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A Cape of Asia collects eighteen of Wesseling's finest essays on European History, clustered around three concerns: The Wider View, or the historical European perspective on globalization, migration and decolonization; Europe's Identity, reflecting the shift from Eurocentrism to Americanization and Europe's acceptance of Japan, China and India as new key players in the global economy; and European Ideas about Education, Science, and Art. The third section includes the articles 'Johan Huizinga and the Spirit of the Nineteen Thirties' and 'The Expansion of Europe and the Development of Science and Technology'. A small cape of Asia was how Paul Valéry described Europe in 1919 – a pointed summary of the new mood that came over Europe in the interbellum years. Wesseling's essays hold to the original sense of the word: personal reflections on vast subjects written for an intellectual and interested but not necessarily specialized readership.

The 1944–1945 Yearbook of the Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences in Amsterdam includes a commemorative article written byjohan Huizinga in honour of the French historian Gabriel Hanotaux, who was a foreign member of the Academy from 1913 to 1944. Hanotaux was born on November 19, 1853, and died on April 11, 1944, a few months after his ninetieth birthday. In his commemoration of Hanotaux, Huizinga briefly sketched the life, work and achievements of Hanotaux who was, at that time, a wellknown French historian and politician. Huizinga was very impressed, as becomes apparent from his words: 'Truly, it is almost unbelievable what this representative of all that is noble and pure in the French has created.' He concluded his commemoration with a brief consideration of what he called his 'temporary personal relationship with Hanotaux'.

In Princeton, last June 16th, the English historian Lawrence Stone died. In Cambridge, a few days later on June 19th, his colleague Ronald Robinson died. Both are amongst the most influential historians of our times. Both introduced new ideas and insights, which revolutionised our perception of certain aspects of the past.

Is history science or art? This is a problem which has been on people's minds for more than a century and certainly it is an interesting question. But within the framework of this contribution it is not really important, for, whether one practises art history or history of science, one faces the same problem. On the one hand such a history is first and foremost a history of the work and achievements of individuals. A history of science which does not deal with the work of Copernicus, Newton and Einstein is as useless as a history of art in which Rembrandt, Rubens and Michelangelo do not figure. Art and history are and will remain foremost the work of individuals of genius. On the other hand it is also true that a history of art or science which confines itself exclusively to a series of sketches of individuals and their work is not satisfactory either. Artists and scientists do not work within a vacuum. As one discerns tendencies and trends in art, likewise within the field of science one finds schools and paradigms. In order to understand works of art and science we have to look closely at influences and examples, at the time-spirit, the spiritual climate, et cetera.

The words that serve as a motto for this paper are taken from the finest novel about Dutch fin de siècle society and indeed, in my opinion, the finest novel in Dutch literature, Louis Couperus' De Boeken der Kleine Zielen (The Books of the Small Souls). They form part of a dialogue between the widow of a former Governor-General of the Netherlands Indies and her, obviously, very dis-appointed grandson, a young colonial civil servant in the beginning of his career.

Decolonization has finished. It definitely belongs to the past, but somehow it has refused to become history. A great deal has already been written on this subject, and yet it seems that there is little to say about it. After the Second World War, the colonized countries wanted to become independent, struggled with their oppressors and threw off the yoke of colonial rule. Within a few years they all achieved their aim. That is the song that has now already been sung for about thirty years, in various keys, it is true, but with a remarkable consistency of tune and melody. The entire colonial history seems to have been no more than a prologue to an inevitable and triumphant independence. A new Whig interpretation of history has come into being.

The concepts of war and peace are not as simple as they appear at first glance. Closer scrutiny reveals that reality cannot be reduced to the simple dichotomy expressed by this pair of words. There have after all been wars which were never declared and periods of peace which did not follow peace treaties. Yet this made them no less real. Moreover some acts of war were described euphemistically as 'punitive expeditions', 'punishment raids', or 'police operations' while others were described pejoratively as 'terrorism', 'banditry', and 'piracy'. There have been wars which officially lasted seven, nine, thirty, eighty andeven onehundred years although theactual fighting took place within a much shorter period. Conversely there have also been eras of peace which were in fact no more than a truce extending over a number of years. In fact the concepts are so elastic that not only in George Orwell's frightening Newspeak but also in ordinary English one can say that "Waris Peace" if only one adds two adjectives: cold waris armed peace.