VOC
WOMEN IN THE EAST
by
AM van Rensburg
With
one million men who sailed on VOC ship to the east, what female
companionship did they have?
The
women can be divided into European, Mesticos - a descendant of European
man and an Asian woman, Swarte - Asian woman.
In
the book In Between, there is a good description with regards to the VOC
conquest of Colombo in Ceylon on May 1656: "The Capture of
Portuguese territory provided the servants and soldiers of the VOC with
a welcome prize from a personal point of view: namely, 'half-caste'
women, as well as a number of semi-Christianized or Christianized 'black
women' who had some familiarity with European ways. ..... a large number
of widows and unmarried women mainly mestices or half caste women ....
were available in the city as marriage partners .... within a few months
150 marriages were recorded"
Bibliography
Michael Roberts, Ismeth Raheen and Percy Colin-Thome: People inbetween:
The Burghers and the Middle Class in the Transformation within Sri Lanka
Top