Violence and Piratical/Surreptitious Activities Associated with the Chinese Communities in the Melaka–Singapore Region (1780–1840)
The chapter hopes to examine the Chinese as an exogenous and endogenous group who had either settled or intermittently infiltrated the Melaka–Singapore region in the Malay Archipelago. The Chinese in the archipelago had often been associated in Western sources with “rather positive” traits such as hardworkingness, astute business acumen, etc., characteristics which could help European colonizers sustain newly founded settlements. The chapter probes the shady world in which disparate subgroups of this ethnicity or creole ethnicity, whether these were related to one another, were engaged in surreptitious activities, or in banditry acts on the seas, which contributed indirectly and sometimes directly to general violence in the region. Overall, whether the Chinese were a more “peaceful” group interested in pecuniary relative to other interests and whether they contributed indirectly to militarization and tensions in the Malay Archipelago are re-examined.
Batavia, 1619–1740: The Rise and Fall of a Chinese Colonial Town
The rise and fall of a Chinese colonial town within Batavia was closely related to the transmutation in Batavia's function as a capital. In the early seventeenth century it was founded as the headquarters to a — mainly inter-Asian — maritime trading East Indies Company at war with the Iberian enemy. As the staple town to the Company, “het magazijn van derzelven producten”, it served both strategic and mercantile goals. From the late seventeenth century onwards a structural change took place. Wars with European rivals were over and trade with the motherland became emphasized at the expense of the Asian “country trade”. On Java, the Company gradually transformed itself into a territorial power, which derived its main income from a system of contingenten and verplichte leverantiën, or tributary payments. Consequently, Batavia lost most of its dynamic function as a headquarters to a maritime trade empire. The adaptation of the city into its new role, e.g., to function as a capital to a territorial hinterland, did not progress smoothly.
Dutch-Asiatic trade, 1620-1740
I Introduction.- II The Factory "Nederland".- III Bullion and Money.- IV Pepper.- V Spices.- VI Raw Silk.- VII Piece-Goods.- VIII Sugar.- IX Japanese Copper.- X Coffee.- XI Tea.- XII Profit and Loss.- Appendices.- A The Invoice Material.- B The Material Concerning the Public Sales.- C Public Sale Prices.- D Bullion and Money. Quantities, Sorts, and Prices in the 18th Century.- E Pepper. Quantities and Prices.- F Sales of Cloves at Surat.- G Dutch and English Purchases of Coffee at Mocha, 1713-1727.- H Purchases of Tea in Batavia and Canton.- I On the Financial Figures.- J Danish Summary.- K Main Manuscript Sources.- L Works Quoted.