Between Batavia and the Cape: Shipping Patterns of the Dutch East India Company

The Dutch East India Company (VOC) maintained a vast network of shipping connections with Asia during the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. The extent of these connections was determined by the quantity of goods which was to be transported from Asia to Holland, and through the demand for ships in the inter-Asian trade. The periods of time and the ways in which the Holland-to-Asia connections were maintained did not necessarily depend upon commercial considerations. Considerations of safety, prevention of smuggling and above all the wind and current systems played an equally important role. Only recently has a survey become available of all journeys made to and from Asia during the Company's existence. It takes into account 4,730 outward-bound voyages and 3,358 homeward-bound voyages in the years 1602 to 1795. For the greatest portion of voyages, Batavia was both the destination and the port of departure. Columns I and II in Tables 1 and 2 will give one an overview. The preponderance of journeys from Batavia tapered off in time, mostly because of direct voyages made to Holland from other parts of Asia, such as Ceylon, Bengal, and China. Yet Batavia remained the metropolis, and where, at its zenith from around 1720 to 1740, an average of 33 ships per year arrived and 23 to 24 departed for the mother country. In the years thereafter, only the frequency of the return journeys diminished appreciably.