Dutch Slavery and Slave Trade in the Indian Ocean

154 journal of world history, june 2003
In addition, “rebellious” peoples, once subdued, were often forced at
gunpoint to sign treaties with slave clauses, promising the delivery of a
fixed number of slaves and other commodities as fine or tribute (boete
ofte amende). The symbolic exchange of gifts reestablished relationships
and reordered the proper hierarchy between individuals, groups,
and the “honorable” company. Between 1650 and 1675 alone, the
Dutch concluded numerous slave-clause agreements with indigenous
chiefs and headmen (orangkayas, penghulus, sangajis, and so forth) on
and near the islands of Sumatra, Timor, New Guinea, and Sulawesi. 55
According to Dutch Roman law, slavery was hereditary through the
female “on the principle that the fruit follows after the womb.” Offspring
from female slaves, however, was a relatively insignificant source
of captive labor due to low levels of reproduction among slave populations.
Despite several “moments of creolization” (when the slave population
was more than 50% locally born), the gender imbalance among
slaves (i.e., an overwhelming preponderance of male slaves especially
among non-company slaves), high mortality rates, and poor living and
working conditions limited female fertility and weighed heavily against
natural reproduction. 56
In 1682, for instance, the slave population of Malacca consisted of
1,589 adults (880 men and 709 women) and 264 children, an adult-tochild
ratio of 6.0:1 (see Table 3). In 1687, the Cape slave population
consisted of 758 adults (503 men and 253 women) and 145 children
(ratio 5.2:1), while the Dutch settlements along the Malabar coast
(Cochin, Quilon, Cannanur, Cranganur, and Pallipuram) had 716
adults (536 men and 180 women) and 137 children (ratio 5.2:1). In
1688, the slave population of Ambon consisted of 8,335 adults (4,446
men and 3,889 women) and 2,381 children (ratio 3.5:1), whereas
Banda had 3,213 adults (1,631 men and 1,582 women) and 503 children
(ratio 6.4:1). In 1689, the slave population of Batavia consisted
of 22,570 adults (12,557 men and 10,013 women) and 3,501 children
(ratio 6.4:1). 57
Judicial punishment, in the form of political exiles and convicts
55 Heeres, ed., Corpus Diplomaticum Neerlando-Indicum II, pp. 500, 678–79, 749–50;
III, pp. 320, 384, 490, 529, 602, 605, 620, 845–46, 850, 881.
56 Shell, Children of Bondage, pp. 46–48; Hovy, Ceylonees Plakkaatboek I, pp. 309–10,
395; De Haan, Oud Batavia I, p. 456.
57 VOC 1434, OBP 1688, fls. 263v–265v, Samentrekking Huijsgezinnen Cochin . . .,
17.12.1687; Generale Missiven IV, p. 554; idem V, pp. 202, 203–204; Shell, Children of
Bondage, p. 445.