North, Middle and South America together constitute the single largest area in World Archaeology that is taught as a single focus. It is also the only major world area that saw societies develop from hunter-gatherers to early empires entirely independent from developments in Eurasia & Africa. It is,…

Team History of Africa and the Americas

Develop your knowledge of French and Francophone literary works and genres with the Master’s programme in French Literature and Culture at Leiden University.

The one-year, English-taught master's programme in English Literature and Culture focuses on the interaction between literature and key political and social issues such as identity, migration, memory and the metropolis, but also between literature and the literary tradition, and literature and film.

Get the most out of your studies at Leiden University by taking part in our extracurricular activities.

Comparative and Dutch Politics is one of the three organisational clusters of the Institute of Political Science.

Resilient Diversity: the Governance of Racial and Religious Plurality in the Dutch Empire, 1600-1800

Lecture, Book Talk

The Department of Child Law and Health Law focuses in its education on the legal position of the child in national and international law.

French is a global language. It is spoken on every continent and serves as an official language for many international organisations (NATO, UN, WHO). In this minor, you improve your language skills, study French from a linguistic perspective, and immerse yourself in the rich global Francophone culture…

The one-year master in Southeast Asian Studies, a specialisation of Leiden University’s master in Asian Studies, offers a large and varied selection of subjects and the freedom to choose the areas on which you will focus.

Between 1993 and 2000 the Faculty of Archaeology had a formal cooperation with the Service Régional de l’Archéologie de la Guadeloupe, Direction Regional des Affaires Culturelles (DRAC) and the then director André Delpuech. During that period surveys and excavations were carried out at a number of s…

It is difficult to imagine a society other than a hierarchical nation-state. This is in part because we neglect alternative forms from the past, argues archaeologist Lewis Borck in the Journal of Contemporary Archaeology.

During his visit to the Caribbean part of the Kingdom, Minister Ronald Plasterk (Home Affairs) on Thursday, January 24, 2013 performed the official opening of a small exhibition. The exhibition portrays the work Prof. Dr. Corinne Hofman and Dr. Menno Hoogland have conducted on Saba over the past 26…

Corinne Hofman (Professor in Caribbean Archaeology) has been awarded 15 million euro by the EU for her archaeological research on the colonisation of the Americas. She will lead the ‘NEXUS 1492’ project together with colleagues Davies (VU), Brandes (Konstanz) and Willems (Leiden).

Historical figures such as Columbus have returned to the centre of public debate. Much remains to be discovered about his legacy and current impact on our society. A new study shows the ecological footprint that the arrival of Europeans left in the Caribbean islands.

In the spring of 2024 the Faculty of Archaeology welcomed a new postdoc. Dita Auzina, originally from Latvia, works as a researcher in the project of Alex Geurds. ‘I have joined the project as a landscape archaeologist, but I also run my own fieldwork in Nicaragua.’

Dr Peter Siegel, Associate Professor in Anthropology from Montclair State University, New York, has obtained a Fulbright Scholarship to participate in research and teaching in the Caribbean Research Group for four months. Dr Siegel will be a visiting fellow in the faculty from February to May 2012.

Corinne Hofman’s term as Dean of the Faculty of Archaeology has finished. After 11 years she leaves the Faculty Board to fully focus on her research once again. On Thursday September 20th, during the final Dean's Lecture, a series she initiated, she was lauded by her successor, Dean Jan Kolen, Study…

In the Dutch tv-programme 'NOS Amalia and the Dutch Caribbean' Stacey shows the impact of climate change on the coast, coral and culture.

To truly understand complex regions such as the Middle East and Asia, you have to know their culture, history and local societies inside out. Driven by curiosity for other cultures, the Leiden University Institute for Area Studies (LIAS) provides an understanding and analysis of current and historical…

Labour is back as a significant social and political force in Indonesia, as was shown in the recent 1 May trade union demonstrations in Jakarta. Over the past years major changes have taken place in Indonesian labour law, leading to new forms of judicial and political resolution of labour disputes.

Leiden University works close with Indonesian and Dutch scholarship providers in order to expand the opportunities for Indonesian students to study in Leiden.

The D&I Expertise Office is in close contact with various student and staff networks regarding diversity and inclusion.

The researchers in the World Archaeology department of the Faculty of Archaeology concentrate on a range of different periods and regions: from humanity’s origins to the Middle Ages and the modern age, and from Asia to South America.

This is an Erasmus+ International Credit Mobility project of the Faculty of Science with three universities in Colombia.

Most people know what law is. But what it should be or where it comes from is what interests the researchers from the Institute for the Interdisciplinary Study of the Law. Key to their approach are topics that go right to the heart of philosophy of law. What is a state? What are the limitations of…

The seminar series on ‘Diversity and Inclusion in Global Science’ aims to foster debate on inequalities in science across the world.

Identifying the gaps in the legal framework for EU activities in the maritime security domain, and specifically in the areas of combating piracy, human smuggling or trafficking and drug trafficking.

Common challenge: unique circumstances

The Department of Child Law and Health Law is a knowledge centre dedicated to academic research and education for both students and professionals in two fields: child law (and children's rights) and health law.

Study Archaeology at Leiden University. Learn about a full range of theoretical, analytical and field methods from some of the world's leading archaeological researchers.

The project 'Policing the high seas: maritime law-enforcement in a multi-actor environment' aims to identify the gaps in the legal framework for EU activities in the maritime security domain, and specifically in the areas of combating piracy, human smuggling or trafficking and drug trafficking.

Of the 111 Spinoza Prizes that have been awarded since 1995, 28 have gone to researchers from Leiden University.

Although official law generally conceives of personal injury victims as individual rights holders, the actual experience of physical injury and its consequences is relational. Indeed, many researchers in the global North as well as the global South have contended that the very concept of the Self should…

The master's programme in Heritage and Museum Studies at Leiden University focuses on the relationships between past and present, the role of heritage in our society, and how our heritage can contribute to improving the quality of life and the environment.

Our institutes abroad are instrumental for Leiden’s internationalisation activities.

Our institutes abroad are instrumental for Leiden’s internationalisation activities.

Browse the latest articles and issues of Inter-Section.

The Faculty of Archaeology proudly presents the research brochure Perspectives on the Past, featuring passionate, dedicated researchers introducing a dazzling scala of research topics: from present-day traditional knowledge in Africa to the power of glue in Palaeolithic Europe. In addition to these…

Leiden heritage expert Sjoerd van der Linde is carrying out research on the heritage of the Caribbean region. This research forms part of the international Nexus 1492 project on the consequences of colonisation for the Americas. ‘We first have to find out what the local population wants.'

The European Homicide Monitor (EHM) offers a standardized framework for countries and regions to compare homicide characteristics, patterns and trends.

A delegation from Leiden University will be visiting Mexico from 21 to 25 October. The visit aims to strengthen the ties between Mexican universities and Leiden University.

During the Faculty Staff Meeting of August 28th, Corinne Hofman spoke about her time on the Faculty Board. “I look back on a rich decade in which I have seen the Faculty, and the University as a whole, change at a rapid pace.”

An international team of researchers, involving members from the ERC Synergy project NEXUS 1492 based at the Leiden University, the Universities of Oklahoma, Copenhagen and York reveal challenges when studying ancient microbiomes in a recent issue of Scientific Reports.

Charles wrote an article 'Assimilating Afro Caribbean Carnivalesque Culture' for the publication 'Understanding América. The essential contribution of Afro-American music to the sociocultural meaning of the continent'

Leiden University Libraries (UBL) has acquired a rare manuscript map of Suriname. The map from 1830 is almost 2.5 meters long and is highly detailed. It was hand-drawn by Helmuth Hendrik Hiemcke (1808-1858), one of the official surveyors employed by the colonial administration, and shows Suriname in…

Gert Oostindie, Professor of Colonial and Postcolonial History, has been made an Officer in the Order of Orange-Nassau. He was awarded the royal honour by Leiden mayor Henri Lenferink after giving his valedictory lecture, ‘The future of the colonial past’, in the Academy Building of Leiden University…