Chapter Two. Ruling The Local Rulers: Maintenance Of The Spice Monopoly

Abstract

The Verenigde Oost-Indische Compagnie (VOC) developed the policies and strategies which were designed to deal with the local polities. Owing to the enormous expansion of its power, the VOC had to address a great deal more than just trade. There were four Governments in the Eastern East Indies in the seventeenth and the eighteenth centuries: Banda, Ambon, Ternate, and Makassar. Each of these Governments was headed by a Governor and Council who dealt with administrative and political matters, and also managed the spice production and local trade. The downfall of the VOC has inspired writers to take up their pens ever since the eighteenth century. During the course of the eighteenth century, the Dutch gradually lost their powerful position as a trading power in Asia. The spice extirpation policy ruffled the uneasy relationship between Sultan Tidore and the Dutch Government in Ternate.Keywords: spice production; Sultan Ternate; Sultan Tidore; Verenigde Oost-Indische Compagnie (VOC)