Pascal-Jean-Balthazar and his Timorese Background

Timor was not well-known to the European public in the early-modern era, although it was partly dominated by the Dutch East India Company (VOC) and the Portuguese. Nevertheless a previous study by Anne Lombard-Jourdan has mapped the captivating career of Pascal-Jean-Balthazar, a person of Asian origins who arrived to France in 1750 and claimed to be the son of the ruler of Solor and Timor, corresponding to the Black Portuguese leader Gaspar da Costa (died 1749). Pascal-Jean-Balthazar passed away in poverty around 1800 without ever having returned to the Indies. The true identity of this supposed prince of Timor may be highlighted by new-found Dutch archival material. On French intervention, a Dutch delegation visited the Black Portuguese stronghold Oecussi in 1779 and interviewed the local leaders about their possible knowledge about Pascal-Jean-Balthazar. The Oecussi aristocracy denied that he was sprung from their line and opined that he was rather the son of a Chinese trader. After outlining the historical setting of the Black Portuguese on Timor at the time, the article discusses the significance of the new information and the Chinese influences on Timor in the early-colonial era

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