Tinkwartieren (literally “Tin Quartiers”, the Tin Districts) was the collective Dutch term for the three tin-producing polities north of Malacca — Perak, Queda and Oedjong Salang — whose tin trade was the subject of a long series of Compagnie treaties between 1642 and 1664 and the recurring prize of the Compagnie’s Malay-Peninsular policy. In Dr. F. W. Stapel’s Geschiedkundige Atlas van Nederland the Tinkwartieren are the second great theatre of the Dutch-Acehnese contest, alongside the Westkust van Sumatra: Atjeh’s suzerainty over Perak is the lever by which the sultane of Atjeh participates in the peninsular tin trade, and the Compagnie’s effort to dislodge her is one of the principal causes of the 1656 blockade crisis.
The three Quartiers
The three Tinkwartieren were:
- Perak — under the suzerainty of Atjeh
- Kedah (Queda) — independent, but with strong ties to Siam
- Oedjong Salang — under the suzerainty of Siam
A fourth polity, Bangeri, is named by Stapel as the third Tinkwartier in one passage, suggesting that the term sometimes denoted a different cluster. In the principal usage, however, the Tinkwartieren are Perak, Kedah and Oedjong Salang.
The 1642-1645 treaties
After the 14 January 1641 conquest of Malacca, the Compagnie moved rapidly to secure the peninsula’s tin. On 11 July 1642 a treaty with the king of Kedah (Queda) gave the Compagnie “right to at least half of the tin there won and imported, to that end might establish an office under a merchant, and might demand a Dutch passport from all seafarers” (recht kreeg op minstens de helft van het daar gewonnen en aangevoerde tin, daartoe een kantoor onder een koopman mocht vestigen, en van alle zeevarenden een Nederlandschen pas eischen). A similar contract followed on 18 March 1643 with the “Governor” of Oedjong Salang, the tin-rich island on the Westkust of the peninsula; further difficulties led to a renewed contract on 27 October 1643. On 1 January 1645 a similar contract was concluded with Bangeri.
The leak via Perak
These arrangements leaked. “Despite all these contracts, [Voorindische] merchants nevertheless managed to carry off much tin, mostly via Perak, which stood under Atjeh” (Ondanks al deze contracten wisten Voorindische kooplieden niettemin veel tin weg te halen, meest via Perak, dat onder Atjeh stond). Perak, under Atjehsche suzerainty, was the loophole through which Indian Ocean merchants could bypass the Compagnie’s peninsular monopoly.
The 1647 closure and the 1650 Atjeh-Perak treaty
On 3 July 1647 the G.G. and Councillors, on the advice of the Governor of Malacca, resolved “to close the harbours of the Tinkwartieren for all foreign merchants” (de havens der tinkwartieren voor alle vreemde kooplieden te sluiten). But the Compagnie’s purpose was only fully achieved when the sultane of Atjeh herself became party to it. The treaty of 15 August 1650 bound the sultane “to open the tin trade in Perak only to Atjehers and Hollanders” (den tinhandel in Perak alleen open te stellen voor Atjehers en Hollanders).
The 1651 Perak outrage and the 1655 peace
The 1650 Perak treaty was almost immediately violated. In early 1651 the Compagnie’s factory at Perak was overrun and all its officials killed. The relationship remained hostile until 1655, when “peace was concluded in concert with Atjeh” (in overleg met Atjeh de vrede werd gesloten). Perak bound itself by treaty to pay a damages compensation of 50,000 reals in tin and to permit the rebuilding of a factory and warehouse.
The 1658 Kedah and Oedjong Salang outrages
In 1658 the same pattern repeated at the other two Tinkwartieren. At Kedah “during the loading of tin in a Compagnie ship an over-running took place, whereby the lodge was plundered and 9 of the Compagnie’s servants found death” (tijdens het laden van tin in een Compagnies-schip had een overrompeling plaats, waarbij de loge werd geplunderd en 9 van ‘s Compagnies dienaren den dood vonden). The Compagnie responded by blockading the river of Kedah.
In the same year Oedjong Salang, “which stood under the suzerainty of Siam, gave a repetition of what happened at Kedah. Also here the lodge was overrun, whereby 13 Netherlands were murdered. The blockade of Kedah was now extended to Oedjong Salang” (dat onder opperhoogheid van Siam stond, gaf een herhaling van het gebeurde te Kedah. Ook hier werd de loge afgeloopen, waarbij 13 Nederlanders vermoord werden. De blokkade van Kedah werd nu uitgebreid tot Oedjong Salang).
The 1659 Perak settlement
The peace of 5 October 1659 with the sultane of Atjeh provided “that half of the tin won in Perak should be for Atjeh, half for the Compagnie” (dat de helft van de op Perak gewonnen tin voor Atjeh, de helft voor de Compagnie zou zijn). The Compagnie was to pay provisionally only 30 reals the bar (baar), to be brought to the old footing of 32½ reals once its arrears were satisfied.
The 1659 Perak settlement was repeatedly evaded. “When however those of Perak in the execution of this agreement made all kinds of chicanes, the government lifted in 1663 also the factory in this place; ‘the trade of Perak shall henceforth be driven on board’” (Toen echter die van Perak bij de uitvoering dezer overeenkomst allerlei chicanes maakten, lichtte de regeering in 1663 ook het kantoor in deze plaats; ‘de handel van Perak sal voortaen aen boord gedreven worden’).
The 1664 Siam treaty
The Siamese suzerainty over Oedjong Salang was the subject of a separate treaty. “A treaty with Siam, concluded on 22 August 1664, determined among other things that the Compagnie on Oedjong Salang would ‘enjoy a peaceful unconcerned exercise of trade’” (Een verdrag met Siam, 22 Augustus 1664 gesloten, bepaalde o.m., dat de Compagnie op Oedjong Salang ‘een vredige onbecommerde exercitie van negotie’ zou genieten). Even after this, however, the Compagnie did not re-establish a permanent factory there.
Significance
The Tinkwartieren are the second great theatre of the Dutch-Acehnese contest. The sultane of Atjeh’s suzerainty over Perak is the lever by which Atjeh participates in the peninsular tin trade, and the 15 August 1650 treaty is the high point of Compagnie-Atjeh commercial co-operation in the peninsula. The unravelling of the Tinkwartieren system after 1651 — through Perak Malay resistance, Atjehsche governors’ bad faith, and the Compagnie’s own preference for shipboard trade — produced both the 1656 blockade and the long series of Kedah and Oedjong Salang crises that consumed the Compagnie’s Malacca governors through the 1650s and 1660s.
The Tinkwartieren are also the principal point of contact between the Dutch-Acehnese story and the larger Dutch-Siamese story. Siam’s suzerainty over Oedjong Salang and its claims over Kedah make the Compagnie’s peninsular tin policy inseparable from its relations with the Siamese court at Ayutthaya.
See Also
- Perak
- Kedah
- Oedjong Salang
- Bangeri
- Treaty of Atjeh-Perak (15 August 1650)
- Treaty of Atjeh-VOC (5 October 1659)
- Blockade of Atjeh (1656)
- Sultana of Atjeh (Taj ul-Alam)
- Siam
- Malakka
- Vereenigde Oost-Indische Compagnie
- 1642
- 1647
- 1650
- 1651
- 1655
- 1658
- 1659
- 1663
- 1664
Source
De Koloniën, by Dr. F. W. Stapel, in Geschiedkundige Atlas van Nederland (‘s-Gravenhage: Martinus Nijhoff, 1931), kaart 19, blz. 26–27, 64–65 (tekst bij de bladen 2 en 3: De Archipel en het Maleische Schiereiland in 1650, Malakka en het Maleische Schiereiland).