Page 288 - THE MELANESIA DIASPORA FILE CETAK ISI 10022017

relations with Bantam: export and import the same as with Batavia. Trade relations with
Palembang: exports such as sandalwood and slaves; Import pepper (Noorduyn, 1983: 103-
118, van Leur, 1983: 195-196).
Anthony Reid, in his introduction to his study on trade in Makasar in the period under
the control of the ruler of the Makasar Kingdom, said that the history of the success of
Makasar trade growth is unmatched in Indonesia history(Reid, 1983: 117, Sutherland,
1989: 98). This success could not be sustained because of the ongoing conflict between the
ruler and the Kingdom of Makasar and the VOC, which finally led to a major war known as
the War of Makasar. The war that flared up in December 1666 was successfully concluded
on 18 November 1667 with a peace agreement reached in Bungaya. This agreement was
really a political contract that harmed local kingdoms and dimmed the trading activities of
maritime kingdom of Makasar. The activities of maritime trade in the region were finally
under the authority of the VOC.
The VOC, which took over the kingdom of Makasar trade center, did not intend to make
the commercial city port one of the most important ports, although it was a very strategic
commercial port. However, considering that the population of South Sulawesi were
accomplished sailors and had a broad network of relationships, a policy to turn off their
activity should be taken. That was why Cornelis Speelman established it as a commercial
city port to secure a VOC monopoly in Maluku. It was seen to re-empower one of the points
in the Bungaya Treaty (actually a contract) which prohibits Sulawesi inhabitants from
engaging in commercial sailing to the east (to the Moluccas and its vicinity). It was also
a step to stop the kinship and mutual help that had been built either with inhabitants in
Maluku and with the population in Papua. The ban was even imposed on seafarers and
other traders who previously practiced maritime trade to Maluku and Papua.

Netherlands Control of the Maritime World (1670-1799)
When port city of Makasar turned into simply a post to secure trade monopoly in the
Moluccas, the sailing and maritime trade conditions in the Maritime Trade Zone of Java
Sea faded. Sailors and traders from South Sulawesi shifted their trade activities to Malacca
Peninsula, known as Maritime Trade Zone of Malacca Strait. Commercial sailing activity to
Maluku was controlled by Dutch sailors and merchants who used only one route, Batavia
- Makasar - Maluku, and returning by the same route. From Batavia, all products obtained
from the Moluccas were sent to their parent state.

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