You're now at: 9 Maetsuyckerstraat
"Fear of waning respect for the Company through the loss of Formosa; therefore, a strong force of
ships off the coast of China is requested." (1)
These were the words of Joan Maetsuycker's missive to company headquarters in Amsterdam in the late seventeenth century.
Joan Maetsuycker (1606-1678) was concerned about company reputation. Under his leadership in April 1662, the VOC lost the island of Formosa (today known as Taiwan) to Chinese forces under the command of military leader Coxinga. A 25,000-strong force was defeated and this was a huge loss for the VOC, greatly wounding company pride. Formosa was a strategic location for trade and Maetsuycker could not allow this defeat to happen without strong retaliation (2).
Maetsuycker had previously preferred a policy of free trade, but the fall of Formosa changed his attitude to favour more violent measures. Maetsuycker strove to expand the territory of the VOC, with economic gain being more important than prevention of human suffering. Through these actions, Malaban, Cedon, Ceylon and Makassar were conquered. The occupation of Makassar meant that the VOC had better control over the spice trade at Celebes. (3) In addition, Makassar was an important location for the slave trade. It is estimated that throughout its existence, the VOC traded 100,000 enslaved people in Makassar (4).
Notes
- Generale missiven van gouverneurs-generaal en raden aan heren XVII der Verenigde Oostindische Compagnie , Deel 3, 1656-1674, GS 125, p. 373-375.
- L.P. van Putten, Ambitie en Onvermogen, Gouverneurs-generaal van Nederlands-Indië (Rotterdam 2002), 83; Pieter de Hondt, Historische beschryving der reizen, of Nieuwe en volkoome verzameling van de aller-waardigste en zeldsaamste zee- en landtogten ... vervattende niet alleen ... de aanmerkenswaardigste ontmoetingen en gevallen, der ontdekkeren en reizigers ... maar inzonderheid, de nutste en verhevenste zaaken, van alle de tot nu toe ontdekte gewesten, in Europa, Azia, Afrika, en Amerika ... (Amsterdam 1765), 238-241.
- H. Zeeman, Het Leven, de daden en lotgevallen van Jan Camphuis , 89-92.
- Reggie Baay, Daar werd wat gruwelijks verricht. Slavernij in Nederlands-Indië (Amsterdam 2015), 43; Dirk van Hogendorp, Proev over den Slaavenhandel en Slavernij in Nederlands-Indië , 455; Dirk van Hogendorp, Kraspoekol; of de slaavern. Een tafereel der zeden van Neerlands-Indiën (Delft 1800), vii-viii. See also Kerry Ward, Networks of Empire: Forced Migration and the Dutch East India Company (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2009); Gerrit Knaap, Kruidnagelen en Christenen: de Verenigde Oost-Indische Compagnie en de bevolking van Ambon 1656-1696 (Leiden: KITLV Uitgeverij, 2004).