Middelburgsche Compagnie

Properties2
tagsorganization, company, dutch, precolonial, atjeh, zeeland, netherlands-east-indies, trade, 17th-century, voorcompagnie
aliasesMiddelburg Company, Middelburgsche Compagnie (voorcompagnie), Zeeland East India Company, Middelburg VOC voorcompagnie

9 min read

The Middelburgsche Compagnie — the Middelburg Company, one of the chief voorcompagnieën (pre-VOC companies) of the United Provinces in the period 1595-1602 — was the Zeeland East India company whose fleet under the admiralship of Hans Huybrecht Tonneman conducted the Zeeland mission of August 1601 to Atjeh that produced the first Dutch factory on Achehnese soil, the unconditional release of Frederik de Houtman and his surviving companions, and the first Achehnese embassy to the Netherlands. The Middelburgsche Compagnie is the principal Zeeland voorcompagnie of Van der Woude’s chapter “Atjeh. Djohor. Malaka.” in his Van der Woude (1948).

The 1601 fleet to Atjeh

The Middelburgsche Compagnie’s fleet of “twee groote en twee kleine schepen” — with Hans Huybrecht Tonneman as admiraal on the Middelburg — left Zeeland on 28 January 1601 and reached Sumatra on 23 August 1601 after a prosperous voyage via Andschuan (one of the Comoro Islands) and Ceylon. At Andschuan the local ruler gave them a letter of recommendation to the sultan of Atjeh; at Ceylon they took on refreshment. The fleet arrived off Atjeh bearing a letter from Prince Maurits and gifts in money and merchandise. The sultan, alienated from the Portuguese by the unguarded conduct of the Franciscan monk and by Portuguese seizures of Arab ships, received the Zeelanders solemnly, ordered Frederik de Houtman’s chains struck off, and released him and his surviving companions without ransom.

The lodge “Zeelant”

The Zeelanders, forewarned that English and French ships were on their way, did not flinch at the relatively high prices being asked. They brought their merchandise on shore and bought a full cargo for two ships. The merchants Gerard le Roy and Laurens Bicker assured the sultan that Paulus van Caerden’s seizure of pepper from Arab junks in January 1601 had exceeded his commission and that the aggrieved merchants would certainly be compensated — a concession that smoothed over the chief remaining grievance from the Van Caerden affair.

The sultan then dispatched his own embassy to Prince Maurits — the Atjeh embassy of 1601 — and the Zeelanders obtained leave to settle two commiezen and three assistants on shore at a lodge that they named “Zeelant”. The lodge, which they stocked with money and merchandise, was the first Dutch factory on Achehnese soil. The sultan further permitted two of the commiezen to travel with his letters of favour to the king of Cambay to open trade with Guzerat.

The capture of the Portuguese galleon

On 29 November 1601 the two loaded ships sailed for the Netherlands with the Achehnese embassy aboard; off St. Helena they were saluted by cannon-fire from a richly laden Portuguese galleon, which they captured after a two-day fight and brought home to the United Provinces. The two other ships of the Zeeland fleet sailed the same day for Bantam by way of the west coast of Sumatra, where they evaded a Portuguese fleet sent against them by André Furtado de Mendonça and continued to the Molukken.

The absorption into the VOC (1602)

With the founding of the VOC on 20 March 1602, the Middelburgsche Compagnie was wound up and its assets and personnel absorbed into the Zeeland chamber of the united company. The lodge “Zeelant” at Atjeh had burned down on 13 January 1602 — three months before the charter — and was not rebuilt; the VOC preferred to operate at Atjeh through visiting fleets rather than a permanent factory. The Moucheron firm — another Zeeland voorcompagnie, headed by Balthasar de Moucheron — was similarly absorbed.

Significance

The Middelburgsche Compagnie is, in Van der Woude’s narrative, the principal Zeeland voorcompagnie of the early Dutch-Atjeh relationship and the principal instance of the Zeeland commercial interest in the East India trade before the founding of the VOC. The Zeeland mission of August 1601 — conducted by the company’s fleet under Tonneman — produced the first Dutch factory on Achehnese soil (the lodge “Zeelant”), the unconditional release of Frederik de Houtman, and the first Achehnese embassy to the Netherlands. The company’s absorption into the Zeeland chamber of the VOC in 1602 marked the institutional end of the pre-VOC period and the beginning of the unified Dutch-Indies trade. The Middelburgsche Compagnie’s role in the early Dutch-Atjeh relationship frames the Zeeland commercial interest as the principal Dutch-Indies interest of the pre-VOC period — a position that the Zeeland chamber of the VOC would inherit and that would shape the company’s strategic priorities for the next century.

See Also

Source

Coen, Koopman van Heeren Zeventien. Geschiedenis van den Hollandshen Handel in Indië (1598-1614), by Johan van der Woude (Amsterdam: C.V. Uitgeverij v/h C. De Boer Jr., 1948), Hoofdstuk V “Voorgangers, Hollanders en mededingers tot 1614. Atjeh. Djohor. Malaka.” (pp. 115-117).

The Middelburgsche Compagnie — the Middelburg Company, one of the chief voorcompagnieën (pre-VOC companies) of the United Provinces in the period 1595-1602 — was the Zeeland East India company whose fleet under the admiralship of Hans Huybrecht Tonneman conducted the Zeeland mission of August 1601 to Atjeh that produced the first Dutch factory on Achehnese soil, the unconditional release of Frederik de Houtman and his surviving companions, and the first Achehnese embassy to the Netherlands. The Middelburgsche Compagnie is the principal Zeeland voorcompagnie of Van der Woude’s chapter “Atjeh. Djohor. Malaka.” in his Van der Woude (1948).

The 1601 fleet to Atjeh

The Middelburgsche Compagnie’s fleet of “twee groote en twee kleine schepen” — with Hans Huybrecht Tonneman as admiraal on the Middelburg — left Zeeland on 28 January 1601 and reached Sumatra on 23 August 1601 after a prosperous voyage via Andschuan (one of the Comoro Islands) and Ceylon. At Andschuan the local ruler gave them a letter of recommendation to the sultan of Atjeh; at Ceylon they took on refreshment. The fleet arrived off Atjeh bearing a letter from Prince Maurits and gifts in money and merchandise. The sultan, alienated from the Portuguese by the unguarded conduct of the Franciscan monk and by Portuguese seizures of Arab ships, received the Zeelanders solemnly, ordered Frederik de Houtman’s chains struck off, and released him and his surviving companions without ransom.

The lodge “Zeelant”

The Zeelanders, forewarned that English and French ships were on their way, did not flinch at the relatively high prices being asked. They brought their merchandise on shore and bought a full cargo for two ships. The merchants Gerard le Roy and Laurens Bicker assured the sultan that Paulus van Caerden’s seizure of pepper from Arab junks in January 1601 had exceeded his commission and that the aggrieved merchants would certainly be compensated — a concession that smoothed over the chief remaining grievance from the Van Caerden affair.

The sultan then dispatched his own embassy to Prince Maurits — the Atjeh embassy of 1601 — and the Zeelanders obtained leave to settle two commiezen and three assistants on shore at a lodge that they named “Zeelant”. The lodge, which they stocked with money and merchandise, was the first Dutch factory on Achehnese soil. The sultan further permitted two of the commiezen to travel with his letters of favour to the king of Cambay to open trade with Guzerat.

The capture of the Portuguese galleon

On 29 November 1601 the two loaded ships sailed for the Netherlands with the Achehnese embassy aboard; off St. Helena they were saluted by cannon-fire from a richly laden Portuguese galleon, which they captured after a two-day fight and brought home to the United Provinces. The two other ships of the Zeeland fleet sailed the same day for Bantam by way of the west coast of Sumatra, where they evaded a Portuguese fleet sent against them by André Furtado de Mendonça and continued to the Molukken.

The absorption into the VOC (1602)

With the founding of the VOC on 20 March 1602, the Middelburgsche Compagnie was wound up and its assets and personnel absorbed into the Zeeland chamber of the united company. The lodge “Zeelant” at Atjeh had burned down on 13 January 1602 — three months before the charter — and was not rebuilt; the VOC preferred to operate at Atjeh through visiting fleets rather than a permanent factory. The Moucheron firm — another Zeeland voorcompagnie, headed by Balthasar de Moucheron — was similarly absorbed.

Significance

The Middelburgsche Compagnie is, in Van der Woude’s narrative, the principal Zeeland voorcompagnie of the early Dutch-Atjeh relationship and the principal instance of the Zeeland commercial interest in the East India trade before the founding of the VOC. The Zeeland mission of August 1601 — conducted by the company’s fleet under Tonneman — produced the first Dutch factory on Achehnese soil (the lodge “Zeelant”), the unconditional release of Frederik de Houtman, and the first Achehnese embassy to the Netherlands. The company’s absorption into the Zeeland chamber of the VOC in 1602 marked the institutional end of the pre-VOC period and the beginning of the unified Dutch-Indies trade. The Middelburgsche Compagnie’s role in the early Dutch-Atjeh relationship frames the Zeeland commercial interest as the principal Dutch-Indies interest of the pre-VOC period — a position that the Zeeland chamber of the VOC would inherit and that would shape the company’s strategic priorities for the next century.

See Also

Source

Coen, Koopman van Heeren Zeventien. Geschiedenis van den Hollandshen Handel in Indië (1598-1614), by Johan van der Woude (Amsterdam: C.V. Uitgeverij v/h C. De Boer Jr., 1948), Hoofdstuk V “Voorgangers, Hollanders en mededingers tot 1614. Atjeh. Djohor. Malaka.” (pp. 115-117).

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