Amboina, 1623 : Fear and Conspiracy on the Edge of Empire / Adam Clulow.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Clulow, Adam, Author.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Nederlandsche Oost-Indische Compagnie--History--17th century.

Nederlandsche Oost-Indische Compagnie.

East India Company--History--17th century.

East India Company.

Trials (Conspiracy)--Indonesia--Ambon Island.

Trials (Conspiracy).

Ambon Island (Indonesia)--History--17th century.

Ambon Island (Indonesia).

Netherlands--Foreign relations--Great Britain.

Netherlands.

Great Britain--Foreign relations--Netherlands.

Great Britain.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (312 pages)

Place of Publication:

New York, NY : Columbia University Press, [2019]

Language Note:

In English.

Summary:

In 1623, a Japanese mercenary called Shichizō was arrested for asking suspicious questions about a Dutch East India Company castle on Amboina, a remote set of islands in what is now eastern Indonesia. He was tortured until he confessed that he had joined a plot orchestrated by a group of English merchants to seize control of the fortification and ultimately to rip the spice-rich islands from the Company's grasp. Two weeks later, Dutch authorities executed twenty-one alleged conspirators, sparking immediate outrage and a controversy that would endure for centuries to come.In this landmark study, Adam Clulow presents a new perspective on the Amboina case that aims to move beyond the debate over guilt or innocence. Amboina, 1623 argues that the case was driven forward by a potent combination of genuine crisis, imagined threat, and overpowering fear that propelled the rapid escalation from suspicion to torture, that gave shape and form to the sprawling plot, and that pushed it forward to a final bloody conclusion. Based on a detailed analysis of archival records, letters, and contemporary legal documents, this book is a masterful reinterpretation of a trial that has divided opinion for centuries. Amboina, 1623 offers new insights into one of the most famous cases in global history and the nature of European expansion across the early modern world.

Contents:

Frontmatter

Contents

Illustrations

Note to the Reader

Acknowledgments

Maps of Southeast Asia, Amboina, and the Banda Islands

Introduction. The Company and the Colony

PART ONE. Amboina in 1623

PART TWO. Remaking a Conspiracy Trial

Epilogue. The Fearful Empire

Notes

Selected Bibliography

Index

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Description based on online resource; title from PDF title page (publisher's Web site, viewed 06. Apr 2020)

ISBN:

9780231550376

0231550375

OCLC:

1110689226