Sailors,Zielverkopers, and the Dutch East India Company: The maritime labour market in eighteenth-century Surat

Abstract

In the second half of the eighteenth century, the Dutch East India Company (VOC) employed hundreds of Indian sailors in Surat in western India to man its ships plying the Asian waters. The Moorse zeevarenden (Muslim sailors) performed a variety of tasks on board ships and in the port of Batavia, and made it possible for the Company to carry out its commercial ventures across the Indian Ocean. The relationship between the two, however, was rather complex and even contentious. Based on Dutch sources, this article investigates the political-economic contexts of this relationship, examines the structure and organization of the maritime labour market in Surat, and illuminates the role and significance of zielverkopers (labour contractors) and of the local administration. The analysis of the social, economic, and familial aspects of the market and labour relations in Surat sheds light on pre-capitalist forms of labour recruitment and the institutional dynamics of the Indian labour market. *

An Insight into Pakistan’s Maritime Trade Comparing Maritime Neighborhood

“…To the British, modern India owes the technological superiority of its maritime industry, which they naturally transferred to the country as dowery when they left the Indian subcontinent, leaving the people of Pakistan and Bangladesh to tend to mundane tasks left behind by the British. The Moorish Zeevarenden (Muslim sailors) helped the firm in various ways, both at sea and at the port of Batavia, helping itxpand its operations across the Indian Ocean (Nadri, 2014). When the East India Company was founded, India benefited not only from the company's preexisting nautical resources but also from its extensive and expertise, market strength, dependability, functioning competence, and national and international connections.…”

Praktik Akuntansi Betawian dalam Perspektif Kuasa dan Pengetahuan

“…Kecenderungan ini mungkin dipengaruhi oleh kebiasaan sejak jaman VOC di mana Jakarta selalu dibanjiri oleh para imigran dari berbagai etnis. Akan tetapi kecenderungan ini bisa ditafsirkan sebagai kesadaran orang Betawi dalam pembentukan etnisitas yang tidak mengakar sehingga ingatan geografis mereka pendek (Gentelli, 2016;Nadri, 2015).…”