How Dutch-ruled Jaffna became a major economic hub in South Asia

Earlier this year, when the much-awaited ferry service between India and Sri Lanka was relaunched after four decades, it was fitting that the ferry terminal on one side was Kankesanthurai, a suburb of Jaffna, and on the other, the historic port of Nagapattinam in Tamil Nadu. For centuries, this was a major route for the movement of people, goods and ideas between the Indian peninsula and the island. And the credit for boosting this exchange in the 17th century went partly to the Dutch.

Until the Dutch East India Company, or VOC, snatched Ceylon from the Portuguese in 1658, Jaffna had suffered a long period of abject neglect and apathy.

“The strategic and economic importance of Jaffna was first realised by the Portuguese,” KD Paranavitana, professor of humanities at the Rajarata University of Sri Lanka in Mihintale, wrote in the introduction of Memoir of Librecht Hooreman: Commander of Jaffna 1748. “Nevertheless, they failed to exploit it fully because of their engagements in the western and southern regions of Sri Lanka and also because of the lack of trade commodities of their interest in the region.”

Once the Portuguese were driven out of Jaffna Peninsula by the Dutch, the areas around the city were brought under one administrative grouping called the “Commandement of Jaffnapatnam”. Several places, with centuries of history, were renamed after Dutch cities such as Amsterdam, Rotterdam, Delft and Leiden. The island of Nainativu, which has the famous Nagapooshani Amman, a shakthi peetha, was renamed Haarlem.

Paranavitana, who translated the memoirs of Commander Hooreman from Dutch, said the VOC set up a framework to register land and ownership in the area named Tombo and used it to collect taxes. Informal trade between Jaffna and southern India too was brought into the Dutch tax net, which not only bolstered it but formalised it.

Elephant trade

During a census of the Commandement in 1692, the Dutch found 40 castes in a population of 200,000. One person who was seemingly not a fan of the locals was Floris Blom, the commandeur or director of the Jaffnapatnam Fort. He called the people of Jaffna “lazy and indolent” and “arrogant and stubborn”. He accused them of making false allegations against Dutch officers. At the same time, he called on the Disave or chief officer to ensure that the lower castes were not harassed by the higher castes.

The VOC was not keen on interfering with the caste structure and chose instead to work with certain communities as intermediaries. “The General Paresse [audience] was a ceremonial gathering of the Mudliyars, Collectors, Mayoraals [village headmen], Arachchies [feudal lords], etc performed twice a year on behalf of the whole community in Jaffna appearing before the Commandeur in the Fort,” Paranavitana said. “This was an obligation continued from the time of the native kings or what the Dutch called ‘heathen times’ to make their submission on the condition of the country and to make requests for their general welfare.”

The chiefs of the Vanni region, or Vanniyars, were allowed to remain independent on the condition they sent a fixed number of elephants to the Dutch as an annual tribute. The Dutch in turn sold these animals to buyers in Bengal, Golconda and Tanjore, with the result that elephant trade became one of their biggest revenue generators in Jaffna.

“The elephants were needed in Bengal and Golconda for three purposes: For temple processions, as war animals and for dragging loads,” said Paranavitana.

In his memoir, Hooreman wrote in detail about the elephant trade: “As regards the sale of elephants supplied during the last year, the Honourable Company made a considerable profit, both by the public auction in the month of July and by the animals sold from stock. In the compendium already cited, it is shown that 90 elephants were sold, and three presented in recognition to the King of Tanjore, which together were estimated at a value of Rds. [Rixdollar] 43,265…” It is difficult to estimate the exact value of the rixdollar, the currency of the VOC, in 1648. In 1825, when the British replaced the currency with the pound sterling in Ceylon, they adopted an exchange rate of 1 pound to 13 and ⅓ rixdollars.

“It is hoped that the Company may earn the expected profit from this lucrative trade; at present there are 83 animals consisting in the stock left behind the previous year, those which already have been brought from Mannar and the animals mentioned before, delivered by the Vanniyars; on top of this some numbers are expected from Colombo,” Hooreman said. “In the meantime, notice of intended sale has already been sent to the interested merchants at Coromandel and Malabar.”

The Dutch commander said four elephants were set aside to be given to the king of Tanjore and three to the king of Cochin. Hooreman said the elephants for Tanjore was in “recognition of their king”, while the Dutch authorities in Cochin would pay for the animals meant for the maharaja.

The animals were herded and captured in a kraal or jungle enclosure. The kraal method involved trapping elephants in a stockade made of strong jungle timber with the intention of taming and training them. It was believed to have been introduced on the island by the Portuguese (although the word kraal is Dutch in origin). The word kraal was used both for the process of trapping the elephants and for the enclosures in which they were held.

Slave trade

Slavery was another major revenue generator for the VOC, which not only owned slaves but also allowed privileged groups in its colonies to own them.

In Jaffnapatnam, the VOC actively encouraged the sale of slaves from the Coromandel Coast. This was documented by Hendrick Zwaardecroon, an official who served as commandeur of Jaffnapatnam at the end of the 17th century and rose to the position of governor-general of the Dutch East Indies.

From 1694 to 1696, Zwaardecroon noted, as many as 3,589 slaves were transported to Jaffna from Nagapattinam.

“The people of Jaffnapatam import these slaves only for their own advantage, as they find the sale of these creatures more profitable than the trade in rice or nely, these grain being at present very dear in Coromandel, which again is a reason why these slaves are very cheap there, being procurable almost for a handful of rice,” Zwaardecroon wrote in his memoir. “As Jaffnapatam does not yield a sufficient quantity of rice for its large population, I tried to induce the inhabitants to import as much nely as possible, but to no purpose.”

The VOC charged customs duty on the import of slaves by Jaffna residents and also extracted a poll tax from slaves every year.

“Many of the slaves imported suffer from chicken pox, which may cause an epidemic among the natives, resulting in great mortality,” Zwaardecroon said. “The amount derived from the duty on importation of slaves would therefore not be a sufficient compensation. In my opinion this large importation of slaves is also another evidence of the greater prosperity of the inhabitants of this Commandement, as the purchase and maintenance of slaves require means.”

Other industries

Zwaardecroon was keen to increase the volume of trade between southern India and the Jaffna Peninsula.

“Besides the trade in elephants the Company deals here only in pepper, about 40,000 or 50,000 lb. of which is sold yearly; some copper, spiaulter [zinc], a little pewter, a small quantity of powdered sugar, about 300 or 350 ammunams of Ceylon areca-nut, which are sold to the inhabitants, and a few other articles of little importance which are sold to the Company’s Dutch servants, amounting altogether to no more than Rds. 7,000 or 9,000 a year,” he wrote.

To be sure, there were other goods being traded between the regions. There was a huge demand for Palmyra timber from Jaffna in Nagapattinam as it was used to repair fishing vessels. Also, “defective” horses bred on the islands off the Jaffna Peninsula “were sold at Nagapattinam or given to soldiers on the Opposite [Coromandel] Coast,” Paranavitana said.

Nagapattinam became a hub for textile exports to Jaffna. For years, the Dutch imposed a duty of 20% on textiles imported from the Coromandel Coast, while charging 22% tax on local cloth. Nagappatinam was also a major centre for the import of pearls from Ceylon.

The Dutch favoured the movement of goods, but wanted to restrict migration to northern Ceylon from India. In his memoir, Hooreman wrote that the residents of Kayts, an island that served as a main entry point to Ceylon for traders, had been instructed to bar persons not listed on the ship’s manifest from entering the island and proceeding to Jaffnapatnam.

“Even if they have passes that state that they are passengers (under which guise they usually enter) such persons must be sent back, and no persons from the Opposite Coast must be permitted to proceed to this place without permission, except merchants and other distinguished persons who set out for this place in connection with the elephant trade or the business of pearls during the fish season,” Hooreman said.

The Dutch also imposed restrictions on fishermen from southern India in Ceylonese waters, an issue that continues to have an impact on India-Sri Lanka ties in the 21st century.

The VOC did, however, bring in labourers to serve in their gardens and fields and encouraged cultivation of cash crops. The Vanni ended up becoming what the Dutch called brood kamer (bread chamber) or rather the rice chamber of the Jaffna Peninsula.

The overall trade policies put in place by the Dutch led to a degree of prosperity in both northern Sri Lanka and southern India. As Paranavitana put it, “The growth of maritime trade and formation of one trade zone with the Opposite Coast stretching from Nagapattinam down to Cape Comorin and on the Sri Lankan from Puttalam to Jaffna was yet another factor that contributed to the economic upturn at that time.”

Ajay Kamalakaran is a writer, primarily based in Mumbai. His Twitter handle is @ajaykamalakaran.