Om Prakash (born January 1940, in

Delhi Delhi, officially the National Capital Territory (NCT) of Delhi, is a city and a union territory of India containing New Delhi, the capital of India. Straddling the Yamuna river, but spread chiefly to the west, or beyond its Bank (geography ...

) is an Indian economic

historian A historian is a person who studies and writes about the past and is regarded as an authority on it. Historians are concerned with the continuous, methodical narrative and research of past events as relating to the human species; as well as the ...

. He is noted for his work on the

Dutch East India Company The United East India Company ( ; VOC ), commonly known as the Dutch East India Company, was a chartered company, chartered trading company and one of the first joint-stock companies in the world. Established on 20 March 1602 by the States Ge ...

Bengal Bengal ( ) is a Historical geography, historical geographical, ethnolinguistic and cultural term referring to a region in the Eastern South Asia, eastern part of the Indian subcontinent at the apex of the Bay of Bengal. The region of Benga ...

, and also for his work on

coin A coin is a small object, usually round and flat, used primarily as a medium of exchange or legal tender. They are standardized in weight, and produced in large quantities at a mint in order to facilitate trade. They are most often issued by ...

age,

precious metal Precious metals are rare, naturally occurring metallic chemical elements of high Value (economics), economic value. Precious metals, particularly the noble metals, are more corrosion resistant and less reactivity (chemistry), chemically reac ...

trade, and other aspects of pre-colonial commerce between Europe and India. In 2005, he was knighted by the Dutch queen.

Early life and education

He did his M.A. from the

Delhi School of Economics Delhi School of Economics (DSE), popularly referred to as D School, is an institution of higher learning within the Delhi University. The Delhi School of Economics is situated in University of Delhi's North Campus in Maurice Nagar. Establishe ...

in 1961, ranking first, and continued with his PhD in Economic History. His thesis, ''The Dutch East India Company and the Economy of Bengal, 1630-1720'', is based on archival material from the Nationaal Archief at

the Hague The Hague ( ) is the capital city of the South Holland province of the Netherlands. With a population of over half a million, it is the third-largest city in the Netherlands. Situated on the west coast facing the North Sea, The Hague is the c ...

. It was published as a book by the

Princeton University Press Princeton University Press is an independent publisher with close connections to Princeton University. Its mission is to disseminate scholarship within academia and society at large. The press was founded by Whitney Darrow, with the financial ...

in 1985.

Career

Subsequently, Prakash joined the Delhi School of Economics faculty from 1965 and 2005. His work is highly regarded in the Netherlands, where he is a Foreign Member of the

Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences The Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences (, KNAW) is an organization dedicated to the advancement of science and literature in the Netherlands. The academy is housed in the Trippenhuis in Amsterdam. In addition to various advisory a ...

, Haarlem (since 2000). In April 2005, he was honoured as a "Knight in the Order of the Netherlands Lion" by

Queen Beatrix Beatrix (Beatrix Wilhelmina Armgard, ; born 31 January 1938) is a member of the Dutch royal house who reigned as Queen of the Netherlands from 30 April 1980 until her abdication in 2013. Beatrix was born during the reign of her maternal gr ...

. He is also the author of ''European commercial enterprise in pre-colonial India'' (1998), published under

the New Cambridge History of India ''The New Cambridge History of India'' is a major multi-volume work of historical scholarship published by Cambridge University Press. It replaced '' The Cambridge History of India'' published between 1922 and 1937. The new history is being publi ...

series (part II, v.5).

References

External links

* 1940 births Delhi School of Economics alumni Academic staff of Delhi University 20th-century Indian historians 20th-century Indian economists Economic historians Historians of India Living people Members of the Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences Historians of the Dutch East India Company {{India-academic-bio-stub