Page 11 - Dutch Asiatic Shipping Volume 1

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and, based on volumetric statistics to even give a certain conjunctural picture of this trade.
It is along such lines that this publication has been set up. Its very first beginnings - we
note it with diffidence - date from 1968. It took long for the historical-statistical material
to be collected in the most complete and reliable form. When this was at last achieved a
painful choice had to be made: either to delay publication of the material until a quanti­
tative analysis and a description of the VOC's shipping business were completed, or to
make the list of more than eight thousand outward and homeward voyages available to
users sooner and separately. Already in 1978 it could be foreseen that the authors of this
publication, because of much increased university commitments, would have insufficient
time within the next few years to complete the analysis and treatise. Thus the second
option was chosen. The date of publication of the present volume, together with the
frequent use made meanwhile of volumes II and III, confirm the wisdom of this choice.
In the present volume the two elements mentioned above have been merged. Results
of calculations based on the historical-statistical material about the voyages have been
assimilated into a study of the shipping business, which was as much part of the VOC' s
role as its trade and overseas administration. Thus is set forth how the organization worked
which for two centuries effected the shipping movements, how many ships were involved,
what numbers of people were carried, what were the cargoes of trade goods and other
commodities and along which routes and for what duration the ships made their voyages.
The source material used is evaluated extensively in the final chapter as to its merit for
this publication. Detailed source references belonging to each of the voyages included in
volumes II and III conclude this volume, together with some appendices and indices.
A publication such as this can only be accomplished if at least a number of individuals and
organizations offer help and facilities. This has certainly been the case. We are extremely
grateful for it. In the first phase the Nederlandse organisatie voor Zuiver Wetenschappelijk
Onderzoek offered financial help, so that the basic data could be collected. In later stages
the Centraal Rekeninstituut of the State University of Leiden assisted with advice and
actual help, particularly in the person of H. J. Blanksma M.S., while our colleague P. K.
Doorn M . A. devised a number of graphs. The Rijkscommissie voor Vaderlandse Geschie­
denis in 1976 placed our somewhat unusual source publication on its programme. For us
this was an important and encouraging decision. The director and various members of
staff of the Bureau assisted efficiently with the eventual transformation from manuscript
into print. Mrs. J. Harris B. A. undertook the translation of the chapters into English. This
was accomplished at a steady pace. The appropriate ambiance for writing was found on
several occasions at the Netherlands Institute for Advanced Study (NIAS) at Wassenaar.
As for the actual research, first of all the ready cooperation of the late mr. J. P. Hou-
terman must be mentioned. This naval officer who for years worked at the Bureau Mari­
tiemeHistorieoftheNavalStaffbuiltupasounddocumentationofshippingeventsin
Asiatic waters over the period 1595-1650. He always generously made available any data
we needed which he already possessed. Next we readily acknowledge that publication
could never have been achieved without the assistance of a long series of
student-assistants
and students in Dutch and maritime history at the State University of Leiden, the necessary
funds being made generously available by the Faculty of Arts. It was they who carried
out the work in the archives with the indexcards and lists. We gratefully record their
names, in neutral alphabetical order: mr. R. A. R. l'Ami, O. Andersen, mrs. C. C. van
Baaien, mr. L. J. Boon (t), mrs. I. G. Dillo, messrs. F. M . Klinkenberg, J. J. Knoester,