Debating Natural Law in the Banda Islands:A Case Study in Anglo-Dutch Imperial Competition in the East Indies, 1609-1621

This article examines Anglo-Dutch rivalry in the Banda Islands in the period from 1609 to 1621, with a particular focus on the process of claiming initiated by the Dutch and English East India Companies (VOC and EIC). Historians have paid little attention to the precise legal justifications employed by these organizations, and how they affected the outcome of events. For both companies, treaties with Asian rulers and peoples were essential in staking out claims to trade and territory. Because so many different parties were involved, individual documents had to serve multiple purposes, both on... Mehr ...