Commanders of Dutch East India ships in the eighteenth century

摘要

Until the 1780s, the Dutch East India Company (VOC) was the largest organisation in the shipping traffic between Europe and Asia. The numbers of ships sent by the VOC to and from Asia far exceeded those of ships sailing under the flag of the English or the French East India companies. Most of this Dutch-Asiatic shipping took place in the eighteenth century. Between 1700 and 1796, 2,957 voyages were made to Asia and 2,369 voyages back to Europe. Among the commanders of Dutch East Indiamen in the eighteenth century, more than a thousand made an outward or homeward-bound voyage two or more times and at least six hundred others transported' (p. 214). What determined the power relations between commanders and directors over time? It is one of the merits of Bruijn's fine study that it gives rise to such intriguing questions for further research.