1684

Properties2
tagsyear, colonial, dutch, achehnese, sumatra
aliases1684, the year 1684, MDCLXXXIV

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1684 was the closing year of the long cycle of Dutch-Acehnese conflict on the West Coast of Sumatra opened by the sultane’s accession in 1641. In Dr. F. W. Stapel’s Geschiedkundige Atlas van Nederland it is the year of the Tikoe submission of 20–21 June 1684, the 17 April 1684 Bantam treaty, and the 1685 English move to Benkoelen — three events that together closed the Painansch Contract era and opened the long eighteenth-century phase of Westkust history.

The Tikoe submission

The Tikoe submission of 20–21 June 1684 is the closing diplomatic act of the 1641–1684 cycle. After the 1683 rising had been militarily suppressed, the chiefs of Tikoe acknowledged “that their land had been conquered by the Compagnie with arms” (dat hun land door de Compagnie met de wapenen was overwonnen). They promised “to acknowledge and obey the commandeur at Padang as their panglima” (belovende de commandeur op Padang voor haer panglima te erkennen en gehoorsamen), granted the monopoly to the Compagnie, and declared “that their regents were to be appointed by the commandeur, ‘by force of the panglimaschap’” (dat hun regenten door den commandeur moesten worden aangesteld, ‘kraghte van het panglimaschap’).

The Priaman fort

The Tikoe submission was paired with a parallel Priaman renewal. “At the same time the treaty with those of Priaman was renewed, in view of the English, who intended to settle in the Priamansche. The Compagnie now resolved to build a fort at Priaman, and by the contract the inhabitants promised to deliver the materials necessary thereto” (Tegelijkertijd werd het verdrag met die van Priaman hernieuwd, zulks met het oog op de Engelschen, die van plan waren, zich in het Priamansche neer te zetten. De Compagnie besloot nu, te Priaman een fort te bouwen, en bij het contract beloofden de ingezetenen, de materialen, daartoe noodig, te leveren).

The 17 April 1684 Bantam treaty

The 1684 Bantam treaty — concluded on 17 April 1684 between sultan Hadji of Bantam and the Compagnie — gave the Compagnie the pepper monopoly of Bantam and forced the English, French, Portuguese and Danes to leave. “According to the treaty, 17 April 1684 concluded by sultan Hadji of Bantam with the Compagnie, the latter received the monopoly of the pepper, which was won on Sillebar, situated under Bantam’s suzerainty, just south of Benkoelen. By the same treaty the English had to leave Bantam” (Krachtens ditzelfde verdrag moesten de Engelschen Bantam verlaten).

The 1685 English move to Benkoelen

The English response to the 1684 Bantam expulsion was the 1685 establishment at Benkoelen, Batang Kapas and Sillabar. “They settled themselves in 1685 on the West Coast, namely on Benkoelen, Batang Kapas and Sillabar, although these were considered to stand under the Dutch Compagnie. This region became the centre of the English establishments on the West Coast, where they remained until 1824” (zij vestigden zich in 1685 op de Westkust, en wel op Benkoelen, Batang Kapas en Sibebar, hoewel die werden beschouwd als onder de Nederlandsche Compagnie te staan. Deze streek werd het centrum van de Engelsche vestigingen op de Westkust, waar zij tot 1824 zijn gebleven).

Significance

1684 is the closing year of the long cycle of Dutch-Acehnese conflict on the Westkust. The Tikoe submission ends Atjeh’s leverage on the Westkust; the 17 April 1684 Bantam treaty ends the multi-European presence in Bantam; the 1685 English move to Benkoelen opens the long English counterweight to the Dutch Westkust system. After 1684 the Dutch-Acehnese relationship ceases to be the principal axis of Westkust history, and the Westkust story becomes — until 1824 — primarily an Anglo-Dutch story.

The year is also the natural closing point of Stapel’s narrative of the Westkust in 1684. The text on blad 4 of the Geschiedkundige Atlas is explicitly organised around 1684 as the moment at which the Compagnie’s Westkust authority reached its first complete form, and the long eighteenth-century phase — the subject of the text on blad 5 — begins from that point.

See Also

Source

De Koloniën, by Dr. F. W. Stapel, in Geschiedkundige Atlas van Nederland (‘s-Gravenhage: Martinus Nijhoff, 1931), kaart 19, blz. 22–23 (tekst bij blad 4: Atjeh en de Westkust van Sumatra in 1684) en blz. 1 (tekst bij blad 5: De Compagnie in den Archipel na 1684 tot 1791 — Sumatra).

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