18TH CENTURY DUTCH MALACCA
“Malaka”, copper engraving made by Edouard Hauhard, for Abbé Prévost’s “Histoire Générale des Voyages, ou nouvelle collection de toutes les relations de voyages par mer et par terre” published in Paris 1746-1759. Coloured by a later hand. Size : approx. 19,5 x 29 cm.
Malacca was a small state strategically located on the southwest coast of the Malay Peninsula on the Strait of Malacca, the main sea route between the Middle East and India on the one hand, and China and Japan on the other. The Dutch ruled Malacca from 1641 to 1798, an era with relative peace without much interruption from the Malay sultanates.
Under the Dutch East India Company (VOC), the city remained the center of trade in the Malay Peninsula, but lost its trading position in Southeast Asia to Batavia. The Dutch preferred Batavia (present-day Jakarta) as their economic and administrative centre in the region and their hold in Malacca was to prevent the loss of the city to other European powers and, subsequently, the competition that would come with it.
The view shows us numerous VOC ships. The city had a thriving port and attracted merchants from various parts of Asia, Europe, and beyond.
Price: Euro 295,-
