The Nieuwe Brabantsche Compagnie — the New Brabant Company, one of the voorcompagnieën (pre-VOC companies) of the United Provinces in the period 1595-1602 — was the Brabant-based East India company whose fleet under the admiralship of Pieter Both (with Paulus van Caerden as vice-admiraal) left Texel on 21 December 1599 and from which Van Caerden conducted the second Dutch commercial visit to Atjeh in 1600-1601. The Nieuwe Brabantsche Compagnie is the principal Brabant voorcompagnie of Van der Woude’s chapter “Atjeh. Djohor. Malaka.” in his Van der Woude (1948).
The 1599 fleet under Pieter Both
The Nieuwe Brabantsche Compagnie’s fleet under Pieter Both — with Paulus van Caerden as vice-admiraal — left Texel on 21 December 1599. The fleet was bound for the East Indies by way of the west coast of Sumatra; Both dispatched Van Caerden to Priaman, Tikoe and Pasaman — “zonder resultaat” — and thence to Atjeh, where Van Caerden arrived on 21 September 1600. Both himself proceeded to Bantam and the eastern archipelago. The fleet’s mission was a commercial one — pepper and spices — but it was conducted in the shadow of the Houtman ambush of September 1599 and the approaching truce with Spain.
The Van Caerden visit (1600-1601)
The full account of the Van Caerden visit is given in the entry on the visit itself. In summary: Van Caerden obtained the release of the surviving Houtman captives including Hans Decker; signed a pepper contract with the sultan on 28 December 1600; received the escaped Frederik de Houtman on 30 December 1600; seized pepper from Arab junks at anchor on 12 January 1601 after the sultan’s sabander rearrested Houtman; was fired on by the shore batteries; burned several coastal craft; released his prisoners; and sailed for Bantam by way of the west coast of Sumatra, taking on no cargo.
The absorption into the VOC (1602)
With the founding of the VOC on 20 March 1602, the Nieuwe Brabantsche Compagnie was wound up and its assets and personnel absorbed into the united company. Pieter Both would go on to become the first Governor-General of the VOC in 1609; Paulus van Caerden would continue in VOC service until his capture by the Spanish in the Moluccas in 1607. The Brabant commercial interest in the East India trade — represented by the Nieuwe Brabantsche Compagnie — was thus absorbed into the unified Dutch East India enterprise.
Significance
The Nieuwe Brabantsche Compagnie is, in Van der Woude’s narrative, the principal Brabant voorcompagnie of the early Dutch-Atjeh relationship and the principal instance of the Brabant commercial interest in the East India trade before the founding of the VOC. The Van Caerden visit of 1600-1601 — conducted by the company’s vice-admiraal — produced the first formal Dutch-Achehnese pepper contract, the release of the surviving Houtman captives, and the first armed clash between the Dutch and the Atjeh shore batteries. The company’s absorption into the VOC in 1602 marked the institutional end of the pre-VOC period and the beginning of the unified Dutch-Indies trade. The Nieuwe Brabantsche Compagnie’s role in the early Dutch-Atjeh relationship also frames the Brabant commercial interest as a constituent of the broader Dutch-Indies trade — a position that the unified VOC would inherit.
See Also
- Paulus van Caerden’s Atjeh visit (1600-1601)
- Pieter Both
- Paulus van Caerden
- Hans Decker
- Frederik de Houtman
- Sultan of Atjeh (1589-1604)
- Middelburgsche Compagnie
- Moucheron’s firm
- Founding of the VOC (1602)
- Vereenigde Oostindische Compagnie
- Priaman
- Tikoe
- Pasaman
- Acheh
- 1599
- 1600
- 1601
- 1602
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. 111-115).
The Nieuwe Brabantsche Compagnie — the New Brabant Company, one of the voorcompagnieën (pre-VOC companies) of the United Provinces in the period 1595-1602 — was the Brabant-based East India company whose fleet under the admiralship of Pieter Both (with Paulus van Caerden as vice-admiraal) left Texel on 21 December 1599 and from which Van Caerden conducted the second Dutch commercial visit to Atjeh in 1600-1601. The Nieuwe Brabantsche Compagnie is the principal Brabant voorcompagnie of Van der Woude’s chapter “Atjeh. Djohor. Malaka.” in his Van der Woude (1948).
The 1599 fleet under Pieter Both
The Nieuwe Brabantsche Compagnie’s fleet under Pieter Both — with Paulus van Caerden as vice-admiraal — left Texel on 21 December 1599. The fleet was bound for the East Indies by way of the west coast of Sumatra; Both dispatched Van Caerden to Priaman, Tikoe and Pasaman — “zonder resultaat” — and thence to Atjeh, where Van Caerden arrived on 21 September 1600. Both himself proceeded to Bantam and the eastern archipelago. The fleet’s mission was a commercial one — pepper and spices — but it was conducted in the shadow of the Houtman ambush of September 1599 and the approaching truce with Spain.
The Van Caerden visit (1600-1601)
The full account of the Van Caerden visit is given in the entry on the visit itself. In summary: Van Caerden obtained the release of the surviving Houtman captives including Hans Decker; signed a pepper contract with the sultan on 28 December 1600; received the escaped Frederik de Houtman on 30 December 1600; seized pepper from Arab junks at anchor on 12 January 1601 after the sultan’s sabander rearrested Houtman; was fired on by the shore batteries; burned several coastal craft; released his prisoners; and sailed for Bantam by way of the west coast of Sumatra, taking on no cargo.
The absorption into the VOC (1602)
With the founding of the VOC on 20 March 1602, the Nieuwe Brabantsche Compagnie was wound up and its assets and personnel absorbed into the united company. Pieter Both would go on to become the first Governor-General of the VOC in 1609; Paulus van Caerden would continue in VOC service until his capture by the Spanish in the Moluccas in 1607. The Brabant commercial interest in the East India trade — represented by the Nieuwe Brabantsche Compagnie — was thus absorbed into the unified Dutch East India enterprise.
Significance
The Nieuwe Brabantsche Compagnie is, in Van der Woude’s narrative, the principal Brabant voorcompagnie of the early Dutch-Atjeh relationship and the principal instance of the Brabant commercial interest in the East India trade before the founding of the VOC. The Van Caerden visit of 1600-1601 — conducted by the company’s vice-admiraal — produced the first formal Dutch-Achehnese pepper contract, the release of the surviving Houtman captives, and the first armed clash between the Dutch and the Atjeh shore batteries. The company’s absorption into the VOC in 1602 marked the institutional end of the pre-VOC period and the beginning of the unified Dutch-Indies trade. The Nieuwe Brabantsche Compagnie’s role in the early Dutch-Atjeh relationship also frames the Brabant commercial interest as a constituent of the broader Dutch-Indies trade — a position that the unified VOC would inherit.
See Also
- Paulus van Caerden’s Atjeh visit (1600-1601)
- Pieter Both
- Paulus van Caerden
- Hans Decker
- Frederik de Houtman
- Sultan of Atjeh (1589-1604)
- Middelburgsche Compagnie
- Moucheron’s firm
- Founding of the VOC (1602)
- Vereenigde Oostindische Compagnie
- Priaman
- Tikoe
- Pasaman
- Acheh
- 1599
- 1600
- 1601
- 1602
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. 111-115).