Warfare, Bestowal, Purchase: Dutch Acquisition of Slaves in the World of Eastern Indonesia, 1650–1800

Abstract

ABSTRACT The article investigates the acquisition and exportation of slaves from the seventeenth- and eighteenth-century Timor Islands in eastern Indonesia, activities that involved interaction between Dutch, Portuguese, and indigenous actors and involved seafarers from South Sulawesi. Similar to several other politically segmented regions that practiced local religions, Timor was the object of slaving by Christian and Muslim traders, while local polities also maintained systems of coerced labour and carried out raids. The study exemplifies how a European trading company, the Dutch East India Company, used local lines of conflict to acquire manpower in a region that otherwise had limited economic opportunities.