This dissertation revolves around a long struggle of Malukan and Papuan rebels led by Prince Nuku of Tidore against the Dutch East India Company (Verenigde Oost-Indische Compagnie, VOC) and its... Show moreThis dissertation revolves around a long struggle of Malukan and Papuan rebels led by Prince Nuku of Tidore against the Dutch East India Company (Verenigde Oost-Indische Compagnie, VOC) and its indigenous allies c.a. 1780-1810. Assisted by the English, his Malukan-Papuan troops managed to conquer the Dutch-protected Sultanates of Bacan and Tidore in 1797 and the Dutch fort on Ternate in 1801. Widjojo elaborates the dynamics of alliance-making, the interests involved, and the actors (grandees of Tidorans, East Seramese traders, Papuans of Raja Ampat, and the fighters of Gamrange). This dissertation also shows intensity of the English involvement in the rebellion which was not discussed before in previous studies. Among others, the dissertation concludes that the success of the rebellion was not driven by prominent Malukan ideological constructs supposedly shared among Nuku and his adherents. The success was mainly because Nuku to a maximum extent successfully combined the strength of Papuan and Gamrange raiders as his warriors and East Seramese traders as the sources of the logistics for his campaign. Moreover Nuku also managed to keep attached to the English and exploit the presence of its country traders. Show less
Focussing on individuals and institutions, the economic and social condition of the people of Fort Cochin between 1781 and 1830 has been studied. This study of the Dutch East India Company's (VOC)... Show moreFocussing on individuals and institutions, the economic and social condition of the people of Fort Cochin between 1781 and 1830 has been studied. This study of the Dutch East India Company's (VOC) establishment on the south west coast of India provides a detailed research into the functioning of the company and its personnel there. To begin the company's presence on the coast around the year 1750, after it had been defeated by the raja of Travancore, on whom it was dependant for purchasing pepper, is summarized. It places the VOC's Malabar Command on the larger web of the VOC network in Asia. The VOC strove hard to maintain its pepper monopoly on the coast, but non-VOC trade in pepper contined. Three consecutive commanders between 1751 and 1764 constantly strove to expand the company's territorial possesions on the coast resulting in a metamorphosis in the command's functioning. The components of the Fort Cochinsociety and the relations among the different communities that made up the social world of Fort Cochin receive attention in the book. Starting with the company men and analysing the recruitment pattern of the VOC in Malabar Command, one is faced with rather startling facts. The majority of the VOC personnel in the mercantile sections were locally recruited. European women were a rare sight in Fort Cochin. The European company men married mestizo women and through them became rooted in Cochin. Their sons joined the Dutch company thereby forming 'VOC-family'. While Dutch men were securing their future on the Malabar Coast, the EIC was expanding in India. During the 1780-1784 Anglo-Dutch war, many Dutch settlements were lost to the British. Fort Cochin evaded the fate as the EIC was yet to conquer Mysore, a formidable power in the south. When in 1795, the British forces conquered Fort Cochin, the servants of the Dutch company were forced to decide their future course of action. The social and economic condition of the people of Fort Cochin under the British administration has been analysed and lives of former VOC servants and their families after the transition has been portrayed Show less
This is a study of the colonial ‘civilizing process’ in Dutch Formosa (Present-day Taiwan) between 1624 and 1662. Drawing inspiration from Norbert Elias, this study stresses on ‘the colonial ... Show moreThis is a study of the colonial ‘civilizing process’ in Dutch Formosa (Present-day Taiwan) between 1624 and 1662. Drawing inspiration from Norbert Elias, this study stresses on ‘the colonial “civilizing process” ’ which is applied to the inexorable process of retreat from the era of ‘Aboriginal Taiwan’ under different schemes of ‘civilization’ brought by Western and Occidental colonizers since Taiwan’s early modern history. Contrary to the Dutch East India Company’s intention of carrying out a ‘colonial mission’, local Formosan inhabitants underwent their first profound colonial ‘civilizing process’. According to this study, this process moved in accordance with Dutch understanding of civilization embedded in the grid of State, capitalism, and Christianity. The focus of this thesis is to look at the Formosan agency in perception, participation, and practice in the Dutch-Formosan colonial encounters within the context of Chinese encroachment. The thesis introduces the scope and scene, documents the Dutch island-wide expansion in Formosa, analyses the phases of political empowerment, economic exploitation, and Christian missionary in Dutch Formosa, and re-asserts the changing image of Dutch rule for the Formosans which was revealed in the nineteenth century. Show less
This thesis investigates the structural changes in the agrarian society in Western parts of Sri Lanka as seen in the mid and late eighteenth century in the context of the encounter with the Dutch... Show moreThis thesis investigates the structural changes in the agrarian society in Western parts of Sri Lanka as seen in the mid and late eighteenth century in the context of the encounter with the Dutch United East India Company (VOC) administration. It attempts to understand the developments in the period from the vantage point of the peasantry, particularly by looking at the ways in which the peasants were affected by the Dutch colonial intervention and how they adjusted themselves to the changing economic and political reality. One of the characteristic features of the VOC rule was the higher degree of exploitation of peasant compared with the situation under pre-colonial rulers, because economic interests of the former was much higher than the latter. This situation brought about a break down of the structural equilibrium of the system of production and taxation. It is mainly within this context of structural break down that this study try to understand the long lasting changes in the social and economic setting. It discusses the changes in the production system with special reference to land utilization and labour organisation, changing aspects of the land tenure system, emergence of new class differentiations and new dynamics of caste formation. Show less
No European country enjoyed such long-standing relations with the Thai Kingdom of Ayutthaya like the Netherlands. This dissertation is a study of the cross-cultural interactions between the Dutch... Show moreNo European country enjoyed such long-standing relations with the Thai Kingdom of Ayutthaya like the Netherlands. This dissertation is a study of the cross-cultural interactions between the Dutch and the Thai in the 17th and 18th centuries. Based on Dutch sources, it investigates how the employees of the Dutch East India Company (VOC) perceived the court of Ayutthaya and its members in the context that it was most important for these men to maintain the balance between their ‘partnership’ with the Thai and their own ‘sense of differences’ from the Thai culture. The first part of the dissertation deals with the relatively equal positions of the VOC in relation to the Ayutthayan court in trade, politics, and diplomacy. In contrast, the fate of its men-on-the-spot and business in Ayutthaya was often subjected to local authorities. The second part shows how the VOC merchants evaluated the situation of different Thai Kings and how they dealt with the Thai elite. The analysis of the VOC sources shows how the positions of these Dutch merchants were dictated by local circumstances, thereby demonstrating the strength of early modern South-East Asia in the face of the rising of European power in the East. Show less
