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Thu 13 April
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Fri 14 April
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Sat 15 April
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Thursday 13 April 2023 11.00 - 13.00
J-6 ASI05/EMPb Exploiting the Empire of Others: Session – 2 Transnational Entrepreneurship and Exploitation in the Building of Empires in Eurasia, 1500-1918
B44 (Z)
Network: Asia Chair: Catia Antunes
Organizer: Catia Antunes Discussant: Susana Munch Miranda
Anne Gerritsen : Chinese Tea and Porcelain Merchants and the Trading Houses of Canton
The story of the China trade is well known. British, Swedish, Dutch and other traders arrived in the port of Canton to purchase goods, staying in the specifically designated parts of the city where foreigners were welcome. Their negotiations with representatives of the Chinese empire all took place via the ... (Show more)
The story of the China trade is well known. British, Swedish, Dutch and other traders arrived in the port of Canton to purchase goods, staying in the specifically designated parts of the city where foreigners were welcome. Their negotiations with representatives of the Chinese empire all took place via the so-called Hong merchants, who were responsible for all negotiations about goods and prices. They were key to the operation of all trade, facilitating the interactions between the local representatives of the Chinese government and the merchants associated with the European trade companies. Less visible in this well-known story are those who delivered the goods from further afield, notably tea (from the Huizhou hills) and porcelain (from the north of Jiangxi province). Among those who delivered such goods were Huizhou merchants, whose handbooks and routebooks provide key information about their side of the story. This paper will explore how the Huizhou merchants dealt with the challenges of negotiating not only the logistics of long-distance trade but also the interactions with Hong merchants and the representatives of the European trade companies. (Show less)

Ghulam A. Nadri : Trans-Imperial Traders of the Western Indian Ocean: the Turkish Maritime Merchants of Surat and their Commercial World in the 18th Century
The Turkish merchants of Surat (in Gujarat, western India) were among the most prominent maritime merchants of the city during the 18th century. They played a significant role in the trade and politics of Surat and the western Indian Ocean world. Many of them were shipowners and traders whose commercial ... (Show more)
The Turkish merchants of Surat (in Gujarat, western India) were among the most prominent maritime merchants of the city during the 18th century. They played a significant role in the trade and politics of Surat and the western Indian Ocean world. Many of them were shipowners and traders whose commercial activities transcended imperial boundaries and contributed to the economies of the Mughal, Safavid, Ottoman, and British empires. They represent a curious case to study because of their identity as 'Turkish' living in Surat, a Mughal port city, and trading with port cities under these empires and beyond. As trans-imperial traders, they inhabited a world that was interconnected and cosmopolitan. They possessed skills and capabilities to bear risks and carry out a long-distance large-scale maritime trade. Kin and community-based as well as cross-community networks played a vital role in their entrepreneurial accomplishments. This paper explores the social, institutional, and political-economic dynamics of their commercial world and examines their experience of and responses to the region's transition to British colonial rule and the British imperial expansion in the region in the late 18th century. (Show less)

Noelle Richardson : The Participation and Exploitation of Autochthonous Dutch Firms and Entrepreneurs in the Opium Trade in Eighteenth and Nineteenth Century Asia
This paper analyzes the participation of autochthonous Dutch firms and entrepreneurs in the opium trade in imperial spaces in South and Southeast Asia within and beyond the States-General during the mid-eighteenth to nineteenth century. Mining the sources belonging to two commercial and financial institutions in Batavia- the Amphioensocieteit (1745-1880) and ... (Show more)
This paper analyzes the participation of autochthonous Dutch firms and entrepreneurs in the opium trade in imperial spaces in South and Southeast Asia within and beyond the States-General during the mid-eighteenth to nineteenth century. Mining the sources belonging to two commercial and financial institutions in Batavia- the Amphioensocieteit (1745-1880) and the Bank te Batavia (1746-1814) it will identify the principal Dutch firms and entrepreneurs investing in the opium trade, analyzing the scope and nature of their activity, as well as their strategies and mechanisms. How did Dutch firms and entrepreneurs take advantage of, and exploit, the profits and commercial opportunities associated with the opium trade firstly, in Batavia and, secondly, as foreigners in the areas increasingly controlled by the British in South and Southeast Asia?
To answer these questions, it will analyze the full extent of Dutch private commercial interests and investments in the opium trade by identifying the main actors in the form of autochthonous firms and entrepreneurs, as well as their modus operandi in areas of opium production, i.e. Bengal, their involvement in the distribution of opium within the local market in Batavia, and its export to other commercial centers and ports in South and Southeast Asia. Opium (alongside other commodities such as textiles) was imported into Batavia from Bengal, sold to local Chinese traders who dominated the transport and re-export of the commodity to Java, the Moluccas, Canton and Macau. Moreover, given the presence of a significant ethnic-Chinese community in Batavia, opium was also imported for local consumption and opium traders also met the demands of local Javanese customers. As a result, this paper will focus in particular on the role of local traders in partnership with the Dutch within these local and trans-regional networks and shed light on the important of these crucial collaborations in the procurement, transport, distribution and re-export of opium. In doing so, it will not only provide an important insight into the participation of Dutch firms and private traders in the opium trade within and beyond the context of Batavia, and, as foreign entrepreneurs, it will disentangle the complex and diverse constellations of interests and strategic partnerships that allowed for the circulation of opium as an important commodity of exchange in Asia as a whole. Furthermore, as opium was imported alongside other valuable commodities such as textiles in exchange for textiles, spices or tea, it will provide further insight into the wider commercial portfolios and activities of such private Dutch commercial actors and firms in the circuits of intra-Asian trade during the period in question. (Show less)

Miki Sugiura : Colonial Housewives and the Global Empire: Women’s Generational Property Formation in the Dutch Cape Colonies
As Levine (2007) noted, the scholarship on empire tends to focus on men and their pursuits. The Dutch colonial empire is no exception, with its East India Company employees dominated by men and women seen as outsiders. However, recent studies have unveiled the agency of women in the various trajectories ... (Show more)
As Levine (2007) noted, the scholarship on empire tends to focus on men and their pursuits. The Dutch colonial empire is no exception, with its East India Company employees dominated by men and women seen as outsiders. However, recent studies have unveiled the agency of women in the various trajectories in the Indian Ocean World (Andaya 2000, Jones 2011, Hamer 2017). While most of these studies focus on a life span effect of interracial marriage, this paper takes a generational approach and analyses the property formation within three generations of women in the Dutch Cape Colony between 1652 and 1806.
The regulations of the Dutch East India Company made women settlers of the Cape Colony unable to officially engage in economic activity. This led women to marry at a very young age and often remarry. However, under the status of ‘housewives’, women explored multiple ways of accumulating property, both large and small, by exploiting colonial commercial access, circulating second-hand household goods, and providing start-up capital. As a result, a quite considerable number of them eventually owned houses and land. These activities were often performed out of necessity. Still, they represent a specific entrepreneurial culture of the Dutch Cape Colony. (Show less)



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