Genesis and nemesis of the first Dutch colonial empire in Asia and South Africa, 1596-1811 / by Gerrit Knaap.

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Prelude to Empire -- Foundation of Empire -- Expansion of Empire -- Consolidation of Empire -- Demise of Empire -- The Empire's Naval and Army personnel -- The Empire's ships, fortifications and weapons -- The Empire's voyages, garrisons and military practices -- The First Dutch Colonial Empire in the East: Empire among empires.

Intro -- Contents -- Expansion in History Series Editor's Preface -- Acknowledgements -- Maps -- Illustrations -- Glossary and Abbreviations -- Introduction -- 1 Prelude to Empire -- 1 A Young Nation Ready for Ocean-Going Expansion -- 2 Proto-Companies on the Way to Asia -- 3 Proto-Companies on the Road to Unity -- 4 The VOC in a European Context -- 5 Conclusion -- 2 Foundation of Empire -- 1 The VOC's Role in Asia According to the Instructions Issued to the Admirals -- 2 The First Admirals: War, Success and Stagnation -- 3 Governor-General Pieter Both, His Instruction and the Twelve Years' Truce -- 4 Coen's First Term of Office: Batavia, the English, Banda, the Iberians -- 5 Coen Back Home and His Second Term of Office in the Empire -- 6 Conclusion -- 3 Expansion of Empire -- 1 Van Diemen against Portugal: Blockades, Sieges, Conquests -- 2 Gunboat Diplomacy, Special Theatres of War, Remote Places -- 3 Endgame with Portugal: Ceylon, Malabar and Other Theatres of War -- 4 Difficulties with the English and the French -- 5 The Cloves Secured: Amboina -- 6 The Cloves Secured: Maluku -- 7 Formosa Won and Lost -- 8 Finale in the Eastern Archipelago: Makassar -- 9 Ceylon: Van Goens' War against Kandy and Other Troubles -- 10 Breaking out of Bridgehead Batavia: Intervention in Mataram -- 11 Breaking out of Bridgehead Batavia: Intervention in Bantam -- 12 Conclusion -- 4 Consolidation of Empire -- 1 Consolidation versus Intervention -- 2 The First Two Javanese Succession Wars -- 3 In the Northern Arabian Sea: Slow Retreat from a Far Periphery -- 4 The VOC in Malabar: From Strength to Weakness -- 5 The Chinese Massacre in Batavia and the Chinese War in Mataram -- 6 The High Government between Factionalism and Reform -- 7 The Third Javanese War of Succession and the Division of Mataram -- 8 Problems in the Eastern Archipelago: Wajo, Gowa, Timor and Tidore -- 9 Problems at Java's Western and Eastern Fringes -- 10 Problems in the Malakka Straits and Expansion in Borneo -- 11 Dutch Hegemony in Ceylon Secured: The War with Kandy -- 12 European Confrontations: The French and the Ostendeners -- 13 European Confrontations: The Seven Years' War -- 14 Conclusion -- 5 Demise of Empire -- 1 The Fourth Anglo-Dutch War -- 2 Further Problems in Malabar, the Malakka Straits, Borneo and Tidore -- 3 New Initiatives for a Better Defence -- 4 Revolution in Europe -- 5 The First British Assault -- 6 The Peace of Amiens and the Resumption of Hostilities -- 7 Marshall Daendels in Java -- 8 The Second British Assault, the End of Dutch Empire -- 9 Conclusion -- 6 The Empire's Naval and Army Personnel -- 1 Recruitment of Personnel in the Netherlands and Europe -- 2 From the Netherlands to the East and Back -- 3 Conditions of the Military Men and the Sailors after Arrival in the East -- 4 Temporary Armed Forces: Civilian Militias, the Amboinese Hongi and Others

"Based upon a sweeping command of Dutch East India Company (VOC) primary sources, Knaap's manuscript offers a thought-provoking thematic examination and chronological survey of the Dutch Republic's overseas and colonial expansion in Asia and South Africa, mainly through the VOC and its successors, the Batavian Republic, the Kingdom of Holland and Franco-Dutch Java, over a period of more than two centuries, 1596-1811. It elucidates and deals with several conceptual and theoretical issues that are intrinsically important and germane to a polity's definition of and how it chooses to execute the process of expansion overseas in the early modern period. One of this work's major arguments and contributions is its advocacy that the Dutch VOC's expansion in Asia was an imperial project and must be seen as an act of empire, or, at the very minimum, the attempt to construct one via the innovative utilization of a highly organized and dynamic commercial institution with significant political and diplomatic power and naval and military resources"-- Provided by publisher.

Local access dig.pdf. [Knaap-Dutch Asia.pdf] 

Link to Brill eBooks via BC Libraries