The copyright of this thesis vests in the author. No quotation from it or information derived from it is to be published without full acknowledgementTown of the source. The thesis is to be used for private study or non- commercial research purposes only. Cape Published by the University ofof Cape Town (UCT) in terms of the non-exclusive license granted to UCT by the author. University Commercial Diplomacy, Cultural Encounter and Slave Resistance: Episodes from Three VOC Slave Trading Voyages from the Cape to ~adagascar,1760-1780 Andrew Alexander ALXAND003 A dissertation submitted in fulfilment of the requirements for the award of the degree of Master of Arts in Historical Studies Faculty of Humanities University of Cape Town Town 2005 Cape of This work has not been previously submitted in whole. or in part, for the award of any degree. It is my own work. Each significant contribution to, and quotation in. this dissertation from the work, or works, of other people has been attributed. and has been cited and referenced.University Signature: ~ Date: Contents Acknowledgements II Abstract 111 Introduction L Negotiation, Trade and the Rituals of Encounter: Generalised Patterns and Concrete Examples 14 II. De Zon and De Neptunus: The Predicaments of Cultural Misunderstanding and Personal Conflict 64 III. The lVfeermin and De Zan: Understanding the Impulses that have Shaped Shipboard Slave Uprisings 119 Town Conclusion 162 References Cape 164 of University Acknowledgements I would like to thank the National Research Foundation (NRF) for their provision of financial assistance that has made the completion of this dissertation possible. Town Cape of University II Abstract The intention of this dissertation is to fill a gap in a rich and yet under-represented aspect ofIndian Ocean slave history. A number of historians have devoted their attention to the history of slave trading on the island of Madagascar; however, most of these focus on either the 1i h or the 19th centuries, leaving the 18 th century relatively neglected. In addition, these studies are largely in the form of historical surveys, encompassing a temporal span of many decades. Thus, my purpose has been to adopt a different approach to the study of European-initiated slave trading expeditions to Madagascar to those that have preceded it. I have elected to found this study on a close reading of two journals from slave trading vessels that sought slaves for the Cape in Madagascar in the 1760s and the 1770s. In addition, I have incorporated material from my research on a third vessel that I completed for the purposes of my Honours degree. The first two vessels are De Nepl un liS , which sailed from 1760-1761, and De Zan, which sailed from 1775-1776. The third vessel is the lvfeermin, which sailed from 1765-1766. I have undertaken a close reading of the journals maintained by the merchants of DeTown NeplUl1Us and De Zan, so as to write a history sensitive to the daily experiences of the slave traders in Madagascar, as well as to the codes and discourse through which this experience was filtered. Regarding the Meermin, I have not examinedCape its actual voyage to Madagascar as such, but have investigated a slave uprising that occurred on the vessel on its return home in 1766. of I have organised this dissertation into three chapters, systematised thematically. The first is concerned with the experience of negotiation and trading as it was recorded by the VOC merchants on the vessels, and is drawn predominantly from the first trading encounter of the crewUniversity of De Zan when they arrived in Madagascar in 1775. The second explores the predicaments that the European slave traders encountered on the island, predicaments that arose both from cultural misunderstandings and from personal conflict with the Malagasy. I have drawn on episodes from De Zon and De Neptlmlls to illustrate this theme. In the third and final chapter, I analyse the phenomenon of slave resistance on board slave ships, using a slave uprising that occurred on De Zan while it \vas still on the coast of Madagascar, and that of the iii lHeel'min when it was approaching Cape Agulhas, as two distinct and yet mutually informative examples of this phenomenon. In contrast to the surveys that comprise the majority of the English-language scholarship on slave trading in Madagascar, this dissertation is founded on a close reading of particular episodes, some relatively peaceful, some fraught with tension, some even violent, all of them revealing. In a sense, it is an attempt at a series of micro-narratives that illustrate and detail the historical experience of VOC-slave trading on the island at a particular juncture and from a variety of perspectives. As such, there is more of a focus on character and incident that there is on the economics and materiality of the trade; and it is in this emphasis that this study seeks to find itself a place in the scholarship on this fascinating and multi-layered cultural encounter. Town Cape of University IV Introduction During 2004, I conducted research for the purposes of my Honours degree on a slave mutiny that occurred on the slaving vessel the lvfeermin in 1766. The Meermin had been transporting slaves from Madagascar to the Cape when the revolt occurred, a voyage that formed a part of a Jarge trading network conducted by the Dutch East India Company, or VOC, between the Cape and Madagascar. For much of the 18th century the Madagascan trade provided the Company with a significant propOliion of its Cape-based slave popUlation, and slaving voyages initiated from the Cape were largely targeted towards the island. My research into the nature and dynamics of the rebellion introduced me to the world ofVOC-initiated slaving ventures in Madagascar, and allowed me a glimpse of the particular trends that were present in this long-standing commercial enterprise. The trade with Madagascar was a recurring endeavour throughout the era that the VOC was in control of the Cape, from 1652-1795. During this time voyages were commissioned on a regular basis, although there were periods of greater activity than others. Both De Neptunus and De Zon were hoekers, small, multipurposeTown vessels that could be adapted and rigged for slaving expeditions). One of the features of the trade that has been highlighted by scholars was its uneven, unpredictable nature. Some vessels would return with more than 200 slaves,Cape others with as few as one or two. This unpredictability was a cause of concernof and irritation to the VOC officials at the Cape, as it was, of course, to the merchants on those voyages who were unable to obtain a suitable complement of slaves. Within this range, De Zon achieved moderate success with 103 slaves, while De Neptunus returned with only 36 slaves on board. Thus, while not suffering the spectacular failures of certain other attempts, the latter certainly fell far short of what the Company would have regarded as an acceptable outcome. University While some attention has been paid to the Madagascan slave trade, it remains largely under-represented in the contemporary historical literature. both on slaving in general I Haalmeijer and Vuik, Fluiten, kitten enfregatlen. pp. 41-45. Voyages to Madagascar were usually commissioned for the purchase of rice as well as slaves. and so multipurpose vessels would have been the most suitable for this dual purpose. and on the world of the VOC in the 18th century. While significant source material is available, both in Cape Town and in other locations, this material has, for the most part, either been neglected, or used cursorily in historical reflections that do not themselves focus specifically on the particular dynamics of Dutch-based slaving on the island. While it has been noted in a number of publications that Malagasy slaves formed a large proportion of Company slaves based at the Slave Lodge in Cape Town, and while the experience of such slaves at the Cape has been explored in some detaiL the actual processes by which such slaves were acquired, the experience of the slavers in their negotiations with local royalty and dignitaries on the island and the ramifications, both commercial and human, of the trade are rich strands of slave history that demand a degree of historical attention that has heretofore not been accorded to them. The source material referred to above consists largely of slaving journals maintained by the merchants on VOC vessels that were despatched to Madagascar for the purpose of acquiring slaves. While most of these journals for the 18th century are contained in the Netherlands, a good number, particularly for the latter half of the Dutch slaving era, are preserved at the National Archives Repository in CapeTown Town. These journals contain day-by day records of the relevant voyages, as they were written by the merchants who were responsible for negotiating with local authorities and purchasing slaves. As such, they provide the best means forCape the contemporary historian to obtain information regarding the dynamics of theof trade, both in tern1S of commercial imperatives and Company policy and in terms of the human element of the relationships forged between Dutch slavers and local arbitrators. and the various ways that these players negotiated such relationships. As I mentioned, most of the journals that are available in Cape Town represent the closing periods ofUniversity the Dutch slave trade. They are largely concentrated in the decades of the 1760s and the 1770s, although there are some notable examples from the late 1740s and the 1750s as well. My intention wiII be to examine two journals, one from the 1760s and one from the 1770s, in the hope of shedding light both on the nature and historical experience of the trade as it existed in the latter decades of the 18th century.