Violent episodes from the early history of the Dutch East India Company, including its violent depopulation of the Banda Islands in 1609-1621 in order to gain exclusive control over nutmeg, have... Show moreViolent episodes from the early history of the Dutch East India Company, including its violent depopulation of the Banda Islands in 1609-1621 in order to gain exclusive control over nutmeg, have received increasing public and scholarly attention. However, the wider conflicts in the region over cloves, which continued for decades afterwards and were mainly centred around Ambon, received less attention as yet. In this dissertation, Tristan Mostert examines these seventeenth-century spice wars, and the influence of both environmental factors and the political dynamics of the region, from the arrival of the first Dutch ships in the area to the establishment of colonial control over Ambon, Hoamoal and the surrounding islands around 1656. The dissertation explores how the escalating conflict triggered wider regional power dynamics in which Gowa (Makassar) and Ternate were heavily involved. It also shows how the VOC turned to increasingly extreme tactics in its attempts to achieve its monopoly: deliberate environmental destruction, driving out and deporting the population, dismantling existing political and social structures. It contents that in order to understand how the VOC eventually established its monopoly, one should not look for traditional military explanations, but rather to this policy of environmental warfare and colonial control, through which it transformed the landscape of the region. Show less
The thesis explores the nature of VOC diplomacy using the seventeenth century interaction between the Company and the sultanate of Makassar on the western coast of South Sulawesi as its case. I... Show moreThe thesis explores the nature of VOC diplomacy using the seventeenth century interaction between the Company and the sultanate of Makassar on the western coast of South Sulawesi as its case. I analyse the Directors’ reflections on diplomacy in the general and approach towards Makassar in particular as well as Batavian reports on relations with Makassar, and the treaties concluded between the Company and the Sultanate. Discussions within the Company on policy towards Makassar in Batavia, as well as reflections on policy by ‘the man on the spot’, Cornelis Speelman, who in his memorie van overgave of 1669 pondered how to maintain the hegemonic position created by the Bongaya treaty complex of 1667-68.. I argue that both the Director’s concerns and the determining factor in policy decisions in Batavia were predominantly based on contextual considerations. By its very nature such an approach begged for precise and accurate information about local conditions and affairs. This led to a constructivist perception of “treaty,” whereby treaties were particularly designed for the specific and particular context to which they were applied. Show less
