The Spice Wars Part Ten – The Architect

By Satish Sekar © Satish Sekar (January 23^rd 2022)

Brouward’s Way

After Jacques Specx’s departure from the gubernatorial seat in Batavia (Jakarta) for the Netherlands, the eighth Governor-General of the Dutch East Indies, Hendrick Brouward, took office in April 1632. He remained in office until the first day of 1636. But Brouward’s great contribution had come over two decades earlier. He discovered a far quicker route to the East Indies. This became the standard route used by the Dutch and gave them a great advantage over the Portuguese and other European competitors for control over the lucrative spice trade.

Before Brouward’s discovery journeys were far longer and costlier. Ships followed the Portuguese route of hugging the African coastline to Mauritius and then going on to Ceylon (Sri Lanka), and then to the East Indies. It was a time-consuming and expensive route. Around 1610 Brouward discovered a far more efficient route of sailing to South Africa and directly on to the East Indies from there. The route shaved months off the voyage. This made spice trips far more efficient and profitable for the Dutch. Seven years later the Dutch East India Company (DEIC) recognised the importance of this and ordered all ships to follow the Brouward route.

Discovery and Consequences

Hendrik Bouwer’s discovery of the best available and most commercially viable route from the Netherlands to the East Indies (Indonesia) revolutionised the Spice Wars, even though it took years longer than it should have done. Brouwer’s discovery in 1610 also sealed South Africa’s fate, but that would manifest itself decades later and reveal a scandal that affected South Africa’s development by introducing appalling methods to the country – methods that were developed and implemented in the East Indies first.

The Brouward route became an integral part of the Spice Trade, but the Dutch had a huge advantage. If they converted that advantage into the monopoly that they craved, it meant that sooner or later the Dutch East India Company (DEIC) would realise that the Cape of Good Hope offered them an even bigger advantage. That happened soon after Johan van Riebeeck arrived in South Africa and realised that his plans to bend the indigenous Khoikhoi people to his will would not work.

At first the Dutch used the Cape of Good Hope as a stopping off point where their ships stocked up on supplies and the crew could rest. The Brouwer route meant that months could be cut from the journey, meaning that the lucrative Banda Islands could be seized and an atrocity avenged.

The 1609 Banda Islands Massacre

The Dutch tried to build a fort on one of the Banda Islands, Banda Neira, in order to try to enforce control over the Banda Islanders and any competitors who dared to oppose their intended monopoly. In April 1609 Admiral Pieter Willemsz Verhoeff arrived in Banda Neira. However, his attempts to negotiate to build the fort led to an ambush on May 22^nd 1609.

There were almost fifty Dutch casualties. Jan Pieterszoon Coen, then just a merchant on the trip, escaped the carnage. However, it hardened his attitude towards the Banda Islanders and later policies, although this alone cannot explain his policies as they were hardline to commercial competitors as well. The massacre in May 1609 had very serious consequences – it led to the DEIC’s war against the Banda Islanders. This incident hardened Dutch attitudes to the Banda Islanders, but it should be remembered that there was no incentive for the Banda Islanders to agree to Dutch terms. The Dutch wanted a monopoly of trade with the Banda Islanders at lower value than they could get by trading with the highest bidder. And they wanted a show of force – forts. The Banda Islanders had rejected Portuguese efforts to obtain such terms for decades. Why would they give the Dutch better terms than they had rejected previously?