Henri Hannula

Henri Hannula is a Postdoctoral Researcher at the Rule of Law Centre within the University of Helsinki's Faculty of Law, since 2025. His work bridges institutional economic history and legal modernization with a focus on state-building, colonial law, and cross-imperial trade dynamics in Latin America and Southeast Asia, particularly Brazil and Indonesia.

• PhD (2023): Early Modern Economic History, University of Helsinki
• Grant: Jenny and Antti Wihuri Foundation (2023–2026)

Research Interests: Hannula examines how legal institutions shaped economic growth in early modern empires. His scholarship spans:

• Comparative Colonial Legal Systems (Dutch/Swedish/British)
• Commercial Diplomacy (Baltic/Dutch-Nordic interactions)
• State Formation (17th-19th century Europe/colonies)

Publication Trends: Recent work analyzes legal modernization in 18th–19th century colonial contexts, Nordic-Dutch economic rivalries, and digital humanities tools for historical trade data.

Awards:

• 2016: Best Master's Thesis in Finnish and Nordic History

Academic Activities: Regular participant in Sound Toll Registers Online conferences and Legatio journal contributions. Previously held visiting researcher positions at the University of Leiden's History Institute (2019).