Appel à communications – Colloque “Flying Colours. Maritime Flags in Communication, Representation and Protection Strategies at Sea (15th-19th century)”

Date : 4-5 novembre 2026

Lieu : Université Paris 1 Panthéon-Sorbonne

Date limite de proposition : 30 avril 2026

For nearly a decade, historians of the early modern period have increasingly turned their attention to maritime banners. Indeed, flags have been incorporated into broader scholarly reflections, to which they have usefully contributed both evidence and insight. In the history of international relations as well as in diplomatic, economic, and cultural history, flags feature in diverse analyses that share a common objective : to re-examine the modes of navigation employed by the various European nations. The commercial policies of states, cities, and communities that took to the seas under specific colors, as well as their successive diplomatic positions, have thus benefited from new perspectives. Moreover, recent research has shed fresh light on the experiences—sometimes legitimate, sometimes fraudulent—of the various on-the-ground actors who actually handled banners on a daily basis, including seafarers, shipowners, charterers, and merchants. In parallel, the flag as a mode of identification and of protection for transnational merchants has been a staple of early modern Mediterranean economic history, as have its uses for smuggling and avoiding corsairs. The diversity of cases examined, as well as the varying scales of observation, demonstrate the versatility of the flag as a point of entry into the dynamics of maritime space usage. Yet one observation becomes apparent at this stage : while maritime banners serve as a functional analytical tool, they have very rarely constituted the central focus of study, a gap that this conference seeks to address.

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OpenEdition vous propose de citer ce billet de la manière suivante :
sbounoua (21 mars 2026). Appel à communications – Colloque “Flying Colours. Maritime Flags in Communication, Representation and Protection Strategies at Sea (15th-19th century)” AJCH. Consulté le 10 mai 2026 à l’adresse https://doi.org/10.58079/15xa5


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