Professor David Wengrow will be joined by legal researcher, writer and educator Kirandeep Kaur, who will offer a response to the lecture. The event will launch a major new series of public talks: the Rijksmuseum Lecture series.
The talk
In the lecture, Professor Wengrow will explore the ideas and philosophy of Dutch humanist and lawyer Hugo Grotius (1583-1645). In his (1609) work Mare Liberum (the ‘freedom of the seas’), Grotius laid the foundations of modern international law. But where did his ideas come from? Using objects from the Rijksmuseum collection to illustrate his points, Professor Wengrow will turn his attention to the Indian Ocean: the traders, sea routes, and traditions of hospitality in the Malay Archipelago. His conclusion: the ideas of Grotius bear the influence of Islamic thinkers, even though he never mentions them by name.
Key details
- 17 September 2026
- 19:30 - 20:30
- Auditorium, Rijksmuseum, Museumstraat 1, 1071 XX Amsterdam, the Netherlands
- €10 - €15
David trained in archaeology and anthropology at the University of Oxford, where he earned his DPhil and was a Junior Research Fellow at Christ Church. Since joining UCL, he held visiting professorships at New York University, Peking University, and the universities of Auckland, Freiburg, and Cologne. He is co-author of the New York Times bestseller The Dawn of Everything: A New History of Humanity, a winner of the J.I Staley Prize for Anthropological Excellence and the Wenjin Book Prize.
Image credit: Tom Jamieson
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