From 1585 to 1800, Walcheren was a major destination for international sailing ships in the Netherlands, as it was home to the headquarters of the VOC Chamber of Zeeland. In that time, many ships...Show moreFrom 1585 to 1800, Walcheren was a major destination for international sailing ships in the Netherlands, as it was home to the headquarters of the VOC Chamber of Zeeland. In that time, many ships found their end around Walcheren. One of the many causes was the surrounding waterscape, which was and still is very dynamic and rapidly changing, because of which ships would run aground and eventually wreck. However, as they were also buried quickly by the sedimentation, a lot of shipwrecks has been preserved until today. As the currents of the estuaries around Walcheren have moved over the past few centuries, the protective sediment layers on top of the shipwrecks is being eroded, uncovering the shipwrecks. On top of the seabed, the shipwrecks are exposed to decay and erosion, and thus archaeologists need to act quick. One of the approaches to proactively locate the shipwrecks before it is too late, is the creation of prediction maps. This research has studied the changes in the morphology of the waterscape of Walcheren from 1585 to 1800, based on historical maps and bathymetrical reconstructions. These were combined with historical data of shipping routes and average drafts to create so-called risk areas that ships, if they were to sail into it, had a high a likelihood of running aground and consequently wrecking. Based on the reconstructed and modern bathymetry, this research analysed the change in the waterscape from 1585 to the present. Based on this information, a prediction map was created, predicting areas in which shipwrecks are most likely to have been preserved. Both this preservation prediction map and the risk area prediction map were tested by overlaying them with contemporarily documented shipwreck locations. The results showed that the vast majority of documented shipwrecks was located in the predicted areas of both maps, proving their accuracy.Show less
In de historiografie is er veel aandacht voor de nederlaag van de VOC in de Slag om Colachel. De VOC verloor hierin van het Indiase koninkrijk Travancore dat onder leiding stond van Marthanda Varma...Show moreIn de historiografie is er veel aandacht voor de nederlaag van de VOC in de Slag om Colachel. De VOC verloor hierin van het Indiase koninkrijk Travancore dat onder leiding stond van Marthanda Varma. Een bijzondere gebeurtenis, maar waar minder aandacht voor is, is de steun van de EIC aan Travancore. Dit speelde een grote rol, zowel voor als tijdens de Slag om Colachel.Show less
Pieter van Dam’s Beschryvinge van de Oostindische Compagnie (1701) is an important text in Dutch colonial history. Its creation on the micro-level has been studied, but this thesis gives for the...Show morePieter van Dam’s Beschryvinge van de Oostindische Compagnie (1701) is an important text in Dutch colonial history. Its creation on the micro-level has been studied, but this thesis gives for the first time a comprehensive analysis of the relationship between the text and the historic (political, economic, social, cultural, intellectual) context of the seventeenth-century Dutch Republic. The first chapter highlights different ways in which Van Dam used his agency to shape the outcome of the Beschryvinge, while at the same time presenting him as a product of his environment. The second chapter re-examines the relationship between the Beschryvinge and the Dutch East India Company’s reform (redress) period at the end of the seventeenth century from a contextual perspective. It tries to explain Van Dam’s conservative views on Company reform by relating them to the political-economic thinking in the Republic during this time, and argues that the more reformist tendencies of his colleagues Coenraad van Beuningen and Johannes Hudde can be explained by their adherence to new naturalistic political-economic theories. Although Van Dam’s view on the VOC seems influenced instead by older political theories rooted in the classics, the third chapter shows that the Beschryvinge was in other ways influenced by the intellectual developments of the seventeenth-century Republic—and underscores how these developments were shaped by the country’s growing engagement with the non-European world. It presents the Beschryvinge as the product of a long tradition of gathering and managing information for commercial and administrative purposes within the VOC, and argues that although the VOC’s information system shared similarities with those of other early modern European colonial administrations, the Beschryvinge was a reflection of the specific way in which the VOC responded to the problems it faced at the end of the seventeenth-century. Influenced by New Imperial History and engaging with global intellectual history and the ‘early modern archival turn’, this thesis moves at the intersection of textual and contextual analysis with the goal of providing a better understanding of the interplay between the Beschryvinge, Van Dam and the historic context. This is especially useful for the many historians consulting the work as a source.Show less
Dit onderzoek tracht vast te stellen hoe het giftenbeleid van de Verenigde Oost-Indische Compagnie aan het shogunhof van Japan kan worden verklaard aan de hand van antropologische bevindingen in de...Show moreDit onderzoek tracht vast te stellen hoe het giftenbeleid van de Verenigde Oost-Indische Compagnie aan het shogunhof van Japan kan worden verklaard aan de hand van antropologische bevindingen in de periode 1648-1748. Hierbij staat de theorie van Marcel Mauss over de invloed van giften op relaties tussen gemeenschappen centraal.Show less
Deze scriptie behandelt de manier waarop etniciteit en status een rol speelden in de criminele processen uit het archief van de Schepenbank van Batavia in 1775 tot 1800. Hoewel historici als...Show moreDeze scriptie behandelt de manier waarop etniciteit en status een rol speelden in de criminele processen uit het archief van de Schepenbank van Batavia in 1775 tot 1800. Hoewel historici als Jacobus la Bree en Eric Jones stellen dat er binnen het Bataviase rechtssysteem enkel discriminatie plaatsvond op basis van de relatie die men had met de Verenigde Oost-Indische Compagnie, betoogt dit werk dat er ook duidelijk sprake was van discriminatie op basis van etniciteit en status. Dit zal worden gedemonstreerd aan de hand van een analyse van originele processen met betrekking tot diefstal, geweld en moord uit het archief van de Schepenbank van Batavia.Show less
During the 1620s the VOC established a presence on the island of Taiwan, then called Formosa. Research on this colony has mostly focussed on the later decades and its dramatic loss at the hand of a...Show moreDuring the 1620s the VOC established a presence on the island of Taiwan, then called Formosa. Research on this colony has mostly focussed on the later decades and its dramatic loss at the hand of a Chinese warlord in 1662. This thesis examines those early years through the construction of Fort Zeelandia, the colony’s administrative capital. This was a slow process, in places equally as dramatic as the colony’s downfall, which shows us that the advantages that allegedly fuelled European expansion could often be ill-suited to the colonial environment.Show less
This thesis concerns the transfer of firearms technology from the Dutch East India Company to Siam at the end of the seventeenth century. It shows that the transfer of both weapons and of experts...Show moreThis thesis concerns the transfer of firearms technology from the Dutch East India Company to Siam at the end of the seventeenth century. It shows that the transfer of both weapons and of experts with skills related to firearms were organised through diplomatic exchange and gift giving. Changes in this transfer were mainly shaped by the Siamese, although they were unable to force the Dutch to fulfill all their wishes.Show less
This thesis examines the effects of the so-called Nayaka kings on Kandyan kingship in the first decade of the Nayaka period of the Kandyan kingdom (1729-1750). The thesis concludes that the decade...Show moreThis thesis examines the effects of the so-called Nayaka kings on Kandyan kingship in the first decade of the Nayaka period of the Kandyan kingdom (1729-1750). The thesis concludes that the decade before the Nayaka kings rose to power shows remarkable continuity with the first decade after the Nayaka kings ascended the Kandyan throne, and it is therefore difficult to state that the Nayaka ascension can be seen as a clear break with the former dynasty. The ceremonies at the court do not show any sign of an increased divinization, both Sri Vijaya Rajasinha (1739-1747) and Kirti Sri Rajasinha (1747-1782) even had a bigger emphasis on becoming/being an ideal Buddhist ruler, a Cakravarti.Show less
Het sultanaat Banten kende na de stichting in de zestiende eeuw een turbulente geschiedenis die zich liet kenmerken door interne conflicten binnen de bovenlaag van de Bantense bevolking in een...Show moreHet sultanaat Banten kende na de stichting in de zestiende eeuw een turbulente geschiedenis die zich liet kenmerken door interne conflicten binnen de bovenlaag van de Bantense bevolking in een periode voordat de VOC een grote rol kreeg in Zuidoost-Azië. Deze scriptie gaat op zoek naar de oorzaak achter de interne conflicten en hierbij zet de spelers in Banten en hun motivaties uiteen. De Bantense conflicten uitten zich langs de lijnen van steeds terugkomende tegenstellingen tussen de havenstad en deShow less
