INDIA-

AMSTERDAMhistorical ties Contents Foreword ...... 5 Jan Huyghen van Linschoten ...... 6 Cochin ...... 8 Jews of Cochin ...... 10 Coromandel ...... 12 Hougli ...... 14 Suratte ...... 16 Miniatures ...... 18 Hortus Indicus ...... 20 Joint heritage ...... 22 Jacob Haafner ...... 24 Transfer to British ...... 26 Tagore ...... 28 Olympic champions ...... 30 Lighthouse Cinema ...... 32 Gandhi ...... 34 Bernard van Leer ...... 36 Indians in ...... 40 Indian Music ...... 42 Corporate Social Responsibility ...... 44 Doing Business...... 48

03 Rembrandt van Rijn. Great Mogul Jahangir. Drawing on Japanese paper, 1656-1658. Collection Rijksmuseum Amsterdam.

4 Foreword

The special bond between India and Amsterdam goes back centuries as this publication will show. It is full of stories about the historical ties between India and Amsterdam. One remarkable example of this is the observations by Amsterdam citizen Jacob Haafner, who in the late eighteenth century spent more than twenty years in India. His written observations of the difference between his compatriots and Indians present a telling picture, one which did not show the westerners in a good light. In Haafner’s eyes, his compatriots were coarse and vulgar, while Hindus or Indians were mild-mannered and peaceful. The westerner, who would only drink wine and spirits and whose table would buckle under the weight of meat from all sorts of animals, contrasted sharply, according to Haafner, with the Indian, who would be satisfied with water, grain, milk and fruit. Haafner’s accounts and perceptions are unique in the age-old history of the contact between Amsterdam and India. A history that began with the establishment of the trading posts of the , in which Amsterdam had a huge share.

As a result of various exchanges in the past, several cultural Amsterdam institutions have Indian heritage items in their collections. Indian miniatures, for instance, enjoyed immense popularity in seventeenth century Amsterdam. Amsterdam mayor Nicolaas Witsen (1641-1717) owned over 450 Indian portraits. The so-called Witsenalbum, which is housed in the Rijksmuseum, is a marvellous collection of original Indian miniatures. The painter Rembrandt van Rijn also had such an art book ‘full of curious miniature drawings’ from India and regularly used these colourful miniatures as inspiration for his work.

There are currently more than eighty Indian companies located in the Amsterdam Metropolitan Area. Several organisations in our region, including the amsterdam inbusiness India Desk, the Expat Centre in the Amsterdam Zuidas district, offer a warm welcome to companies and employees and help them with all aspects of living and working in Amsterdam. Amsterdam has the largest Indian community on the mainland . Both the Annual India Cricket tournament as well as the Diwali Festival Amstelveen are popular events.

The cultural and business exchanges between India and the Amsterdam Metropolitan Area continue to grow all the time. It is my ambition that in the near future even more Indian companies will seek to establish themselves in our region. This way, the ties between Amsterdam and India, which were forged in the past, will be strengthened further in the future.

Eberhard van der Laan Mayor of Amsterdam

5 Jan Huyghen van Linschoten One of the first Dutch people in India was Jan Huyghen van Linschoten from Enkhuizen.

Around 1579, at the age of about sixteen, archbishop, set sail for India. After a Jan Huyghen left the for five-month journey via Madeira, Guinea, Seville in Spain, where two of his half- Cape of Good Hope, Madagascar and brothers were already working. Mozambique, he arrived in Goa on the The following year, he moved to the Indian west coast. Portuguese city of Lisbon. One of his brothers had got him a job there as Jan Huyghen van Linschoten stayed in clerk to the Dominican João Vicente Goa for five years. During this time, he da Fonseca. In 1582, João Vicente da acquired as much information as possible Fonseca was appointed to archbishop about the vast Portuguese empire in of Goa, which was part of the colonial Asia: about the Asians and Europeans empire the Portuguese had built up in who lived there, about the trade in Asian Asia, and on 8 April 1583, Jan Huyghen, products and about the sea routes the as secretary in the retinue of the new Portuguese used to travel from Europe

“Die Coninck van Cochin op een elephant geseeten verselschapt met syn edelen die men Nairos noemt (The King of Cochin riding an elephant accompanied by his noblemen called Nairos)”. Print from Itinerario by Jan Huyghen van Linschoten. 6 to India and between the various ports Oost ofte Portugaels Indien, published in Asia. He copied secret Portuguese in 1596, Jan Huyghen van Linschoten sea charts and made notes about wrote about his own travel experiences coastlines and islands, sandbanks and and the different regions in Asia and currents —information sailors needed the products they produced. The books to be able to navigate safely. While in contained prints and accurate maps of Goa, Jan Huyghen also met another man Asia. In no time, Itinerario became a from Enkhuizen, Dirk Gerritsz Pomp, standard book and for decades, it was nicknamed Dirk China, who had travelled the most important source of information to Asia as early as 1568 in the service about trade in Asia. It went through many of and who was possibly the editions, and was soon published in first ever Dutchman to set other languages: in 1598, foot on Indian soil. He was in English and German. able to give Jan Huyghen In the following year, two all sorts of information different Latin versions about the different Asian were issued, and 1610 saw countries the Portuguese the publication of a French traded with. translation.

In 1587, Archbishop Vicente Thanks to the directions da Fonseca died during of Jan Huyghen van a journey to Portugal. Linschoten, the Dutch After this, Jan Huyghen were able to sail to Asia van Linschoten returned themselves and build up to Europe. In 1592, he their own trade network was back in Enkhuizen. there. In 1595, right He sold his story to before the publication Amsterdam publisher Cornelisz Claesz of Itinerario, a number of Dutch people who specialised in travel accounts embarked on a first expedition to Asia. and publications about shipping and Trade with Asia proved so successful geography. that within a couple of years, it sparked He had two major works published. The a whole number of Dutch expeditions to Reys-gheschrift vande navigatien der the East. In 1602, the Dutch joined forces Portugaloysers in Orienten described in the Dutch East India Company (VOC), the routes to Asia and also between with Amsterdam as its most important India, China and Japan. What’s more, in division, and the VOC gained a monopoly Itinerario, voyage ofte schipvaert, naer on trade with Asia.

Title page of Jan Huyghen van Linschoten’s Itinerario. The book was published by the famous bookseller and publisher Cornelis Claesz at 't Water (present-day Damrak) near the Oude Brug. 1596.

7 Cochin The Portuguese had been in Malabar, the region on the southwest coast of India for over a century when Steven van der Hagen, the first admiral of the Dutch East India Company (VOC) attempted to take Goa with seven ships in 1604.

On behalf of Prince Maurice of Orange- pepper in the hope of building up a Nassau, Van der Hagen made a treaty pepper monopoly. The long coastal strip, with the ruler of Calicut on 11 November however, proved hard to control. 1604 to join forces to oust the Portuguese. They promised each other The strategically located Fort Cochin ‘perpetual friendship as long as the sun was extremely important to the Dutch and the moon shall endure.’ It was the East India Company. It was surrounded first agreement between India and the by water and easily accessible to ships, Netherlands. At that time, however, with an area along the river which turned little came of their plans to get rid of the out to be perfect as a shipbuilding yard. Portuguese. What’s more, the wet lowlands around Cochin reminded the Dutch of their own In 1658, the VOC succeeded in seizing country. They named the seven bastions Ceylon () from the Portuguese. of Fort Cochin on the landward side the Malabar soon followed. If Malabar were Seven Provinces of the . to have remained in the hands of the They claimed the Portuguese St Francis Portuguese, they would have continued Church as their church. There are still to be a threat to the Dutch on Ceylon. about twenty Dutch tombstones in this Moreover, Malabar produced a lot of church today. The rest of the Portuguese pepper, a much sought-after commodity. churches and cloisters were demolished In January 1663, after five expeditions, and the cathedral by the port was turned Malabar finally came into the hands of into a warehouse and flagpole. the Dutch East India Company for good. The former Portuguese Fort Cochin, Cochin is the best preserved former present-day Kochi, became the VOC’s Dutch territory in India. The street layout headquarters after the Dutch rebuilt it of the Dutch fort can still be recognised and made it a bit smaller. The VOC also today. Some modern street names had a number of forts along the coast. are directly derived from those of old The remainder of Malabar was distributed Dutch streets: Princess Street comes among several Indian rulers. The Dutch from Prinsenstraat, Burgher Street East India Company made an agreement from Burgerstraat, Lilly Street from with some of them for the supply of Leliestraat. Moreover, in the seventeenth

Coins from Cochin, dating from the VOC period. One side of the coins bears the VOC emblem, while the other side depicts local symbols. Fitzwilliam Museum Collection.

8 century, there was also a Herengracht, In the late eighteenth century, the Dutch Prinsengracht and Kalverstraat, just East India Company increasingly lost its like in Amsterdam. And also just like in grip on the pepper trade in Malabar. Amsterdam, the Dutch planted trees At that time, the Dutch sold a number along the streets, which still provide of their trading posts to local Indian shade here today. The Dutch houses rulers. In 1793, only Cochin remained. can be easily picked out among the Meanwhile, the Dutch had acquired Portuguese buildings of Fort Cochin. more and more land in the area. This Often, they are single-storey, shuttered landownership, and not trade, brought houses with a front door with an upper in almost forty per cent of their income. and lower leaf that can be opened In 1825, Malabar officially came into the separately. They have flagstone floors hands of the British, who had already and on the pavement in front of the occupied it in 1795. However, many house, there are yellow bricks. There is Dutch continued to live in Cochin after often also a ‘chatter bench’. this transfer of power.

The conquest of the city of Cochin on the coast of Malabar. Atlas van der Hagen, 1682.

9 Jews of Cochin India is about the only country in the world where Jews have been able to live for almost two thousand years without fear of persecution.

The oldest Jewish community in India Portuguese retaliated by destroying is that of Cochin, on the southwest the synagogue and a number of Jewish coast. As early as the fourth century, a houses. When the Dutch finally managed group of Jews had settled here, and in to take Cochin in 1663, the head of the the sixteenth century, they were joined Jewish community stood next to the by Jews from Spain, Portugal and the Dutch admiral as he was handed the keys Middle East. In 1568, they built the to the fort. Pardesi Synagogue, the ‘synagogue of foreigners’, in so-called Jew Town in The Dutch gave the Jews the freedom to Mattancherry, just outside Fort Cochin. practise their religion and keep up their traditions. Moreover, many Jews would Under the rule of the tolerant Dutch, act as go-betweens for the Dutch East in particular, the Jewish community in India Company and became wealthy Cochin was able to flourish. During a merchants as a result. One of the most first failed attempt to seize Cochin in important Jewish families of Cochin 1662, the Dutch had already received was the Rabby or Rahaby family who support from the local Jews because worked with the VOC for generations. they were not very keen on the Catholic The Rabbys traded pepper, cinnamon Portuguese. While the Dutch quietly and sandalwood, among other goods, retreated, Indian Jews continued to and acted as interpreters and agents. In cause 1760, Ezekiel Rabby was able to afford trouble in to have a Dutch style clock tower built the trenches next to the Pardesi Synagogue and not and sound long after that to have the synagogue the bell at embellished with one thousand and one set times hundred hand-painted tiles which he had of the day imported especially from China. Dutch so it would commander Jan Moens sent a portrait of appear as if Ezekiel Rabby to the Netherlands. the Dutch soldiers The Jews of Cochin regularly were still corresponded with the Portuguese- present. Jewish community in Amsterdam. In The 1686, the Amsterdam Jews sent four

Notisias Dos Judeos De Cochim by Mosseh Pereyra de Paiva, 1687.

10 delegates to Cochin, led by Mosseh the Pardesi Synagogue, which according Pereyra de Paiva. They were welcomed to him was almost as big as the one in with a fanfare of trumpets and drums . The account by Mosseh Pereyra and David Rabby had organised a de Paiva is one of the most important fabulous feast. The Jews had brought historical documents about the Jews prayers books from Amsterdam for of Cochin. The original is kept at the their Indian fellow believers. After his Bibliotheca Rosenthalia of the University return to Amsterdam, Mosseh Pereyra of Amsterdam. de Paiva wrote a detailed account in 1687 about the Jewish community in The Netherlands continued to be Cochin, Notisias Dos Judeos De Cochim. represented in Cochin until the sixties, In this book, he estimated there were with the Jewish chief elder Samuel 465 Jewish families in Malabar, spread Koder, its honorary consul back then. over nine communities, and described In those days, many Jews moved from their history, their customs and their Cochin to Israel. About seventy Jews, synagogue. He praised the beauty of at most, still live in Cochin today.

The Pardesi Synagogue in Cochin.

11 Coromandel In the early eighteenth century, a stone tablet with the inscription ‘D’Cormandelse catoen baalen’ (Coromandel bales of cotton) was displayed on the building at Warmoesstraat 174 in Amsterdam.

These days, the tablet is kept at the rulers, including craftspeople to make Amsterdam Museum. It shows a the cloths for them, but most of the time, Dutchman and Indian man conducting Indian agents were used who would try to a cotton transaction among palm trees. have as many weavers as possible tied to The textile trade was the primary reason them. why the Dutch travelled to the long coast of Coromandel on the southeast side of In 1658, young Dutch clergyman Philippus India. Here, all sorts of cloths were made, Baldaeus began working along the plain or striped, as well as beautifully and on Ceylon. He decorated ones. The Dutch East India devoted himself not only to trying to Company made its fi rst contacts in this spread Christianity but also to improving area in 1605. Masulipatnam, present- education for the local population. This day Machilipatnam, in the north of the brought him into confl ict with the Dutch Coromandel Coast and Paleacatte, now East India Company, whose main goal Pulicat, in the south – where the Dutch was to make profi t. As a result, Baldaeus built Fort Geldria, named after the Dutch was forced to return to the Netherlands province of Gelderland – grew to be the in 1666. By that time, however, he had main trading posts of the VOC. Indian learnt and immersed himself in fabrics became hugely popular in Europe . He had gained deep respect in the seventeenth and eighteenth century for the civilisation of the Indians and felt but also, for instance, on the Moluccas that ‘they often put many Europeans to where the Dutch traded them for spices at shame as far as civility was concerned’. great profi t. Sometimes, the VOC would Baldaeus took a servant from South India lease entire villages from local Indian with him to the Netherlands.

Fort Geldria in Paliacatta (present-day Pulicat). Bird’s-eye view, Philippus Baldaeus. From Malabar en Choromandel (Malabar and Coromandel), Amsterdam 1672.

12 His name is mentioned in a document Indian texts such as the and as Gerrit Mosopatam, a corruption of the and was the first person Masulipatnam. Gerrit Mosopatam was not to introduce European people to stories a servant in the common sense of about . the word, but most likely helped Baldaeus compile a book about South India and Baldaeus had a portrait painted of Sri Lanka which was published in himself with Gerrit Mosopatam by painter Amsterdam in 1672: Nauwkeurige Johan de la Rocquette. The painting, beschrijving van Malabar en currently displayed at the Rijksmuseum Choromandel, derzelver aangrenzend Amsterdam, portrays a blond Baldaeus in rijken, en het machtige eiland Ceylon. Indian dress from the period: a red coat, Baldaeus was the first European to brightly striped trousers and a checked describe the culture and religion of the cloth worn as a turban. Gerrit Mosopatam region in this book, as well as the regional is wearing a sarong made of rich fabrics languages, particularly Tamil. He also and a double pearl earring. A stylus wrote about Hinduism and about famous indicates that he is a literate man.

Portrait of preacher Philippus Baldaeus and Gerrit Mosopatam. Johan de la Rocquette, 1668. Collection Rijksmuseum Amsterdam.

13 Hougli There is a painting at the Rijksmuseum Amsterdam which depicts the Dutch trading post in Hougli, in Bengal, the region in the northeast of India and present-day . This was one of the most important settlements of the Dutch East India Company.

The first Dutch ships had already arrived sugar, ginger, hemp, opium and saltpetre. in Bengal in 1615 but it took until 1627 The Dutch were particularly keen to get a before the VOC had a permanent trading monopoly on the trade in saltpetre, which post there. The VOC established several was important as a raw material for making settlements in the region, particularly along gunpowder, but never really succeeded the river Ganges and its branches, of which in doing so. They did, however, manage Hougli would eventually be the biggest. to secure a number of privileges, such as The trading post was situated more than exemption from toll, by giving gifts to the one hundred kilometres inland along a Great Mogul who ruled the north of India tributary of the Ganges, the river Hougli and to local rulers. after which the settlement was named. In Hougli, the VOC bought Indian cotton Bengal first came under Dutch rule in and silk specifically, but also, for instance, Coromandel, but from 1655, the region

Hendrick van Schuylenburgh. The Trading Post of the Dutch East India Company in Hougli, Bengal, 1665. Collection Rijksmuseum Amsterdam.

14 had its own directorate, in Hougli. The following year, a major storm tide completely destroyed the Dutch trading post. The Dutch built a new settlement a little further on, near Chinsurah, about forty kilometres north of present-day , which they also called Hougli, now Hooghly-Chinsurah. The walled complex of buildings was soon known as the most beautiful settlement of the VOC in the whole of Asia. Director Pieter Sterthemius commissioned Hendrik van Schuylenburgh to paint the trading post of Hougli in 1665. Van Schuylenburgh included all kinds of details in his painting, providing an in- depth picture of what life would have been like at the settlement.

To the left of the painting, the river Hougli, with Dutch ships sailing on it, flows through the Bengal landscape. Inside the walls of the trading post is a white building from background, a man is being hoisted up in which the Dutch flag flies. In the courtyard, the air by a hook through his ribs as part of a merchant supervises Indians moving a religious ritual. textile bales. To the right, a Dutch woman strolls around the gardens accompanied In the eighteenth century, Bengal was one by a man and a servant with a parasol. of the most lucrative places in Asia. Many In the background on the right, a long employees of the VOC took advantage procession of merchants of the Dutch East of this by setting up their own little side India Company, carried in palanquins, and business. Hougli, as third settlement their entourage are on their way to pay in Asia, got a direct connection to the a courtesy visit to an Indian dignitary. At Netherlands: the cargo was too valuable the same time, the painter also introduces to have ships take a detour via the the onlooker to aspects of Indian culture. headquarters in Batavia. From 1750, the By the river, a cremation is taking place Amsterdam division of the VOC sent a ship with the widow throwing herself on the to Hougli every year to collect those fabrics funeral pyre of her dead husband. In the which were fashionable at that time.

Jan Brandes. Malabar cavalry, colour drawing, 1785. This VOC cavalry man, from Indian descent, is wearing a turban and a blue coat with red facings. The back of his horse is covered with blue shabracks with crescents. Collection Rijksmuseum Amsterdam. 15 Suratte Suratte, present-day Surat, on the northwest coast of India was a thriving commercial centre for centuries, famous for its textiles, indigo and spices, which were supplied to the city from both the interior of India and Persia.

In the early seventeenth century, the of the Dutch East India Company to set Gujarat region was part of the Mogul up a trading post, did not fare much Empire. The Great Mogul and his local better. After a confl ict with a Portuguese administrators governed the region, merchant, he felt so threatened – faced but as far as trade was concerned, the with the prospect of a horrible death and Portuguese, in particular, were the ones the most horrendous torture – that he pulling the strings back then. When two ended up taking his own life. Dutchmen visited Suratte for the fi rst time in 1602 to establish trade contacts, the From 1616, the Dutch began to gain a Portuguese had the men captured after fi rmer foothold in Suratte and, with the they had left the city and they were taken permission of Great Mogul Jahangir, were to Goa where they were hung. Dutch able to build a trading post in the centre merchant David van Deynsen, who had of the city in 1620. Thanks to privileges travelled to Suratte in 1606 on behalf granted by the Great Mogul, the Dutch

The VOC lodging in Suratte. Print taken from Historische ende Iournaelsche Aentekeningh by Pieter van den Broecke, 1629.

16 East India Company controlled most of Agra area. The blue pigment was used the trade via Suratte. Because of these in the Netherlands in the textile industry. privileges and a good relationship with the Other goods available in Agra included Great Mogul, the Dutch did not have to various cotton fabrics, as well as silk from use military force or build forts in Gujarat. Bengal. In 1621, the Dutch East India In imitation of the Great Mogul and his Company set up its own trading post, rulers, who were accustomed to great just outside the city, near the Yamuna River. wealth and splendour, the Dutch directors Because Agra was situated far from the and merchants of the Dutch East India port in Suratte – the journey could easily Company in Gujarat also began living like take up to six weeks – VOC inspectors kings, with luxury palaces and sometimes hardly ever visited. As a result, many Dutch even complete households. Obviously, merchants made a fortune from side the administrators of the Company businesses and other fi ddles. It was said protested against this, but according to that anyone who did not return from Agra the men in Gujarat such show of opulence extremely rich, must have been living way was necessary if they were to be able to beyond their means. negotiate properly with the rulers of India. In the fi rst half of the eighteenth century, A number of other VOC settlements came political unrest broke out in the under the trading post of Suratte. Among Mogul Empire. Suratte became cut off them, the settlement in , from the interior of India, and the indigo situated on the major trade route of and cotton supply from Agra dried up. Suratte to Agra, the capital of the Mogul In 1759, the British fi nally seized Suratte. Empire, about eight hundred kilometres It marked the end of Dutch infl uence in inland. The best indigo came from the the region.

View of Suratte. Engraving by Jacob Koppmayer, from 1687.

17 Miniatures The ships of the Dutch East India Company brought all kinds of exotic objects back to Amsterdam. In the second half of the seventeenth century, the city’s collectors had a real appetite for Indian painted miniatures.

During a visit to Amsterdam in the the sultan of Golconda in the south, not autumn of 1671, French physician Charles far from present-day Hyderabad. Initially, Patin admired the Indian paintings of no they were kept at court, as loose sheets fewer than four collectors. Because most or bound in an album, to be admired in a of the miniatures were imported from private circle, but in the second half of the Suratte, in the northwest of India, they seventeenth century, sultan Abul Hasan of became known as ‘Suratse teeckeningen’ Golconda also had his court painters create (Suratte drawings). The majority of these miniatures especially for the European were portraits, but they also included market. illustrations to religious or historical texts and events, scenes from life at court and Amsterdam’s most famous painter pictures of horses, elephants and other Rembrandt became fascinated with the exotic animals. Figures were almost miniatures from India. Shortly after 1650, always painted in profi le. The miniatures he made about 25 drawings of, among were commissioned by the Moguls in the other things, Indian rulers and dignitaries north of India, but also, for instance, by he had copied from Indian miniatures.

Anonymous. Relief portrait of Great Mogul Shah Jahan (1592-1666), circa 1630-1640. Collection Rijksmuseum Amsterdam.

18 His drawing of Great Mogul Jahangir is 450 miniatures, 49 of which are currently now displayed at the Rijksmuseum kept in the so-called Witsenalbum at Amsterdam. Rembrandt also drew the Rijksprentenkabinet, Rijkmuseum Jahangir’s son Shah Jahan, known for Amsterdam. The portraits in the album being the ruler who had the Taj Mahal show the Great Moguls of the Mogul built, and Shah Jahan’s oldest son, Dara dynasty, the sultans of the Qutb Shahi Shikoh with a falcon. Rembrandt portrayed dynasty of Golconda and the sultans of Shah Jahan bigger than his son because the Adil Shahi dynasty of Bijapur, always in Indian paintings the size and place of from the founder of the dynasty up to people portrayed was determined by their and including the ruling sultan in the position at court. As these were copies, sixteen eighties. The album also contains Rembrandt drew them with much greater portraits of a large number of generals, accuracy than usual, with a fine pen on governors and other high-ranking officials. Japanese paper. In the same period, The Rijksmuseum Amsterdam has a total Rembrandt regularly drew inspiration from of almost four hundred Indian miniatures the Indian miniatures for his own paintings in its collection from the period from the too. He particularly liked to model the fifteenth century up to and including the oriental, biblical figures in his paintings on nineteenth century. The museum also has the Indian portraits. a small alabaster relief portrait of Great Mogul Shah Jahan, which was probably Amsterdam mayor and scholar Nicolaas made around 1630 by a European who Witsen was one of the most important worked at his court and which portrays the collectors of Indian miniatures. emperor by a window, the way he often On his death in 1717, he owned over appeared to his people.

Miniatures from the ‘Witsen-album’ by anonymous. From left to right: Sultan Abul Hasan, king of Golconda, India, Timur, sometimes referred to as Tamerlan, Muhammad Ibrahim, Commander-in-chief of Golconda, India. Collection Rijksmuseum Amsterdam. 19 Hortus Indicus In 1669, Amsterdam nobleman Hendrik Adriaan van Rheede tot Drakestein became commander of the settlement of the Dutch East India Company in Malabar on the Indian southwest coast.

Apart from overseeing the construction Goan translated the plant descriptions of forts and fortifications here, Van from into Portuguese, which Rheede spent most of his time studying were then translated into Latin by Van and cultivating tropical plants. In early Rheede’s secretary to enable scholars in 1674, he began compiling a vast work Europe to read, comment on and add to on the plants of Malabar which could them. In the end, almost one hundred have economic or medical uses. The people contributed to the project: apart VOC stimulated such scientific research from European physicians and scholars in and the documentation of plants which the field of medicine and botany, Indian could, for instance, help fight tropical physicians Ranga Bhat, Vinayaka Pandit diseases. Hendrik van Rheede had a and Appu Bhat and the famous Ayurvedic whole group of people working for physician Itti Achuden also collaborated. him to help him with his exploration They provided information about the of the Indian plant world. Indians who traditional uses of the plants. knew the region and local flora well looked for the plants and took them In 1678, Hendrik van Rheede returned to Cochin where they were sketched to the Netherlands where he published with great accuracy by a Carmelite the first part of the extensive study on called Mathaeus. The name of every the plants, trees and herbs of India, and plant species was recorded in the local Malabar in particular. His Hortus Indicus languages of Malayalam and Konkani. A Malabaricus – Malabaarse Kruydhof in

Left: ‘Panja’ fruits. Right: Palm tree. Prints from Hortus Indicus Malabaricus, 1687 - 1703.

20 Dutch – was issued between 1678 and in 1684 to commissioner-general with the 1703 in 12 parts, each of which consisted task of putting an end to corruption and of about two hundred pages. The work fraud among employees. In the following contained detailed descriptions of 742 years, Van Rheede visited the VOC plants, classified according to old Indian offices in Bengal, on the Coromandel tradition, with accompanying traditional Coast, on Ceylon and in Malabar. He knowledge, and was illustrated with took tough action against corrupt a total of 794 copperplates. It was practices, dismissed the guilty and even published in Latin, Arabic, Sanskrit and sent those employees whom he only Malayalam. The Hortus Indicus was suspected of misappropriation back to the first complete work on the flora of the Netherlands. At the end of November a region in Asia. It made Van Rheede 1691, he sailed from Cochin to Suratte instantly famous as a botanist and to continue the clean-up operation. became a standard work. The pioneering However, Van Rheede died suddenly at Swedish botanist and zoologist Carl sea, before the coast of , on 15 Linnaeus praised it half a century later as December 1691. Rumour had it that he one of the few botanical works he felt he had been poisoned by VOC employees. could trust. On 3 January 1692, Hendrik van Rheede was given an ostentatious burial in The governors of the Dutch East India Suratte, where an imposing monument Company appointed Hendrik van Rheede still marks his grave today.

Left: Photograph of the memorial tomb of Van Rheede in Surat. Anonymous, 1895. Right: Portrait of Hendrik Adriaan van Rheede tot Drakestein, from Hortus Indicus Malabaricus, 1678 - 1703. 21 Joint heritage All along the coast of India, the Dutch of the Dutch East India Company have left traces of their presence in the seventeenth and eighteenth century.

Because the Netherlands and India are blown up in 1781 by the British, who were conscious of their joint cultural heritage at war with the Dutch at the time. The only and value the age-old, historical bond fort to have partially survived is between them, the two countries drew Fort on the Coromandel Coast, about up a Memorandum of Understanding seventy kilometres from . It is a in which the Dutch Minister for Foreign large complex with remains of stables, Affairs and the Indian Minister of State with a drainage system which discharges for Tourism and Culture declared the into the sea; a granary; a church with conservation of ‘joint cultural heritage, a prison and even a gallows; and a such as archives, manuscripts, underwater cemetery. Sadras Fort is now protected by archaeology and built heritage’ to be one the Archaeological Survey of India, which of their priorities. is responsible for the conservation of a number of Dutch monuments. Over the years, the majority of large Other VOC monuments fall under the buildings of the VOC in India have been responsibility of, for instance, a state or demolished or renovated, and not much city, such as the remains in Kochi, formerly is left of the forts. Almost all of these were Cochin, or of a church.

Fort Sadras.

22 In addition, the Dutch embassy in tombs, with the larger ones, in particular, , in collaboration with Indian resembling those of the wealthy of the organisations, has opened three small Mogul Empire. But a closer look reveals museums in Pulicat, Kochi and Kannur. that the round arches and pillars of some of the tombs are typically European Most Dutch heritage is found in several and that the epitaphs are in Dutch. The cemeteries where the Dutch were laid monuments at the cemetery had become to rest. The shape of the Dutch graves very damaged and dilapidated but have was closely connected to the culture of recently been restored as part of a joint the region. While the majority of Dutch project of Amsterdam architectural firm in southern Cochin were buried under 3D BluePrint Architects & Engineers and Dutch looking gravestones, in northern local Indian partners, a project which Gujarat, they had imposing mausoleums shows that the historical bond between built, in imitation of those of the local Gujarat and the Netherlands is still very rulers. Although the administrators of the much alive. VOC advised their employees in 1678 that they should not spend exorbitant In addition to this built heritage, there are amounts ‘on making tombs and grave also paper traces of the presence of the monuments’ and, moreover, that these Dutch in India. Stored at the should look like Christian graves and not Archives in Chennai are the archives of the ‘heathen or Muslim temples’, this seems to offices of the Dutch East India Company have had little or no effect. At the Dutch in Malabar, Coromandel, Suratte and cemetery in Ahmedabad, in the state of Bengal. Together, these Dutch archives Gujarat, there are still 49 gravestones and take up about 64 metres of shelf space.

Fort Sadras. Left: Dutch graves in Pulicat. Right: Tombstone in Sadras decorated with a relief of a Dutch merchant ship.

23 Jacob Haafner The first Dutchman to make no secret of his disgust of European colonial rule in India was Jacob Haafner. Haafner was born in 1754 in but spent his childhood living in Amsterdam.

In 1766, as a boy of twelve, he went proceedings. All without the presence to Asia for the first time and in 1771, of any official body to maintain public he travelled to India where he ended order. In the Netherlands, such a mass up staying almost twenty years. gathering would have gone quite Haafner started off as a bookkeeper differently – with much shouting, with the Dutch East India Company pushing and shoving, and would, in in , on the Coromandel the end, most likely have ended in Coast, the southeast of India. He then violence. went on to work in Sadras among other places. When the British seized Sadras After the death of his beloved Mamia, in 1781 and blew up the fort along Haafner returned to Amsterdam in with the Dutch trading post, Haafner, 1790, where he spent most of his together with the rest of the Dutch, time writing and studying the epic was taken to Madras (now Chennai), Ramayana. He got married and had where a blockade by the French fleet three children. When the Teylers had caused terrible famine. Haafner Godgeleerd Genootschap (Teylers escaped to Ceylon (Sri Lanka), roamed Theological Society) held a competition around the Coromandel Coast and in 1805 for the best essay on the value even ended up in Calcutta. Meanwhile, of the mission, Haafner submitted an he had become attached to India and uncompromising exposition against began adopting the country’s customs. and the mission – the first Haafner learnt Tamil, and Bengali of its kind. His essay won first prize, in and even some Sanskrit. He took up large part probably because his was the Indian eating habits, using his hands only submission. Haafner did not mince instead of cutlery and no longer eating his words in criticising the colonial beef or pork. And he fell in love with system and beat the nineteenth Indian dancer Mamia. Haafner was century author Multatuli to this by half regularly mistaken for a half-caste, a century. Moreover, Haafner went a lot much to his delight. Once, while further: the colonial system should not attending a religious festival during be revised and improved but abolished which tens of thousands of Indians had altogether. The casual way the Dutch gathered for days on a large plain, he referred to ‘our Indian possessions’ marvelled at the peacefulness of the infuriated him.

24 After all, had the Dutch not stolen to western colonialism. For instance, and acquired all the land and riches in he praised the sultan of Mysore, Asia through violence and deception? Haidar Ali, who fought tooth and nail If these were rightful possessions, he against British rule in India. Haafner’s wrote, then a burglar’s loot was just as book Reize in eenen Palanquin much his legal property! In addition, has once again become popular in Haafner wrote a number of travel the Netherlands in the form of the stories about his experiences in India, adaptation Exotische liefde by the which also clearly showed his aversion famous author Thomas Rosenboom.

Two young men, print from Reize naar Bengalen en terugreize naar Europa by Jacob Haafner, 1822.

25 Transfer to British India In truth, the Dutch had already lost a lot of their influence in India in the second half of the eighteenth century, particularly because the British had managed to secure an ever greater role in the country.

After the French revolutionary army Bangka Island near Sumatra. The Dutch had marched into the Netherlands also leased a trading post near Calcutta in 1795, Dutch stadholder William to the British. Ten years later, the Anglo- V, who had fled to Britain, wrote the Dutch Treaty or so-called Treaty of so-called Kew Letters in which he London would set out a clear division of ordered the temporary transfer of all Asia into a Dutch and British sphere of Dutch possessions in Asia to the British influence. The Dutch would only settle to prevent them from falling into the south of the Strait of , in the hands of the French. This caused huge , present-day Indonesia, confusion among the Dutch in India. The while the British would stay north of Dutch at Fort Cochin in the southwest this strait, in India, among other places. of the country first refused to place This meant that, from the first March themselves under British rule just like 1825, after a presence of more than two that, but after a short bombardment by centuries, the Dutch no longer had any English cannons, they did, eventually, settlements or possessions in India. The surrender. From then on, the British were treaty did stipulate, however, that the able to get hold of the remaining Dutch Dutch could still trade in what would possessions in India in no time. soon become British India, in the same way that the British were allowed to go to Once the French had left the the Dutch East Indies to do business. But Netherlands, the Dutch tried to reclaim they would have to observe local rules their former settlements in India from when doing so. the British. But the British were reluctant to surrender lucrative Cochin and the Meanwhile, the Dutch East India accompanying possessions along the Company had been dissolved during coast of Malabar. On 14 August 1814, the the French period. Individual Amsterdam two countries eventually entered into an merchants and privately owned agreement. The Netherlands would give companies were now trading with British up Cochin to the British in exchange for India, particularly in the second half of

26 the nineteenth century. which were exported from places like One of these companies was the Calcutta and Bombay, and calculations Amsterdam based Louis Bienfait en of the costs of different loads; 125 packs Soon. Bienfait imported such goods as of hides from Calcutta, for instance, or linseed, rapeseed, rice and sappanwood 550 packs of linseed. In October 1858, from Calcutta, and cotton, coffee Dutch newspapers also reported that the and coconut oil from Bombay. The ship the California of Bienfait en Soon company’s archives, which are kept at the had brought back two sambars – South Amsterdam City Archives, still contain Asian deer – from India for the zoo in handwritten lists from the eighteen Rotterdam, a gift from the Dutch consul fifties with summaries of different goods in Bombay.

Left: ‘Tonnage Schedule for the Port of Calcutta’ Right: Account of 125 packs of hides and skins from Calcutta. From the archives of Louis Bienfait en Soon. Amsterdam City Archives. 27 Tagore In September and October 1920, the Netherlands welcomed the famous Bengali poet, philosopher and Nobel prize winner Rabindranath Tagore.

He visited the country at the joint which drew big audiences and caused a invitation of the Dutch division of the real stir. His main theme was the meeting Theosophical Society and De Vrije of East and West. On 23 September, Gemeente in Amsterdam, a centre for Tagore addressed a full house at De freedom of religion and ideology. Years Vrije Gemeente in Amsterdam. Het before, author Frederik van Eeden had Vaderland reported: ‘With silver voice, translated a number of Tagore’s works Dr Tagore reads the speech which he from English into had committed to Dutch. These paper beforehand. poetical works He tells of village enjoyed great mystics, there in popularity and were Bengal, of men put to music by and women whose several composers. religion is Hinduism and who in Tagore would religious devotion receive a express everyday magnificent life around them welcome in the in songs of rare Netherlands, charm. These are organised by a illiterate people, special welcoming people who have committee, and no knowledge both in The Hague whatsoever of any and Amsterdam, literature, and yet, a villa and car had the songs they been provided for compose and sing him, ‘the latter because Dr Rabindranath reveal deep wisdom and often, they are Tagore and his family wear Indian perfect in form. Dr Tagore read a few of dress,’ according to newspaper Het their songs, which were as melodious Vaderland. Tagore’s visit made a as their expression in English would profound impression on the Dutch. He allow.’ Tagore also talked about devotion gave a series of readings at universities, to God and about love, among other churches and philosophical institutions things.

Martin Monnickendam, Portrait of Rabindranath Tagore (1861-1941). Amsterdam City Archives, collection: Martin Monnickendam.

28 To some, the Dutch enthusiasm Standaard, who branded Tagore a for Tagore bordered on hysteria. heathen and even compared him to Newspaper Het Nieuws van den dag the Antichrist, even though the great voor Nederlandsch-Indië reported: poet himself had made it clear that as a ‘Under the auspices of the Theosofische Hindu he worshipped the same God as Vereeniging, the Hindu poet people in the West. ‘It is a great shame, Dr Rabindranath Tagore took to the indeed, that Tagore does not speak our stage in front of some 99 per cent language,’ according to Voorwaarts, women and one per cent men and ‘because otherwise, upon his return enthralled the female members of the to India, he could have surprised his audience with his mystical like reading compatriots with the news that he had as they listened in near heavenly bliss. discovered a wild tribe in civilised Europe When he reads the poem he wrote just who considered him to be the devil or before the war, in his own tongue, the his envoy.’ women stare at him as if they receive a major revelation.’ What’s more, During Tagore’s visit, Amsterdam artist Tagore’s readings unleashed a religious Martin Monnickendam made several debate. The socialist publication sketches for a portrait of the poet, Voorwaarts criticised the comments which are now kept in the Amsterdam made by Calvinist newspaper De City Archives.

Martin Monnickendam, Portrait of Rabindranath Tagore (1861-1941). Studies for a portrait painting. Amsterdam City Archives, collection: Martin Monnickendam. Amsterdam City Archives, collection: Martin Monnickendam.

29 Olympic champions India – or British India as it was still known back then – played a star role in the 1928 Olympic Games in Amsterdam.

The country sent a team of 21 the final. ‘Sold-out stadium witnesses competitors to Amsterdam; fourteen of a thrilling match,’ read the headline in them were hockey players. The Olympic newspaper Het Vaderland the following hockey tournament was played from 17 day. ‘As expected, the Netherlands to 26 May inclusive, before the official failed to stave off defeat against British opening of the Games on 28 July, just India. But the home team did, however, like the football matches for that matter. have the opportunity to show that The Indian team had already arrived in they were, indeed, a worthy runner- the Netherlands in April. The hockey up. Because, in none of their previous players stayed at Hotel Zomerzorg in matches did the British Indians have Bloemendaal. They played a series of to fight this hard for victory as in their warm-up matches before the official match against the Netherlands. It was a tournament, two of which took place in thrilling meeting from start to finish and Amsterdam, on 26 April and 2 May. The in the end, the stronger team prevailed, warm-up match on 26 April, against a however, the Dutch players showed team from Amsterdam which had been a quality of skill as never before.’ The put together especially for the occasion, Indian team defeated the Dutch team was played at the Olympic Stadium. by 3-0, taking the gold. It was the first And so, the Indian hockey players Olympic title in the country’s history. christened the stadium: it was the The Netherlands came second and very first time the brand-new Olympic Germany third. Stadium had been used, a month before the first official match. It was a closed And with that, the first flag ever to be match, by the way, with only a couple raised at the Olympic Stadium was that of officials and one journalist present to of British India. The ceremony made witness the duel. The Indians won the a huge impression: ‘This is a glorious, match by 15-2. They played so well that magnificent moment. For a brief it soon became clear that the team were instant, one is, no doubt, moved by the the hot favourites for the Olympic title. significance of the occasion. One stares, as if transfixed, at those flags, one of During the Olympic hockey tournament, which the beloved national flag, the British India, unsurprisingly, won all its symbol of Dutch courage and spirit, and matches. On 26 May, the Indian team Dutch willpower.’ In the following years, met host nation the Netherlands in too, the Dutch hockey team would

30 suffer crushing defeat after crushing when the Indians beat the Dutch by 9-1, defeat against the Indian team. One of shortly after having taken Olympic gold these took place in Amsterdam in 1932 again in Los Angeles.

Hockey players of the Indian national team arrive in Amsterdam for the 1928 Olympic Games. National Archives/Spaarnestad Photo.

31 Lighthouse Cinema Amsterdam architect Willem Dudok, who as a town architect did most of his design work in nearby Hilversum, was given the honour to build a cinema complex in Calcutta, now Kolkata.

The managers of Humayun Properties able to put down a first draft of his Ltd, a group who operated many big design. This was the first time Dudok theatres in India, had visited several had designed a building for a tropical European cities in search of an architect climate. It created a whole new set of to design a large building with cinemas requirements compared to what he was and catering establishments in the used to in the Netherlands, particularly, centre of Calcutta. In the end, they in terms of ventilation and sunlight. In came to Amsterdam twice to have the Netherlands, buildings had to be a look at Dudok’s designed in a way buildings, after which which allowed as they invited him to much sunlight as Calcutta so he could possible to enter study the situation the buildings, as on site. On 8 January opposed to Calcutta 1936, Dudok travelled where sunlight had from Amsterdam to to be kept out as British India with KLM. much as possible, for instance with Dudok spent over six the help of deep weeks in Calcutta. The verandas. This meant Dutch press followed that the style of the developments the building was closely and on 20 different compared February, Mrs Dudok was able to tell to his previous designs but it was still reporters that the architect planned recognisable as his work, according to set off on his return journey to the to Dudok. The complex with two Netherlands on 24th. Dudok, travelling cinemas, restaurants and roof gardens on a KLM Sparrow Hawk plane, consisted of a large, modern building, eventually landed in Amsterdam in a steel construction filled with bricks, the early evening of 28 February. The stucco exterior walls and an interior next day, he told the press all about characterised by playful shapes in the his adventure. During his month and stairwell and height differences in the a half stay in Calcutta, he had been ceilings. A major road would pass under

32 the complex. One of the cinemas would most popular cinemas in Calcutta. be called Lighthouse Cinema and the Originally, it had a seating capacity of other one Gardenhouse Cinema. Whilst 1,396 but this was later reduced to 600. Dudok had had little time to explore the The cinema had been built especially country, he had noticed that the Indians to show Hollywood films but in time, were a colourful people. He would have it also showed Hindi films and at one loved to have been able to draw them stage, it only showed Bollywood films. but had been too busy working on his From 2000, the cinema began making a design. loss. In February 2002, the Lighthouse Cinema closed its doors. These days, The Lighthouse Cinema at Humayun Dudok’s building is home to a shopping Place became one of the biggest and centre.

Front cover of a brochure published to commemorate the opening of the Lighthouse Cinema in Calcutta. Collection Het Nieuwe Instituut.

33 Gandhi The way in which Mahatma Gandhi carried out his campaign of nonviolent resistance to British colonial rule in India, which eventually led to him becoming one of the founders of the modern state of India, also made a huge impression in Amsterdam.

Shortly after the Second World War, most important texts in Hindu tradition. Amsterdam art critic Herbert Frank In these verses, the god Krishna explains became inspired by Gandhi’s message. how to recognise a person who has Frank planned to set up a global peace perfect wisdom. Such a wise person is organisation, so even tempered and he wrote a letter free from desire, to Gandhi. This attachment, fear letter has been and anger. lost, but in it, Frank probably asked Since 1990, for support for his there has been a movement and bronze statue of perhaps also for Mahatma Gandhi advice. Gandhi in Churchillaan in replied to the letter Amsterdam. The in April 1947 from sculpture by artist Patna, in Bihar, Karel Gomes shows the northeast of Gandhi walking, his India. This letter left sandal-clad foot is currently kept in the library of the forwards, a staff in his right hand, glasses Amsterdam City Archives. It is written perched on his nose. The statue was an in two different pens; perhaps Gandhi initiative of Dutch Hindu organisation asked someone else to write the letter Triveda who set up a foundation to this first and then made amendments to it. end, the Stichting Standbeeld Mahatma Gandhi notes that Frank’s message of Gandhi. Several groups of people peace is as old as time itself and that no- from Indian descent who live in the one is too insignificant to spread it. Only, Netherlands collected money for it. The not everyone feels called to do so. In statue was unveiled on 2 October 1990, the letter, Gandhi advises Herbert Frank Gandhi’s 121st birthday, by Dutch Prime to read the last eighteen verses of the Minister Ruud Lubbers in the presence second chapter of the Bhagavad Gita, of the ambassador of India. Every year part of the Mahabharata and one of the since then, on the 2 October, Mahatma

Statue of Mahatma Gandhi (1989) in Churchilllaan in Amsterdam. Photo by Lotte van Geijn.

34 Gandhi’s birthday is commemorated by disobedience. It is ironic, though, that the monument. That day, the statue is the statue is situated in Churchillaan as decorated with garlands. According to the British statesman Winston Churchill the president of the foundation, Gandhi did not care much for Gandhi and did continues to be an example, teaching everything in his power to protect British people to fi ght with non-violent means interests in India. Mahatma Gandhi for dignity, freedom and social justice also has a street named after him in and to accept punishment for civil Amsterdam Nieuw-West.

Letter from Mahatma Gandhi to Herbert Frank, April 1947. Amsterdam City Archives.

35 Bernard van Leer When Bernard van Leer, a citizen from Amsterdam, arrived in Calcutta on 23 April 1947, he found himself in the middle of the political unrest which would not only result in the independence of India from Britain soon after that, but also in the partition of India and Pakistan.

A curfew had just been imposed in The next day, Van Leer fl ew on to Agra Calcutta after heavy fi ghting between where, of course, he visited the Taj Mahal. Hindus and Muslims and protests He then continued on to Jodhpur, where against action taken by the British police. he stayed a couple of days for a short Bernard van Leer had made his fortune break. He invited the maharaja of Jodhpur manufacturing mostly steel drums for to join him for a tour of the city and the asphalt, oil and petrol storage, among area in his plane. The three princes also other things, and was travelling around came along. The important guests were the Middle and Far East, India and most impressed with the plane. Africa to visit his factories and make new The maharaja was allowed to sit in the contacts. He had chartered a four-engine cockpit and even take the control stick plane from KLM, complete with crew, for a while. Upon their return, his wife, which had been remodelled especially for the maharani and princesses also admired him into a luxury apartment with lounge, the plane. After his offi ce, two bedrooms and kitchenette. visit to Jodhpur, Van Leer had left Amsterdam on 12 Van Leer fl ew March 1947, accompanied by his wife, on to Karachi. his secretary and photographer Hans On 9 May, he Steiner, who had been commissioned to landed back in document the trip. Amsterdam.

36 Bernard van Leer had a selection of Hans at the Amsterdam City Archives, contain Steiner’s pictures of the trip bound in the an album with pictures of the construction booklet Flight ’47 as a of this factory. promotional gift. In the fi nal years of Bernard van Leer his life, Bernard van stepped down from Leer became a major the company in 1950. philanthropist. Following With his son at the his death in 1958, his helm of the company, entire estate went to business relations the Bernard van Leer with India were Foundation which further strengthened. focused primarily on A concrete example supporting young, of this was the underprivileged children agreement Van Leer in countries where Van made with the Indian Galvanising Co, a Leer had operated companies. All of the drum manufacturer in Bombay, for the group’s profi t went to this foundation. The supply of drum closures, including the Bernard van Leer Foundation still exists required installations. In 1954, British today and is also still active in India, company Metal Containers, which Van where the foundation works hard Leer had co-founded, set up Indian to provide education for children subsidiary Metal Containers Ltd, with a in and to improve the living factory on Trombay Island near Bombay. conditions of children in disadvantaged The Van Leer company archives, now kept neighbourhoods.

Photo of a shrine in Jodhpur by Hans Steiner, commissioned by Bernard van Leer. AmsterdamFoto bijschrift City Archives. Insert: Bernard van Leer, photographed in the streets of Jodhpur by Hans Steiner. Archives 1621, Amsterdam City Archives. 37 38 Photo sheet of photos taken in Agra from the archives of Bernard van Leer. Photographed by Hans Steiner. Archives 1621, Amsterdam City Archives.

39 Indians in Amsterdam In Europe, the Netherlands has the most inhabitants of Indian descent after Britain: about 150,000.

A large number of them came to the up their own business in the city. Sikhs Netherlands via . These Hindus have become very successful in the left Bihar and Uttar Pradesh in the late Amsterdam textile trade in particular. nineteenth century, in particular, to work They run a number of textile wholesale as contract workers on the sugar, coffee, businesses in Amsterdam-West and cocoa or cotton plantations in Surinam, the Amsterdam World Fashion Centre which was a Dutch colony at the time. is also home to quite a few Sikh The first ship carrying 399 workers from businesses. The Amsterdam Sikhs have Calcutta arrived in Surinam on 5 June three temples, including, since 2005, 1873. In total, some 35,000 Hindus a big new temple, situated on the made the crossing hoping for a better Sloterdijk industrial estate, on the west life there. But work on the plantations side of the city. It is the biggest Sikh was hard, wages were low and living temple in the Netherlands. conditions often miserable. Under pressure from Mahatma Gandhi, British More and more Indian companies India, consequently, put an end to the are establishing themselves in the emigration of contract workers in 1916. Amsterdam region. As a result, over After Surinam became independent seven thousand Indian expats are from the Netherlands in 1975, almost now living in and around the city – it half of the three hundred thousand is the fastest growing expatgroup in descendants of the Surinamese Indians the Amsterdam Area – with about a came to the Netherlands. A large third of them living in the neighbouring group of these immigrants settled in municipality of Amstelveen. They feel The Hague as well as in Amsterdam. at home in the friendly, tolerant city They have made the culture of India with its pleasant living environment visible in the Netherlands, making it and many green spaces. Amsterdam part of the Dutch cultural landscape. provides a range of services for Indian expats, including an Expat Center Since the Second World War, Indians where they can easily sort out work and have also emigrated directly from India residential permits, as well as register to the Netherlands. Among them, with the municipality, all in one go. a large group of Sikhs who came to There are international schools with, for Amsterdam from Punjab in the seventies instance, Hindi lessons, and there will be in search of work. Some of them set a special desk at the hospital for Indians.

40 Back in 2006, the Amsterdam Area has Metropolitan Area compete against set up an India Desk at their foreign each other. investment agency called amsterdam inbusiness. They help Indian companies Since 2009, Diwali, the festival of in setting up their presence in the lights, which unites the whole of India, area by introductions to Chambers of is celebrated in Amstelveen annually. Commerce, tax lawyers, real estate The Diwali festival attracts about eight agencies, housing agents and Indian thousand Indians from the Netherlands testimonial companies. This resulted in and neighbouring countries and 85 Indian companies having presence is organised by the municipalities in the area from various sectors such of Amstelveen and Amsterdam, in as ICT, Pharma, Financial and Steel. collaboration with business partners This agency also supports volunteer from the Netherlands and India. It organisations such as Bridging the Gap is not just for Indians; Dutch and all and the Indian Expat Society who offer a other international inhabitants are also range of facilities for the Indian Expats. welcome to attend it and learn about What’s more, there are a large number the culture of India at the same time. of Indian and vegetarian restaurants The festival offers entertainment: in the region. Every year, amsterdam song and dance; food and drinks with inbusiness organises Indian and Dutch tasty treats and market the India Cricket Event, a tournament stalls selling Indian products, jewellery in which cricket teams from Indian and clothing as well as activities for companies based in the Amsterdam children.

Left: Cricket players and former mayor of Amstelveen Jan van Zanen at the annual amsterdam inbusiness cricket event for Indian companies in 2011. Right: Dancers performing at the annual Diwali Festival Amsterdam Area in Amstelveen. 41 Indian music There has been a huge interest in Indian music in Amsterdam for decades.

When he was a little boy, the famous music together for a couple of years sitar virtuoso Ravi Shankar came to the with great success and had also Netherlands as part of the orchestra composed music for Bollywood films. of his older brother, the dancer That same year, in 1973, they were the Uday Shankar. In 1957, he gave his main attraction during the first big India first solo performance at the Royal Festival at the Royal Tropical Institute Concertgebouw in Amsterdam. in Amsterdam. Fifteen Indian musicians A year later, he returned to Amsterdam and dancers had been flown to the for a concert at the Royal Tropical Netherlands especially for the festival. Institute. Most prominent Indian dancers Hariprasad Chaurasia, in particular, and musicians have since performed in would form a special bond with Amsterdam. Amsterdam and would return to the city almost every other year to perform. On 14 April 1973, Hariprasad Chaurasia, considered by some the best flute During one of those first concerts in player of the classical music of North 1973, Chaurasia was accompanied India, performed in the Netherlands for on the tanpura, a stringed drone the first time, together with Shivkumar instrument, by Darshan Kumari. Sharma from Kashmir, who played the She had moved to the Netherlands the santur, a type of Indian zither. year before and was a student of sitar The two musicians had been playing player Jamaluddin Bhartiya,

42 who in turn was one of the fi rst Meanwhile, Hariprasad Chaurasia had students of Ravi Shankar. In the years been appointed director of the Indian that followed, Darshan Kumari would Music Department of the Rotterdam tirelessly promote Indian music in Conservatory in 1992. His efforts to the Netherlands. Through television bring Indian music to the attention appearances and by organising concerts of the Dutch and, consequently, his she introduced many Dutch people contribution to Dutch culture were to this music genre. In 1974, Darshan recognised with a royal honour in Kumari was one of the founders of the 2008: he was appointed Knight of the Indian music school Tritantri Vidaya Order of Orange-Nassau. Chaurasia Peeth in Amsterdam, a fi rst for the was given the honour at the Royal Netherlands, and a couple of years Concertgebouw during a concert as part later, she founded the of a big Amsterdam India Festival, which RIPA School of Indian Arts. treated Amsterdam audiences to Indian In 2012, she set up the NAAD culture in all its facets, from music and foundation – NAAD means sound – in dance to theatre and visual arts, but also Amsterdam, together with tabla player fashion, fi lm and multimedia. In 2013, Sandip Bhattacharya, with the aim of forty years after his fi rst performance promoting Indian culture, classical music in the Netherlands, Hariprasad and performing arts in the Netherlands. Chaurasia celebrated his 75th birthday For instance, the foundation organised in Amsterdam with a big concert, which for percussionist Zakir Hussain to included a performance by the famous perform in Amsterdam. Indian singer Meeta Pandit.

Musicians performing at The Royal Concertgebouw during the Amsterdam India Festival in 2008. Photo The Royal Concertgebouw.

43 Corporate Social Responsibility

Setting up a Cruyff Court for are united in their efforts to encourage Childeren businesses to also assume corporate responsibility. To this end, Amsterdam During a recent Amsterdam Area Trade mayor Eberhard van der Laan set the mission to India, the cities of Amsterdam ball rolling with the plan for the creation and Mumbai entered into a twinning of a Cruyff Court in Mumbai, where less agreement. As twin cities, they aim to not privileged children will get the chance to only strengthen business relationships play sports. between their two cities, but also to collaborate in such areas as water Cruyff Courts are an initiative by the management, the environment, urban Johan Cruyff Foundation, which was set development and knowledge exchange up in 1997 by world-famous Amsterdam at university and city council level. footballer Johan Cruyff. According to Furthermore, Amsterdam and Mumbai Cruyff, sport can play a crucial role in a child’s development, not only physically but also socially. The main goal of the Cruyff Foundation is, therefore, to enable children to play sports — all children, including those from underprivileged backgrounds and those with disabilities or special needs. This is why the Foundation is creating so-called Cruyff Courts, small sports fields where children can get stuck in a wide range of sports, from football to cricket. Cruyff Courts are actually the modern equivalent of the green playing fields of the past, which have disappeared in many cities. The municipality of Amsterdam, the Dutch consulate in Mumbai and several major Indian Multinationals are working together to raise the funds for this court. It is a way for Amsterdam and Mumbai, together with the business community, to help develop corporate social responsibility, something which is considered of paramount importance in India.

Johan Cruyff photographed by Rob Mieremet in 1974. Dutch National Archives.

44 Sir Ratan Tata Tata's ‘DNA’ has remained unchanged under Ratan Tata, with the conglomerate The University of Amsterdam (UvA) has striving to stimulate social development awarded an honorary doctorate to the and further emancipate the people Indian entrepreneur and philanthropist of India in addition to its economic Ratan Naval Tata in January 2013. development goals. As president of Sir Ratan Tata received this honorary Tata, Ratan Tata has contributed greatly doctorate for the significant contribution to strengthening corporate social he has made to the global expansion of responsibility and the role of the business the Tata Group, in which he has combined world in creating wealth for society. economic growth with a comprehensive The City of Amsterdam underlines the corporate social responsibility rogramme. values and beliefs of Sir Ratan Tata.

Honorary doctor Sir Ratan Tata and Mayor Eberhard van der Laan at the Rijksmuseum Amsterdam in 2013.

45 46 Zuidas is an urban business hub to the south of Amsterdam, in close proximity to Schiphol Airport. It is one of the most accessible locations in Amsterdam. Photo Roel Backaert, 2011.

47 Doing business When it comes to trade, the Netherlands is one of India’s top ten trading partners, and one of its five biggest investors. Indian companies are also increasingly investing in the Netherlands, particularly in the Amsterdam Metropolitan Area.

Companies from India see Amsterdam investment agency called “amsterdam as a gateway to Europe, an international inbusiness”. Since then, the number business hub, easily accessible, with of companies from India to establish good infrastructure, as well as a pleasant themselves in the region has risen from living and working environment for fifteen to eightyfive. Across the whole of expats. Favourable tax conditions and the Netherlands, there are now about 140 a large number of treaties with other Indian companies. The majority of them, countries further add to Amsterdam’s about eighty per cent, are companies investment appeal for India. The Indian active in the IT sector. The four main community is the fastest growing foreign Indian companies in this category – Tata business community in the Amsterdam Consultancy Services (TCS), Infosys, Metropolitan Area. Consequently, the city Cognizant and Wipro Technologies – each has set up a large number of facilities for have an office in the region, mostly in Indian companies and expats. the Amsterdam Zuidas district, the city’s commercial centre which benefits from In 2006, the Amsterdam region a strategic location between the city introduced a special India Desk for centre and Schiphol airport. In the last Indian companies as part of their foreign few years, more and more different types

Mr Chandrasekaran, CEO TCS Consultancy Services and Vice Mayor Eric van der Burg at the TCS Amsterdam Marathon finish at the Olympic Stadium.

48 of Indian companies have been attracted companies from India. An example is the to Amsterdam, including pharmaceutical Port of Amsterdam, who have entered and life sciences companies such as into an agreement with the Samsara Sun Pharma, but also, for instance, Group, with one of the main aims to steel companies. The most high-profile stimulate transport between various example of this was the takeover of Indian ports and Amsterdam. Hoogovens in IJmuiden in 2007, which But Amsterdam’s collaboration with India has since been renamed Tata Steel extends much further than business Europe. Other companies to have set alone. Take, for instance, the knowledge up offices in Amsterdam operate in the exchange partnerships between financial, logistics and creative sectors. Amsterdam’s two universities and major Indian companies also make a valuable university institutions in Mumbai and contribution to the city in other areas. . Moreover, Amsterdam and Tata Consultancy Services, for instance, Mumbai have entered into a twinning has sponsored the Amsterdam Marathon agreement with a focus on water since 2011, with the proceeds going to the management, the environment and urban VU University Medical Center. development. One tangible result of this is that the municipality of Amsterdam is Amsterdam companies and institutions advising Mumbai on the set-up of a Waste are also increasingly collaborating with Energy Plant.

Mr Srinath Batni- Boardmember of Infosys and Mayor van der Laan, City of Amsterdam planting a tree at the Infosys Campus, Bangalore.

49 Colophon

This is a publication by the City of Amsterdam, Amsterdam City Archives, amsterdam in business and Amsterdam Marketing.

Text: Mariëlle Hageman

Special thanks to: Jolanda van der Aart, Anne Beeksma, Tulin Demirdag, Maaike de Haas, Sandra Nakken, Inez Weyermans and Maverick Translations.

Cover image: View of Masulipatnam. Colored engraving by Johann Christoph Nabholtz, dated between 1770 – 1800.

Anonymous. View of Cochin on the of India, 1663. Collection Rijksmuseum Amsterdam.

50