The Dutch in Seventeenth-Century Thailand

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Northern Illinois University El

The Dutch in Seventeenth-Century Thailand

George Vinal Smith

Center For Southeast Asian Studies Special Report No.16, 1977

Northern Illinois University H

The Dutch in Seventeenth-Century Thailand

George Vinal Smith

Center For Southeast Asian Studies Special Report No.16, 1977

1974, 1977 by George Vinal Smith

Exclusive Distribution by

THE CELLAR COOK SHOP

CONTENTS

PREFACE

vii

INTRODUCTION;

Constance M. Wilson

ix

Chapter I

II

THE HISTORICAL BACKGROUND

1

Development of Dutch Interest in Asian Trade and the Period of the Fore-Companies

I

The Formation and Structure of the Dutch East India Company

2

Southeast Asia at the End of the Sixteenth Century

5

The Kingdom of Ayutthaya at the Beginning of the Seventeenth Century

8

THE POLITICAL HISTORY OF THE DUTCH EAST INDIA COMPANY SEVENTEENTH-CENTURY AYUTTHAYA The Early Years:

Political Noninvolvement, 1604-28

Political Involvement: Thgng, 1629-56

IV

10

The Reign of King Prasat 21

PoZ-ZticaZ Disengagement, 1656-94 HI

10

35

THE COMMERCIAL HISTORY OF THE DUTCH EAST INDIA COMPANY (VOC) IN SEVENTEENTH-CENTURY AYUTTHAYA

47

The Development of Company Trade Policy toward Ayutthaya

47

Development of Company Trade in Ayutthaya Education and Experimentation, 1604-33 Expansion, Further Experimentation and Stabilisation of Trade, 1633-63 Economic Retrenchment and Development of the Ligor Tin Trade, 1664-94

50 50

THE SEVENTEENTH-CENTURY THAI ECONOMY AND THE VOC AS A PARTICIPANT IN TRADE The Structure of the Thai Economy and the Role of Trade

ill

58 65

72 72

iv The Export Markets: The VOC and Its Competitors The Japan Market The China Market The Provisions Trade to Batavia and Malacca The Western Trade to India and Europe

76 76 81 82 85

The Import Trade

90

Gross Profitsj Expenses and Profitability V

THE ROLE OF THE COMPANY IN SEVENTEENTH- CENTURY AYUTTHAYA: ITS PERSONNEL AND INTERACTION WITH THAI SOCIETY The Personnel

98

Interactions with and Contributions to the Thai Society VI

98

CONCLUSION

102 109

Appendices I

THE VALUE OF DUTCH RECORDS AND ACCOUNTS FOR A STUDY OF SEVENTEENTH"CENTURY THAI HISTORY Introduction

115 115

The Dutch East India Company Records: Importance of the Records

Evaluation and 117

Unpublished Company Records

118

Published Company Records

121

Published Dutch Accounts, 1682-90:

Their Importance

124

The Dutch Writers

124

Conclusion

130

II

WEIGHTS AND CURRENCY

134

HL

KINGS OF SEVENTEENTH-CENTURY AYUTTHAYA

136

IV

RANKS OF THE THAI OFFICIALDOM

136

V

GOVERNORS-GENERAL OF THE DUTCH EAST INDIA COMPANY IN THE SEVENTEENTH CENTURY

137

THE DUTCH-THAI TREATY OF 1664

138

VI

VII DIRECTORS OF THE AYUTTHAYA OFFICE, 1608-94

142

VIII

LIST AND DESCRIPTION OF GOODS

148

NOTES

152

GLOSSARY

179

BIBLIOGRAPHY INDEX

_

181

191

ILLUSTRATIONS Figure 1.

Map of Southeast Asia . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

. ...............

2.

VOC Export Flow . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

77

3.

VOC Import Flow. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

94

a \ a %

Figure 1. Map of

Southeast Asia MAT AR AM

7 in this region in the sixteenth century, but one can say with, confidence that virtually every Southeast Asian commodity was available in any of dozens of trading centers. The conquest of Malacca by the Portuguese in 1511 was the first attempt by Europeans to control the rich spice trade of Southeast Asia. Portugal, initially relatively successful in controlling this trade, eventually controlled the spice-growing centers in the Moluccas, In time, however, the Southeast Asian, Chinese and Muslim merchants redirected their activities to new ports and developed new sailing routes to avoid the Portuguese. By the latter half of the century a number of ports had become important alternative sources of spices: among them were Achin, Johore, Jambi, the commercial towns of Java and the Banda Islands. The result was a decline in the importance of Malacca as the largest trade center between East Asia and the West, although the Portuguese there did continue to control the export of the precious spices to Europe until late in the sixteenth century. When the Dutch entered the Southeast Asian trade in the mid-1590s, they found a region with a rich commercial heritage. Many of the ports were relatively free from import and export duties, but others, such as Pattani and Ayutthaya, were more tightly controlled and merchants were taxed by the rulers. Unlike earlier periods, at this time there were no great thalassic kingdoms to control the movement of goods within, into or out of the region. To a limited degree the Portuguese had tried to do so, but by the end of the sixteenth century they were in no position even to effectively control the trade of spices to Europe (Meilink-Roelofsz 1962). Philip the Second's embargo on the sale of spices to the Dutch encouraged them to seek the Asian sources of the spice trade. The various Dutch fleets sent to Southeast Asia between 1595 and 1602 concentrated their trading efforts on the spice ports and tried to compete against the Portuguese through military encounters and the signing of contracts with local rulers. Results of most of these early efforts proved less than satisfactory. The entrance of the Dutch traders (followed by the first English East India Company voyage in 1601) soon drove up the buying price of spices in Asia. In addition, when the various Dutch fleets returned to the Netherlands the selling price of spices began to fall because of the oversupply to a very limited market. The Dutch faced further problems in Asia because of the competition with and the enmity of the Portuguese. Although the influence of the Portuguese was undoubtedly waning in Asia, they were still a significant military force. With strongly fortified posts at Macao, Malacca and Goa and with Spanish assistance available at Manila, the Portuguese could not be dislodged from the spice trade by the limited strength of the various Dutch fore-companies. While they did establish several permanent trading offices, the Dutch were unable to maintain a permanent military force in Asia. They were further frustrated by the fact that local rulers who made contracts or simply traded with them often were punished by the Portuguese after the departure of the Dutch ships. Rulers often refused to trade with the Dutch a second time because they knew they would be unable to protect them. The arrival of the Dutch initially had been welcomed by the Southeast Asian rulers, who saw them as competitors and a military counterforce to the Portuguese. The rulers and local merchants traded readily with the Dutch, but the latter soon realized that they had much to learn about the trade system of the area. The Dutch, in fact, had few goods which were desired by the rulers of the insular spice kingdoms. The only things in great demand were European weapons and Indian cloth.

8 In time the ships of the fore-companies began to visit ports not noted as spice centers in an attempt to trade their money and goods for other highvalue goods which could be sold in the European market. One of these centers was the important Malay peninsular kingdom of Pattani, which was famous for its trade with China. Each year many Chinese junks called there with raw silk, silk cloth and porcelain, goods that were much desired in Europe. In 1601 the first Butch ships arrived in Pattani and set up a factory. From there, three years later, they would make their initial contact with Ayutthaya. The Kingdom of Ayutthaya at the Beginning of the Seventeenth Century The earliest Portuguese accounts attest to an already active trading community in Ayutthaya at the beginning of the sixteenth century. Merchants from India traded with the kingdom via Tenasserim, the Indian Ocean port of the kingdom, and it is possible that some sailed around the peninsula directly to Ayutthaya. Chinese traders frequented Ayutthaya in large numbers and because of the close friendship between the two kingdoms the Chinese were charged lower import duties on their goods (Pires 1944:1, 103-110). The Thais also participated in trade, but (if Pires is correct) only in areas eastward from the Malay Peninsula. Malacca, China, Sunda, Palembang, Cambodia, Champa and Cochinchina are particularly noted as places where the Thais traded. The trade in the capital city itself was tightly controlled by the king, who levied Import and export duties on all traders (Pires 1944: I, 106-107). After an exchange of several embassies that began in 1511, the Portuguese in Malacca and the Kingdom of Ayutthaya signed a treaty in 1518. The treaty allowed Portuguese to settle and trade in Ayutthaya with special commercial privileges and religious freedom. In return, the Portuguese were to supply the king with armaments and allow Thai traders to settle in Malacca. The Portuguese community in Ayutthaya grew to about three hundred by mid-century. They acted both as traders and as military advisers and soldiers in the kings* armies. At that time the Portuguese considered Ayutthaya to be one of the three principal kingdoms in the East, along with China and Vijayanagar. It was prosperous and was the most powerful state on the Indochinese peninsula (Campos 1940:4-6, 9, 32). However, domestic strife developed after the poisoning of King Phra Ygtfa in 1548, and while Burma under King Bayinnaung became strong again, Ayutthaya experienced a dramatic decline in its fortunes which lasted for most of the rest of the sixteenth century. After repeated attacks by Burma, Ayutthaya finally succumbed to its neighbor in 1564. Ayutthaya began to throw off its vassal status after King Bayinnaung died in 1581, but not until 1590, when King Naresuan succeeded to the throne, did Ayutthaya reassert its independence. Naresuan spent most of the next 15 years at war with Burma, Cambodia and the northern Lao kingdoms. Before his death in 1605, he had reestablished the former political boundaries of the kingdom. The important port kingdom of Tenasserim returned to Ayutthaya in 1593; Cambodia once again became a vassal at the end of the century; and the peninsular kingdoms of Pattani, Ligor, Phattalung and Songkhla acknowledged Ayutthaya *s suzerainty. Yet during the turbulent reign of King Naresuan the kingdom could hardly have reattained the power and wealth which had been extolled by the Portuguese 50 years earlier. It was a kingdom constantly at war and one which had to rebuild its capital, social structure and economy. If Pires’s early sixteenth-century description of Ayutthaya's trade is accurate, Thai

9 commercial activity during much of the reign of King Naresuan was comparatively quite limited. Pires claims that six or seven Thai junks a year t r a d e d to China (Pires 1 9 4 4 : 1 , 1 0 8 ) . Between 1600 and 1610 not one junk was sent to China hy King Naresuan or King E k a t h o t s a r o t . I n an attempt to s t i m u l a t e trade the king sent a. personal letter to the Spanish governor of the Philippines asking t h e Spanish to trade i n his country. In 1598 the Spanish governor sent an embassy which concluded a treaty with Ayutthaya. The treaty allowed the Spaniards free t r a d e and no duties — trade p o l i c i e s quite different from t h o s e of earlier years (Smith 1 9 6 6 - 6 7 : 1 1 , 26, 1 3 8 - 1 3 9 ) . From the earliest records of the VOC (which admittedly are Incomplete) i t would also appear that the volume of Chinese trade to Ayut— thayawas smaller than i n former times and that no significant Indian trade was reestablished until about 1 6 1 0 . On the other hand, a new community, the Japanese, did arrive i n Ayutthaya during King Naresuan’ s reign. Their presence eventually had an important influence on trade and p o l i t i c s . The increased interest i n trade i n sixteenth-century Japan caused a growth i n the number of Japanese traders who began to frequent Southeast Asian p o r t s . Then, with the changing political and religious environment i n Japan i n the late sixteenth century, two other Japanese groups began to immigrate into- Southeast Asian kingdoms. Although the first verifiable evidence of Japanese in Ayutthaya does not p r e d a t e 1604 (van Vliet 1 9 5 6 - 5 8 : 1 1 , x v i i ) , i t i s reasonable to assume that Japanese Christian families had b e e n migrating there a t least since 1597 when serious a n t i - C h r i s t i a n measures were invoked by the Japanese emperor. By the end of King Naresuan' s reign the Japanese community, composed of" t r a d e r s , Christians and l o r d l e s s warriors, probably was already s i z a b l e . I t was, or soon would b e , organized under a Thai official of Japanese ethnic origin. This community would continue to grow i n Ayutthaya until the 1 6 3 0 s when Japan forbade a l l Japanese immigration and emigration. In summary, b e f o r e the arrival of the D u t c h , the Kingdom of Ayutthaya was s t i l l i n a period of economic and social reconstruction. Its existence as an independent kingdom was once again firmly established and most of the former suzerain-vassal relationships had been r e e s t a b l i s h e d . However, the capital i t s e l f was still not the bustling commercial center of earlier y e a r s . The Portuguese from Malacca, the Indians and Chinese traders were l e s s numerous -than they had been earlier. I t i s no wonder that King Naresuan actively sought Spanish trade and that he and his immediate s u c c e s s o r s welcomed the appearance of the Dutch and, l a t e r , the English traders i n their kingdom. An increased income was sorely needed for the reconstruction of the kingdom and for the support of an elaborate c o u r t . Trade was an obvious source of this needed revenue.

Chapter II

THE POLITICAL HISTORY OF THE DUTCH EAST INDIA COMPANY (VOC) IN SEVENTEENTH-CENTURY AYUTTHAYA

The Early Years: