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.

Goor, J. van, 1978. - Jan Kompenie as Schoolmaster : Dutch education in Ceylon 1690-1795.
Groningen: Wolters-Noordhoff, 1978. - 205 p.: [en]
(Historische Studies Inst. voor Gesch. RU Utrecht, nr. 34)
ISBN 90-01-39020-X
 
Gulik, W. van, 1998. - Nederlanders in Nagasaki - Japanse prenten uit de 19de eeuw.
Amsterdam: Uitgeverij Stichting Terra Incognita, 1998. - 160 p.: [nl, en]
ISBN 90-73853-10-9
 
Henderson, J., 1999. - Sent forth a dove : discovery of the Duyfken.
University of Western Australia Press, 1999. - 218 p.: [en]
ISBN 1-876268-24-7
 
Hoang Anh Tuan, 2007. - Silk for Silver : Dutch-Vietnamese relations, 1637-1700.
Leiden: Brill, 2007. - 300 p.: [en]
(TANAP Monographs on the History of Asian-European Interaction, 5)
ISBN-13: 978-9004156-01-2
Against the background of a regional crisis caused by dynastic change in China and the closure of Japan in the middle of the seventeenth century, the Vietnamese kingdom of Tonkin rose to the fore as the major silk producing and exporting region in East Asia. Based on a wealth of so far unused primary sources from the Dutch East India Company (VOC) archives, this monograph explains how Dutch and Chinese maritime traders played a critical role in Tonkin’s dramatic emergence as a trading power. The author examines the vicissitudes in political relations, the varying trends in the VOC-Tonkin import and export trade, and the Dutch influence on the seventeenth-century Vietnamese feudal society.
 
Hoving, Ab, en Cor Emke, 2000. - De schepen van Abel Tasman / The ships of Abel Tasman / Die Schiffe Abel Tasmans.
Hilversum: Uitgeverij Verloren, 2000. - 144p., 40 tek., cd-rom: [nl, en, du]
ISBN 90-6550-086-3
ISBN English edition 90-6550-087-1; ISBN Deutsche edition 90-6550-088-X
 
Jacob, H.K. s’, 2000. - The Rajas of Cochin, 1663-1720 : kings, chiefs and the Dutch East India Company.
New Delhi: Munshiram Manoharlal, 2000. - 195 p.: [en]
ISBN 8121509505
 
Jacobs, Els M.. - In pursuit of pepper and tea : The story of the Dutch East India Company.
Zutphen: Walburg Pers, . - 96 p.: [en]
ISBN 990-5730-040-0
 
Jacobs, Els M., 2006. - Merchant in Asia. The Trade of the Dutch East India Company during the Eighteenth Century.
Leiden: CNWS Publications, Leiden University, 2006. - 474 pp.: [en]
(Studies in Overseas History Vol. 8)
ISBN 90-5789-109-3
Merchant in Asia is the first study to pay attention to the full breadth and width of the VOC commercial activities in Asia. It looks at the company from the peak of its fame until its final decline at the end of the eighteenth century. The study focuses on the main trade goods - spices, Indian textiles, Chinese tea and Javanese coffee - and their specific by-products. Els Jacobs has analyzed in detail the VOC trade in fifteen of the most important commodities that together made up 85% of the total turnover. This innovative study is based on extensive research of the VOC archives and many other Dutch sources, as well as a detailed quantitative analysis of the VOC bookkeeping records. In the study the author sketches in vivid detail how the merchants of the VOC sold, bought, and even supervised the production of tropical products and how they dealt with Asian suppliers and consumers. In addition, she looks at the range of problems the merchants encountered in the maritime trade from Yemen and Persia in the West to China and Japan in the East, including India, Ceylon, Malacca, and the Indonesian Archipelago.
 
Jörg, Christiaan J.A., 1986. - The Geldermalsen : History and Porcelain.
Groningen: Kemper Publishers, 1986. - 124 p.: [en]
ISBN 90-70295-29-6
 
Kersten, Carool (vert.), 2003. - Strange events in the kingdoms of Cambodia and Laos (1635-1644).
Bangkok: White Lotus, 2003. - 78 p.: [en]
ISBN 974-4800-28-3
Translated and annotated from "Vremde Geschiedenissen In de Koninckrijken van Cambodia en Louwen-Lant, in Oost-Indien. Zedert den Iare 1635 tot den Iare 1644 aldaer voor-gevallen. Mitsgaders de Reyse der Nederlanders van Cambodia de Louse Revier op na Wincjan, het Hof van de Louse Majesteyt. Ende ten laetsten de wreede Massacré in Cambodia door de Indianen, Anno 1643 geschiet", uitgegeven in 1669.
 
Kleinen, John, et al., 2008. - Lion and dragon : Four centuries of Dutch-Vietnamese relations.
Amsterdam: Boom Publishers, 2008. - 627 p.: [en]
ISBN 978-90-8506-585-2
 
Knaap, Gerrit, 2007. - Grote Atlas van de Verenigde Oost-Indische Compagnie / Comprehensive Atlas of the Dutch United East India Company : II Java en Madoera / Java and Madura.
Voorburg: Uitgeverij Asia Maior / Atlas Maior et.al., 2007. - 432 p.: [nl, en]
ISBN 978-90-74861-27-4
 
Knaap, Gerrit J., 1996. - Shallow waters, rising tide : shipping and trade in Java around 1775.
Leiden: KITLV Press, 1996. - 255 p.: [en]
(Verhandelingen van het Koninklijk Instituut voor Taal-, Land- en Volkenkunde; nr. 172)
ISBN 90-6718-102-1
 
Knaap, Gerrit, en Heather Sutherland, 2004. - Monsoon traders : Ships, skippers and commodities in eighteenth-century Makassar.
Leiden: KITLV Press, 2004. - 269 p.: [en]
(Verhandelingen van het Koninklijk Instituut voor Taal-, Land- en Volkenkunde; nr. 224)
ISBN 90-6718-232-X
 
Kuijp, Aad W. van der, 2005. - VOC monumenten op Sri Lanka : dutch east india company monuments in Sri Lanka.
[s.l.]: [s.n.], 2005. - 160 p.: [nl, en]
 
Kwee Hui Kian, 2006. - The Political Economy of Java's Northeast Coast. c. 1740-1800 : Elite Synergy.
Leiden: Brill, 2006. - 334 p.: [en]
(TANAP Monographs on the History of Asian-European Interaction, 3)
ISBN-13: 978-9004150-90-4
This book is a study of the political economy of Java's Northeast Coast from 1743, when the VOC emerged as its ruler, until the end of the eighteenth century. The focus is on the various power-holders - namely coastal Javanese regents, Mataram rulers, Chinese merchants and Company authorities - and how they accommodated the changes brought about with the power shift, what their primary resources were and how they tried to maximize their advantages in the new politico-economic setting. This study also shows how the Company, despite being the ruler, had to compromise with these power-holders and satisfy their needs to optimize its own gains.
 
Landwehr, J. en P. van der Krogt, 1991. - VOC: a bibliography of publications relating to the Dutch East India Company 1602-1800.
Utrecht: HES Publishers, 1991. - 840 p.: [en]
ISBN 90-6194-497-X
 
Moree, Perry J., 1998. - A concise history of Dutch Mauritius, 1598-1710 : a fruitful and healthy land.
London/New York: Kegan Paul International, 1998. - 127 pp.: [en]
ISBN 0-7103-0639-3
 
Mulder, W.Z., 1985. - Hollanders in Hirado, 1597-1641.
Haarlem: Fibula-Van Dishoeck, 1985. - 301 p.: [en]
ISBN 90-228-3889-7
 
Napier, Rob, 2008. - Valkenisse, retourschip of 1717 : Reconditioning an Eighteenth-Century Ship Model.
Florence, USA: SeaWatchBooks, 2008. - 237 p.: [en]
ISBN 978-0-9820579-0-2
 
Nelson, W.A., 1984. - The Dutch forts of Sri Lanka : The military monuments of Ceylon.
Edinburgh: Canongate Publishing Limited, 1984. - 152 pp.: [en]
ISBN 0-86241-062-2
 
Niel, Robert van , 2005. - Java's northeast coast 1740-1840 : a study in colonial encroachment and dominance.
Leiden: CNWS Publications, 2005. - 424 p.: [en]
(CNWS publications ; vol. 137)
ISBN 90-5789-111-5
 
Oers, R. van, 2000. - Dutch Town Planning Overseas during VOC and WIC Rule (1600-1800).
Zutphen: Walburg Pers, 2000. - 215 p.: [en]
ISBN 90-5730-104-0
 
 Om Prakash, cop. 1985. - The Dutch East India Company and the economy of Bengal, 1630-1720.
Princeton, N.J.: Princeton University Press, cop. 1985. - 291 p.: [en]
ISBN 0691054479
 
Panikkar, K.M., 1931. - Malabar and the Dutch : being the History of the Fall of the Nayar Power in Malabar.
Bombay: D.B. Taraporevala Sons & Co., 1931. - XXII, 188 p.: [en]
 
Paranavitana, K.D., 2001. - Land for money : Dutch land registration in Sri Lanka.
Colombo: K.D. Paranavitana, 2001. - 167 pp.: [en]
ISBN 955-96201-1-8
 
Parthesius, Robert, 2010. - Dutch Ships in Tropical Waters : The development of the Dutch East India Company (VOC) shipping network in Asia 1595-1660.
Amsterdam: Amsterdam University Press, 2010. - 217 p.: [en]
ISBN 978-90-5356-517-9
Proefschrift Universiteit van Amsterdam. Ook als full text electronische versie beschikbaar via UvA-DARE.
 
Prakash, Om, 1985. - The Dutch East India Company and the Economy of Bengal, 1630-1720.
Princeton, New Jersey: Princeton University Press, 1985. - 291 pp.: [en]
ISBN 0-691-05447-9
 
Raben, Remco en Dhiravat na Pombejra (ed.), 1997. - In the king’s trail : an 18th century Dutch journey to the Buddha’s footprint : Theodorus Jacobus van den Heuvel’s account of his voyage to Phra Phutthabat in 1737.
Bangkok: The Royal Netherlands Embassy, 1997. - 91 p.: [en]
ISBN 9748992659
 
Reichert, Rafal, et al., 2018. - Sierra Leone 2014 : Final report of the flag no. 160 Two expeditions.
2018. - 44 pp.: [en]
E-book, offline
Rapport van twee duikexpedities naar een scheepswrak bij Sierra Leone en de analyse van de gegevens en speurtochten in archieven leidend tot de conclusie dat het het wrak van de Diemermeer betrof. Het rapport is geschreven door Rafal Reichert, Arthur Scheijde, Peter Wytykowski en Roman Zajder.
 
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