Books in English about the Dutch East India Company

Although the contents of this website are mainly in Dutch, we believe that a separate list of books and articles in the English language concerning the Dutch East India Company will address a broad public outside the Netherlands. Note that some of the books are only partly in English.

Akveld, Leo (samenst. en eindred.), 2005. - Koersvast : vijf eeuwen navigatie op zee. Zaltbommel: Uitgeverij Aprilis, 2005. - 287 p.: [nl, en] ISBN 90-5994-108-X Een bundel van artikelen betreffende cartografie, globes, instrumenten, navigatie en poolonderzoek. Een 18-tal auteurs belicht aspecten van de geschiedenis van de navigatie. Ook krijgt het Nederlandse varende bedrijf aandacht, met name de walvisvaart en de ontdekkingsreizen. Dit boek behandelt niet specifiek deze onderwerpen met betrekking tot de VOC. Desalniettemin kan het boek interessant zijn voor VOC-geïnteresseerden.

Andrade, Tonio, 2007. - How Taiwan Became Chinese : Dutch, Spanish, and Han Colonization in the Seventeenth Century. 2007: [en] E-book, klik op de titel

Anon., 1985. - VOC schip Amsterdam 1984 : report of the VOC ship "Amsterdam" Foundation 1984. Amsterdam: Foundation VOC ship Amsterdam, 1985. - 96 p.: [en]

Atsushi, Ota, 2006. - Changes of Regime and Social Dynamics in West Java : Society, State and the Outer World of Banten, 1750-1830. Leiden: Brill, 2006. - 276 p.: [en] (TANAP Monographs on the History of Asian-European Interaction, 2) ISBN-13: 978-9004150-91-1 This volume deals with the sultanate of Banten from the outbreak of the rebellion of 1750-52 to the launching of the Cultivation System in 1830. After the suppression of the rebellion by the Dutch East India Company (VOC), local society showed considerable vitality. The introduction by the VOC of forced exploitation of the pepper cultivation did not lead to a significant increase in production, but enabled the local elites to augment their power. In the late 18th century Asian traders (many Bugis and Chinese) and English country traders integrated Banten and its Sumatran territory Lampung into a vibrant inter-regional trading network. This trade pattern, which involved the exchange of pepper and the maritime and forest products demanded by the China market for opium, contributed to the emergence of a new economic order in insular South-East Asia. This study shows how the the society of Banten was in a state of constant transformation in reaction to the Western presence and the shifts of the world economy during the period from 1750 to 1830.

Baker, Chris, et al., 2005. - Van Vliet's Siam. Chiang Mai: Silkworm Books, 2005. - 356 pp.: [en] ISBN 9789749575819

Balk, G.L., F.van Dijk, et al., 2007. - The archives of the Dutch East India Company VOC and the local institutions in Batavia Jakarta. Leiden: Brill, 2007. - 572 pp.: [en] ISBN 978-900-4163-65-2

Bergvelt, Joyce, 2018. - Lord of Formosa : a novel. Manchester: Camphor Press Ltd, 2018. - 480 pp.: [en] ISBN 978-1-78869-139-0 Historical novel.

Blussé, Leonard, 1986. - Strange company : Chinese settlers, mestizo women and the Dutch in VOC Batavia. Dordrecht: Foris Publications, 1986. - 302 p.: [en] (Verhandelingen van het Koninklijk Instituut voor Taal-, Land- en Volkenkunde; nr. 122) ISBN 90-6765-211-3

Blussé, Leonard, en Femme S. Gaastra, 1981. - Companies and trade. Leiden: Leiden University Press, 1981. - 276 p.: [en] (Comparative studies in overseas history ; vol. 3) ISBN 90-6021-473-0

Blussé, Leonard, et al., 1986. - All of one company : the VOC in biographical perspective. Utrecht: HES Uitgevers, 1986. - 230 p.: [en] ISBN 90-6194-036-2

Bosman, D.B., en H.B. Thom (ed.), 1952. - Journal of Jan van Riebeeck : Volume 1. 1651-1655. Capetown, Amsterdam: A.A. Balkema, 1952. - 395 p.: [en] ISBN nl

Bosman, D.B., en H.B. Thom (ed.), 1954. - Journal of Jan van Riebeeck : Volume 2. 1656-1658. Capetown, Amsterdam: A.A. Balkema, 1954. - 406 p.: [en]

Bosman, D.B., en H.B. Thom (ed.), 1958. - Journal of Jan van Riebeeck : Volume 3. 1659-1662. Capetown, Amsterdam: A.A. Balkema, 1958. - 531 p.: [en]

Brommer, A.B., 2009. - Grote Atlas van de Verenigde Oost-Indische Compagnie / Comprehensive Atlas of the Dutch United East India Company : V Afrika / Africa. Voorburg: Uitgeverij Asia Maior / Atlas Maior et.al., 2009. - ca 420 p.: [nl, en] ISBN 978-90-74861-30-4

Brouwer, C.G., 1988. - Cauwa ende comptanten: de Verenigde Oostindische Compagnie in Jemen / Cowha and cash: the Dutch East India Company in Yemen : 1614-1655. Amsterdam: D'Fluyte Rarob, 1988. - 100 p.: [nl, en] ISBN 90-800267-1-9 Overzicht van de relaties en de handel tussen Jemen en de VOC, geplaatst tegen de achtergrond van de plaatselijke politieke en economische geschiedenis. Verschijnt als achtergrondpublicatie bij de Jemen-tentoonstelling in het Tropenmuseum, Amsterdam van december 1988 tot september 1989.

Bruijn, Iris, 2009. - Ship's surgeons of the Dutch East India Company : Commerce and progress of medicine in the Eighteenth century. Leiden: Leiden University Press, 2009. - 388 p.: [en] ISBN 978-90-8728-051-2

Bruijn, J.R., F.S. Gaastra en I. Schöffer, 1987. - Dutch-Asiatic Shipping in the 17th and 18th centuries, Volume I, Introductory volume. Den Haag: Martinus Nijhoff, 1987. - 356 p.: [en] (Rijks Geschiedkundige Publicatiën, Grote Serie, Nr. 165) ISBN 90-6890-132x

Brummelhuis, Han ten, 1987. - Merchant, courtier and diplomat : a history of the contacts between The Netherlands and Thailand. Lochem: Uitgeversmaatschappij De Tijdstroom, 1987. - 116 p.: [en] ISBN 90-352-1202-9

Burnet, Ian, 2011. - Spice Islands. Rosenberg Publishing, 2011. - 200p: [en] ISBN 978-19-2171-911-0 Cloves and nutmeg are indigenous to the Spice Islands of Eastern Indonesia, this book tells of the many uses of these exotic spices and the history of their trade over a period of more than 2000 years. Much of the story is told through the lives of these historical characters, as well as Sir Francis Drake, Jan Pieterzoon Coen, Pierre Poivre, and others who are lesser known but equally important. The story also revolves around the intense rivalry between the Sultans of Ternate and Tidore and their relationship with the Portuguese, Spanish, Dutch and English, who at different times occupied the Spice Islands. The book follows the growth of the Dutch and English East India Companies which were founded to profit from the spice trade and their efforts to monopolize that trade. It finishes as the Dutch East India Company goes into bankruptcy and the once splendid Sultanates sink into obscurity.

Campen, Jan van, en Tristan Mostert, 2015. - Silk thread : China and the Netherlands from 1600. Nijmegen: Uitgeverij Vantilt, 2015. - 248 pp.: [en] ISBN 978 94 6004 250 8 Silk Thread uses objects from the Rijksmuseum collection to explore the shared history of China and the Netherlands from 1600 to the present.

Chiu Hsin-hui, verwacht. - The Colonial 'Civilizing Process' in Dutch Formosa, 1624-1662. Leiden: Brill, verwacht. - 300 p.: [en] (TANAP Monographs on the History of Asian-European Interaction, 10) ISBN-13: 978-90-04-16507-6 This book studies the dynamic encounter between Taiwan’s Indigenous Peoples (the Formosans), the Dutch VOC and Chinese settlers between 1624 and 1662. From the viewpoint of indigenous agency, the author offers a comprehensive picture of the Taiwanese colonial 'civilizing process' under Dutch rule. Using so far unexplored source materials from the VOC archives, the author shows how Taiwan’s Indigenous Peoples shaped their own colonial reality while retreating from 'the Age of Aboriginal Taiwan'.

Dewasiri, Nirmal Ranjith, 2008. - The Adaptable Peasant : Agrarian Society in Western Sri Lanka under Dutch Rule, 1740-1800. Leiden: Brill, 2008. - 296 p.: [en] (TANAP Monographs on the History of Asian-European Interaction, 9) ISBN-13: 978-90-04-16508-3 This study investigates the structural changes in western Sri Lanka's agrarian society under the administration of the Dutch United East India Company (VOC). In the areas where peasant agriculture was the predominant form of production, changes in the land tenure system paved the way for a modern system of private property relations. A new class differentiation emerged and the indigenous chiefs turned into powerful landowners. In addition to this, new light is shed on the dynamics of caste formation as a result of the early colonial encounter.

Diessen, J.R. van, 2008. - Grote Atlas van de Verenigde Oost-Indische Compagnie / Comprehensive Atlas of the Dutch United East India Company : IV Ceylon. Voorburg: Uitgeverij Asia Maior / Atlas Maior et.al., 2008. - 400 p.: [nl, en] ISBN 978-90-74861-29-8

Floor, Willem, 2006. - The Persian Gulf : A political and economic history of five port cities 1500-1730. Washington: Mage Publishers, 2006. - 637 p.: [en] ISBN 1-933823-12-7

Gaastra, Femme S., 2007. - The Dutch East India Company. Zutpen: Walburg Pers, 2007. - 216 p.: [en] ISBN 978-90-5730-241-1 The founding, expansion and decline of the Dutch East India Company, an extensive trading empire that was directed by Dutch merchants of international standing. Translation of the standard work on the history of the Dutch East India Company.

Gawronski, J.H.G. (ed.), 1986. - VOC schip Amsterdam 1985 : jaarrapport van de Stichting VOC-schip "Amsterdam" 1985 / Annual report of the VOC ship "Amsterdam" Foundation 1985. Amsterdam: Foundation VOC ship Amsterdam, 1986. - 113 p.: [nl, en]

Gawronski, J.H.G. (ed.), 1987. - VOC schip Amsterdam 1986 : jaarrapport van de Stichting VOC-schip "Amsterdam" 1986 / Annual report of the VOC ship "Amsterdam" Foundation 1986. Amsterdam: Foundation VOC ship Amsterdam, 1987. - 100 p.: [nl, en] ISBN 90-71690-02-4

Geijn-Verhoeven, Monique van de, et. al., 2002. - Domestic Interiors at the Cape and in Batavia 1602-1795. Zwolle: Uitgeverij Waanders, 2002. - 240 p.: [en] ISBN 90-400-8715-6

Gommans, Jos, en Rob van Diessen, 2010. - Grote Atlas van de Verenigde Oost-Indische Compagnie / Comprehensive Atlas of the Dutch United East India Company : VII Oost-Azië, Birma tot Japan / East Asia, Burma to Japan. Voorburg: Uitgeverij Asia Maior / Atlas Maior et.al., 2010. - ca 420 p.: [nl, en] ISBN 978-90-74861-32-8

Gommans, Jos, Jeroen Bos, Gijs Kruijtzer , 2010. - Grote Atlas van de Verenigde Oost-Indische Compagnie / Comprehensive Atlas of the Dutch United East India Company : VI Voor-Indïë, Perzië en Arabisch Schiereiland / India, Persia and Arabian Peninsula. Voorburg: Uitgeverij Asia Maior / Atlas Maior et.al., 2010. - ca 420 p.: [nl, en] ISBN 978-90-74861-31-1