Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-q99xh Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-22T13:15:39.909Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

The Dutch Colonial Business Elite at the Turn of the Century

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  22 April 2010

Maarten Kuitenbrouwer  and
Huibert Schijf
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Extract

In the last quarter of the nineteenth century the Dutch economy experienced a fresh take-off. Up-to-date steamships plied the shipping routes to the Netherlands East Indies; in the Netherlands the network of railways and canals was greatly expanded; modern insurance companies, commercial banks and other financial institutions were founded. The resultant growing need for external capital led to a new legal form of financing, the joint-stock or limited liability company, and the 1870s and 1880s saw the establishment of a relatively large number of newly founded companies of this type. Generally speaking, these companies represented business activities with a long-standing tradition in Dutch economic life: trade, banking and transportation. The economic take-off was also reflected in the growing number of joint-stock companies pursuing economic activities in colonial Indonesia, often with their headquarters in the Indonesian Archipelago itself. According to J. à Campo the number of such newly founded corporations was more than hundred for each year after 1896, reaching its highest level in 1910, when no less than 326 were founded.

Type
Articles
Information
Itinerario , Volume 22 , Issue 1 , March 1998 , pp. 61 - 86
Copyright
Copyright © Research Institute for History, Leiden University 1998

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Notes

1 Dutch economic historians agree that a take-off took place in this period, but have different opinions on the decade the take-off started. Their opinions range between the 1860s and the 1890s. See for a summary Jonkers, J., ‘Lachspiegel van de Vooruitgang: Het Historiografische Beeld van de Nederlandse Industriefinanciering in de Negentiende Eeuw’, NEHA-Bulletin 5 (1991) 3–24Google Scholar.

2 à Campo, J.N.F.M., ‘The Rise of Corporate Enterprise in Colonial Indonesia, 1893-1913’ in: Lindblad, J.Th. ed., Historical Foundations of a National Economy in Indonesia, 1890s-1990s (Amsterdam 1996) 71–95Google Scholar.

3 Croockewit, A., De Commissarissen bij de Naamlooze Vennootschappen (Amersfoort 1882) 7 and 22Google Scholar.

4 Schijf, H., Netwerken van em Financieel-Economische Elite: Personele Verbindingen in het Nederlandse Bedrijfsleven aan het Eind van de Negentiende Eeuw (Amsterdam 1993)Google Scholar.

5 Bossenbroek, M., Holland op Zijn Breedst: Indië en Zuid-AJrika in de Nederlandse Cultuur Omstmks 1900 (Amsterdam 1996) 85–117Google Scholar.

6 Cain, P.J. and Hopkins, A.G., British Imperialism I: Innovation and Expansion, 1688-1914; II: Crisis and Deconstmction, 1914-1990 (London and New York1993)Google Scholar.

7 Clemens, A.H.P. and Lindblad, J.Th. eds, Het Belang van de Buitengewesten: Economische Expansie en Koloniale Staatsvorming in de Buitengewesten van Nederlands-Indië, 1870-1942 (Amsterdam 1989)Google Scholar; Lindblad, J.Th. ed., New Challenges in the Modem Economic History of Indonesia (Leiden 1993)Google Scholar; Cribb, R. ed., The Late Colonial State in Indonesia: Political and Economic Foundations of the Netherlands Indies, 1880-1942 (Leiden 1994)Google Scholar; Lindblad, J.Th. ed., Historical Foundations of a National Economy in Indonesia, 1890s–1990s (Amsterdam 1996).Google Scholar Cf. Booth, A., O'Malley, W.J. and Weidemann, A. eds, Indonesian Economic History in the Dutch Colonial Era (New Haven 1990)Google Scholar; Maddison, A. and Prince, G. eds, Economic Growth in Indonesia, 1820-1940 (Dordrecht and Providence 1989)Google Scholar.

8 Locher-Scholten, E.-B., ‘Dutch Expansion in the Indonesian Archipelago around 1900 and the Imperialism Debate’, Journal of Southeast Asian Studies 25 (1994) 91–111CrossRefGoogle Scholar; Kuitenbrouwer, Maarten, ‘Het Imperialisme-debat in de Nederlandse Geschiedschrijving’, Bijdragen en Mededelingen Betreffende de Geschiedenis der Nederlanden 113 (1998) 56–73Google Scholar.

9 For instance Lindblad, J.Th., ‘Ondernemen in Nederlands-Indiē’, Bijdragen en Mededelingen Betreffende de Geschiedenis der Nederlanden 108 (1993) 699–710Google Scholar.

10 Campo, A, ‘Rise’, 71–95Google Scholar.

11 Bossenbroek, , Holland, 87Google Scholar; Schijf, , Netwerken, 6–11Google Scholar.

12 Schijf, , Netwerken, 61Google Scholar.

13 Bossenbroek, , Holland, 88–89Google Scholar.

14 Ibid., 88–89; cf. Schijf, , Netwerken, 225–236Google Scholar.

15 Schijf, , Netwerken, 155Google Scholar.

16 Ibid., 155.

17 Bruin, K., Een Herenwereld Ontleed: Over Amsterdamse Oude en Nieuwe Elites in de Tweede Helft van de Negentiende Eeuw (Amsterdam 1980) 56–63Google Scholar.

18 Ibid., 24–25; cf. 33.

19 Schijf, , Netwerken, 225–236Google Scholar.

20 A.H.G. Fokker was the elder brother of H. Fokker, the father of Anthony Fokker the famous aircraft builder. Both brothers made their fortune in the Dutch Indies, A.H.G. Fokker as merchant affiliated with the NHM and H. Fokker as owner of coffee plantations. See Dierikx, M., Dwarswind: Een Biografie van Anthony Fokker (The Hague 1997) 7Google Scholar.

21 Bossenbroek, , Holland, 85–87Google Scholar; cf. Schijf, , Netwerken, 96Google Scholar.

22 Schmidt, C., On de Eer van de Familie: Het Geslacht Teding van Berkhout, 1500-1950 (Amsterdam 1986) 155Google Scholar.

23 Schijf, , Netwerken, 39Google Scholar.

24 Kuitenbrouwer, M., ‘N.G. Pierson en de Koloniale Politick, 1860-1909’, Tijdschrifl voor Geschiedenis 94 (1981) 1–28.Google Scholar Cf. de Jong, A.M., Geschiedenis van de Nederlandsche Bank II-IV: De Nederlandsche Bank van 1864 tot 1914 (Haarlem 1967)Google Scholar; de Bree, L., Gedenkboek van de Javasche Bank, 1828-1928 I-II (Weltevreden 1928)Google Scholar; van Laanen, J.T.M., Money and Banking, 1816-1940: Changing Economy in Indonesia VI (The Hague 1980)Google Scholar.

25 Schijf, , Netwerken, 63Google Scholar.

26 Kuitenbrouwer, M., ‘Drie Omwentelingen in de Historiografie van het Imperialisme: Engeland en Nederland’, Tijdschrifi voor Geschiedenis 107 (1994) 559–586Google Scholar; Idem, ‘Capitalism and Imperialism: Britain and the Netherlands’, Itinerario 18 (1994) 105-117.

27 Bossenbroek, , Holland, 85–117Google Scholar.

28 For the literature see note 7.

29 Seeker, W.P., Ministers in Beeld: De Sociale en Functioned Herkomst van de Nederlandse Ministers, 1848-1990 (Leiden 1991) 44–50Google Scholar; van den Berg, J.Th.J., De Toegang tot het Binnenhof: De Maatschappelijke Herkomst van de Tweede Kamerleden tussen 1849 en 1970 (Weesp 1983) 45–52Google Scholar.

30 Houwink ten Gate, J., ‘De Mannen van de Daad’ en Duitsland, 1919-1939: Het Hollandse Zakenleven en de Vooroorlogse Buitenlandse Politiek (The Hague 1995) 13–23Google Scholar. Cf. Bank, J. and Vos, C., Hendrikus Colijn: Anti-Reuolutionair (Houten 1987)Google Scholar; Hendrix, P., Henri Deterding: De Koninklijke, de Shell en de Rothschilds (The Hague 1996).Google Scholar Colijn's father was a farmer, Van Aalst's father a Protestant minister, and Deterding's fadier a merchant navy captain. Another influential regenten capitalist during the inter-war years, the shipping magnate Ernst Heldring, who left us a very rich diary, was the son of an NHM president and the grandson of a Protestant minister; de Vries, J. ed., Herinneringm en Dagboeh van Ernst Heldring, 1871–1954 I-III (Utrecht 1970)Google Scholar.

31 Japikse, N., Staatkundige Geschiedenis van Nederland van 1887–1917 (Leiden 1918) 517–550.Google Scholar On Cremer see: Lenstra, R., ‘Jacob Theodoor Cremer: Het Koloniaal Beheer en het Nederlands Belang in Atjeh’, Economischm Sodaal-Historisch Jaarboek 49 (1986) 165–217Google Scholar; on Hordijk, J.M. Pijnacker: Onze Afgevaardigden: Portretten en Biographiën der Leden van de Eerste en Tweede Kamer (Rotterdam 1901) 234–235Google Scholar; on Kielstra: Blok, P.J., ‘Levensbericht van Dr. E.B. Kielstra’, Maatschappij der Nederlandsche Letterkunde (Leiden 1921-1922) 1–16Google Scholar; on Van Nierop: Rijxman, A.S., ‘Mr. Frederik Salomon van Nierop, 1844-1924’ in: Wieringa, W.J. ed., Bedrijf en Samenleving: Economisch-Historische Studies over Nederland in de Negentiende en Twintigste Eeuw Aangeboden aan Prof. Dr. I.J. Brugmans bij Zijn Aftreden als Hoogleraar aan de Universiteit van Amsterdam (Alphen aan den Rijn 1967) 137–157Google Scholar.

32 Fasseur, C., ‘Jhr. Carel Herman Aart van der Wijck’ in: Nieuw Biograftsch Woordenboek (The Hague 1979) 664–666.Google Scholar Cf. van Goor, J., ‘De Plaats van de Biografie in de Koloniale Geschiedenis: Van der Wijck Bijvoorbeeld …’ in: van Anrooij, F. ed., Between People and Statistics: Essays on Modem Indonesian History Presented to P. Creutzberg (The Hague 1979) 283–291CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

33 Fasseur, C., De ‘Geest’ van het Gouvernement (Leiden 1977)Google Scholar; Idem, Onhoorbaar Groeit de Padi: Max Havelaar en de Publieke Zaak (Leiden 1987); Idem, De Indologen: Ambtenaren voor de Oost, 1825-1950 (Amsterdam 1993); H.W. van den Doel, De Stille Macht: Het Europese BinnenlandsBestuuropJavaenMadoera, 1808-1942 (Amsterdam 1993); Idem, HetKijkvan Insulinde: Opkomst en Ondergang van een Nederlandse Kolonie (Amsterdam 1996).

34 On Colijn see note 30; on Kielstra note 31; on Birnie: Wormser, C.W., Ontginners van Java (Deventer n.y.) 49–69Google Scholar; on IJzerman: Gerretson, C., Geschiedenis der ‘Koninklijke’ II (Utrecht 1937) 58–68Google Scholar; on Stoop: Sander, H. van Voorst Vader-Duyckinck, Leven en Laten Leven: Een Biografie van Ir. Adriaan Stoop, 1856-1935 (Haarlem 1994)Google Scholar; on Teding van Berkhout: Schmidt, , Eer, 154Google Scholar.

35 Sander, Van Voorst Vader-Duyckinck, Leven, 81, 85 and 97Google Scholar.

36 ‘Een vijand der particuliere industrie’. Knight, G.R., ‘Did “Dependency” Really Get It Wrong? The Indonesian Sugar Industry’ in: Lindblad, Historical Foundations, 165Google Scholar.

37 Cremer, Van der Wijck to, 12 12 1897, General State Archives The HagueGoogle Scholar (ARA), Private Papers C.H A van der Wijck.

38 Creutzberg, P., Public Finance, 1816-1939: Changing Economy in Indonesia II (The Hague 1976)Google Scholar; Booth, A., ‘The Evolution of Fiscal Policy and the Role of Government in the Colonial Economy’ in: O'Malley, Booth and Weidemann, eds, Indonesian Economic History, 210–244Google Scholar.

39 Kuitenbrouwer, M., The Netherlands and the Rise of Modem Imperialism: Colonies and Foreign Policy, 1870-1902 (New York and Oxford 1991) 278–299.Google Scholar Cf. Purwanto, Bambang, ‘The Economy of Indonesian Smallholder Rubber, 1890s-1940’ in: Lindblad, Historical Founda tions, 177Google Scholar.

40 Houben, V.J.H., ‘Profits versus Ethics: Government Enterprises in the Late Colonial State’ in: Cribb, Late Colonial State, 191–213Google Scholar.

41 Locher-Scholten, E.B., ‘The Establishment of Colonial Rule in Jambi: The Dual Strand of Politics and Economies’ in: Lindblad, Historical Foundations, 137–152Google Scholar.

42 Vries, R. Wallis de ed., D.H. de Vries: Een Amsterdamse Koopman in de Molukken, 1883-1901 (Alphen aan den Rijn 1996) 241–242Google Scholar.

43 Cremer to Van der Wijck 4 March 1898, ARA, Private Papers C.H.A. van der Wijck.

44 Maarseveen, J.G.S.J. van ed., Briefwisseting van Nicolaas Gerard Pierson, 1839-1909 I-IV (Amsterdam 1990-1993)Google Scholar.

45 Diary N.G. Pierson, 6 July 1900, University Library of Amsterdam, Private Papers N.G. Pierson.

46 Maarseveen, Van, Briefwisseling Pierson III, 443Google Scholar.

47 Potting, C.J.M., ‘De Komst van Nederlandse Banken naar Sumatra, 1877-1914’ in: Clemens and Lindblad, Belong van de Buitengewesten, 71–81Google Scholar;Prince, G.H.A., ‘Monetary Policy in Colonial Indonesia and the Position of the Java Bank’ in: Lindblad, Historical Foundations, 58–61Google Scholar.

48 On the debate see note 8, Locher-Scholten.

49 Bossenbroek, , Holland, 115Google Scholar.

50 Cf. Kuitenbrouwer, , Netherlands, 276–282Google Scholar; Clemens and Lindblad, Belang van de Buitengewesten, passim; Lindblad, J.Th., Between Dayak and Dutch: The Economic History of Southeast Kalimantan, 1880-1942 (Dordrecht and Providence 1988)Google Scholar;Campo, J.N.F.M. à, Koninklijke Paketvaart Maatschappij: Stoomvaart en Staatsvorming in de Indonesische Archipel, 1888-1914 (Hilversum 1992)Google Scholar;Locher-Scholten, E.B., Sumatraans SuUanaat en Koloniale Staat: De Relatie Djambi-Batavia (1830-1907) en het Nederlandse Imperialisme (Leiden 1994) 203–243Google Scholar.

51 See on Heutsz, Van, Witte, J.C., J.B. van Heutsz: Leven en Legende (Bussum 1976)Google Scholar.

52 Diary N.G. Pierson 15 July 1897, University Library of Amsterdam, Private Papers N.G. Pierson.

53 Koninklijke Nederlandsche Maatschappij tot Exploitatie van Petroleumbronnen in Nederlandsch-Indië, Verslag over 1897.

54 Bakker, H., ‘Het Economisch Belang van Noord-Sumatia lijdens de Atjeh-Oorlog, 1873-1910’ in: Clemens and Lindblad, Belang van de Buitengewesten, 55–60Google Scholar.

55 Heldring, E., Oost-Azië en Indië: Beschouwingen en Schetsen (Amsterdam 1899) 114Google Scholar.

56 Ibid., 136.

57 Kuitenbrouwer, , Netherlands, 242 and 319Google Scholar.

58 Quoted in Puchinger, G., Landvoogd en Minister (Leiden 1993) 30Google Scholar.

59 Kuitenbrouwer, , Netherlands, 279–280.Google Scholar Cf. Lindblad, J.Th., ‘The Contribution of Foreign Trade to Colonial State Formation in Indonesia, 1900-1930’ in: Cribb, Late Colonial State, 93–117Google Scholar;Boot, A., ‘Exports and Growth in the Colonial Economy, 1830-1940’ in: Maddison and Prince, Economic Growth, 67–97Google Scholar.

60 Doom, J.A.A. van, De Laatste Eeuw van Indie: Ontwikkeling en Ondergang van een Koloniaal Project (Amsterdam 1994) 179–192Google Scholar.

61 Haasse, H., Heren van de Thee (Amsterdam 1992)Google Scholar.

62 A Campo, Koninklijke Nederlandse Paketmaatschappij; Lindblad, Between Dayak and Dutch; Locher-Scholten, Sumatraans Sultanaat.

63 Kuitenbrouwer, , Netherlands, 276–282Google Scholar. Exports from the Outer Islands multiplied from 73.2 million guilders in 1900 (28.4 per cent of total) to 319.4 million in 1914 (47.4 percent of total). Still, Javanese exports also increased substantially in absolute terms, from 185.3 million guilders to 354.7 million guilders during this period. Cf. Lindblad, ‘Contri bution’, 95.

64 Cain, and Hopkins, , British Imperialism I, 316–351Google Scholar.

65 For the ups and downs of Dutch overseas expansion since 1600: Goor, J. van, De Nederlandse Koloniën: Geschiedenis van de Nederlandse Expansie (The Hague 1994)Google Scholar.

66 Kuitenbrouwer, , Netherlands, 349–358.Google Scholar Cf. Bossenbroek, , Holland, 343–359Google Scholar.

67 Kuitenbrouwer, ‘Drie Omwentelingen’; Idem, ‘Capitalism and Imperialism’ (cf. note 6).

68 For the comparative analysis of British India and the Netherlands Indies: Bayly, C.A. and Kolff, D.H.A. eds, Two Colonial Empires: Comparative Essays on the History of India and Indonesia in the Nineteenth Century (Dordrecht 1986)CrossRefGoogle Scholar and the special issues on colonial India and Indonesia of Itinerario, first numbers 1986-1989. This comparative analysis should be extended to French Indochina; cf. Brocheux, P. and Hemery, D., Indochine: La colonisation ambigue, 1858-1954 (Paris 1995)Google Scholar.

69 Daunton, MJ., ’“Gentlemanly Capitalism” and British Industry 1820-1914’, Past and Present 122 (1989) 119–158CrossRefGoogle Scholar;Porter, A., ‘“Gentlemanly Capitalism” and Empire: The British Experience since 1750?’, Journal of Imperial and Commonwealth History 18 (1990) 265–295CrossRefGoogle Scholar;Marshall, PJ., ‘An Empire of Investors’, Times Literary Supplement (20 08 1993)Google Scholar; Kuitenbrouwer, ‘Capitalism and Imperialism’; Porter, B., The Lion's Share: A Short History of Imperialism, 1850-1995 (3rd edition; London and New York 1996) 149–154Google Scholar.

70 Cain, and Hopkins, , British Imperialism II, 177-180 and 208–211Google Scholar. However, while Cain and Hopkins discuss Lord Lugard's conception of trusteeship, Kipling's conception of the ‘white man's burden’ and its impact on British public opinion is entirely missing in their study; cf. MacKenzie, J.M., Propaganda and Empire: The Manipulation of British Public Opinion, 1880-1960 (Manchester 1984)Google Scholar; James, L., The Rise and Fall of the British Empire (London 1994) 200-217 and 319–334Google Scholar. On Dutch colonial ideology: Kuitenbrouwer, , Netherlands, 310–327Google Scholar; Bossenbroek, Holland, passim; Fasseur, “Geest”; Idem, Padi; Locher-Scholten, E.B., Ethiek in Fragmenten: Vijf Studies over Koloniaal Denken en Doen van Nederlanders in de Indonesische Archipel, 1877-1942 (Utrecht 1981)Google Scholar passim.

71 Huizinga, J., Nederland's Geestesmerk (Leiden 1935) 11–12Google Scholar.

72 Handelingen der TweedeKamer (22 11 1901) 139.Google Scholar See on Dutch ‘ethicalimperialism’: Locher-Scholten, , Ethiek, 194–200Google Scholar; Idem, Sumatraans Sultanaat, 285-287; Kuitenbrouwer, , Netherlands, 320–327Google Scholar.

73 Bruijn, J. de and Puchinger, G. eds, Brief wisseling Kuyper-Idenburg (Franeker 1985) 228Google Scholar.

74 Bossenbroek, , Holland, 192Google Scholar.

75 Cf. Kuitenbrouwer, , Netherlands, 328-335 and 353–354Google Scholar.

76 Wai, S.L. van der ed., Herinneringen vanjhr. Mr. B.C. dejonge (Utrecht 1968) 55Google Scholar.

77 Ibid., 351.

78 Quoted in Kuitenbrouwer, M., De Ontdekking van de Derde Wereld: Beeldvorming en Beleid in Nederland, 1950-1990 (The Hague 1994) 44Google Scholar.

79 Bossenbroek, , Holland, 88–89Google Scholar.