Page 39 - Dutch Ships in Tropical Waters
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Under discussion was the question of whether private traders should be given access to infra- structure developed for the Asian trade that had been funded by investments made by the VOC shareholders and the Dutch state. Efforts by the government to get involved generally resulted in unwillingness by the VOC directors to bring the decision-making process to a con- clusion. When Coen left the Netherlands in to serve his second term as Governor-General he was no longer seen as a promising talent who could reorganise the VOC organisation in Asia. Instead he was rendered powerless in his decision-making capacity when his proposal for the ‘new footing’ was finally turned down at the end of . From then on the vrijlieden were banned from the most lucrative trade in Asia and the VOC would build further on intra- Asian trade that proved to be very profitable indeed. The expansion of the VOC network up to After the VOC network in Asia was in place but it would still take many years and a lot of effort to establish the organisation that led to the strong position of the VOC in Asia. There was no systematic approach to this development. Progress was dependant on the local situation as well as the available means. An understanding of this progression is important for further ana- lysis of VOC shipping to . The situation in the eastern region The focus of the intra-Asiatic trade around remained the Spice Islands – Ambon, Banda and the Moluccas – in the eastern part of the Indonesian Archipelago. The eastern Banda Island group was the only place where nutmeg was grown and harvested in the th century. The original population of the island had been completely annihilated by the VOC and replaced by a newly imported populace who were only allowed to sell nutmeg and its by-product, mace, to the VOC. Ambon was the island from which the VOC tried to control the clove trade, which was much more difficult to regulate than nutmeg.. Most of the European return-cargo, besides pepper, came from this area. Sailing from Batavia to the Spice Islands was only possible between late October and early March. Return trips were only possible between April and early October. On this route Timor and Solor, close to Java, were separate destinations instead of stopovers. Since this route to the Spice Islands was so important for trade and so monsoon-dependent, the VOC experimented with sailing off-season using smaller ships, or on an alternative route, south of Java or west and north of Sulawesi. These attempts never lead to regular, commer- cially feasible shipping off-season. Before , it was difficult for the VOC to enforce their desired monopoly over mace and nutmeg on the rulers and inhabitants of the Banda Islands. The VOC directors in the Nether- lands were in favour of an aggressive policy but they hesitated to order a large-scale operation against the local rulers in this region. The effectiveness of a policy that did not have the coop- eration of the local rulers was questioned (Coolhaas , p. ). In earlier days, the main strat- egy was to put a blockade on trade and shipping, which was, in itself, already harmful to the Banda islanders. However, after Coen was appointed Governor-General, things took a dra- matic turn for the local population. In a military expedition consisting of soldiers overran the main centres on Banda. By replacing the existing inhabitants with a VOC selected population, the absolute monopoly on mace and nutmeg was achieved. The traditional island community ceased to exist. For the monopoly on cloves, Coen followed another policy. Cloves were grown over a large area of many islands near Ambon (Ceram) as well as in the North-Moluccas. Coen negotiated a treaty with the ruler of Ternate, who had nominal authority over large parts of this area; this treaty was forced upon all his subjects and at the same time all clove shipments not exported by the VOC were declared illegal. In the s, Coen organised the hongi expeditions to destroy clove trees and other crops on the Moluccas. He had hoped to make the ‘illegal’ production of The Dutch expansion in Asia up to
