Asian European interaction

From the sixteenth to the eighteenth century, European trading companies entered the Asian market in search of the famed spices of the Moluccas, Chinese silk, as well as Indian pepper and textiles, Persian gold and Japanese red copper bullion. The history of Asian-European interaction is complex and multifaceted. This section offers documents on both the positive and the negative sides. Exploring new contacts and lands, thedevelopment of science (languages, natural history, geography), the transfer of technology and diplomatic relations were all important aspects of seventeenth and eighteenth century globalization. Heroic voyages and discoveries still inspire the imagination. But the violent arrival of European ships in Asian waters, and the subsequent conquests, occupations and wars are the other side of the coin.

The Malay and Indonesian region and Asia at large were inescapably connected to global developments. The documents selected in these categories throw more light on the organization and logistics of the VOC as a European trading company alongside other such companies. They illustrate its operations in Asian waters, its settlements and (pre)occupations. Its role in the Intra-Asian trading world and its use of European military and shipping technology is also to be found in these documents.

	III.1 Trade, Cargoes, and Contracts The massive collection of VOC archives in Jakarta offer thousands of documents about intra-Asian and European-Asian trade. The Daily Journals of Batavia Castle were kept to record all large incoming and departing European ships plus their cargoes. Thousands of fluyts, frigates, brigantines, shallops and other types of ships are registered along with short lists of their cargoes. All these ships and cargo listings together with tens of thousands of small requests, bills, reports and letters which can still be found in the archives. Such documents offer new insights into the flow of goods in the intra-Asian and European-Asian trade. (0 articles) read more...
	III.2 Ships, Crews, Voyages and Wrecks European ships and crews usually anchored in the roads of well-known ports like Surat, Colombo, Negapatnam, Melaka, Johor, Batavia, Macau, Canton and Nagasaki. Meanwhile, the explorations and search for unknown territories and peoples continued. Both the English and Dutch sent out exploratory expeditions to the Australian continent, like the Batavia in 1629 or the frigate the Geelvink in 1696. The English explorer William Dampier (1651-1715) was met in Batavia with great suspicion and every intelligence report detailing his whereabouts was carefully studied. Several reports reveal a still unknown world, like the report of the survivors of Dampier’s ship HMS Roebuck which foundered at Ascension Island on 21 February 1701. (1 article) read more...
	III.3 Conquests, Fortresses and Occupations The first land conquest by the VOC was the Portuguese-built town of Ambon in 1605. This was achieved with the indispensable help of the raja of Hitu, a small kingdom on island of Ambon. As the VOC was primarily a trading organization, expensive occupation of territory was not its first priority. Yet, a monopoly on the most important export items of the Nusantara could only be secured by conquest, and this involved the violent occupation of key ports and trading centres like Jayakarta (Batavia) near the main port of Banten, as well as Makassar, Banda, Jepara and Surabaya. (1 article) read more...
	III.4 Wars, Resistance and Opposition How important was Western military technology and organization to the Asian-European interaction? In comparison with the European wars and crises of the seventeenth and eighteenth century, for instance the thirteen-year War of the Spanish Succession (1701-1714), the military actions of the European merchant-warriors in Asia seem almost trivial. But owing to their far better military equipment, knowledge and drill, small numbers of European soldiers could make a difference in a battle. Besides, in the divided world of small Asian states, it was always possible to find an ally among local kings. (1 article) read more...
	III.5 Co-operations, Relations and Diplomacy Another crucial element in the Asian-European encounter was ritual diplomacy, the exchange of gifts, military protocol during diplomatic visits and the signing and sealing of political and trading contracts. An important series of hundreds of original contracts between the VOC and Asian rulers is still kept in ANRI, but for the greater part has been published by J. E. Heeres and others in the Corpus Diplomaticum Neerlando-Indicum between 1907 and 1955. (15 articles) read more...
	III.6 Transfer of Technology and Science One of the most enduring influences in the Asian-European encounter was the exchange of knowledge and technology. In the archives one sometimes comes across orders for a pair of spectacles placed by Asian rulers or traders. The ability to read was extremely important in maintaining a productive life. Clocks, globes and maps and printed books were all part of the seventeenth and eighteenth century era of globalisation. (0 articles) read more...