Patterns of Enslavement:  A Case Study of the VOC Land Register of the Conquered Lands of Pappinivattom in Malabar (1761–1769)

The Dutch East India Company (VOC) secured a foothold in Malabar, a coastal region in the southwestern India along the Indian Ocean, after capturing Cochin from the Portuguese Estado da India in 1663. Since then, they maintained meticulous records and surveys of land, crops, and people in the Malabar Coast. One such record emerges from Pappinivattom, a contested area in Malabar. This document is called the ‘Report of the annual survey of the company’s garden in Pappinivattam from 1761 – 1769.’ The original record is now at the VOC archives in the Tamil Nadu Archives, and a digitized version is available on the website of the National Archives of the Netherlands. This report, which is 173 pages long, gives a glimpse into the VOC’s conquest and administration of Pappinivattom. It documents not only the extent of land under the VOC but also surveys on gardens, the varieties of trees and crops cultivated, the names and castes of paghters (leasers) and details about the company slaves...Show moreThe Dutch East India Company (VOC) secured a foothold in Malabar, a coastal region in the southwestern India along the Indian Ocean, after capturing Cochin from the Portuguese Estado da India in 1663. Since then, they maintained meticulous records and surveys of land, crops, and people in the Malabar Coast. One such record emerges from Pappinivattom, a contested area in Malabar. This document is called the ‘Report of the annual survey of the company’s garden in Pappinivattam from 1761 – 1769.’ The original record is now at the VOC archives in the Tamil Nadu Archives, and a digitized version is available on the website of the National Archives of the Netherlands. This report, which is 173 pages long, gives a glimpse into the VOC’s conquest and administration of Pappinivattom. It documents not only the extent of land under the VOC but also surveys on gardens, the varieties of trees and crops cultivated, the names and castes of paghters (leasers) and details about the company slaves taken during conquest. The report contains not only the surveys but also letters addressed to the Commandeurs of the Company in Malabar. One such letter is dated 18 January 1769. It is addressed to Cornelis Breekpot who was the Commandeur of the Malabar, Canara (coastal Karnataka), and Wingurla Coast (Vengurla, Maharashtra). The letter is a response to an order that requested a separate report on the Company slaves from the conquered lands of Pappinivattom. It tells that assembling all the slaves in person was not possible as the paghters (land leasers) sought exemption until March due to the harvest of Nellu (rice). Instead, it provides the figures from the most recent report of August. It includes a total of 484 Company slaves, consisting of 163 males, 117 females, and 204 children. More than a bureaucratic account, this report offers a window into how enslavement was defined, counted, and managed in a colonial setting under the VOC. It also offers insights into how enslavement was practiced in Pappinivattom, how the enslaved lived, negotiated, and navigated their everyday life. Thus, the thesis takes this register as its starting point to examine the practice of enslavement in 18th century Pappinivattom. It asks the central question: What did it mean to be enslaved in Pappinivattom and what notions of enslavement emerge from Pappinivattom?Show less

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Patterns of Enslavement: A Case Study of the VOC Land Register of the Conquered Lands of Pappinivattom in Malabar (1761–1769)