Jan Huyghen van Linschoten (1563–1611) was a Dutch merchant-traveller whose Itinerario (published 1595–1596) — based on his years in Portuguese service in the East — became the principal European guide to the maritime route to the East Indies and to the geography, trade, and politics of the Asian world. In Godee Molsbergen’s Tijdens de O.I. Compagnie Linschoten is a recurring source on the early European knowledge of Atjeh, and in particular on the great cannon of Atjeh whose loss at Tercera marked the homeward voyage of his return from the East.
The Itinerario
Linschoten’s Itinerario, voyage ofte schipvaert van Jan Huyghen van Linschoten naer Oost ofte Portugaels Indien, 1579-1592 — published at Amsterdam in 1595–1596 — was the work that unlocked for the Dutch (and, in translation, for the English and the French) the secrets of the Portuguese Indies trade. The Itinerario described the sea-routes, the ports, the products, the political structures, and the military strength of the Asian world that the Portuguese had built up over the preceding century. For the Dutch “wilde vaart” of 1595–1602 that produced the VOC in 1602, the Itinerario was the practical guide.
Atjeh and the great cannon
Linschoten’s account of Atjeh is one of the principal European descriptions of the sultanate in the late sixteenth century. He describes Atjeh as the great enemy of the Portuguese in those parts — “die een voortdurende bedreiging voor Malakka was” — which was a constant threat to Malakka — “vooral daar Europeesche overloopers er bij het geschutgieten hielpen” — especially since European deserters helped with the casting of the guns.
The most striking single artefact in Linschoten’s Atjeh description is the great cannon of Atjeh: “De Portugeezen veroverden een reusachtig Atjehsch kanon, dat door den Gouverneur van Malakka als geschenk aan den Koning van Portugal gezonden, verging bij Tercera op Van Linschoten’s thuisreis” — The Portuguese captured a gigantic Atjeh cannon, which, sent as a gift from the Governor of Malakka to the King of Portugal, perished near Tercera on Van Linschoten’s homeward voyage. The loss of the great cannon on Linschoten’s return voyage — the cannon had been captured from Atjeh and was being shipped to Lisbon — is one of the small ironies of the European-Asian encounter.
Other Atjeh-related observations
Linschoten’s account also touches on the wider Malay world in which Atjeh was a major power. He describes the Malay population as “zoowel mannen als vrouwen zeer amoureus” — both men and women very amorous — who sing meritorious love-songs (pantoens) of which they are very proud. Of the Malay language he writes: “die in Indië de sprake van Malaye niet kent, die kan er niet terecht” — whoever in the Indies does not know the language of Malay cannot get on there. The Malay of Linschoten’s description — the lingua franca of the Indian Ocean trade — was the same Malay that Frederik de Houtman would learn in his Atjeh captivity and codify in his *Spraeck ende woord-boeck* (1603).
Significance
For Atjeh’s history, Linschoten is the principal early European source on the sultanate’s military power — and in particular on the great cannon of Atjeh whose capture and loss frame the Portuguese-Atjeh military contest of the late sixteenth century. His Itinerario shaped the Dutch (and European) understanding of Atjeh as a major Asian power, and his description of the Malay lingua franca provided the linguistic context for De Houtman’s later dictionary. The loss of the great cannon on Linschoten’s homeward voyage is one of those small material accidents that close the physical trace of a once-famous artefact.
See Also
- Great cannon of Atjeh
- Acheh
- Malakka
- Frederik de Houtman
- Spraeck ende woord-boeck (1603)
- Sultan Aloeddin of Atjeh
- 1595
Source
Tijdens de O.I. Compagnie, by Dr. E. C. Godee Molsbergen, Oud-Hoogleeraar, Landsarchivaris te Batavia (Amsterdam: N.V. Swets & Zeitlinger Boekhandel en Uitgevers Mij., 1932), chapter XXIII (“Sint Thomas. De Madoera-ziekte. Malakka. Het groote kanon in Atjeh. Java. Paradijsvogels. Lélang. Koloniale Portugeezen”), p. 81 of the numbered-letter sequence, citing J.H. van Linschoten, Itinerario. See also the annotation on p. 309: “J.H. van Linschoten. Zie de uitgave door Prof. Dr. H. Kern in de Linschoten-Vereeniging II. 1910. (2 deelen).”