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VOC Organization


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.

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)

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)

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