Dr. Luc Bulten

Biography

Luc Bulten is a social historian focusing on early modern encounters between European colonial and Southern Asian societies, institutions, and environments. His research particularly emphasizes how these encounters have influenced legal, bureaucratic, and financial practices, as well as broader socio-economic structures. Luc’s recent work includes a book set for publication in 2026 with Brill, which explores ‘Thombos,’ a unique collection of 18th-century land population registers detailing the lives and landholdings of coastal inhabitants in 18th-century Dutch-colonial Sri Lanka. He is also a postdoctoral fellow in Sri Lankan history at the University of Cambridge, affiliated with Queens' College as a Rokos Postdoctoral Research Associate and is a member of the COLOMBO project. The focus of his studies pertains to the environmental and infrastructural transformations of Colombo during the early modern period. Luc teaches courses in social, economic, and early modern history at Radboud University and supervises thesis projects, including that of PhD candidate Brecht Nijman on intra-Asian trade. His scholarly interests encompass global and imperial colonial history, environmental histories, and interactions among colonial societies, particularly in the Indian Ocean World.

Research Interests

Experience

Awards