Faculty of Arts and Philosophy - Research Portal

Dr. Jan Vandersmissen

jan.vandersmissen@ugent.be

Department

Department of History

Research group(s)

GRH - Global and Regional Histories

Modern and Contemporary History

SARTON - Sarton Centre for History of Science

Other institution(s)

Member and Past President (2019) - Royal Academy for Overseas Sciences (Brussels)

Board member & Treasurer (2017-2025) - Académie Internationale d'Histoire des Sciences (Paris)

Research Focus

Research Period

Research Region

Tabgroup

Projects

Projects as postdoc

The road to Alexandria. The sensation of landscapes in European travel writing, 1919-1939 (2021 - 2025)
Pyramids and progress. Belgian expansionism and the making of egyptology, 1830-1952 (2018 - 2022)
'Les Indes africaines' versus 'Le Congo minotaure'. Climate, acclimatization, hygiene and the contested idealization of the imperial project of Leopold II in Congo, 1876-1908 (2017 - 2020)
Environment as object and actor of conquest and conservationism in (post)imperial Africa

Publications

Most recent publications

Rossinelli, Fabio, et al. De La Conférence Géographique de Bruxelles à l’État Indépendant Du Congo (1876-1908) : Regards Nouveaux 150 Ans Après Les Origines = From the Brussels Geographical Conference to the Congo Free State (1876-1908) : New Perspectives 150 Years after Its Origins. Edited by Fabio Rossinelli et al., vol. 691, Éditions Alphil-Presses universitaires suisses, 2026, doi:10.33055/alphil.00691.
De Maeyer, Philippe, and Jan Vandersmissen. “The Maps in Le Mouvement Géographique - a Magazine Created 150 Years Ago - as Unique Witnesses of the Western Imperialism.” 32nd International Cartographic Conference (ICC 2025), Abstracts, vol. 10, 2025, doi:10.5194/ica-abs-10-55-2025.
Vandersmissen, Jan. “Leopoldian Imperial Cartography : The Case of the Kouilou-Niari Basin Prior to the Foundation of the Congo Free State.” PROCEEDINGS OF THE ROYAL ACADEMY FOR OVERSEAS SCIENCES, vol. 3, no. 1, 2025, pp. 173–94, doi:10.5281/zenodo.16925696.
Vandersmissen, Jan. “Entre Antiquités et Histoire Naturelle : Le Voyage de Jean-André Peyssonnel En Afrique Du Nord (1724-1725) et Son Héritage Littéraire.” Polyhistor Europaeus : Études Sur l’âge Classique Offertes à Chantal Grell, edited by Mathieu Da Vinha et al., vol. 112, Brepols, 2025, pp. 132–61, doi:10.1484/m.dda-eb.5.137811.
De Meyer, Marleen, et al. “The Fondation Égyptologique Reine Élisabeth in Belgium and the Creation of National and Transnational Egyptological Research Infrastructures in the 1920s–1940s.” Oriental Societies and Societal Self-Assertion : Associations, Funds and Societies for the Archaeological Exploration of the “Ancient Near East,” edited by Thomas L. Gertzen and Olaf Matthes, vol. 10, Zaphon, 2024, pp. 141–66.

Full bibliography