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The Dutch on Khark Island: A Commercial Mishap

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  29 January 2009

Willem Floor
Willem Floor
Affiliation:
Willem Floor is an energy planner at the Energy Department, World Bank, 1818 H Street NW, Washington, D.C. 20433, U.S.A.
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Extract

The Vereenigde Oostindische Compagnie (VOC) was founded in 1602 and began its trading activities in Iran and the Gulf in 1623, when factories (trading stations) were established in Bandar Abbas and Isfahan, after a favorable commercial treaty had been concluded with Shah Abbas I. This was the beginning of a very profitable trade for the VOC, which throughout the 17th and in the beginning of the 18th century was Iran's most important foreign trading partner. VOC activities in Iran were not restricted to Bandar Abbas and Isfahan: the VOC also had a trading station in Kirman (1697–1739) for the collection of goat's wool, and in 1738 its sphere of activities was extended to Bushire.

Type
Articles
Information
International Journal of Middle East Studies , Volume 24 , Issue 3 , August 1992 , pp. 441 - 460
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1992

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References

NOTES

1 On the situation in Iran during this chaotic period, see John, R. Perry, Karim, Khan Zand, A History of Iran, 1747–1779 (Chicago, 1979);Google ScholarWillem, Floor, Hukumat-i Nadir Shah (Tehran, 1988).Google Scholar

2 Willem, Floor, “First Contacts between the Netherlands and Masqat,” Zeitschrift der Deutschen Morgenlandische Gesellschaft 132 (1982): 289–307;Google ScholarWillem, Floor, “Masqat Anno 1673,” Le Moyen-Orient et l'Ocean Indien (1985): 1–69;Google Scholaridem, “Dutch Trade with Masqat in the 18th Century,” Asian and African Studies 15 (1982): 197–213.Google Scholar

3 Algemeen Rijks Archief (State Archives) (hereafter ARA), The Hague, VOC 779, governor-general to van, der Welle, 26 06 1747, fol. 200.Google Scholar

4 On von Kniphausen, see Meilink-Roelofsz, M. A. P., “Een Nederlandse Vestiging in de Perzische Golf,” Spiegel Historiael (1967): 481, 487;Google ScholarWijnandts van Resandt, W., De Gezaghebbers der Oost-Indische Compagnie (Amsterdam, 1944).Google Scholar

5 Amin, A. A., British Interests in the Persian Gulf 1747–1780 (Leiden, 1976), 149.Google Scholar

6 For the text of Mossel's proposal, see ARA VOC 11.154.

7 ARA VOC 11.154, art. 75.

8 Ibid., art. 127.

9 Ibid., arts. 14, 30.

10 Meilink-Roelofsz, , “Vestiging”: 486;Google ScholarJohn, R. Perry, “Mir Muhanna and the Dutch: Patterns of Piracy in the Persian Gulf,” Studia Iranica 2 (1973): 93.Google Scholar

11 ARA, Hooge Regering Batavia, no. 789, app., unfoliated.

12 ARA VOC 2998, fols. 322–23.

13 ARA VOC 335, XVII to governor-general, 29 September 1763, sec. Karreek, unfoliated.

14 ARA VOC 3003, fols. 1843–55.

15 Ibid., fol. 1846v.

16 ARA VOC 1015, Mossel, to van, der Hulst, 31 03 1761, fols. 68–70.Google Scholar

17 Lorimer, J. G., Gazetteer of the Persian Gulf, ʿOman and Central Arabia, vol. 1 (Calcutta, 1915; reprinted, 1970), 130;Google ScholarAmin, , British Interests, 145–48.Google Scholar

18 See n. 12.

19 Glamann, K., Dutch-Asiatic Trade (The Hague, 1958), 31.Google Scholar

20 Amin, , British Interests, 142.Google Scholar

21 Lorimer, , Gazetteer of the Persian Gulf, 1:130.Google Scholar

22 ARA VOC 2968, von, Kniphausen to Mossel, , 15 11 1758, fols. 14–15.Google Scholar

23 Amin, , British Interests, 120.Google Scholar

24 ARA VOC 2843, Schoonderwoerd, to Mossel, , 10 10 1753, fol. 14.Google Scholar

25 On the problems of the sugar production of Batavia, see Reese, J. J., De suikerhandel van Amsterdam van her begin der 17e eeuw tot 1813 (Haarlem, 1908), 178–84.Google Scholar

26 Willem, Floor, “The Dutch East India Company Trade with Sind in the 17th and the 18th Centuries,” Le Moyen Orient et l'Ocean Indien, 3 (1986): 111–44; , “Dutch Trade with Masqat.”Google Scholaridem

27 See, for example, the complaints by von, Kniphausen, ARA VOC 2885, 12 12 1755, fol. 17; , 5 August 1755, fol. 8.Google Scholaribid.

28 ARA, Legatie Archief Turkije, no. 671, Relaas van een onpartijdige, unfoliated; see also Meilink, , “Vestiging,” 481, 487.Google Scholar

29 ARA, Hooge Regering Batavia, no. 789, app., unfoliated.

30 ARA VOC 334, XVII to governor-general, 10 September 1758, sec. Karreek, unfoliated.

31 ARA, Hooge Regering Batavia, no. 789, app., unfoliated.

32 ARA VOC 2863, fols. 44–45.

33 A sockel is a small bale made of leaves or reeds, and was used to transport mace. One sockel of mace weighed 154 pounds.

34 ARA VOC 2937, von, Kniphausen to Mossel, , 29 10 1757, fols. 22–23, “Persians prefer the false Malabar cinnamon, which is imported in a very fresh and smelling state here.”Google Scholar

35 ARA VOC 792, fol. 277.

36 See n. 26.

37 Glamann, , Dutch Trade, 83–84.Google Scholar

38 ARA, Hooge Regering Batavia, no. 789, app., unfoliated; ARA VOC 1017, van, der Parra to Buschman, , 15 06 1763, fol. 142.Google Scholar

39 ARA VOC 2937, von, Kniphausen to Mossel, , 29 10 1757, fol. 22;Google Scholar ARA VOC 2968, 15 November 1758, fol. 13; ARA VOC 2996, 30 11 1759, fol. 6; ARA VOC 3027, 30 11 1760, fol. 18; ARA VOC 1017. van, der Parra to Buschman, , 15 06 1763, fols. 141–44.Google Scholar

40 Amin, , British Interests, 134.Google Scholar

41 ARA VOC 2864, von, Kniphausen to Mossel, , 31 05 1755, fol. 51.Google Scholar

42 ARA VOC 1009, Mossel, to von, Kniphausen, 27 06 1755, fol. 213.Google Scholar

43 ARA VOC 2885, von, Kniphausen to Mossel, , 27 09 1755, fols. 17, 44.Google Scholar

44 ARA VOC 1015, Mossel, to van, der Hulst, 31 03 1761, fols. 75–76; , 24 November 1761, fol. 144; ARA VOC 3003, fols. 1844v.–1845v.Google ScholarIbid.

45 ARA, Hooge Regering Batavia, no. 789, app., unfoliated; see on Kerman wool, Willem Floor, “The Trade in Kerman Goat's Wool or Kurk, 1730–1910,” Iranian Studies (forthcoming).

46 ARA VOC 335, XVII to governor-general, 25 October 1762, sec. Karreek, unfoliated; ARA VOC 1017, van, der Parra to Buschman, , 15 06 1763, fol. 150.Google Scholar

47 Iron oxide, sulphur oxide (brimstone), and rock salt were exported by the VOC factory in Bandar Abbas and mined near Shamil and on Hormuz. After that factory closed, some of these minerals continued to be exported by the VOC. Khark once, in 1759, exported brimstone to Batavia, which was mined at Kuwait, but it proved to be unsalable (ARA VOC 1013, fol. 5). The later exports all were obtained from Bandar Abbas (1763: 75,000 lb. of brimstone; 1764: 172,000 lb.). Because the 1763 shipment consisted of 30 percent rock, Batavia gave orders to stop buying this mineral (ARA VOC 1018, fol. 107).

48 Willem, Floor, “Pearl-Fishing in the Persian Gulf in 1757,” Persica 10 (1982): 209–22.Google Scholar

49 ARA VOC 1009, Mossel, to von, Kniphausen, 22 04 1755, fol. 74;Google Scholar ARA VOC 334, XVII to governor-general, 30 September 1758, sec. Karreek, unfoliated; ARA VOC 1009, Mossel, to von, Kniphausen, 22 04 1755, fol. 74.Google Scholar

50 Willem, Floor, “The Decline of the Dutch East Indies Company in Bandar ʿAbbas (1747–1759),” Le Moyen-Orient et Ocean Indien, 6 (1989): 45–80.Google Scholar

51 ARA VOC 792, Nadere bedenkingen over de g'aresteerde opbraake vanKarreek, Batavia Karreek, Batavia, 6 04 1762, fols. 265–82. The sugar problem of Batavia played an important role in van der Parra's change of mind.Google Scholar

52 ARA VOC 1016, van, der Parra to van, der Hulst, Buschman, , 26 05 1762, fols. 97f.Google Scholar

53 ARA VOC 335, XVII to governor-general, 4 October 1765, sec. Karreek, unfoliated.

54 How the Dutch fared between 1753 and 1766 on Khark and their relations with the various political forces in the Gulf are the subjects of another article.