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Ruthless dominance in the Far East
In 1604, the VOC sent out a heavily armed fleet of 13 merchantmen to conquer Portuguese-held spice islands in the Moluccas, establish bases and secure most of world’s trade in nutmeg, mace and cloves. The new, powerful and extremely-well financed VOC quickly became the dominant force in the Far East. The VOC’s policy was neatly summed up in 1614 by company officer Jan Pieterszoon Coen, who went on to become the Governor-General in the Far East:
…we cannot carry trade without war nor war without trade.
Coen was the VOC’s de facto chief executive in the East Indies. He reported to the Heeren XVII, the VOC’s board of directors in the Dutch Republic.
The VOC was responsible for a series of massacres of Indigenous peoples of the East Indies, under the direction of the Heeren XVII and led by Coen—particularly in Banda (1621) and Ambon (1623). Breaches of the nutmeg and mace trade monopoly were used as the excuse to massacre and displace most of the population. The VOC also took part in slavery and slave trading during its two hundred years of activity, taking people from East Africa, Madagascar and the Mascarene Islands (Mauritius and Réunion), the Indian subcontinent and southeast Asia. Laurens Real, the VOC’s Governor-General in the East Indies (1615-1619), introduced slave labour into the nutmeg plantations on Ambon while his successor, Coen, introduced slave labour to the rest of the VOC settlements in the East Indies. By the time Commander Jan van Riebeeck established the Cape of Good Hope settlement in 1652, slavery was a long-established way of obtaining labour for the VOC.
The ‘Spice Chart’ by P. Plancius, published in 1617.
Credit: Kerry Stokes Collections, Perth, 2014.086
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The dutch east india company
Pelsaert and the VOC
Francisco Pelsaert’s involvement with the VOC was brief yet distinguished. Employed as an assistant in 1618, he was later re-engaged as an undermerchant in 1620 and posted to Surat and Agra, in India. After only three years in Agra, Pelsaert assumed the position of uppermerchant, ultimately taking command of the important VOC district trade outpost when his superior died.
An expert trader
Pelsaert was highly regarded amongst his superiors as an efficient and successful merchant, with good skills and experience, particularly in the language spoken in Agra. Largely thanks to the work of Pelsaert, the VOC secured the leading position in the trade of spices such as nutmeg and mace, as well as the crop indigo used to make pigments. Throughout his time in Agra, the knowledge Pelsaert gained on trade items was invaluable to the VOC, providing competitive advantage from their competitors.
Pelsaert’s Remonstrantie
Pelsaert served as uppermerchant for seven years. In the final years of his service, he produced the Remonstrantie, or ‘Report’, which both summarised his regular work throughout India and contributed greatly to the records of VOC trade in Asia. Remonstantie was a strictly commercial report for the VOC and to be kept secret from other prominent European rivals, such as the English East India Company.
Council of India
On the termination of his appointment and subsequent departure from India in 1627, Pelsaert briefly returned to Amsterdam aboard Dordrecht via the east coast of Africa. On this journey, it is likely he contracted malaria, which troubled him for the rest of his life. After a short time in Amsterdam, Pelsaert was appointed to the Council of India, and given command of Batavia and the fleet it was a part of for the journey from Texel to the East Indies.
On buying indigo, Pelsaert recommended:
When the yield is plentiful, that is to say when the ziarie [second crop] has suffered no injury, and the rains have been timely for the nauti [first crop], one or two experienced men should be sent in the end of August or the beginning of September to Chanowa or the adjoining villages, and should buy whatever is really good; but if the crop promises to be short, it is better to remain quietly in Ghanowa...
A letter praising Pelsaert from Jan Pieterszoon Coen, Governor-General of Batavia:
The person of Francisco Pelsaert who before this has come over with the ship Dordrecht from Saruatte but has now gone again as President with the ships lately sailed for the Indies, on the ship Batavia, this same has asked for our recommendation to You Hon. And the Councillors of India, and, because we have heard very good reports of his previous services, we therefore recommend him to Your Hon. Hereby, asking you to keep in mind his person and to note the future services of the same to advance the said Pelsaert according to those services to such positions as his conduct and contribution shall merit, whereby you will perform an act of friendship to us and a service to the General Company.
View of Surat, India in 1629 by Adriaen Matham.
Credit: Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam
