The murder of the Hollanders and blockade of Atjeh in 1651 — the killing of Dutchmen under the government of Atjeh’s first sultana, Safiattadin Sjáh, answered by the blockade of the Atjehnese harbour places — ended in the treaty by which the East India Company received half of the tin yield of Perak and the monopoly of the trade.
Background: the sjahbandar régime
Since the restoration of friendship in 1640, under Governor-General Van Diemen, the young successor of Iskandar Muda had in name wielded the sceptre over Atjeh, while in fact the sjahbandars ruled: they drove the harbour dues as high as possible, swelling their own incomes and creating the possibility that the Hollanders would be expelled from their roadsteads; though this last did not happen, their greed made the confirmation of old and the conclusion of new relations impossible. The unreliability of the Atjehnese, moreover, made the keeping of peace most difficult: small vexations — laying innumerable difficulties in the way of trade — remained unpunished.
The murder and the blockade
When finally, in 1651, under the government of the first sultana, Safiattadin Sjáh, a murder was committed on the Hollanders, the Dutch side decided to blockade the harbour places of Atjeh, “and thus the state of war had come in again!” The consequence was a new treaty, by which it was determined that half of the tin yield from Perak would accrue to the East India Company, which would also obtain the monopoly of the trade.
Violation of the monopoly
The Sultana consented, Joh. Langhout remarks, undoubtedly in the conviction that her countrymen would provide for the rest — “wat zij ook deden!” (“which they also did!”). Continually the trade monopoly was broken; over and over the Hollanders had to suffer the consequences of the unreliability of the Atjehnese, and when at last the notion “monopoly” had apparently wholly fallen away for the Atjehnese, the Company took action (see VOC-Minangkabau treaty and the founding of the Padang depot (1664)).
See Also
- Sultanah Safiatuddin
- VOC-Minangkabau treaty and the founding of the Padang depot (1664)
- Iskandar Muda’s expulsion of the Dutch (1627)
- Vereenigde Oost-Indische Compagnie
- Acheh
Source
Vijftig jaren economische staatkunde in Atjeh, by Joh. Langhout (The Hague: N.V. Boekhandel v/h W. P. van Stockum & Zoon, 1923), pp. 14–15.