Het Land van Jan Pieterszoon Coen (Terwogt)

Properties2
tagsdocument, book, source, colonial, dutch, popular-history, 1891, terwogt, hoorn, geerts, atjeh, aceh-war, early-voyages, pre-voc
aliasesHet Land van Jan Pieterszoon Coen, Terwogt Coen, Geschiedenis der Nederlanders in Oost-Indië, The Land of Jan Pieterszoon Coen, Terwogt 1891, Terwogt history Dutch East Indies

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Het Land van Jan Pieterszoon Coen — “The Land of Jan Pieterszoon Coen” — is a popular history of the Dutch in the East Indies, written by Dr. W. A. Terwogt, author of De Vader des Vaderlands (“The Father of the Fatherland”), and published by P. Geerts at Hoorn. The work — whose full subtitle is Geschiedenis der Nederlanders in Oost-Indië aan het Nederlandsche Volk verhaald (“History of the Dutch in the East Indies told to the Dutch People”) — is a thirteen-chapter narrative of the Dutch colonial enterprise in the East Indies from the first voyages of the late sixteenth century to the Atjeh-oorlog of the 1870s–1890s, written for a popular Dutch readership in the patriotic-ethnographic idiom of the late nineteenth century. The work’s Atjeh content is extensive, treating both the early Dutch-Atjeh encounters of 1599–1607 and the Atjeh-oorlog of 1873–1891.

Publication and author

The work was published by P. Geerts at Hoorn, with the printing undertaken at the snelpersdrukkerij (quick-printing press) of F. Geerts at Hoorn. The author, Dr. W. A. Terwogt, identifies himself on the title page as the schrijver (writer) of De Vader des Vaderlands — a prior patriotic work on William the Silent — and the book is addressed, as the subtitle states, “to the Dutch People” (aan het Nederlandsche Volk verhaald). The work is held at the library of the Vrije Universiteit (shelfmark L7 BIEL VRIJE UNIVERSITE 08344).

Structure

The work is organised into thirteen chapters (hoofdstukken), covering:

  • Hoofdstuk I–VIII — The early voyages and the rise of Dutch power in the East Indies, from the first expedition of Cornelis de Houtman (1595–1597) through the founding of the V.O.C. (1602) and the governorship of Jan Pieterszoon Coen, to the consolidation of Dutch power in the seventeenth century.
  • Hoofdstuk IX — Dutch history in the East Indies to the downfall of the V.O.C. (1757–1799).
  • Hoofdstuk X — Dutch history during the Batavian Republic, the French domination, and the English domination (1800–1816).
  • Hoofdstuk XI — The restoration and confirmation of Dutch authority to the Java War; the revolt of Dipa Negara (1816–1825).
  • Hoofdstuk XII — The Java War (Dipa Negara); the expansion of Dutch authority (1825–1850).
  • Hoofdstuk XIII — Dutch history in the East Indies to the war with Atjeh (1850–1873).

The Atjeh content is concentrated in the early chapters (the voyages of De Houtman, Van Caerden, Spilbergh, De Weert, and the V.O.C. period) and in the closing pages of the thirteenth chapter (the Atjeh-oorlog of 1873–1891).

Atjeh content: the early voyages

The work’s treatment of the early Dutch-Atjeh encounters is detailed and narrative, drawing on the published accounts of the voyages and on Frederik de Houtman’s own Kort Verhael (the Gouda manuscript). The principal episodes are:

  • The first voyage of Cornelis de Houtman to Atjeh (1599) — the arrival at Atjeh on 21 June 1599, the poisoning and treacherous assault of 1 September 1599, the death of Cornelis de Houtman, and the imprisonment of Frederik de Houtman for twenty-six months. Terwogt’s judgment: “de Atjehneezen zich door grootere energie van alle andere bevolkingen van den Archipel onderscheiden, maar hunne zeden diep verdorven zijn” — the Atjehnese distinguish themselves from all other populations of the archipelago by greater energy, but their morals are deeply corrupted.
  • The voyage of Paulus van Caerden to Atjeh (1600–1601) — the arrival at Atjeh, the Portuguese-induced hostility, the pigskin-parchment letter incident, the overtures to the Sultan, the imprisonment of the sailors, the rescue of Frederik de Houtman (who chose to return to the Sultan’s court), the voorschotten (advance payments) to the Sultan, and Van Caerden’s retaliatory seizure of nine ships.
  • The voyage of the Vereenigde Zeeuwsche Compagnie to Atjeh (1601) — the arrival at Atjeh on 23 August 1601, the Arabic letter of recommendation from the sultan of Anjouan, the release of the prisoners (including Frederik de Houtman) without ransom, the Portuguese-Atjehnese rupture, the embassy of two Atjehnese envoys to Prince Maurits, and the capture of a rich Spanish galleon off St. Helena.
  • The voyages of Joris van Spilbergen (1602) and Sebald de Weert (1602–1603) — Spilbergh’s arrival at Atjeh on 16 September 1602, his union with the English under James Lancaster, and the joint capture of the Portuguese carrack; De Weert’s arrival at Atjeh, his aborted Ceylon project, and his murder by the Maharaja of Candia.
  • The Atjeh contract of Matelieff (1606) — the contract with the Sultan of Atjeh, by which grounds in the Atjehnese kingdom were ceded to the Dutch for a general rendezvous, magazine, and even a colony — a contract the Sultan “halsstarrig” (obstinately) denied in 1610 when the Compagnie pressed for its execution.
  • The atjehse groten (Atjehnese grandees) — Terwogt notes the “vorsten en vorstentelgen in Atjeh” (princes and princely lineages in Atjeh) and the “atjehse groten in Padang” (Atjehnese grandees in Padang) as features of the Atjehnese princely sphere.

Atjeh content: the Atjeh-oorlog

The work’s treatment of the Atjeh-oorlog is a continuous narrative running from the diplomatic prelude of the 1850s–1870s through the two expeditions of 1873–1874 to the protracted guerrilla of the 1880s–1890s. The principal episodes are:

  • The 1857 tractaat of Jan van Swieten — the treaty with the Sultan of Atjeh, by which the two parties agreed to admit each other’s subjects to trade, to co-operate against piracy, and by which the Sultan bound himself to suppress strandroof (beach-piracy). The treaty was “mooi op het papier, maar bleek in de werkelijkheid slechts in zand geschreven” — beautiful on paper, but in reality proved to be written in sand.
  • The Sumatra Treaty of November 1871 — the agreement by which the Netherlands acquired greater freedom of action on Sumatra in exchange for the cession of Dutch possessions on the coast of Guinea (West Africa); the work notes that the treaty “sloeg op Atjeh, het eenige Rijk op Sumatra, dat nog niet van Nederland afhankelijk was geworden” — referred to Atjeh, the only kingdom on Sumatra that had not yet become dependent on the Netherlands.
  • The diplomatic prelude of 1872 — the Atjehnese appeal to the Sultan of Turkey, the Atjehnese embassy to Riouw, the Dutch envoy who was “eenvoudig niet ontvangen” (simply not received), and the Atjehnese appeal to France for help.
  • The first expedition (March–April 1873) — the arrival of Nieuwenhuizen on 22 March 1873, the declaration of war of 26 March, the bombardment of 28 March, the arrival of 3,600 troops on 5 April, the failed assault on the fort of 6 April, the taking of the moskee (mosque) of 10 April and its re-taking of 14 April, the death of Generaal-Majoor Köhler, the failed assault on the Kraton by Gotfried Coenraad Ernst van Daalen of 16 April, and the withdrawal of 25 April 1873 — “een treurige wijze” (a sad manner), the work judges, “Wij hadden de nederlaag geleden” (we had suffered the defeat).
  • The second expedition (December 1873–January 1874) — the 6,000-strong expedition under Jan van Swieten, the cholera on the transports, the landing under Verspijck of 9 December, the taking of the mosque of 6 January 1874, the occupation of the Kraton of 24 January 1874 (found deserted), the proclamation setting aside the Sultansbestuur (sultan’s government), the recognition of Dutch authority by nearly half the statelets, and the naming of the Kraton as Kota-Radja.
  • The protracted guerrilla (1874–1891) — the work’s closing judgment: “van dien tijd af, tot nu toe, eind 1891, duurt de tegenstand der Atjehers onverzwakt voort” — from that time to the present, end of 1891, the resistance of the Atjehnese continues unabated, thanks to the wisselende houding (wavering attitude) of the Dutch government. The work closes with the hope that the new Minister of Colonies, mr. W. K. Baron van Dedem, who declared in his memorie van antwoord on the Indies budget of 1892 that he expected no good from toegeven en zachtheid (yielding and softness) toward the fanatieken Atjeher (fanatical Atjehnese), will bring the war to a conclusion.

Significance

For AcehWiki, Het Land van Jan Pieterszoon Coen is significant as a popular Dutch history of the East Indies, written for a general readership at the end of 1891, that treats both the early Dutch-Atjeh encounters and the Atjeh-oorlog within a single patriotic narrative. The work’s account of the early voyages draws on the published voyage-accounts and on Frederik de Houtman’s Kort Verhael, and it preserves the characteristic Dutch judgments of the Atjehnese — “grootere energie” (greater energy) but “diep verdorven zeden” (deeply corrupted morals). The work’s account of the Atjeh-oorlog is a continuous narrative from the 1857 treaty to the end of 1891, and it is notable for its frank acknowledgment of the Dutch defeat in the first expedition, for its judgment that the war continued “onverzwakt” (unabated) at the time of writing, and for its closing hope in the firmness of the new Minister van Dedem. The work is thus a document of the Dutch colonial public’s understanding of the Atjeh-oorlog at the end of 1891 — a moment when the war was, by the author’s own account, far from over.

See Also

Source

Het Land van Jan Pieterszoon Coen: Geschiedenis der Nederlanders in Oost-Indië aan het Nederlandsche Volk verhaald, door Dr. W. A. Terwogt, schrijver van “De Vader des Vaderlands” (Hoorn: P. Geerts, [1891]). Inleiding (Atjeh as “noordelijke punt van Sumatra” giving “de handen vol werks tot onderwerping”), Hoofdstukken I–VIII (early Dutch-Atjeh voyages 1599–1607), and Hoofdstuk XIII (the Atjeh-oorlog 1857–1891). Vrije Universiteit, shelfmark L7 BIEL VRIJE UNIVERSITE 08344.

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