Prof. Eberhard Schmitt (University of Bamberg, Germany) has initiated an ambitious project: the publication in German of a great number of documentary sources on early modern European Expansion. His proposal was made before an international scholarly committee in Bamberg on 6–8 Septermber, 1977, and received its full support. Concerning his project, Prof. Schmitt wrote the following article:

Anyone who is even superficially informed about source publications concerning early modern history will quickly remark that publications are urgently needed about the history of the European Expansion. Especially in the German-speaking world is this need obvious. There are publications on various themes, as for instance the ‘Bauernkrieg’ or the Reformation, but very seldom do we find published sources on one of the most central developments of the history of the 15th–18th century, European expansion overseas and the reaction it caused on Europe itself.