1724 Valentijn view of the Ambon Fleet, Enforcing the Dutch Spice Monopoly

This is a 1724 engraved illustration of the Hongi Fleet of 1702 under the command of Dutch official Balthazar Coyett (c. 1650 - 1725), Governor of the Dutch colony at Ambon. The Hung Fleet were a part Dutch, part indigenous Moluccan fleet of kora-kora shipped contracted to enforce the Hongitochten inspections of the VOC (Dutch East India Company) spice monopoly.

The View in Detail

Each kora-kora is named in the numbered table below the view. The Governor's kora-kora, and those of the leading Rajahs, are prominently noted. The Hongitochten were force-backed VOC inspections of the spice-producing parts of the Moluccas intended to enforce the VOC's monopoly over the trade in cloves - which grew almost exclusively in the Moluccas.

Hongitochten

The Dutch practice of hongitochten began in the 17th century and continued until the spice monopoly ended in 1824. The Moluccas covered a large region where a full naval cordon was impractical. The VOC instead concentrated production on the islands where it had control - systematically destroying trees on other islands, compensating local princes with an annual bounty. The VOC adopted hongi (traditional war fleets of kora-kora) to enforce their monopoly. Originally a feature of inter-island warfare, the hongi were made up of native ships and troops, accompanied by the governor and a contingent of VOC soldiers. They were ostensibly an enforcer of gubernatorial authority, but their main purpose was to suppress spice competition. During patrols, illegal clove plantations and caches were sought out and destroyed. The Dutch actively took advantage of tribal and inter-island enmities to both discover illegal cloves and enforce punishment. Generous bounties were offered for smugglers, ideally taken alive. In spite of this, many were killed and displayed at bow and stern of the capturing kora-kora.

Publication History and Census

This engraving was cut by Frederik Ottens for the second volume of François Valentijn's Oud en nieuw Oost-Indiën, printed in 1724. There are no separate examples of this print cataloged in OCLC, although the book is well represented in institutional collections.