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The ‘informal Portuguese empire’ and the Topasses in the Solor archipelago and Timor in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  07 September 2010

Leonard Y. Andaya
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Abstract

This study of Timor and the surrounding islands between the sixteenth and eighteenth centuries provides evidence that, after the demise of the Portuguese Estado da India, an ‘informal’ or ‘shadow’ empire persisted but in uniquely localised ways. It describes the emergence of the ‘black Portuguese’ community known in Timor and the Solor archipelago as the Topasses. Their singular identity was based on the melding of indigenous and Portuguese blood and cultural forms. Their ability to access the sources of spiritual authority in both the Catholic and the Timorese domains assured their survival and that of the Portuguese in Timor until well into the twentieth century.

Type
Research Article
Information
Journal of Southeast Asian Studies , Volume 41 , Issue 3 , October 2010 , pp. 391 - 420
Copyright
Copyright © The National University of Singapore 2010

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33 Hägerdal, Hans, ‘Rebellions of factionalism? Timorese forms of resistance in an early colonial context, 1650–1769’, Bijdragen tot de Taal-, Land- en Volkenkunde, 163, 1 (2007), pp. 5–6Google Scholar.

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58 Dutch contemporary reports tend to speak condescendingly of the ‘creatures’ of the Portuguese, meaning those who had been ‘created’ by the Portuguese through marriage, blood or religion. VOC 1233, Timor, Rapport … aen den Edeln Heere Joan Maetsuyker GG end d'EE heeren Raeden van India, door den oppercoopman Johan Treutman, in qualite als Commissaris over d'affairen op het Eylandt van Timor ende die vicine twee eylanden daer ontrent gelegen…, 22 Nov. 1660, fol. 721r.

59 VOC 1461, Timor, Missive Opperhoofd Willem Moerman en Raad, 4 July 1689, fols. 553r–v.

60 Ian C. Glover, ‘The southern silk road: Archaeological evidence for early trade between India and Southeast Asia’, in Ancient trades and cultural contacts in Southeast Asia (Bangkok: Office of the National Culture Commission), pp. 19, 66–8, 74, 80.

61 C.R. Boxer, ‘The topasses of Timor’, Koninklijke Vereeniging Indisch Instituut. Mededeling no. 73, Afdeling Volkenkunde no. 24, 1947, p. 6.

62 VOC 1271, Timor, fols. 719–20.

63 Generale Missiven, vol. III, 31 Jan. 1674, p. 902.

64 VOC 1461, Timor, Missive Opperhoofd Willem Moerman en Raad, 4 July 1689, fols. 553r–v, 554r.

65 In the books the date given for his death is 1673, but according to Dutch sources he died in November 1672.

66 While Matos acknowledged the fact that Antonio Hornay had helped defend Timor from the Dutch, he believed that this was done purely out of self-interest. Yet at Antonio Hornay's deathbed, he willed a considerable fortune to the Royal Treasury. Matos, Timor Português, pp. 113–14.

67 Generale Missiven, vol. IV, 13 Feb. 1679, p. 273.

68 Ibid., vol. IV, 31 Dec. 1683, p. 612; Leitão, Os Portugueses, p. 243.

69 Ibid., vol. IV, 13 Feb. 1679, p. 273.

70 Ibid., vol. IV, 31 Dec. 1683, p. 612; Ibid., vol. V, 13 Dec. 1686, pp. 36, 38.

71 Ibid., vol. V, 30 Dec. 1689, p. 311; Ibid., vol. V, 31 Jan. 1692, p. 459.

72 ‘Parecer do Conselho Ultramarino’, Doc. X, in Matos, Timor Português, p. 303.

73 ‘Memorial das Ilhas de Timor e Solor’, Doc. III, in Matos, Timor Português, p. 216.

74 In a letter written by Domingos da Costa to the King of Portugal dated 5 May 1703 he mentions that Francisco Hornay had succeeded his brother. ‘Carta de Domingos da Costa a El-Rei’ Matos, Doc. XI, in Matos, Timor Português, p. 308.

75 Generale Missiven, vol. V, 30 Nov. 1697, p. 841.

76 Ibid., vol. VI, 23 Nov. 1699, p. 73; 1 Dec. 1700, p. 123.

77 The Portuguese presence in Macau was always dependent upon the goodwill of the Chinese authorities, who saw the value of maintaining Macau as an open port for international trade. A captain was only appointed to Macau by Goa in 1623, and the Portuguese merchants there only sought support from the Estado to reinforce their position vis-à-vis the Chinese. Francisco Bethencourt, ‘Political configurations and local powers’, in Portuguese Oceanic Expansion, 1400–1800, ed. Francisco Bethencourt and Diogo Ramada Curto (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2007), pp. 207–8.

78 O `Livro de Rezão' de António Coelho Guerreiro, ed. Virginia Rau (Lisbon: Museu do Dundo, 1956), pp. 21–3, 90–3; Boxer, C.R., Fidalgos in the Far East (Hong Kong / London: Oxford University Press, 1968), pp. 187ffGoogle Scholar.

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80 VOC 1663, Timor, Twee rapporte van t opperhoofd den ondercoopman concernerende syne verrigtinge op Liffauw, Benjauw, Savo en Solor, fols. 18–19; Matos, Timor Português, pp. 84–8.

81 ‘Carta de António Coelho Guerreiro’, Doc. XIV, in Matos, Timor Português, p. 323.

82 Ibid.

83 VOC 1676, Timor, Missive van Opperhoofd Joannes van Alphen en Raad Timor, 31 Oct 1702, fols. 2–3; ibid., 22 May 1703, fol. 7; VOC 1691, Timor Missive Opperhoofd Joannes van Alphen en Raad Timor, 31 May 1704, fols. 9–10.

84 Generale Missiven, vol. VI, 30 Nov 1704, p. 354.

85 VOC 1711, Timor, Missive Opperhoofd en Raad Timor, 2 Sept. 1705, fol. 133.

86 Salomon Müller, Reizen en onderzoekingen in den Indischen archipel gedaan op last der Nederlandsche Indische regering, tusschen de jaren 1828 en 1836, vol. 2 (Amsterdam: Frederik Muller, 1857, ‘Timor’), p. 190.

87 Generale Missiven, vol. VI, 30 Nov. 1707, pp. 486, 539.

88 VOC 2741, Timor, Missive, Opperhoofd Daniel van der Burgh, 15 Sept. 1749, fols. 35–7, 40–2.

89 This is one of the earliest indications in the sources of the disappearance of sandalwood. Hornay warned the Dutch in Kupang to take measures to limit the amount of logs being taken from Lifau or risk a premature end to the sandalwood trade. VOC 1461, Timor, Letter from Captain Major Antonio Hornay from Larantuka to Hoge Regering Batavia, 23 June 1689, fols. 571v–572r.

90 VOC 1403, Timor, Missive Joannes v.d. Heeden, 14 Sept. 1684, fols. 224r–v.

91 VOC 1217, Timor, Beschrijvinge van de quartieren van Solor ende Timor gedaen door den E. Arnold de Vlamingh van Outshoorn … aan den GG Joan Maetsuycker en Raad, 1656, fols. 224r–225r.

92 VOC 1226, Solor en Timor, Rapport nopende ‘s Comps staet ende gelegentheyt in de quartieren van Solor en Timor door den oppercoopman Hendrick ter Horst in dato 3 Oct. 1658, fols. 509r–510r.

93 VOC 1233, Timor, Rapport … aen den Edeln Heere Joan Maetsuyker GG end d'EE heeren Raeden van India, door den oppercoopman Johan Treutman, in qualite als Commissaris over d'affairen op het Eylandt van Timor ende die vicine twee eylanden daer ontrent gelegen … 22 Nov. 1660, fols. 721r, 723v.

94 The following account is based on van den Burg's contemporary report in the VOC archives. See also a published version of the events in Haga, A., ‘De slag bij Penefoeij en vendrig Lip. Naschrift op ‘de Mardijkers van Timor’, Tijdschrift van het Bataviaasch Genootschap, 27 (1882), pp. 389–408Google Scholar.

95 According to McWilliam, these titles were given to the Topasses by the Portuguese Governor and Captain-General Coelho in 1702, when they came to profess their loyalty to him as representative of the Portuguese Crown. McWilliam, Paths of origin, p. 54.

96 As Hans Hägerdal has noted, Portuguese drums and flags were highly prized by the Timorese because they symbolised Portuguese authority and were readily adopted into their ‘tradition of relic cult’. Hägerdal, ‘Rebellions of factionalism?’, p. 20.

97 VOC 2761, Timor, Missive, Opperhoofd Daniel van der Burgh, 17 May 1750, fols. 9–24, 29–30.

98 VOC 2763, Timor, Secret Letters, Opperhoofd Daniel van der Burgh, 15 Sept. 1750, fols. 590-1.

99 VOC 2761, Timor, Missive, Opperhoofd Daniel van der Burgh, 17 May 1750, fols. 25–6.

100 Literally, the ‘visitor to the sick’, an individual during the VOC period who performed the function not only of visiting the sick but administering also to the spiritual needs of the Christian community. Because of the lack of sufficient Protestant ministers, krankenbezoekers often fulfilled many of their functions.

101 Middelkoop, ‘Curse’, p. 39; Heijmering, ‘Bijdragen’, p. 41.

102 Müller, Reizen, pp. 115–16. In this oral tale there is a confusion of the events in 1656 and 1749. It is obvious from the description that these were episodes from the battle of Penfui.

103 VOC 2761, Timor, Missive, Opperhoofd Daniel van der Burgh, 17 May 1750, fol. 70.

104 P.J. Veth, Het eiland Timor. Overgedrukt uit ‘De Gids’, Nieuwe Serie, Achtste jaargang. 1855, p. 67.

105 Bethencourt, ‘Low cost empire’, p. 120.

106 VOC 2763, Secret Letters, Timor, Secret Letter from Timor by van den Burgh, 15 Sept. 1750, fol. 592.

107 In the early 1750s both the domains of Amakono and Amarasi, which had earlier been allies of the Topasses, once again were accused by the Dutch of disloyalty and punished. Hägerdal, ‘Rebellions or factionalism?’, p. 21.

108 Lapis, Maria Fatima, ‘Perang om mabun tahun 1760–1767 di kefetoran Noemuti kerajaan Miomaffo kabupaten Timor Tengah Utara’ (Pendidikan Sejarah, Universitas Cendana, Kupang, 2005), pp. 31–3, 36, 40, 44Google Scholar; Widiyatmika, ‘Peranan Politik’, p. 10.

109 VOC 2908, Timor, Missive Opperhoofd en Raad Timor, 21 May 1757, fol. 9.

110 Italics added. VOC 3121, Timor, Missive Opperhoofd Ter Herbruggen en Raad Timor, 4 Oct. 1763, fol. 10; VOC 3151, Timor, Missive Opperhoofd van Voorst en Raad, 1 Oct. 1765, fol. 2.

111 Winius, George, ‘Private trading in Portuguese Asia: A substantial will-o’-the-wisp', in Studies on Portuguese Asia, 1495–1689 (Ashgate: Variorum, 2001), ch. 19, pp. 8–9Google Scholar.

112 Newitt, History of Portuguese overseas, p. 98.

113 Bethencourt, ‘Low cost empire’, pp. 125–6.

114 Winius, ‘Private trading’, p. 2.