Description
Book SynopsisThe Dutch and English East India Companies were formidable organizations that were gifted with expansive powers that allowed them to conduct diplomacy, wage war and seize territorial possessions. But they did not move into an empty arena in which they were free to deploy these powers without resistance. Early modern Asia stood at the center of the global economy and was home to powerful states and sprawling commercial networks. The companies may have been global enterprises, but they operated in a globalized region in which they encountered a range of formidable competitors. This groundbreaking collection of essays explores the place of the Dutch and English East India Companies in Asia and the nature of their engagement with Asian rulers, officials, merchants, soldiers, and brokers. With contributions from some of the most innovative historians in the field,
The Dutch and English East India Companies: Diplomacy, Trade and Violence in Early Modern Asia presents new ways to understand these organizations by focusing on their diplomatic, commercial, and military interactions with Asia.
Trade Review"
The Dutch and English East India Companies avoids the serious pitfalls that often trip up edited collections. The articles share an overarching perspective that gives them a collective coherence while offering usefully diverse vantage points from which to understand the history of the VOC and EIC in Asia. I strongly recommend it."
- Suzanne Moon,
Canadian Journal of Netherlandic Studies, Vol. 42, Iss. 1
Table of ContentsList of Illustrations Acknowledgements Introduction The Companies in Asia Adam Clulow and Tristan Mostert Part 1: Diplomacy 1. Scramble for the spices: Makassar's role in European and Asian Competition in the Eastern Archipelago up to 1616. Tristan Mostert 2. Diplomacy in a Provincial Setting: The East India Companies in Seventeenth-Century Bengal and Orissa Guido van Meersbergen 3. Contacting Japan: East India Company Letter to the Shogun Fuyuko Matsukata Part 2: Trade 4. Surat and Bombay: Ivory and Commercial Networks in Western India Martha Chaiklin 5. Interdependence, Competition, and Contestation: The English and the Dutch East India Companies and Indian Merchants in the Seventeenth and Eighteenth Centuries Ghulam Nadri Part 3: Violence 6. Empire by Treaty??The role of written documents in European overseas expansion, 1500-1800 Martine van Ittersum 7. 'Great help from Japan': The Dutch East India Company's Experiment with Japanese Soldiers Adam Clulow 8. The East India Company and the foundation of Persian Naval Power in the Gulf under Nader Shah, 1734-47 Peter Good Epilogue The Dutch East India Company in Global History: A Historiographical Reconnaissance Tonio Andrade
