Admiral Cornelis Matelieff de Jonge, a Director in the Rotterdam chamber of the Dutch East Indies Company (VOC) for three decades during the early 17th century, set sail from the Dutch Republic for As
The Flemish gem trader Jacques de Coutre visited Southeast Asia in the early 17th century, and his lengthy account of his experiences provides a glimpse of Singapore, Johor and the Straits of Melaka d
The Singapore and Melaka Straits are a place where regional and long-distance maritime trading networks converge, linking Europe, the Mediterranean, eastern Africa, the Arabian Peninsula and the India
In 1603, Dutch Admiral Jakob van Heemskerk plundered a Portuguese merchantman, the Santa Catarina, travelling from Macao to Melaka. The sale of the cargo at a public auction made traders across Northe
Cornelis Matelieff de Jonge (c.1570?1632) was admiral of the Dutch East India Company when it sailed to Asia in 1605 and besieged Portuguese Melaka in 1606 with the help of Malay allies. A massive Por
Jacques de Coutre was a Flemish gem trader who spent nearly a decade in Southeast Asia at the turn of the 17th century. He left history a substantial autobiography written in Spanish and preserved in
Born in what is now Belgium, Jacques was an independent trader dealing chiefly in precious stones, bezoars, and Indian textiles. He lived for more than three decades of his adult life in Asia, and lef
Singapore’s history is a story of changing fortunes. This anthology’s studies illustrate three approaches to the study of Singapore before 1800. They entail, first, searching for classical texts; s
