> Maritime piracy From ‘piracy’ to inter-regional trade: the Sunda Straits zone, c. 1750-1800 Incessant ‘piracy’ in the Sunda Straits Zone in the second half of the eighteenth century Theme > was tied to the expanding Canton trade. Bugis, Iranun, Malay, Chinese and English Trade patterns traders were directly or indirectly involved in the plunder of pepper, a profitable Although the Dutch continuously and English country traders were able to commodity to exchange for tea in Canton. Their activities accelerated the demise of the attempted to prevent raiding, their bring large amounts of pepper to Can- already malfunctioning Dutch East India Company trading system and the emergence of efforts proved ineffective. Dutch ships ton: fifty to ninety per cent of all the pep- a new order in Southeast Asian trade. could not catch up with those of the per transported by European traders. raiders, as the latter could move faster Ota Atsushi Dutch trading system. This is why a cer- tions to Lampung. Stimulated by these with their sailing and rowing tech- The growing Canton trade and its tain proportion of the pepper had to be groups, Chinese, Bugis, Malay, and niques. It was also difficult to find the demand for Southeast Asian products The declining Dutch collected by way of ‘piracy’ and ‘smug- Palembang raiders also intensified their raiders hidden in small inlets and on the transformed the maritime trade in the trading system gling’.2 activities. many islands in the area. Archipelago in the second half of the Since their arrival in Java towards the eighteenth century. Demand for prod- end of the sixteenth century, the Dutch Raiding Raiders’ plundering seriously impacted A new pattern in ucts ‘banned’ by the VOC fuelled ‘pira- attempted to establish an exclusive trad- The Chinese demand for pepper made on the pepper trade in the Archipelago. inter-regional trade cy’ and ‘smuggling’ in many places, ing system in the Indonesian Archipel- Lampung one of the most important According to a report sent by F. H. Bei- The risky business of raiding would not among them the Sunda Straits Zone. ago. They concluded treaties with local raiding targets from the 1750s. Lam- jnon, Commander of the VOC Banten have been possible without a network From the raider’s booty the English rulers, often in return for military assis- pung was the largest pepper-producing factory to the Governor-General in that exchanged the booty for money or obtained, among others, pepper, in tance, stipulating that the Dutch East region in Southeast Asia in the eigh- Batavia on 30 September 1792, in the India Company (VOC) would retain the teenth century, providing about forty to period from January 1791 to September access to opium from Bengal gave the English an right of monopoly on important export eighty per cent of the pepper the VOC 1792 - the only one for which informa- products and prohibiting all but author- annually collected in Batavia. Neverthe- tion on the scale of raiding is available - upper hand in competition with the Dutch ized Dutch, indigenous, and Chinese less the region was vulnerable as neither 6,000 pikul of pepper, 4,190 Spanish merchants from their trade. Although its sovereign, the sultan of Banten, nor Reals and 35 men lost to raiders, the other necessary and profitable com- exchange for opium and ammunition. the system was not always effective, it his overlord, the VOC, could effectively result of attacks on 18 villages and 23 modities. From the 1760s the increase This exchange formed a new trade pat- contributed to the VOC’s collection of control the region due to their chronic vessels in the Lampung and Sunda in raiding around the Sunda Straits tern in the Sunda Straits Zone, and sub- Southeast Asian products for the Euro- financial and administrative problems. Straits regions. 6,000 pikul of pepper coincided with the development of an sequently undermined the old Dutch pean market. organized trade pattern, in which trading system. raiders’ booty was exchanged for money Although raiding and inter-regional In the second half of the eighteenth cen- and foreign commodities. The English trade existed in this area since older tury, the emergence of the Canton trade Sumatra were the most important buyers; a times, the trade pattern in this period began to seriously affect the Dutch trad- group of English traders staying in Sile- was distinguished by two new factors: to Riau (until 1787) ing system. As tea was becoming more bu, a raiders’ meeting point, bartered the role of the English in inter-regional to Lingga, Bilitung (after 1787) and more profitable in Europe, Euro- Bengkulen ammunition for pepper from the trade and the role of Bengali opium. peans - the English East India Compa- raiders. They even arranged a ship for Since opium was further distributed in Tulang Bawang ny (EIC), English country traders, and the raiders to rob pepper from cargo the area by the Chinese, the English and the VOC, among others - enthusiasti- Puti Java Sea ships passing near Pulau Lagondi. the Chinese emerged as partners. These cally promoted their trade in Canton, the Lampung factors became precursors to the South- only port in Qing China open to foreign Apart from direct contact around Sile- east Asian trade that the British presided Sumanka Kalianda traders. bu, Chinese traders based on Silebu and over after the establishment of Singa- China Silebu Pulau Lagondi usually mediated pore in 1819. Raiding and the new trade To facilitate their trade in tea, European between the raiders and the English. patterns in the Sunda Straits Zone in the traders needed Southeast Asian prod- The Chinese traders maintained regu- late eighteenth century were an embryo ucts, which were in great demand in The Sunda Straits Banten lar contact with the English in of the new order in nineteenth-century China. Tin, pepper and edible maritime Bengkulen, and exchanged their pepper Southeast Asia. < products were, in this order, the most Java for opium. Chinese intermediaries fur- valuable commodities in terms of trade ther promoted inter-regional trade: in Notes value; the EIC, English country and Chi- defiance of the Dutch monopoly, they 1. My discussion is based on Dutch and Eng- Pulau Lagondi nese traders sought after these products collected pepper, elephants’ tusks and lish primary sources from the National in independent ports outside the Dutch Opium birds’ nests along the Lampung coast, Archives in The Hague and Jakarta, and in trading system. In response, Riau, the Pepper, elephants’ tusks, birds’ nests in exchange for English opium and tex- the British Library. Source references will capital of the kingdom of Johor, tiles. They also brought a part of the be given in my forthcoming PhD disserta- emerged as a new trade centre. South- Inter-regional trade in the Sunda Straits Zone in the second half of the eighteenth century English opium to the eastern part of tion. east Asian products were transported by Banten, where the sugar industry - 2. Although Chinese-owned plantations in local and Bugis traders to Riau in Raiding intensified from the late 1780s; in twenty-one months, or some 3,400 mostly in the hands of Chinese sugar Trengganu and Brunei produced consider- exchange for Chinese and Indian com- two factors were behind this. First, pikul per year, equalled thirty-five to sev- entrepreneurs - had developed since the able amounts of pepper, it was directly modities, and carried by Chinese and Lingga emerged as a major base for raid- enty per cent of the amount previously early eighteenth century. In spite of their brought to China by Chinese traders. English country traders to Canton. In ing. The 1784 VOC attack on Riau and traded in Riau. It also amounted to obligation to purchase opium from the Aceh’s extraordinary increase of pepper contrast to the ineffective VOC monop- its subsequent occupation abruptly about twenty per cent of all the pepper VOC, sugar mill owners looked for production occurred only after 1800. oly system, Riau prospered by attracting ended Riau’s prosperity. Although Sul- the VOC gained from Lampung. Thus cheaper opium from Bengkulen traders from various regions in Asia. tan Mahmud of Johor successfully raiding became an important channel brought by Chinese traders. Ota Atsushi is a research fellow of the Japan for collecting pepper - and to a consid- Society for the Promotion of Science, and a erable extent, at the expense of VOC This trade pattern benefited not only for- PhD candidate at CNWS, Leiden University. the growing Canton trade and its demand for trade. eign traders, but local elites. Raden His previous publications include ‘“Tradi- Southeast Asian products transformed the maritime Intan in Kalianda, for example, sold pep- tional” versus “Modern” Administrative Con- Although the Dutch report above men- per to the English, thereby demonstrat- cepts: Dutch Intervention and Its Results in trade in the Archipelago…. Demand for products tions a relatively small number, man- ing his disloyalty to the sultan of Banten Rural Banten, 1760-1790.’ Itinerario 27-2, ‘banned’ by the VOC fuelled ‘piracy’ and ‘smuggling’ power was also an important plunder- and the Dutch. The English bought pep- and ‘Banten Rebellion, 1750-1752: Factors ing target for raiders. Raiders per at higher prices than the sultan of behind the Mass Participation’. Modern conducted kidnappings every year, and Banten had set, and brought textiles and Asian Studies 37-3 (2003). Pepper was one of the most important recaptured Riau three years later with in the largest such case, 130 people opium for local people. [email protected] trade items in Riau. According to Dutch the help of Iranun raiders, he moved his were captured in one attack. Some of and English reports, some 5,000 to capital to Lingga while Riau was left the captured were sent to a market in Thus the English presence in Silebu and 10,000 pikul (one pikul = 61.75 kg) of deserted. On Lingga, Sultan Mahumud Bilitung, probably to be resold to other Bengkulen led to their obtaining a large pepper were traded in Riau in the 1780s. turned to privateering, crafting an regions, while others were brought to part of the plundered and secretly trad- This meant that English country traders alliance of raiders from Siak, the orang the pepper-growing region in Lam- ed Lampung pepper. Their trading collected the greater part of their pepper laut and the Iranun. Second, groups of pung, probably as enslaved labourers. methods using various groups of raiders in Riau. Nevertheless, important pep- Iranun who had assisted in the recap- In order to maintain their activities, and traders, and their access to opium, per-growing regions, such as Lampung, ture of Riau settled in Reteh on the east raiders also plundered food, cargo which they brought from Bengal, gave Palembang, Jambi, and Banjarmasin coast of Sumatra where they joined their ships and other necessities during their the English an upper hand in competi- had already been incorporated into the relations from Sulu in raiding expedi- attacks on villages. tion with the Dutch. As a result, the EIC

IIAS Newsletter | #36 | March 2005 9