreement for Research, from the Regional Andalusian Government (Junta de Andalucía), the Bank of Spain (Centre for Economic Studies) and the Caja Madrid Foundation. In 1998 I obtained a special award of Research in Humanities of the Fundación Municipal de Cultura, Cátedra Adolfo de Castro, Ayuntamiento de Cádiz. In 1999 I obtained my PhD degree in History with an interdisciplinary approach to the study of the role played by Dutch and Flemish merchant networks in Spanish economy. So far, the historiography of Spanish colonial trade had held a perspective based on traditional, nationalist ideas where emphasis was laid on the tremendous effort made by Spain in maintaining her colonies and the supposedly detrimental role played by foreign merchants. My thesis became a turning point whereby an entirely new, unique hypothesis that had never been laid out before is used and which aims at breaking through those barriers by researching a pan-European topic: Early Modern Trade Networks. The outcome of these works has been published in several books listed at the end of this CV. Since 1999 I have had the opportunity to work together with several specialists in Global and Atlantic History with special focus on European Atlantic trade, merchant community networks in the Early Modern period and the Spanish System with the American colonies during the XVII and XVIII centuries. The impact of my scientific contribution is based on the development of a genuine and original line of research based on the significance of analyzing the expansion of trading networks that spread out along with an enormous expansion seen on European foreign trade, which expansions were a determining factor in the formation, consolidation and evolution of cultural and economic social environments. According to some quotations and comments by my colleagues, my worth resides in linking the Spanish historiography on trade and commercial relations with the countries of the North Sea area, in learning the languages needed as well as carrying out much needed research in the relevant archives of the region, and delivering essential studies that link these geographical areas with the Iberian Peninsula and the Caribbean. This research line has opened new interdisciplinary approaches to the study of globalization of the economy and networks. From 2000 onwards, my specialization has focused on historical Studies on European Integrating Networks of maritime relations and trading. In 2000 I was granted a postdoctoral fellowship from the Spanish Government and the Regional Government of Madrid (Comunidad de Madrid) which allowed me to work at the Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas in Madrid. I combined my research work at the CSIC with several short stays at various other centres elsewhere in Europe, such as the London School of Economics, the Historisches Seminal - University of Hamburg, or the Institute for the History of European Expansion - Leiden. I have also taken part in further specialisation courses and activities for the dissemination of knowledge in different universities.

My research activities and competence can be followed through her capacity to attract funding to finance high impact research projects, and her international background, publications, organisation of conferences, and development of the most recent research paradigms in the Humanities and Social Sciences in general, and History in particular. Research background and expertise addresses the history of international trade in the early modern era, with a special focus on Dutch merchant networks in Europe and the Americas. In the last few years my work has made use of such recent tools as Social Network Analysis (SNA) and Geographic Information system (GIS), which has located her research in the trend of Digital Humanities and in position to foster collaboration and interdisciplinary in a context in which the most distinguished European funding institutions (Research Exceutive Agency and Marie Skłodowska-Curie actions) are promoting. Recent research is successfully developing a line based on the use of methods of Human Life Sciences, especially dendrochronology, to Humanities. Furthermore, in the late few years she has formed interdisciplinary research teams which are able to encourage synergies coming from different disciplines to produce a historiographical research line which is path-breaking in its approach, methodology and results. Her activities are not only developed in Spain, but in foreign research centres and universities which are members of the research project.

I have been part of 21 I+D projects funded in competitive tenders. I have been head of research teams in 6 of those funded projects. Currently, I am Research Coordinator of the project “Forest resources for Iberian Empires: Ecology and Globalization in the Age of Discovery (ForSEADiscovery)”. I have led two other research projects in the last five years – and ‘Una ruta Global: Análisis histórico con bases de datos y geovisualización espacio-temporal del comercio marítimo internacional (1717-1850). GLOBALNET’ (A global route: historical analysis with databases and spatio-temporal geo-visualisation of international maritime trade (1717-1850). GLOBALNET), financed by the Ministry of Science and Innovation (HAR2011-27694, R&D Plan) (January 1, 2012-December 31, 2015), and ‘1713-2013: La Paz de Utrecht revisada. Debate historiográfico y discursos comparados’ (1713-2013: The Peace of Utrecht revisited. Historiographical debates and compared discourses) financed by the Ministry of Science and Innovation (HAR2010-12087-E, subprogramme HIST) (October 1, 2011-October 1, 2012). As head of the projects ForSEAdiscovery, ‘GLOBALNET and ‘La Paz de Utrecht’, I have organised several meetings, lectures, colloquia and workshops which have become scientific encounter of scientists from European and American universities.

I have extended my scientific network by being part of series scientific projects in the last five years. I have been researcher and participated in the scientific activities of 8 research teams in the last five years. Some of those projects were financed by Spanish institutions, but most of them were financed by the governments of other European countries and the European Union. Since 2013, I am a member of the Advisory Board of the Project ‘Fighting Monopolies, Defying Empires 1500-1750: a Comparative Overview of Free Agents and Informal Empires in Western Europe and the Ottoman Empire (Fight)’, directed by Dr. Catia Antunes (Universiteit Leiden, The Netherlands) and financed by the European Research Council (Starting Grant Fellow) (2013-2017). I have been also researcher of the following research projects – ‘El Laberinto del Estrecho de Torres. Una propuesta de elaboración de material científico para su transferencia audiovisual’, directed by Dr. Ana Rodríguez (CSIC, Spain) and financed by the Ministry of Economy (Spain) (2013); ‘PLUTARCO. Diccionario Biográfico On-line. (CO.FE.LU.: Correspondencia de Felipe V y Luis XIV’, directed by Dr. José Manuel de Bernardo Ares (Universidad de Córdoba, Spain) and financed by Ministry of Science and Innovation (Spain) (2011-2013); ‘Rethinking the Peace of Utrecht. The Peace, the Politicians and the PublicPolitical Communication and the Transformation of Foreign Policy (1701-1714)’, directed by Dr.David Onnekink (Universiteit Utrecht, The Netherlands) and financed by the Nederlandse Organizatie voor Wetenschappen en Onderzoek (NWO) (The Netherlands) (2010-2013); ‘El Pacífico Hispano. Imágenes, conocimiento y poder’, directed by Dr. Salvador Bernabeu Albert (CSIC, Spain) and financed by Junta de Andalucía (Spain) (2010-2013); ‘Filling in the blanks in European dendrochronology: building a multidisciplinary research network to assess Iberian wooden cultural heritage worldwide’, directed by Dr.Esther Jansman (National Service for Archaeology, Cultural Landscape and Built Heritage, The Netherlands) and financed by Dutch Government and European Union (2009-2011); ‘Dutch Atlantic Connections, 1680-1795’, directed by Dr. Gert Oostindie (Universiteit Leiden, The Netherlands) and financed by the NUFFIC (Dutch Government, ING) (2008-2013); and ‘Sólo Madrid es Corte. La construcción de la Corte de la Monarquía Católica (siglos XVII- XVIII)’, directed by Dr. José Martínez Millán (Universidad Autónoma de Madrid, Spain) and financed by Comunidad de Madrid (Spain) (2008-2011).

My capacities for providing guidance can be followed through their capacity to attract funding to coordinate a project like ForSEAdiscovery, one of whose main tasks is train early stage researchers and produce doctoral theses, and the number of pre-doctoral students whose doctoral theses she supervises and has supervised. There are 13 pre-doctoral researchers under the research project and programme ForSEAdiscovery, which encompasses 10 European and one American research centres/universities and three private research companies, who have already achieved the Viva Voce. Their work leads to the achievement of a PhD thesis. Two PhD researchers have already defended their doctoral thesis – Koldo Trápaga Monchet and Marta Domínguez Delmás. One of them – Trápaga Monchet – was co-supervised by Crespo Solana. Crespo Solana also supervises the doctoral thesis of another pre-doctoral researcher – Ana Rita Trindade.

My capacity for providing training is demonstrated by her capacity to supervise postdoctoral work and the organisation of intensive training courses which are part of the PhD training of pre-doctoral students. I am currently training one postdoctoral student at CSIC in the programme of ForSEAdiscovery. Two other postdoctoral researchers conduct research at the Universidad de Santiago de Compostela (Spain) and Maritime Archaeology Ltd (UK). Furthermore, as coordinador of ForSEAdiscovery, I have promoted and coordinated two of three training and PhD courses organised by the consortium of ForSEAdiscovery – Intensive Training Course ‘History of Wooden Shipbuilding & Books and treatises on Shipbuilding’ (20 hours), and Intensive Training Course ‘Application of Geographic Information System (GIS) to Maritime History and Archaeology’ (20 hours), both at CSIC. In the two courses participated not only researchers of CSIC but also researchers, especially PhD students, of other Spanish and European universities – Universidad Complutense de Madrid (Spain), Universidad de Santiago de Compostela (Spain), University of Wales Trinity Saint Davis (UK), Universidade Nova de Lisboa (Portugal), University of Groningen (The Netherlands), Wageningen University (The Netherlands), University of Leiden (The Netherlands), and Université de Lorraine (France).

In the last five years, I have organised 5 international conferences and seminars. Furthermore, she has participated in dozens of conferences and work sessions as invited lecturer in European and American universities. I have also has organized and taught PhD courses at the Universidad de Cádiz (Spain) and the Dutch Cultural Heritage Agency (Amersfoort, The Netherlands).  

The last five years have been the most productive of my career. I have got 42 publications in the forms of books, articles in scientific journals, edition of books, and book chapters from 2010 to 2016. Apart from several articles in peer review journals, it is worth mentioning coordination and edition of books in such high impact publishers as Ashgate and Cambridge Scholar Publishing – New Worlds? Transformations in the Culture of International Relations around the Peace of Utrecht (ed. by Ana Crespo Solana & Inken Schmidt-Voges, 2016, Ashgate), Spatio-Temporal Narratives: Historical GIS and the study of Global Trading networks (1500- 1800) (ed. Ana Crespo Solana, 2014, Cambridge Scholar Publishing), Historia de las Antillas No-hispanas (ed. by Ana Crespo Solana & María Dolores González-Ripoll, CSIC-Doce Calles, 2011), and Comunidades Transnacionales. Colonias de mercaderes extranjeros en el mundo atlántico (1500-1830) (ed. by Ana Crespo Solana, Doce Calles, 2011). I have also coordinated a dossier (‘Self-organizing Networks and GIS Tools Cases of Use for the Study of Trading Cooperation (1400-1800)’) with David Alonso García in the Journal of Knowledge Management, Economics and Information Technology (June 2012, vol. II/3).

I am a member of scientific and evaluation committees of Spanish journals – Anuario de Estudios Americanos, Hispania. Revista Española de Historia, –and international journals – Journal of Early American History (Brill). I have been member of evaluation committees of several scientific journals (Caribbean Studies, Hispania. Revista Española de Historia, Jaarbuch für Geschichte Lateinamerikas, Revista Complutense de Historia de América, Journal of Early Modern History) and publishers (Cambridge Scholar Publishing, Ashgate, Brill, Albatros).

Since 2007, I am member of the scientific steering of the Programme EUROCORES, TECT “The Evolution of Cooperation and Trading” (European Science Foundation). Furthermore, She has been member of evaluation committees of the ‘Fondo Nacional de Desarrollo Científico y Tecnológico – Fondecyt’ (Chile), ‘Pool of Reviewers – European Science Foundation’, ‘Standing Committe for Humanities’ (HUM, formerly SCH), ‘7PM’ (European Union), ‘Agencia Española de Cooperación Internacional para el Desarrollo’ (AECID) (Spain), Agencia Nacional de Evaluación de la Calidad y Acreditación’ (ANECA) (Spain); Ministry of Education of Hellenic Republic. Crespo Solana has been appointed member of the Vlaams-Nederlandse Vereniging voor Nieuwe Geschiedenis (Flemish-Netherlands Society for History), Maritime Historians of the Mediterrenean (ccordinated by Prof. Carmel Vasallo, University of Malta), ‘Asociación Española de Historia Económica’ (Spanish Association of Economic History), and The Williamite Universe (http://www.let.uu.nl/ogc/William). Also member of the Network ‘IULCE: Instituto Universitario – La Corte en Europa’ (IULCE: University Institute – The European Court’, (Universidad Autónoma de Madrid, Spain). Since 2016 I am member of the Dutch Royal Netherland Historical Society and Advisory Board of the Low Countries Historical Review (Bijdragen and Mededelingen voor de Geschiedenis van Nederland).