Sailors,Zielverkopers, and the Dutch East India Company

The maritime labour market in eighteenth-century Surat

Bibliographic Data

ID3612434
AuthorsGhulam A Nadri (0009-0006-5078-1900, Georgia State University, corresponding author)
Year2015
Volume49
Issue2
Pages336-364
Publication date2015-03-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueModern Asian Studies (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0026-749X • E-ISSN: 1469-8099
PublisherCambridge University Press (CUP) (PUBLISHER)
DOI10.1017/s0026749x13000449
OpenAlexW2135769112
LanguageEN
Citations received1
References cited19

In the second half of the eighteenth century, the Dutch East India Company (VOC) employed hundreds of Indian sailors in Surat in western India to man its ships plying the Asian waters. TheMoorse zeevarenden(Muslim sailors) performed a variety of tasks on board ships and in the port of Batavia, and made it possible for the Company to carry out its commercial ventures across the Indian Ocean. The relationship between the two, however, was rather complex and even contentious. Based on Dutch sources, this article investigates the political-economic contexts of this relationship, examines the structure and organization of the maritime labour market in Surat, and illuminates the role and significance ofzielverkopers(labour contractors) and of the local administration. The analysis of the social, economic, and familial aspects of the market and labour relations in Surat sheds light on pre-capitalist forms of labour recruitment and the institutional dynamics of the Indian labour market

Administration (probate law · Business · Carry (investment · Economics · Economy · Geography · Indian ocean · Political science · Politics · Port (circuit theory · Variety (cybernetics · Asian Studies and History · Colonialism, slavery, and trade · Engineering · Finance · Global Maritime and Colonial Histories · Law

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