The Cruelty Of The VOC Monopoly: Genocide On The Road Of The Dutch Trade Constraints Controls Spices In Banda

Painting depicting the Banda tempo Islands. (Wikimedia Commons)

JAKARTA - The Dutch trading conspiracy, the VOC (Kompeni) was once the richest company in the world. The main strength is the monopoly of spices. The narrative makes the VOC have its own war fleet. The capital is piled up.

No large company can match the Company. However, that does not mean that Kompeni absorbs the practice of monopolistics smoothly. The Company uses all means to make the monopoly work. Sometimes full of corpses and blood. The power owner has practiced the genocide of the people of the Banda Islands.

Money can't buy everything. However, a lot of money can create the richest trading partnership in history, the VOC. The Dutch trading conspiracy was unmatched. Its influence exceeds that of the country.

They became the world's first multinational companies. They have their own war fleet. Something most needed in the world's spice trading business. The power-owner wants to build trade estates in Asia.

This desire was close to the fact that the VOC began to be led by Jan Pieterszoon Coen. The Governor-General of the VOC, who has served twice (1619-1623 and 1627-1629), understands best how to use the Company's resources. He began to target the conquest of many regions in the archipelago.

Coen is confident that he can monopolize trade in many parts of the archipelago. That desire happened. Coen one after another shows his capacity as a leader. He was able to conquer the valuation area of the Sultanate of Banten, Jayakarta in 1619. Coen also built the city of Batavia on the ruins of Jayakarta.

The practice of monopoly is trying to be tightened in the parts of Ternate, Ambon, Banda, and other areas of Maluku. The heavy disbursement of VOC money as a down payment began to flow to local authorities and entrepreneurs. They are deliberately allowed to depend on the disbursement of the Company's funds.

The rest of the local residents were forced to sell spices at a low price to the Company. Not to mention that local residents are prohibited from selling spices to rivals of the British and Portuguese trade partnerships Company (IEC). However, not all of them wanted to obey.

Banda people, for example. Banda people have been doing business with the Dutch for a long time. However, the Banda people are even more creative in selling Pala to the Portuguese and British. Even though they have a trade agreement with the Dutch.

The Dutch friendship with Banda turned into open hatred. There are other reasons for the dispute caused by the Nusantara system running a business. Panen is sold before time, and large amounts of money are handed over to producers before harvest. There are times when the Company gives credit more than 20 thousand guilders to Banda people only.

The island residents not only spent money as quickly as they could, but also gave up on their products for the second time and postponed the handover of the spices to the Company. By itself, the longer the debt (Bandans) increases. Dutch officials in charge of the directors in Amsterdam blamed the Banda people and not their systems and called them in the report: scenes and cunning thieves, "said Bernard HM Vlekke in the book Nusantara (2008).

The relationship between Kompeni and the Banda people is getting worse. This condition is considered a subtle that interferes with the VOC trade in the archipelago. Coen was furious, no joke. He then chose to take up arms to enforce a pala monopoly in Banda.

Coen led the resistance to the Banda Islands on March 11, 1621. He carried a large military force of 13 large ships, 40 large motorboats (small ships), 1,600 thousand VOC soldiers, 300 Javanese prisoners, and 100 Japanese samurai.

Coen's mission is clear. He wants to eliminate the indigenous people of Banda, including the rich (local entrepreneurs). They are looking for and hunting down all Banda people they meet. They also destroyed whatever buildings they saw, houses and boats.

The Banda people were brutally murdered. Moreover, by samurai from Japan. They cut off the bodies of rich people into parts with Katana. Those who were killed were more than 2 thousand people. Most fled, and the rest became prisoners.

The incident left only 480 people in Banda's population out of a total of 14 thousand people. The rest of the people were then taken to Batavia as slaves. As a result, after Banda was empty, Coen began to bring in workers and slaves from various regions in the archipelago.

The Dutch Company grew rapidly thanks to several factors. Firstly, the abundance of capital in the Republic allowed the VOC to advance far compared to its opponents. Thus, the VOC was able to finance military operations that needed to occupy the position of world monopoly holder in terms of spice trade. The conquest of the Banda Islands in 1622 made the VOC acquire a monopoly of nutmeg and nutmeg fireworks, "said FS Galastra in the book Anticipation Verenigde Oostindische Compagnie (VOC) and Government Institutions in Batavia (2007).

Their monopoly will be successful. The Company has an abundant advantage. However, that advantage was achieved on the bodies and blood of the Banda people. Later, the Company became the richest company in the world. Alias, no one has ever achieved a big income like the VOC -- even today. Even though the VOC has long disbanded in 1799 due to corruption.