Batavia as Administrative Centre
F.S. Gaastra
ll
the VOC establishments in
Asia (thus including that at the Cape of Good Hope) were subject
to the Governor-General and Council in Batavia. At the same
time Batavia was the most important and, for a while during
the seventeenth century, the only harbour of arrival and departure
for ships to and from Europe. Communications between the directors
in the Dutch Republic and the various establishments was also
carried on principally via the Governor-General and Council
and its administrative machinery.
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Coat of arms
of Batavia (in the middle)between the arms of
the towns of the six VOC chambers: Delft, Rotterdam,
Amsterdam, Middelburg, Hoorn and Enkhuizen
(click image to enlarge) |
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There were a number of exceptions
to this rule. The VOC establishment
at Gamron in Persia and at times the establishments in India
corresponded with the directors at home overland via the Levant.
Besides this, after the founding of the establishment at the
Cape of Good Hope, there was an exchange of correspondence
between the administrators there and the directors in the
Dutch Republic. Finally, whenever ports other than Batavia
were included in the Europe-Asia trade, there was a direct
exchange of letters between the directors and that particular
establishment at that time(19).
The Governor-General and Council
saw this trade which circumvented Batavia as a threat to their
own position. Moreover, they considered that such moves detracted
from the efficacy of the role of Batavia as rendez-vous. Therefore
the authorities in Batavia were well pleased when in 1636
the directors stopped the direct trade with Coromandel, Surat
and Gamron, which had actually begun before the foundation
of Batavia. In 1665, however, the Governor-General and councillors
had to resign themselves to the fact that Ceylon was to function
alongside Batavia as second port for homeward-bound shipping.
The Heren XVII had given their
assent to this trade in order to be able to supply the rapidly
growing demand for pepper on the European market - the pepper
from Malabar was imported via Ceylon. Moreover, this route
had the added advantage that cinnamon from Ceylon was imported
into Europe more quickly and, because it did not have to be
transshipped, in better condition.
After Ceylon was granted a
direct connection with home, fierce competition rapidly flared
up between the governor of the island, Rijklof van Goens,
and the Governor-General and Council. Van Goens believed that
Ceylon, or more accurately the city of Galle, from where the
homeward- bound VOC ships
sailed, would serve as a better rendez-vous than Batavia for
the Indian establishments of the Company. The result of his
efforts was that the homeward-bound fleet from Ceylon was
sometimes more richly laden than the ships from Batavia. On
the basis of this the directors decided to extend this directe
vaart (direct trade) to Coromandel and Bengal. This,
however, did not prove a success, perhaps partly because Batavia
did not support this policy and possibly even sabotaged it.
Whatever the cause, little by little, the Governor-General
and Council managed to win back lost ground and, by about
1700, apart from Batavia, only Galle had a direct link with
patria.

The city of Mocka (modern-day
Al Mucka in Yemen); around 1700
(click image to enlarge)
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The shifts in trade during
the eighteenth century brought new changes in the shipping.
During the first three decades, ships, known as coffee ships,
sailed regularly from Mocca on the Red Sea via Galle back
to the Netherlands. More importantly, after a caustic debate
between the Heren XVII and
the Governor-General and Council, in 1720 a direct link was
established between The Netherlands and Canton. Up to 1733
the chambers of Amsterdam and Zeeland sent a total of thirteen
ships to Canton, which failed to make Canton. After this,
the organization of this trade was once again entrusted to
Batavia on the understanding that of the two or three ships
which then sailed annually from Batavia to China, only one
would return to its homeport; the other ships with their cargoes
of tea and porcelain sailed back to the Netherlands via the
Sunda Straits. Eventually, in 1756, when the Chinase
commissie was inaugurated, the trade with China was
once again managed from the Dutch Republic; the direct return
fleet was continued.
In the eighteenth century,
besides Galle and Canton, the third harbour with a direct
connection with the Dutch Republic was that of the main establishment
in Bengal. From 1734 onwards two ships sailed annually from
Bengal to Holland, and after 1742 this became four. Furthermore,
from 1750 onwards one ship per year was sent to Hooghly by
the Amsterdam Chamber. And in 1770 a direct sea link was also
established with Coromandel.
The direct shipping link and
the correspondence between patria
and the establishments in India which this brought in its
wake notwithstanding did not represent a fundamental infringement
to the position of Batavia as the head office of the VOC
in Asia. Batavia remained the centre for administration and
book-keeping. Furthermore, the Governor-General and Council
in Batavia continued to forward copies of correspondence with
all its subordinate VOC establishments
to the directors at home, including the letters exchanged
with Ceylon, Canton and Bengal.
The Governor-General and Council
were assisted in their work by the generale
secretarie (central administration). The secretary
to the Governor-General and Council, who was in charge of
the secretariat, attended the meetings of the Raad
van Indië and drew up the resoluties
(proceedings)(20).
Either the secretary himself, or the second man in the secretarie,
an employee with the rank of koopman
(merchant), entered up the Batavia dagregister
(diary). The many clerks employed in the secretarie
took care of the extensive paperwork entailed in the correspondence
with the establishments in Asia and the chambers at home.
The directeur-generaal
was responsible for trade and shipping throughout the whole
of the Asian branch of the enterprise. Naturally he was expected
to discuss such important matters as the compilation of the
eis for goods and monies from patria
in the council. In Batavia the warehouses, both for the merchandise
and for provisions, the pay office and the ready money were
under his supervision. He was assisted by two opperkooplieden
van het Kasteel (senior merchants of the Castle). From
1664 the jobs were divided between these two officials in
such a way that the first or senior of them administered the
goods which were sent in by the Asian establishments, while
the junior looked after the goods which were dispatched from
Batavia. The extent of their task expanded in the course of
time in which case the staff in the negotiekantoor
(trade office), which they headed, was increased by a series
of merchants, junior merchants and book-keepers.
The boekhouder-generaal
(chief accountant) was also subordinate to the director-general.
On the basis of the trading books from the establishments,
the chief accountant made up both the generaal
journaal (general journal) and the generaal
grootboek (general ledger), copies of which were forwarded
to the chambers of Amsterdam and Zeeland. Furthermore, the
accountant-general administered the cargoes which had been
received from the Dutch Republic, as well as the retourgoederen
which were sent back home. The bevindingen
op de eisen (notes on the orders), which had been sent
to the Dutch Republic since the last quarter if the seventeenth
century, will have been provided by the office of the accountant-general.
When the ships were unloaded in Batavia an inspection was
held to check to what extent the goods received corresponded
to the original demands or orders of the Governor-General
and Council, with reference to the decision the Heren
XVII had taken on these. When this had been done, the
original order with a report on any excesses or omissions
was sent back to the Netherlands, so that the directors could
see where they or the chambers had been remiss(21).
Apart from this, from the work
of the chief accountant can be deduced that in Asia, in contrast
to patria, the accounting
was centralized. The system employed did not link up with
that of the chambers(22).
The rationale behind this was very logical: as factor,
the Asian branch of the business was responsible to the enterprise
in the Dutch Republic for everything that it received from
the chambers. The firm in the Dutch Republic was regarded
as a unit, the current account refers to the Generale
Oostindische Compagnie (General East India Company).
In these current accounts everything which had been received
from home in the way of goods and monies was noted in the
credit column, and what was shipped back home in the way of
return wares appears in the debit column. Expenses incurred
in Asia were divided between five items: the general expenses,
pay, expenses for ships, fortifications, and schenkagie
(gifts). Under income, a distinction was made between income
from trade and that derived from taxes and suchlike (called
respectively generale winsten
(general profit) and generale inkomsten
(general income)). In the eighteenth century several items
of costs and incomes were added to the books, but the system
itself remained unchanged. The generale
missiven also contain financial data about the Asian
business. The making up of the general journals could sometimes
be a lengthy process and therefore the book-keepers quickly
gathered together the results from the various establishments
and drew up the balances of income and expenditure per establishment.
These could then be sent back with the return fleet in December
or February as part of the generale missive.
The 'real' financial books arrived as much as a year later.
The visitateur-generaal,
who was also under the director-general, had the task of inspecting
the books and financial administration in Asia. He was also
put in charge of checking the consumptie-rekeningen,
in which, after their arrival from home, the captains had
to account for the provisions used during the voyage.
The central role of Batavia
in the Asian business is made obvious not only by the financial
administration, but is also quite clearly indicated in the
personnel administration as well. The pay office kept the
number of staff throughout the whole of the Asian business
up to date and for this purpose was annually supplied with
the requisite information by the establishments. Every year
after 1689 a complete list of the Company personnel in Asia
was sent home in duplicate.
Batavia was also the seat of
the highest law court in Asia, the Raad
van Justitie. It was a rule that the president was
also a member of the Raad van Indië.
Furthermore the seven members of this council were appointed
by the Heren XVII, a fact
that could not always prevent conflicts with the Governor-General
and Council. The job of the fiscaals
- there were two in Batavia - was to detect crime and the
act as prosecutors.
In order to play a central role
in the maritime traffic Batavia was also provided with the
requisite infrastructure such as shipyards, warehouses, a
workmen's quarter and suchlike. No new ships were built in
Batavia, but a lot of maintenance and repair work on the ships
had to be carried out there, and the facilities needed for
this were located on the island of Onrust, which lay just
off the coast of Batavia. Work here and the ships in the roads
were under the charge of the equipagemeester
(master of the equipage). He was present when ships arrived
and when they sailed; before they sailed he and one of the
fiscaals called the muster-roll
of that ship, after which he checked the cargo.
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Map
of Batavia (click image to enlarge) |
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Naturally Batavia was also
provided with administrative bodies for the city itself. These
administrative institutions appear to have been copied from
those in cities in the Dutch Republic: there was a college
van schepenen (board of aldermen), a college
van weesmeesteren (board of governors of the orphanage)
and a college van heemraden
(polder board). Public order was maintained by the baljuw
(bailiff) and his men or kaffers.
The Governor-General and Council exercised a great deal of
influence in these organs; the presidents of these institutions
were usually members of the Raad
van Indië. There was scarcely any citizenry independent
of or free from the VOC and,
in so far as there were any vrijburgers
(free citizens), they had little say in the management of
things. (See the webpage with a diagram
of the organization of the VOC in Asia.)
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