The Ostend Company's shares as the instrument of the Belgian maritime renaissance in the eighteenth century Vrije Universiteit Brussel
This article researches who were the Ostend Company's shareholders and how these persons played a role in protecting Ostend's maritime interest during the colonial enterprise, but also during the eighteenth century's second half. This interest in the port's economy proved to be an important stimulus for Belgium's maritime renaissance in the 1780s.