Page 120 - Dutch Ships in Tropical Waters

a more steady growth: the existing network is further developed and intensified (described in chapter .). In the period -, the intensity of the total of intra-Asian shipping decreases slightly. If the volume of the shipping is considered, the same development can be seen though with some slight deviations. The total volume of the shipping grows until  but less than the frequency. After , the growth stagnated somewhat, but there was a steep growth again in volume between  and , although there was only a smaller increase in the number of intra-Asian voyages. The volume of shipping stabilises again between  and . These developments will be explained in relation to the composition of the VOC fleet in Asia (see Part  chapter  and Part  chapter ). From this database it is possible, for the first time, to analyse the development of the VOC shipping in Asia quantitatively. This analysis has been carried out in ten-year periods from  to  on the frequency of arrivals and ships’ tonnages in  trading areas grouped in  main regions. From the data in both Table - and Table - (see section .), the development of the total shipping network can be seen. In the period under consideration, % of all the arrivals (and % of the total cargo space involved) of VOC intra-Asian voyages were in the region around the Java Sea, with Bantam (in the early years only) and Batavia being the most important har- bours. The prominent position of this region is clear for both the inter-Asian and intra-Asian networks. A constant growth can be seen in the arriving shipping volumes in this area over the whole of this period, indicating a constant growth in the available Asian goods in Batavia for transhipment to Europe. Over the whole period, the Spice Islands were also an important destination as one of the core businesses of the VOC. Ambon (Area ), Banda (Area ) and the Moluccas (Area ) together represent almost % of all arrivals and the total shipping volume. The region does show some fluctuations in the numbers of visiting ships and their cargo space because of the effects of large military actions in some periods, but otherwise maintains a consistent high level between  and . For other regions, like the important pepper ports on Sumatra (Areas ,  and ), the increase in shipping is clearly visible during the VOC’s development phase. Shipping to other destinations like the Arabian Sea and the Far East emerged later in the process, but was in some decline already in the last -year period under consideration. The growing importance of the Bay of Bengal (VOC's vette weide – the plentiful meadows) is clearly shown in numbers of visits and volume amounting to nearly % of total VOC-shipping in Asian during the last -year period. Besides developments instigated by trade, other aspects such as a military emphasis on a given region are also reflected in Table - and Table -. Changes in the arrivals and volumes of shipping to the Strait of Malacca (Area ) are indicators of changes in the nature of the shipping. When the VOC intensified its attempts to ban Portuguese shipping through this im- portant connection between the Far East and the Indian Ocean around , they sent smaller, well-armed yachts to this region. Table - shows the frequency of arrivals in the region grow- ing rapidly, but there is a decline in the average tonnage to  of the ships in the s and the s and even in the absolute shipping volume arriving in the area (as can be seen from Table -). After , when the situation had stabilised, the average tonnage again increased to va- lues around  in the period between  and . Although some general trends can be clearly seen, a more detailed analysis will reveal much more of the manner in which the VOC shipping in Asia developed during the first half of the th century. These detailed analyses will be given below. The seven main regions are for this purpose divided into  areas, mostly following the th century VOC concept for these geographical units. For this reason, some differences do exist between the modern state and region names used to identify the areas in the tables. The exact definitions of the areas can be seen from the description in section ... The matrix that is formed by the number of arrivals and the associated volume per -year period is depicted in the follow section where the main developments that can be derived from these figures are described.  Dutch Ships in Tropical Waters