In 1684, amidst calls for reform and action against corruption, the directors of the Dutch East India Company (VOC) appointed a ‘Committee of Redress’ and dispatched Commissioner General, Hendrik...Show moreIn 1684, amidst calls for reform and action against corruption, the directors of the Dutch East India Company (VOC) appointed a ‘Committee of Redress’ and dispatched Commissioner General, Hendrik Adriaan van Reede, to inspect VOC trade posts and their staff in Asia’s ‘Western Quarters’, which includes Coromandel. This study is an attempt to determine the extent to which van Reede’s actions and decisions in Coromandel can be justified within the framework of the Committee’s original objectives, given how this is not satisfactorily explained in extant historiography. Further, the dominant view in extant literature on this subject is that the VOC directors’ ulterior motive for setting up this Committee was to replace those in Coromandel linked to the Rijckloff van Goens Sr. faction with those linked to their own. Therefore, this study also takes factionalism across the VOC’s rank and file into account. To answer the overarching question, this study relies substantially on archival research and literature review. Archival material considered for this study includes VOC records such as interrogations, statements, missives, and reports, as well as correspondence between van Reede, the VOC directors, and the VOC leadership in ‘Batavia’. This reveals two points of note. First, that van Reede was carefully balancing between serving the interests of the VOC directors and his own; and second, that he did not specifically target the van Goens Sr. faction in Coromandel.Show less
