Dutch East India Company (VOC)

INTRODUCTION

I have rewritten this post to include all posts on the Dutch VOC. I am from Malacca. As a descendant of the Dutch Burghers of Ceylon, I collect interesting stories and details about the Dutch VOC.

Students are still doing research on the Dutch VOC even today, 342 years after the capture of Malacca in 1641.

The original Dutch VOC Archives is in Den Haag (The Hague), The Netherlands. This archive is good for everyone who has interest in Malacca's history.

PART 1: Dutch Conquest of Malacca 1641

What do we know about the Dutch conquest of Malacca? What did the Dutch do to the Indonesians? We know from history that there were Malays who opposed the Dutch rule in Indonesia. What happened to those politicians who refused to cooperate with the Dutch authorities in Indonesia? In Malacca? Were there many political refugees? Yes, the Dutch exiled Malay politicians to as far away as South Africa.

http://www.ecu.edu/african/sersas/MasonSERSASF99.htm

PART 2: Dutch VOC Hospitals in Malacca 1641-1796

I am interested in the early hospitals in Malacca 1641-1796. From reading, I know Dutch Malacca had 3 hospitals inside the Portuguese fort - a royal hospital, a civil hospital and one for the poor. There is a map of the grounds of the fort with the 3 hospitals, in Hospital Melaka's history.

PART 3: Dutch VOC Maritime Empire in the East Indies and the Hajj Pilgrimage 1641-1796

How far did the Dutch empire retain its status as a maritime empire in the nineteenth century? How big was Dutch espionage on the Muslim World?

Adventurer's photos capture a bygone Mecca by Barry Neild for CNN, 18 November 2010, updated 1954 GMT (0354 HKT)
http://edition.cnn.com/2010/WORLD/meast/11/11/mecca.hajj.snouck/index.html

Christiaan Snouck Hurgronje - with his rare 1885 photographs and sound recordings of Mecca.
http://edition.cnn.com/2010/WORLD/meast/11/11/mecca.hajj.snouck/index.html

Mecca: A Dangerous Adventure -- Snouck Hurgronje's early photographs 1885 is showing until December 6, 2010 at Dubai's Empty Quarter Gallery.

The earliest Dutch recordings of Makkah was in 1885, by Snouck Hurgronje. He was a pioneer multimedia journalist, and was accused as a Dutch spy. He stayed in Makkah for 5 months and converted to Islam. He fled Makkah when he took something and was accused a thief. he left his camera and recordings to a Syed partner. Syed continued to write to Hurgronje in Netherlands. Hurgronje left his pregnant Ethiopian wife in Makkah but they remarried and lived in Indonesia. He married more wives. What happened to him in the end? Nobody knows.

F. Gaastra, The Dutch East India Company: Expansion and Decline (2003).

J. van Goor, eds. Prelude to colonialism: The Dutch in Asia (2004).

Nigel Worden eds. Contingent Lives: Social Identity and Material Culture in the VOC World (2007).

N. Tarling ed. The Cambridge History of South-East Asia, Vol.2 19th and 20th centuries

K. Ward, Networks of Empire: Forced Migration in the Dutch East India Company (2009).

JH Bentley, R. Bridenthal and K. Wigen eds. Seascapes: Maritime histories, littoral cultures and
trans-oceanic exchanges  Chapters by Gaynor and Ward

Eric Tagliocozzo, ‘Hydrography, technology, coercion: Mapping the sea in South-east Asian imperialism, 1850-1900’ in Rigby, Lincoln, Killingray eds. Maritime empires

Eric Tagliocozzo, ‘Kettle on a slow boil: Batavia’s threat perception in the Indies’ Outer islands, 1870-1910’ in Journal of South-east Asian Studies, 2000.

P. Carey, The Power of Prophecy: Prince Dipanagara and the end of an Old order in Java

L. Blusse, Visible Cities: Canton, Nagasaki and Batavia and the Coming of the Americans

R Betts and R. Ross eds. Colonial Cities: Essays on Urbanism in a Colonial Context essay by Blusse
on Batavia and Ross on Cape Town.

N H Schulte, The Spell of Power: A history of Balinese Politics, 1650-1940 (1996)

A. Schrikker, Dutch and British Colonial Intervention in Sri Lanka, 1780-1815

A Singh, Fort Cochin in Kerala, 1750-1830: The Social Conditions of  a Dutch Community in an
Indian Mileu (2010).

R Ross, Status and Respectability in the Cape Colony, A Tragedy of Manners (1999)

U Bosma and R. Raben, Being Dutch in the Indies: A history of creolisation and empire (2008).

J G Taylor, The Social World of Batavia

L. Blusse and W. Remmelink, I Smits, eds. Bridging the Divide: 400 years of Netherlands-Japan
(2000).

N Tarling, Anglo-Dutch rivalry in the Malay World 1780-1824  (1962)

J van Lohuizen, The Dutch East India Company and Mysore 1762-1790 (1961)

C. Skott, ‘The VOC and Swedish natural history: The transmission of scientific knowledge in the
eighteenth century’ in The Dutch trading companies as knowledge networks, (2010)

PART 4: Dutch VOC and Slavery in the East Indies 1641-1796

Details of VOC treatment of natives and slaves have not been brought to the fore. The world does not know about slavery as practised by the Dutch VOC. Since slavery has been banned in most civilised and democratic nations, the topic of slavery itself becomes a good historical topic to learn and research. Some of the cases uncovered were frightening and totally unexpected. We have to wait till the VOC researchers today write fully about the Dutch VOC slavery for us to read and see the extent of it.

PART 5: Dutch Burghers of Ceylon 1640-2015

The Dutch Burghers of Ceylon 1640-2015 will be hosting the world exhibition "VOC Heritage in Sri Lanka" in Amsterdam in 2015. The same exhibition is due in Kuala Lumpur in 2018. Please get in touch with the Secretariat. You can contact them in Facebook and also write to Nina van Dort.

PART 6: Dutch Submarines in WWII 1941-1945 

There are many naval details of WWII which we do not know about. Here are a few links for ships and Dutch submarines which were in Malayan waters. There is mention of Singapore, Borneo, and local cities and towns of Malaya and Siam - Kota Bharu, Patani, etc. There is mention of Pantai Timour in Bali, Indonesia. There is mention of Station Soerabaja (Surabaya). The Dutch submarines blog webmaster also seeks help from readers re people ID, event, location and date.

Dec 23 1939: Arrived in the Dutch East Indies. Transferred to the K X after a month of exercise patrols on O 20. The O 20 was sunk later in The Gulf of Siam (19 Dec 1941). Exercised on K X, then K XI, K VIII, K XVIII, and K XII in August 1940.Was off West coast of Borneo when war with Japan started (7 Dec 1941). Sailed on board K XII to Singapore, loaded torpedoes from Submarine tender (probably tender Janssens) and went on patrol off the coast of Malaya.                   http://www.dutchsubmarines.com/men/crew/men_g_tigchelaar.htm 

Dec 12 1941: Under the command of Ltz. I  H.C.J. Coumou we torpedoed a transport ship of about 8000 tons off Kota Bharu (Battle of Patani). http://www.dutchsubmarines.com/men/crew/men_g_tigchelaar.htm

O 20's deck phone, June 2002 off Kota Bharu (Malaysia). The official name of this phone is electro megaphone and it is manufactured by Brown. (Photo: © Roy Leenderts). http://www.dutchsubmarines.com/pictures/pictures_diving_o20.htm

The dive team at the bow of the Mata Ikan, June 2002 off Kota Bharu. (Photo: © Collection Roy Leenderts). From left to right: Top row: Daniël Zuidema, Klaas Brouwer, Guido Granacher, Dick Cohen and Roy Leenderts. Bottom row: Michael Lim, Simon Bok, the captain (name unknown) and Marcel Conradi. http://www.dutchsubmarines.com/pictures/pictures_diving_o20.htm

K XV arriving in Tandjong Priok (Dutch East Indies), 1945. The submarine on the right is probably the Dutch Tijgerhaai (1). (Photo: © Collection Aart Hopman). http://www.dutchsubmarines.com/pictures/pictures_kxv_wwii.htm

PART 7: Dutch VOC vs Malay Courts in Tanah Melayu 

This is an article written by Nazli Aziz on the diplomatic corpus at the time of Dutch occupation in Tanah Melayu.

http://jati-dseas.um.edu.my/filebank/published_article/448/Nazli%20Aziz-Diplomatic%20Corupus-Between%20the%20Dutch%20in%20Tanah%20Melayu%20and%20the%20Northern%20Malay%20Courts-1641-2699.pdf


External links:
http://www.dutchsubmarines.com/boats/boat_kxii.htm
http://www.dutchsubmarines.com/men/crew/men_g_tigchelaar.htm
http://www.dutchsubmarines.com/pictures/pictures_k_boats_1930s.htm
http://www.dutchsubmarines.com/pictures/pictures.htm

British East India Company and the Straits Settlements

What was the main interest of the British East India Company? How well did it compete with its competitor and enemy, the Dutch East India Company (VOC)? Why did we have the Straits Settlements? Were they for the interest of the Malays or who? They were for the interests of the British. Why did they set up the 3 settlements? How did they come to be? Are they any good for the Malays? What is the significance of the Straits Settlements in our history? How were the Straits Settlements monitored administratively? Did the development of the first medical school follow the trade progress of the British East India Company? How did the British East India Company become involved in politics when initially it was set up for trade? What were the weaknesses we had that led to the British becoming involved with local politics? What happened in the 1600s, 1700s, 1800s and 1900s? What was Captain Francis Light's purpose in Penang in 1786? What was Stamford Raffles' purpose in Singapore in 1819? Which British man arrived in Malacca in 1795? Do we have the maps and census of the Straits Settlements at these times? Why are early documents and maps of the Straits Settlements important? They are important because they will tell us who were at the 3 settlements during those years. They are also important because a lot of local laws were changed by the British captains and great changes happened to the local communities. I think the British captains had overstepped their limits as trade captains and entered into local politics and changed everything else to their content. Their rules became our rules and we played by their rules. So we came to be under the colonials. Whose fault? We have our own selves to blame for letting go of our homeland, and leaving things to the British captains to do as they pleased. Now we have a lot of problems - land rights is a major problem today - violating local laws and regulations, pressing the Malays to move out where they belong, and taking advantage of their weaknesses, the list is endless while initially there was none. The 3 Straits Settlements are the most worrisome of the Malay lands. We inherit a lot of problems wrt land rights, landing rights and ownership. This is what I see as a result of the trade activities of the British East India Company at the 3 settlements.

Administrative history: The following describes the historical background to the East India Company's factories and their changing function.

1600-1709: The visits to the east of the first Company ships, undertaken in a series of separately funded voyages, were exploratory in nature. Captains were under instructions to seek out those places that offered the best opportunities for trade and to seek permission to trade from local rulers. According to the information received back, Company instructions then became more specific and the captains were advised to visit or revisit particular places to try to establish connections. At these ports. captains tried to obtain permission for a merchant or merchants to settle and, if necessary, to set up factories. A "factory" was a trading post where a number of merchants, or factors, resided. When company ships arrived at the factories, ships' merchants were thus enabled to exchange goods for trading immediately instead of having to wait to make deals with local merchants. Factories were run by a chief factor and a council of factors. In the areas that proved most successful for trading, groups of factories were eventually established. These were known as settlements and were governed by an agent and council. Eventually: certain settlements developed into centres to which all other factories in the region reported. These became known as presidencies and were administered by an agent (first called a president and later a governor) and a large council of senior factors.

Contacts developed only gradually. The Company's first interest lay in the Malay archipelago and the Spice islands, although from the start it faced considerable competition from Dutch merchants. 

In Arabia and the Red Sea, the Company increased its presence as the strategic importance of the region became apparent. The British conflicts with European powers in Africa and the need to protect the route to India were factors in the establishment of political agencies at Bushire (1763) and Bagdhad (1798); the factory at Mocha also took on a new function as a political agency. To the east, the Company's need to protect its trade with China led to the establishment of Penang (1786), Malacca (1795) and Singapore (1819).

Within India, the Company's trading function finally came to an end under the Charter Act of 1813 when its monopoly rights on trade to India were withdrawn. In 1833 the Company's monopoly on the China trade was also abolished. 

Source: http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/. Retrieved from The National Archives, UK, 3 June 2012.

Royal Coat of Arms of the British East India Company (Penang Museum)"Honi soit qui mal y pense" is a French phrase meaning: "Shamed be he who thinks evil of it". The royal motto in Norman-French is: "Dieu et mon driot".

Royal motto: Dieu et mon droit has generally been used as the motto of English—and later British (outside of Scotland)—monarchs since being adopted by Edward III. It was first used as a battle cry by King Richard I in 1198 at the Battle of Gisors, when he defeated the forces of Philip II of France and after he made it his motto. The belief in medieval Europe was not that victory automatically went to the side with the better army but that, as with personal trial by combat, to the side that God viewed with favour. Hence Richard wrote after his victory "It is not us who have done it but God and our right through us". So after his victories on the crusades "Richard was speaking what he believed to be the truth when he told the Holy Roman Emperor: 'I am born of a rank which recognises no superior but God'. Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dieu_et_mon_droit

Coat of Arms of the British East India Company and a statue of Captain Francis Light.
Photo from Penang Museum.

British East India Company govt office building, corner of Downing Street and Beach Street, Penang circa 1883. An earlier illustration of the building was hand-drawn circa 1850.

External link

http://alkhauf.blogspot.com/2011/09/mahani-musa-universiti-sains-malaysia.html