Fabio D’Angelo
The scientific dialogue linking America, Asia and Europe between the 12th and the
20thCentury.
Theories and techniques travelling in space and time
Associazione culturale Viaggiatori
VIAGGIATORI
CIRCOLAZIONI SCAMBI ED ESILIO
www.viaggiatorijournal.com
Collection Curatele
Fabio D’A NGELO
The scientific dialogue linking America, Asia and Europe between the 12 th and the
20 th Century.
Theories and techniques travelling in space and time
Associazione culturale
Viaggiatori
Ebook – Viaggiatori. Circolazioni scambi ed esilio ISSN 2532-7623 (online) – 2532-7463 (stampa) ISBN 9788894361209
Editorial board
Abdon Mateos – Amilhat Szary Anne-Laure – Badcock Sarah – Beaurepaire Pierre-Yves – Bertrand Gilles – Blais Hélène – Boutier Jean – Brizay François – Buccaro Alfredo – Burkardt Albrecht – Fedele Santi – Fincardi Marco – Fiorelli Vittoria – Infelise Mario – Isabella Maurizio – Mantelli Brunello – Mascilli Migliorini Luigi – Milani Giuliano – Minuti Rolando – Perocco Daria – Raina Dhruv – Sabba Fiammetta – Sacareau Isabelle – Scillitani Lorenzo – Tamisari Franca – Tylusińska-Kowalska Anna – Venayre Sylvain – Vial Éric
The scientific dialogue linking America, Asia, and Europe between the 12th and the 20thCentury.
Theories and techniques travelling in space and time/ Fabio D’Angelo Naples, Associazione culturale Viaggiatori, 2018
Ebook/Collection Curatele, 1 ISBN 9788894361209
2018 ©Associazione culturale Viaggiatori, Naples Online and open access www.viaggiatorijournal.com
Indice
Introduction
FABIO D’ANGELO I
The scientific travel writings
The Shilu by Juan Cobo, O.P. (1593): a paradigm of scientific and philosophical exchange between East and West
JOSE ANTONIO CERVERA JIMENEZ 2
Quand l’idéal de collaboration savante se heurte aux enjeux d’ego et aux querelles de personnes : l’exemple de l’édition des œuvres de St. Cyrille en 1638
ANNE-MARIE CHENY 29
History and Heritage: the portrayal of landscape of the South of Portugal in travel accounts in modern period
ANTÓNIA FIALHO CONDE 46
Travel Instructions in the second half of the 18th century: the making of “how-toobserve-and-collect”
texts in Portugal
FREDERICO TAVARES DE MELLO ABDALLA 56
Collection médicale et circulation des savoirs au XVIII siècle. L’exemple du Journal des sçavans (janvier 1760 à septembre 1762)
GILLES BARROUX 68
Unknown Knowledge: The Travel Diary of Carl Friedrich Reimer, 1789-1792
JEROEN BOS 82
The travel to America
Jesuits and Nature in the Americas: The travels of Jesuits’ bezoar stones
CAROLINA VALENZUELA 101
Ways of knowledge circulation: The Malaspina expedition at Vava’u Island (1793)
MARCELO FABIÁN FIGUEROA 107
The Challenger Deep-Sea Expedition (1872-1876) in Brazil: the circulation of news and knowledge
MARIA MARGARET LOPES 118
Gli storici della medicina in Italia non hanno avuto mai molta fortuna. Arturo Castiglioni tra Trieste e Stati Uniti
MARIA CONFORTI 133
The scientific practices and methods of travel Construction gothique et transmission des savoirs. Le cas de la cathédrale de Lyon
NICOLAS REVEYRON 147
Storing and Sharing Secrets: Management of Pacific Geographic Materials in Early Modern European Empires
KATHERINE PARKER 165
Traveling Olms: Local and Global Perspectives on the Researche on Proteus anguinus (1700-1930)
JOHANNES MATTES 186
Voyage botanique et découvertes archéologiques : la pluralité des mondes d’André Michaux
PIERRE-YVES BEAUREPAIRE 204
L’expédition scientifique de Maupertuis en Laponie
ALESSANDRA ORLANDINI CARCREFF 214
Before and after Humboldt: Italian travellers, geographers and botanistes between the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries
ALEXANDER DI BARTOLO/AGNESE VISCONTI 229
Genetics, radiobiology and the circulation of knowledge in Cold War Mexico, 1960-1980
JOSÉ A. ALONSO-PAVON/ANA BARAHONA 250
Mediators, scientists, informants Institutional actors
The circulation of scientific knowledge in Euler’s first stage at Saint Petersburg Academy of Sciences
MARIA ROSA MASSA ESTEVE 262
Il conte Michał Jan Borch in Sicilia: il viaggio culturale di uno scienziato
ANNA TYLUSIŃSKA-KOWALSKA 277
John Herschel’s Travels through the Alps to the Cosmos in the 1820s
GREGORY GOOD 288
Sur les traces de l’exode de la race à long nez. Les Voyages de Joseph Charles Manó dans l’Amérique Espagnole, 1870-1886
IRINA PODGORNY 292
Le gêne et l’éprouvette. Les voyages des natalistes et eugénistes français et américains dans l’Allemagne nationale-socialiste (1933-1939)
FRÉDÉRIC SALLÉE 309
Mediators, scientists, informants Military and ecclesiastical
Between scientific research, mnemotechinic tradition and evangelical mission: the role of Francesco Giuseppe Bressani S.J. in the history of Canadian cartography
LEONARDO ANATRINI 324
Russian Orthodox Clergymen’s Studies of Nature and Population of Siberia and China (Late Seventeenth – Early Twentieth Centuries)
ALEXEY V.POSTNIKOV 353
Le voyage scientifique de Domingo Badía au Maroc et au Levant (1803-1807)
FRANÇOIS BRIZAY 364
Mediators, scientists, informants Local actors
Local collaborators in Henry Walter Bates’s Amazonian Expedition (1848-1859)
ANDERSON PEREIRA ANTUNES/ILDEU DE CASTRO MOREIRA/LUISA MEDEIROS MASSARANI 382
Varia
Herman’s Muslim-Christian Bridge
STANISLAV JUŽNIČ 401
6
D’Angelo, Introduction
1
Introduction
FabioD’ANGELOScuola Superiore di Studi Storici Università della Repubblica di San Marino
fabiodangelo2003@gmail.com
doi.org/10.26337/2532-7623/DANGELO1
Scientific knowledge has been established and developed at various times and places throughout history. The history of science, while investigating and identifying the theoretical and technical processes of sciences in their making, also deals with humankind, places and the timing of science.
From the very beginning, the widespread tendency to foster the dissemination of theoretical and practical knowledge has been so significant that, in certain cases, very little is known about the place in which a given theory or experiment was formulated for the first time.
More specifically, from the Modern Times, a growing awareness has gradually led to the assumption that the economic and scientific development of society, in general, could not exclusively rely on the availability of raw materials and the use of machinery, but it also needed to focus on the exchange of experiences, outcomes and dissemination of knowledge. During this time, both modernisation and economic development were indeed fostering transnational sharing of intellectual and scientific experiences1.
In this respect, the first monographic volume of the journal Viaggiatori seeks to retrace some
‘scientific dialogues’, such as encounters, exchanges and pursuit of technical and theoretical knowledge across a geographical area, that would give a foretaste of the historical and cultural contexts in America, Asia, Europe and the Mediterranean, from the 12th to 20th centuries. Notably, special focus has been placed on the role of the so-called passeurs, namely travellers that would act as true “intermediaries” for the acquisition and dissemination of both theoretical and practical knowledge, from one continent to another2.
The gradual flourishing of modern science has had a significant impact on the actual planning of a journey, and especially on how it could be shared through diaries and the press. In fact, the reviews, which at first were filled with personal reflections, were progressively coupled with accounts that would rather describe the techno-scientific aspects of the mission. In modern times, and unlike the previous eras, scientific travels started intensifying on the wave of an undiminished enthusiasm for geography and the great expeditions, which urged travellers to go way beyond continental borders. America and the Far East, until then considered terrae incognite, were not the only continents in the world that sparked the interest of western people. For example, the 16th century is the period in which Europe ceases discovering its own territories and starts embracing its exploratory missions beyond the eastern borders, towards the Americas and the East3.
Not only was travelling intensifying, but the journey itself provided practical rules of conduct and concrete feedback that would help travellers build on those itinerant experiences and make best use of
1The theme of travel during modern times, please refer to G.BERTRAND (ed.), La culture du voyage. Pratiques et discours de la Renaissance à l'aube du XXè siècle, Paris, L'Harmattan, 2004; S.VENAYRE, Panorama du voyage (1780–1920), Paris, Les Belles Lettres, 2012; G.BERTRAND, La place du voyage dans les sociétés européennes (XVIème – XVIIIème siècle): une vue d'ensemble, in D.BOISSON (ed.), Heurs et malheurs des voyages (XVI e– XVIIIe siècle), numéro spécial des
«Annales de Bretagne et des Pays de l’Ouest», 121, n. 3, 2014, p. 7–26
2 On the concept of passeurs please refer to G.BERTRAND,A.GUYOT (eds.), Des “passeurs” entre science, histoire et littérature. Contribution à l'étude de la construction des savoirs (1750-1840), Grenoble, ELLUG, 2011.
3 R.MAZZEI,Per terra e per acqua. Viaggi e viaggiatori nell’Europa moderna, Roma, Carocci, 2013.
D’Angelo, Introduction
2
their findings once back home. Furthermore, through various forms of writing including travel diaries, journals and tips for travellers, it was possible to provide the reader with useful tools that would facilitate the transfer of knowledge and culture from one country to another. It is precisely thanks to the examination of these different forms of communication, covered in the first part of this volume, the scientific travel writings, that the handwritten or printed instructions, submitted to the scientists at the time of departure, acquired great significance. This long series of instructions is undoubtedly an inestimable source of information and an effective means of understanding the evolution and transformation of the communities in which travellers decided to settle. Produced by every single scientist and institution over time, they indeed became the key to interpreting not only the technical aspects of a specific expedition, but also other aspects, including society and its relationship networks. Its comprehensive structure is, in fact, a literary genre in its own right, subject to unique rules and guidelines, which would adapt and change each time, according to the travellers’ objectives and cultural background, and therefore be crucial to the success of their missions4.
In this respect, travel instructions and the diaries would mainly focus on the systematic collection of data and the observation of nature and its phenomena, which were indeed the primary objects of scientific mobility. This approach can be easily verified through the change of style in scientists’ narrative works, which would gradually turn into veritable travel chronicles and thereby provide a more accurate description of their surrounding world, its places and cultures. Suffice to think of Louis Antoine de Bougainville’s work, Voyage autour du monde and his accounts on Tahiti (1771), which almost certifies the official birth of modern anthropology with its idealised ‘noble savage’ concept, later glorified in the works of Jean-Jacques Rousseau. Furthermore, between the 16th and 17th centuries, the popular naturalist Ulisse Aldrovandi from Bologna had also already emphasised, in his quote, the importance of travel as a cognitive scientific tool: “Et io ancora sono stato quasi per tutta l’Italia et sue isole, et in Francia et in Spagna dimodoché posso dare notitia di molte piante, che da altri non siano state descritte, non ritrovandosi cosa, che apporti più utilità, che il fare viaggi in diversi tempi, conservando, et descrivendo l’istoria di ciascuna cosa, che si ritrova. Et se il leggere dà tanta utilità a i studiosi, dieci volte più ne dà la peregrinatione”. (‘And I have been travelling all over Italy and its islands, and in France and Spain, so I can relate of many plants that others have not yet described, as nothing can be more serviceable than making several trips at separate times while preserving and describing the history of each thing that is found.
And if reading is so useful to scholars, then wandering is ten times more’).
However, other written forms of scientific communication for the dissemination of knowledge began to gain significant ground, especially between the second half of the 17th and the beginning of the 18th centuries, when the success of scientific texts for travellers, along with diaries and chronicles, were paving the way for the launch of various publishing initiatives and magazines that would move away from the standardised academic environment to meet the favour of a wider audience, while fostering the development of new scientific disciplines and the dissemination of knowledge. The analysis of the numerous historical sources shows however, the key role played by scientific travels in the transfer of knowledge in terms of «its utilitarian dimension along with its ethical and pedagogical value»5.
In the section The Travel to America, the essays cover the same geographical areas including Latin America, the US and Europe, and focus on the role of travelling scientists in the dissemination of scientific practices between the 19th and 20th centuries. Those explorers, while moving from the New World to the Old World, or indeed within the same continent, would examine the potential of geographical, social and political areas and compare the different models with the aim of creating a new one. However, considering the different political backgrounds, especially after the Restoration period, this new model would share dissimilar connotations, both in form and content, in the face of the emerging constitutionalising projects seeking to redefine, or re-establish the same American and European political systems6.
4 M.BOSSI,C.GREPPI (eds.), Viaggi e scienza: le istruzioni scientifiche per i viaggiatori nei secoli XVII-XIX, Firenze, L.
Olschki, 2005.
5 A.CANDELA, Alle origini della Terra. I vulcani, le Alpi e la storia della natura nell’età del viaggio scientifico, Varese, Insubria University Press, 2009, p. 40.
6 M. BELISSA, B. COTTRET (eds.), Cosmopolitismes, patriotismes. Europe et Ameriques 1773-1802, Rennes, Les Perséides, 2005.
D’Angelo, Introduction
3
Special emphasis has been placed on – The scientific practices and methods of travel – and more precisely on how people used to travel, including their choices of destinations, itineraries and their evolution over time, as well as on the practice of acquiring valuable findings – antiques, artefacts, works of art – that would not only contribute to the conservation of their local institutions, but also foster the transfer of culture from one country to another.
The closing section of the volume – Mediators, scientists, informants– seeks to examine the accumulation of knowledge and its transformation, along with its dissemination, especially through the work of those travelling scientists viewed as passeurs or intermediaries7. In the transition between the 19th and 20th centuries, the essays herein contain focus on the idea that the sharing of knowledge, while enabling scientists to become a viable means for its scientific development and dissemination, has constantly promoted intercultural dialogue between different disciplines and fields of knowledge. In this respect, it is worth investigating the work of those scholars to understand the impact of their contribution to the unravelling of the complex network of relations and synergies within the different fields of science, and also their interaction with the written texts produced by the travelling scientists.
Travelling entails the actual detachment from the place of origin towards the discovery of unknown destinations. This implies that those who travel necessarily need to move beyond their consolidated certainties and experience each time an inevitable sense of instability and uncertainty. Thus, territorial mobility allows for a significant social transformation of the individual, who will comply and embrace, relentlessly, with a new identity. Compared to the cultural and social habits in the home environment, and despite a basic ambiguity, scientific mobility generally enjoys a broader margin of freedom while acquiring local knowledge in a specific destination. Ultimately, travel appears to be a particularly complex issue. No matter how and where, either in Europe, overseas or in the Far-East, it will always present unique challenges, and it is these challenges the author is seeking to explore and examine.
7 On this notion shall you consult G.BERTRAND,A.GUYOT (eds.), Des « passeurs » entre science, histoire et littérature.
Contribution à l’étude de la construction des savoirs (1750-1840), Grenoble, Ellug, 2011.
1
Bos, Unknown Knowledge
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Unknown Knowledge: The Travel Diary of Carl Friedrich Reimer, 1789-1792
1 Jeroen BOSLeiden University Libraries
doi.org/10.26337/2532-7623/BOS
Riassunto: La quarta guerra anglo-olandese (1780-1784) indebolì la Compagnia Olandese delle Indie Orientali al punto da rivoluzionare il sostegno finanziario e militare alla più alta istituzione politica della Repubblica olandese: gli Stati Generali. Si decise che una commissione militare indipendente avrebbe dovuto condurre un'indagine militare approfondita sui possedimenti olandesi all'estero. L'ingegnere militare di origine prussiana, Carl Friedrich Reimer, divenne membro di questa Commissione. Egli redasse un diario di viaggio per i suoi superiori in Batavia. Un estratto di questo diario è conservato presso il National Archives of The Netherlands. Si tratta di una fonte preziosa poiché contiene non solo osservazioni sulle attività primarie della Commissione militare, ma anche su molti altri eventi verificatisi durante il viaggio. Il manoscritto include inoltre le riflessioni sulle dimensioni e le origini dei monumenti indù di Giava, le osservazioni sull'uso del gambir coltivato localmente a Riau (Tanjung Pinang), le attività di spionaggio durante una visita a Madras (Chennai), grazie alle quali furono osservate le fortificazioni inglesi e le colture nel giardino botanico del chirurgo EIC James Anderson. Di particolare interesse sono pure le riflessioni di Reimer sulla schiavitù. L’articolo mette in risalto alcuni estratti del diario soffermandosi sulle informazioni in esso contenute, sulla importanza del diario come fonte.
Abstract:The Fourth Dutch-Anglo War (1780-1784) weakened the Dutch East India Company so much that it turned for financial and military support to the highest political institution in the Dutch Republic: the States General. It was decided that an independent Military Commission should carry out a thorough military investigation of the Dutch overseas possessions.
The Prussian-born military engineer Carl Friedrich Reimer became a member of this Commission. He kept a diary of the journey for his superiors in Batavia. An extract of this diary is preserved at the National Archives of The Netherlands. It is a valuable source since it contains not only observations on the primary activities of the Military Commission, but also of many remarkable occurrences during the trip. The manuscript includes reflections on the size and origins of Hindu monuments on Java, remarks on the use of locally cultivated gambir at Riau (Tanjung Pinang), espionage activities during a visit to Madras (Chennai), where the English fortifications were observed and the crops in the botanical garden of EIC-surgeon James Anderson were discussed. Reimer even added his personal thoughts about slavery in the diary, reasoning why, in his opinion, many Javanese were unfit as slaves, describing them as «children of nature». These subjects had little to do with the main tasks of the Military Commission. Yet, C.F. Reimer gathered all this information for his superiors to judge on its «usefulness». Also, there are indications that he may have wanted to publish some of his findings. This paper will highlight some extracts from the diary and discuss the reasons behind this kind of intelligence gathering, the choice of keeping a diary, and the possible reasons why this manuscript, and its content, remained unknown.
Keywords: Dutch East India Company, Intelligence gathering, Circulation of knowledge, Information broker, Note keeping, Natural history, Empire, Agency.
Introduction
Here, just as in Amsterdam,is to be found a mixture of all nations and languages2.
Comparing Amsterdam and Batavia (present-day Jakarta) was a common feature to be found in the many travelogues of early-modern Europeans visiting the East-Indies and the Swedish Carl Peter Thunberg (1743-1828), a disciple of Carl Linnaeus and prospective professor of medicine and natural
1 This article is the result of research papers presented at the international conference Materia Medica on the Move.
Collecting, trading, studying, and using medicinal plants in the early modern period, April 15-17, 2015, Leiden (The Netherlands) and at the workshop Spaces and Practices of Peregrinating Knowledge: Circulation of Knowledge and Shaping of Expertise, October 28-29, 2016, Kremnica (Slovakia). The author likes to thank the organizers of both events for the invitations and the participants for their insightful and thought-provoking comments.
2 C.P.THUNBERG, Travels in Europe, Africa, and Asia, made between the years 1770 and 1779 in four volumes, London, F. and C. Rivington, 1795, quoted in J.I.ISRAEL, Democratic Enlightenment: philosophy, revolution, and human rights 1750-1790, Oxford, Oxford University Press, 2011, p. 538.
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philosophy at the University of Uppsala, was no exception. In 1775 he published the memoirs of his stay in the Dutch colonial port-city.
The restrained grandeur of Batavia’s main buildings and the grid pattern on which the city was founded, complete with canals, reminded many of the greater cities to be found in the Dutch Republic (Fig. 1). Some even regarded Batavia as an overseas extension of Amsterdam3. But the comparisons were not limited to visual similarities; like Amsterdam the geographical position made the city an ideal port of call for shipping. In the case of Batavia, the place was conveniently located at the Sunda Strait which connected the regions of the Indian Ocean in the west with those of the South Chinese Sea in the east.
After the city’s foundation in the seventeenth century commerce flourished and the benefits were not only reaped by the Dutch. Just as in Amsterdam, Batavia attracted many fortune seekers looking for opportunities to improve their livelihoods. Some thrived, others perished. In Batavia, the Chinese greatly outstripped other ethnicities. Without the Chinese, and their extensive trade networks, Batavia could never reach the level of prosperity it did in the seventeenth century. In Amsterdam, the Germans and Scandinavians dominated the scene.
Amsterdam and Batavia would also play a role in the life of Carl Friedrich Reimer (unknown- 1796). When in 1767 this Prussian enrolled at the Dutch East India Company [in Dutch: Verenigde Oost- Indische Compagnie, abbreviated VOC] in Amsterdam in the low ranks of mere soldier, he followed in the footsteps of many anonymous Germans before him, seeking a better life and maybe a little adventure in the East. Unlike so many of them though, Reimer would not go unnoticed in history. Amsterdam was very likely the last grand European city he saw in his life. He fully embraced his career, spanning almost thirty years, within the VOC. From «mere» soldier he climbed the hierarchical ladder and specialized himself as a military engineer, enjoying the necessary patronage from superiors along the line. He eventually died in Batavia in 1796 as Director of fortifications and Inspector of waterworks in the Dutch East Indies.
In this essay we will follow Reimer during three decisive years in his career. As attaché to the Military Commission (1789-1792), Reimer surveyed many of the fortifications of the VOC and drew plans and maps accordingly. We will especially focus on a hitherto unexposed manuscript in the National Archives of the Netherlands which is an extract of his diary he kept on the explicit order of the Governor- General and his Council of the Dutch East Indies (jointly known as the High Government). This manuscript (Fig. 2) is interesting to gain insight in the way the highest VOC-authorities in Asia were informed of the activities within their chartered territory, in this case of the Military Commission.
Remarkably, Reimer not only reported about the tasks with which he was charged, but the Prussian also noted many remarkable occurrences during the tour, including extensive observations on the natural history of the Dutch East Indies.
A divided country
By the end of the eighteenth century the golden years in long-distance trade, carried out by the VOC, were long gone. From the middle of the eighteenth century the Dutch played only a marginal role on the European stage. Overseas, they were able to keep up appearances a little longer, but during the Fourth Dutch-Anglo War from 1780 until 1784 the VOC suffered loss after loss, forcing the board of directors [Gentlemen XVII, in Dutch: Heren XVII] to turn to the States General [Staten-Generaal] for financial and military support (Fig. 3)4. In 1786, after receiving another call for help, it was decided that a new loan would only be given after an independent Military Commission visited the overseas Dutch settlements. The members would be appointed by Stadtholder Prince Willem V of Orange (1748-1806) and their task was to inspect overseas settlements in Africa and Asia and advise which settlements were
3 S.KALFF, De Tijgersgracht te Batavia, in «Elseviers geïllustreerd maandschrift», 7 (1899), p. 444.
4 On the decline of the VOC in the eighteenth century, see E.M.JACOBS, Merchant in Asia: the trade of the Dutch East India Company during the eighteenth century, Leiden, CNWS, 2006.
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worth keeping, and bringing up to military standards according to the latest insights, and which settlements could be abandoned without harming the (intra-)Asian trade network5.
The Military Commission was politicised because of the turmoil within the Dutch Republic. The system was heavily under attack from so-called patriotten who requested a regime change or, at the very least, some reforms. The opposing party, the orangisten, remained loyal to Willem V and the house of Orange. Although this heated dispute was mainly fought out over anonymous pamphlets, tensions reached a violent climax in 1787. After a short Prussian intervention in September the leadership of Willem V was restored, leading to a fragile status quo6. Underneath the surface, however, the conflict persisted and never really faded away. As a result of this unsatisfactory outcome, political decision making was paralyzed. Even the nomination of the military commissioners became politically laden and took far too long. In the end Captain J.O. Vaillant, Captain C.A. VerHuell and Lieutenant-Colonel J.F.L.
Graevestein were appointed to head the Military Commission.
The orangisten saw in the creation of this Commission an opportunity to restore prestige to the office of the Stadtholder7. It was a clear indication that the Stadtholder, on the behest of the Dutch army and navy, attempted to strengthen his grip on the Dutch overseas empire. Although the formation of the VOC and WIC in 1602 and 1621 respectively were based on political decision making, both long-distance trading companies could permit themselves to loosen the political bonds with the States General and Stadtholder in the course of the seventeenth century. From the middle of the eighteenth century, however, the Stadtholder attempted to renew the ties with the overseas empire. In commercial, political as well as military affairs. In the years preceding the installation of the Military Commission the Stadtholder already offered high (military) positions within the VOC hierarchy to his confidants. The inspection tour by the Military Commission was a next step in the process of empire building along the lines of dynastic colonialism8.
The Military Commission was not met with much appreciation by the Gentlemen XVII. Although they requested assistance after the deplorable state the Company was left by the war, they could not foresee this outcome. Especially the extensive powers and the fact that the Commission was operating completely outside the traditional chain-of-command within the VOC, accountable only to the States General and the Stadtholder, were grudgingly accepted and reasons to be very suspicious. The Gentlemen XVII informed the High Government of the arrival of the fleet, which finally set sail for Asia in February 1789. Batavia decided that the commissioners could use a VOC-employee to assist them in the role of advisor. Someone, who possessed excellent local knowledge and could be helpful in the mapmaking process. That person would be military engineer Carl Friedrich Reimer.
In Dutch service: the career of Carl Friedrich Reimer
Reimer originally came from Prussia. His enrolment mentions Königsberg (present-day Kaliningrad) as place of origin. If this also refers to his birthplace remains unknown. He would serve the
5 The activities of the Military Commission have never been researched as a separate episode in the history of the Dutch overseas empire. It is only partially described, mostly in biographies of the main commissioners, such as T.LANDHEER, Oranje of Napoleon?: de wisselvallige levensloop van Christiaan Antonij Ver Huell, Utrecht, Matrijs, 2006. Also S.
DÖRR, De kundige kapitein: brieven en bescheiden betrekking hebbende op Jan Olphert Vaillant, kapitein-ter-zee (1751- 1800), Zutphen, De Walburg Pers, 1988. The episode is also touched upon in the overview of the Company’s military history in G.KNAAPP,H.DEN HEIJER,M.DE JONG, Oorlogen overzee: Militair optreden door compagnie en staat buiten Europa 1595-1814, Amsterdam, Boom, 2015.
6 The Prussian king Friedrich Wilhelm II (1744-1797) decided to intervene because of family bonds. Willem V’s wife, Wilhelmina van Pruisen (1751-1820), was his sister.
7 LANDHEER, Oranje of Napoleon?, p. 65.
8 For the growing influence of the Stadtholder, army and navy on the overseas military affairs, see K.ZANDVLIET, Vestingbouw in de Oost, in G. KNAAP et al (eds.), De Verenigde Oost-Indische Compagnie: tussen oorlog en diplomatie, Leiden, KITLV Press, 2002, pp. 150-180. For dynastic colonialism and the house of Orange, see S.BROOMHALL,J.VAN
GENT, Dynastic Colonialism: Gender, materiality and the early modern house of Orange-Nassau, London, Routledge, 2016.
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VOC since 1767 when he enlisted in the low ranks of soldier9. This was not an uncommon practice for German VOC-servants10.Talented non-Dutch had to work their way through the ranks. Reimer was soon employed as a junior surgeon on Ceylon, which means that he was familiar with, and probably even educated in, medicine prior to his enlistment. He also possessed outstanding drawing skills. Some fine illustrations on the visit of Kandyan officials at Colombo (Sri Lanka) and views on the city of Chidambaram (India) made in 1770’s are testimonials of his talent (Fig. 4-6)11. He functioned as a (junior) surgeon on Ceylon until 1777. In that year he was promoted to ensign-engineer and his main task became land surveying. The Company was always on the lookout for skilled engineers. During his years on Ceylon, Reimer clearly specialized himself in fortification and military mapmaking. He surveyed and mapped the fortifications, warehouses and civil buildings on the island. Before his involvement with the Military Commission he was promoted once more and became lieutenant-engineer in 1785. At this point, Reimer enjoyed patronage from the highest levels and eventually became a confidant of Governor- General Willem Arnold Alting (1724-1800), who sent him on several trips within the Dutch East Indies for several cartographic activities12. When it was decided by the High Government that a knowledgeable and capable VOC-employee should assist the commissioners the choice for Reimer as attaché was very obvious.
In the manuscript Reimer writes that he clearly struggled with his new advisory role. He must have felt that he served two masters. On the one hand, he was part of the Commission, and thus an agent of the imperial ambitions of the home government. On the other hand, he served the Company, who expected him to keep record of the most remarkable occurrences during his tour with the Commission.
Reimer fulfilled his ambiguous duties with much commitment. He delivered high quality maps and plans, accompanied by well-written reports, on which decision-making back in the Dutch Republic could be taken by the highest levels within the army and navy. For the High Government he kept a diary, which was rich with detailed descriptions of the tour. Let us take a closer look at some of the contents of this manuscript.
Informed empire: the overseas «Republic of Letters»
Although the setting of the expedition of the Military Commission is unique, the way in which Reimer was gathering information, structuring his diary and notifying his superiors was not. It followed a long tradition of information acquisition for the sake of commercial profit that originated from even before the founding of the VOC in 1602. Instructions were given to the crews destined for Asia to acquire
«useful» knowledge13. In the course of the seventeenth century the reports were written according to a more or less standardized format. The High Government, representing the highest VOC-authorities in Asia, sent a yearly state of affairs to the Gentlemen XVII in the Dutch Republic called the generale missiven.
These missives can be considered the early modern equivalent of the executive summary and synopsize all relevant events within the Asian sphere which affected the Dutch trade network. The stress on written reports radiated from the highest to the lowest ranks within the VOC. The yearly missives could only be written by filtering all the letters coming from the regional governments and isolated factories, from all over the chartered territory in which the VOC operated, as well as the logbooks from the skippers, for
9 An unpublished MA thesis on Carl Friedrich Reimer is still the most informative source on the life and work of the Prussian military engineer in the service of the VOC M.R.VAN GERVEN, C.F. Reimer, een werkzaam mensch: De Militaire Commissie naar Azië 1789-1793, [unpublished MA thesis], 2002.
10 For Germans as employees for the VOC, see R.VAN GELDER, Het Oost-Indisch avontuur: Duitsers in dienst van de VOC (1600-1800), Nijmegen, SUN, 1997. A German translation of this work was published in 2004.
11 These drawings are now in the possession of the Rijksmuseum Amsterdam. Inv. Nrs: RP-T-1904-18, RP-T-1904-19, RP-T-1904-20.
12 For a cartographic overview of Reimer’s work, see J.R.VAN DIESSEN (ed.), Comprehensive atlas of the Dutch United East India Company, [7 volumes], Voorburg, Asia Maior/Atlas Maior, 2006-2010.
13 Before the foundation of the VOC in 1602 the itinerary of Jan Huygen van Linschoten (ca. 1563-1611) was a much- consulted source of knowledge on the East Indies. See A.SALDANHA, The Itineraries of Geography: Jan Huygen van Linschoten's Itinerario and Dutch Expeditions to the Indian Ocean, 1594-1602, in «Annals of the Association of American Geographers», 101.1 (2011), pp. 149-177.
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relevant information. Via this information chain the Dutch empire in Asia was managed and profits were secured14. Commerce benefitted from accurate information. And this was best obtained from people who knew what they were doing, who were experts in their respective fields.
Reimer was an expert in the field of fortification and mapmaking (Fig. 7). With vivid colouring and strong argumentation in the accompanying texts he was very convincing. His message was mostly economical. Reimer disliked the many extravagant projections made by some French(-inspired) military engineers who especially in the 1770’s and early 1780’s would submit their ideas to local VOC-authorities at Ceylon and the Cape colony in Africa. The High Government dismissed most of these projections for lack of financial means to fulfil them. Reimer strengthened the argument by indicating the physical impracticalities of most of these projections. This stance did not make him popular with many local VOC-officials, but he was in favour with Governor-General Alting15.
From the manuscript it becomes clear that the High Government tasked Reimer to advise the commissioners and assist them in the process of surveying and mapmaking. He never states it with so many words, but between the lines one can easily read the wish of the High Government to have an informant at their disposal. Someone who could provide them with inside information on the activities of the Military Commission. It would be disproportional to attribute espionage attempts to Reimer. From careful reading the manuscript, it becomes clear that Reimer was an honest servant with much integrity and sense of responsibility. At the very least, though, it was convenient to manoeuvre Reimer in this position to provide the High Government with all sorts of data.
Reimer on natural historical topics
For now, let us take a look at two instances in the manuscript where Reimer noted on natural historical topics. In September 1790 the Commission visited the Dutch settlements at the Coromandel Coast, the south-eastern coast of India16. Here, the Dutch had to tolerate other European trading competitors, like the French and British. The commissioners took the opportunity to visit the British at Madras (Fig. 8). James Anderson (1738-1809), a Scottish physician in the service of the English East India Company, invited the Dutch to his botanical garden. Dr. Anderson tried to grow opuntia, a genus in the cactus family, in order to receive cochineal from Mexico. The British unsuccessfully tried to transplant this insect from the New World to India. The red dye derived from the insect was a much sought after product and exclusively imported to Europe by the Spanish, who firmly kept this commodity to themselves. Joseph Banks (1743-1820), the influential director of Kew Gardens, ordered Anderson to set up a nopalry at Madras where cactus plants from Mexico, China and India were grown17. The wait was for cochineal, preferably the domesticated species only found in the Oaxacan region of Mexico. But wild varieties from Brazil were also welcomed, although they contained less dye than the domesticated one18.
Reimer noted that «from repeated experiments it was clear that insects from indigenous origin could never be commercially exploited, since their dye was not of the same intense and pleasing red colour as the original Spanish variety». He continued: «further investigative research needs to be done in order to conclude that transplanting the Spanish cochineal to another climate does not negatively affect its purity». Reimer had not very high hopes that the experiments would be successful and concluded that Anderson was too optimistic of the cultivation of opuntia and cochineal in Madras.
14 P.BURKE, Social History of Knowledge, vol. 1, From Gutenberg to Diderot, Cambridge, Polity Press, 2000, pp. 157- 158.
15 For the convincing style of Reimer’s maps, and his conflict with French(-inspired) military engineers in Dutch colonial service, see E.ODEGARD, Vergeefse voorstellen: de projecten tot verbetering van de fortificaties van Colombo, Galle en Trincomalee 1785-1790, in K. AMPT, A. LITTEL, E. PAAR (eds.), Verre forten, vreemde kusten. Nederlandse verdedigingswerken overzee, Leiden, Sidestone Press, pp. 117-136.
16 NL-HaNa, Collectie Alting, 1.10.03, inv.nr. 87, fol. 65-67.
17 A nopalry is a plantation of nopal (Opuntia), for the purpose of raising the cochineal insect.
18 For Joseph Banks, James Anderson and their ultimately unsuccessful imperial scheme to transplant the cochineal insect to India, see the chapter «Anderson’s Incredible folly» in A.BUTLER GREENFIELD, A perfect red: Empire, espionage, and the quest for the color of desire, New York, Harper, 2005, pp. 183-197.
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What worried Reimer more was a remark on the possible cultivation of cinnamon in another garden at Madras. Anderson told Reimer in all honesty that he received a sample from Palayamkottai, where a certain Madam Leitts planted them. At the outbreak of the Fourth Anglo-Dutch War she was in Colombo (Ceylon) where she received a couple of cinnamon samples from her Dutch friends. If this was true and if the cinnamon samples turned out to produce excellent quality, Reimer argued, the VOC had lost one of its most profitable products to its competitors because of the carelessness of its own employees.
Joseph Banks and James Anderson stood at the opposite side of late eighteenth century approaches to colonial botanical activities. Banks was already thinking along imperial lines. Botany should serve the advancement of the nation. Anderson was this enlightened gentleman naturalist who took much pride in his investigations and wished that the results circulated widely among learned men, whether they were British or not. Furthermore, he believed that publicity would quicken the process. So, without notifying Banks, he published their entire correspondence. He even went so far as to send a copy of the publication to a Spanish botanist in Manila. When word of this reached London, Banks was furious. It is unclear whether the Dutch visit to the botanical garden gained any attention outside Madras, but we can easily guess Banks’ reaction.
The second instance to bring to our attention, is the description of the locally cultivated gambir at Riau19. This place was inspected in December 1791. In his manuscript, Reimer described gambir, an extract derived from the leaves of uncaria gambir, which was used as a medicine, a food additive and as a dye. After a short introduction on the properties of the plant, Reimer reserved most sheets to describe the process of cooking and drying the leaves in order to obtain the extract. During the reign of the VOC, the trade with gambir was left to private traders. Probably because the total amount that was shipped within the Indonesian archipelago was negligible. He did not explicitly advise his superiors to start trading with gambir, but mentioned it as the main commercial crop that was cultivated in the Riau region. The main reason for adding this gambir description of four sheets in his diary, according to Reimer himself, was the fact that this drug was unknown to the European market. The remarkable part about this description is the style in which it was written. It stands out from the rest of the manuscript, very much resembling the style and tone of contributions in scientific journals20. Although Reimer was careful enough not to overstate his expertise in this matter. He believed that more knowledgeable researchers should examine the gambir for some definitive conclusions.
Other topic of (personal) interest: the ancient Hindu ruins at Prambanan
Apart from these rather extensive descriptions, throughout the manuscript Reimer noted regularly on topics concerning natural history in brief. Almost all settlements that the Commission visited were described in terms of fertility quality of the lands and general characteristics of the peoples, extended with some remarks about recent events like for example the consequences of a volcano eruption at Banda Api. At Java it was decided to take the effort to officially visit both Javanese courts21. Surakarta was the place where the Susuhunan resided. The rivalling court was at Yogjakarta, home to the Sultan. The VOC benefited from this division of loyalty at the island and tried to have normal relationships with both courts, favouring one party over another when circumstances asked for it. In between these two courts could be found the abandoned Hindu temple at Prambanan. Reimer described the short excursion that the commissioners permitted themselves in September 1791 to gaze at these ancient ruins and speculate on the origin and craftsmanship of the sculptors from another era. Hindu architecture was a topic that Reimer had a personal interest in, and he would in later years discuss it with Nicolaus Engelhard (1761- 1824), who shared this interest in the antiquities of Java. As governor at Java’s Noordoostkust (north-
19 NL-HaNa, Collectie Alting, 1.10.03, inv.nr. 87, fol. 99-104.
20 Actually, a treatise by Abraham Couperus on the cultivation and extraction of gambir was published in the second volume of the Transactions of the Batavian Society of Arts and Sciences. It is too harsh to conclude that Reimer simply copied this text. He was probably unaware that this treatise existed. A.COUPERUS, Berigt aangaande gamber, derzelver planting en bewerking op Malacca, in «Verhandelingen van het Bataviaasch Genootschap van Kunsten en Wetenschappen», Tweede deel, 1780, pp. 356-382.
21 NL-HaNa, Collectie Alting, 1.10.03, inv.nr. 87, fol. 76-78.
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eastern shore), Engelhard had the financial means to collect many Hindu sculptures and ordering talented draughtsmen to draw floorplans and illustrations of these large, and at that time unaffected, unknown and for the European visitors completely incomprehensible structures22.
When in January 1792 the Military Commission harboured at Batavia and preparations were made for the long return voyage to Europe, Reimer was relieved of his duties and no longer attached in his role as advisor. However, he had to work out all the drafts of plans and maps, together with extensive reports on the state of the fortifications he encountered. He also handed over the extract of his diary, the above discussed manuscript with all occurrences not directly linked with the surveying and mapping of fortifications. The data he collected during two and a half years of travel through a large part of the Dutch empire in Asia was invaluable, also considering the unique opportunities to visit Asian rulers and European competitors because of the extraordinary position of the Military Commission.
Interpreting Reimer
How must we understand this data collecting or information gathering by Reimer? We should interpret it first and foremost within the Company structure. The VOC, as we have seen, was an informed overseas empire. The manuscript very well fits within this framework. However, it must also be considered as an attempt by the High Government (and, ultimately, the board of directors) to get a grip on the activities of the Military Commission. The commissioners were accountable to the States General and Stadtholder and very likely would advise the home government to replace numerous VOC-officials in order to reform the Company internally and to strengthen its weakened position for Asian and European competitors. The VOC-authorities, both in the Dutch Republic as well as in Asia, feared a great clean-up recommendation out of the final report from the Military Commission. They were not far wrong. Reimer was the ideal person to inform them. His integrity was impeccable. But he suffered from this duality, especially at the start of the tour, when he could not really determine whether he had to serve the interests of the Military Commission or those of the VOC. Reimer found the middle ground. He served as a go-between for the commissioners. He had accurate knowledge of local matters when dealing with the VOC-officials in the various settlements in Asia. He also surveyed the locations, drafted the plans and wrote extensive commendations for the home government in the Dutch Republic. Meanwhile he kept informing the High Government of the most remarkable occurrences during the trip.
Luckily, thanks to recent interest for the topic of colonial information gathering and circulation of knowledge in relation to emerging empire building in the late eighteenth century, we can also discuss Reimer’s manuscript in a broader context. In a contribution on the role of science in the rise of the British Empire in India, ca. 1790-1820, David Arnold discusses the neglected importance of colonial surgeons and military officers23. Despite their duties or, in some cases, lack of formal academic training they found time for science. As such they were «scientific travellers, surveyors, and recorders of scientific data of various kinds»24. This data was diverse and unstructured since «there was little attempt by Company naturalists and engineers to theorize and systematize at an elevated, abstract level. Much of the science of the period was practical, observational, and descriptive – concerned with surveying and measuring India, with treating sick sailors and ailing Europeans, with establishing the properties and utility of particular timbers, drugs, and dyes. Even if there was time, there was rarely the disposition to be more philosophical about science»25.
All this data collecting must be understood by keeping two driving forces in consideration. The strong urge for «improvement» was felt strongly throughout European societies by the end of the
22 About Nicolaus Engelhard as expert and collector of Javanese antiquities, the learned circle surrounding him (including C.F. Reimer) and the artists at his disposal, see: K.ZANDVLIET, De Nederlandse ontmoeting met Azië, 1600-1950, Amsterdam, Rijksmuseum, 2002, pp. 269-278.
23 D.ARNOLD, Science and the Colonial War-State: British India, 1790–1820, in: P. BOOMGAARD (ed.), Empire and science in the making: Dutch colonial scholarship in comparative global perspective, 1760-1830, New York, Palgrave Macmillan, 2013, pp. 39-62.
24 Ivi, p. 47
25 Ivi, p. 51
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eighteenth century, whether it was politically, economically, socially or, in our case, scientifically. A nation should constantly improve itself and colonial science could very well help the progression. The second stimulus came from «anxiety». The emerging imperial powers were very anxious of the progress of the competitors. In an illusory competition there was anxiety to lack behind or be left out completely.
Exemplary, this anxiety drove the French to set up plans for largescale transplantation projects in order to secure enough timber for their naval shipbuilding industry.
Carl Friedrich Reimer fits this description perfectly. As attaché to the Military Commission he served the imperial ambitions of the home government. His reports on the defences of the overseas Dutch Empire and his many military plans and maps formed data on which political and military decision- making on the highest level was taken. He took notes of his visit to the botanical garden of dr. Anderson because of imperial «anxiety». He was afraid the EIC would successfully grow cinnamon at Madras. As an employee of the Dutch Company he possessed a certain collective imprint to lookout for commercially interesting commodities and so he wrote on gambir cultivation, partly out of curiosity, partly because of (potential) economic interest so the VOC would benefit from this shared knowledge and «improve» their weak position. As a military officer he was one of many «recorders of scientific data of various kinds», because of genuine personal interest in the natural history of the Dutch East Indies. Especially his curiosity for the Javanese Hindu antiquities must be considered as such.
Final remarks: obscuring Reimer
The last remaining question, then, is why the data and knowledge that Reimer produced remained unknown? Why did the results not circulate outside the small circle around the High Government? It is tempting to look for supposed mechanisms at work in order to prevent Reimer’s findings from entering the larger European knowledge network. Was it the secretive character of the VOC that obstructed his attempts26? Well, it is without a doubt that the examined manuscript was highly classified. But the visit and description of the botanical garden in Madras nor the gambir cultivation in Riau would truly expose trade secrets of the VOC. No, it seems that Reimer suffered a dose of bad luck. Assuming that he intended to publish his findings – and there are convincing signs that he would have wanted to – he encountered three hindrances.
First of all, after his involvement with the Military Commission, the High Governement promoted him to the rank of Director. This was a much-demanding daytime job, leaving him very little room for (semi-)private investigations.
Secondly, the most ideal outlet to publish his findings was the learned society situated in Batavia itself. In 1778 a group of VOC-employees decided to found the Batavian Society of Arts and Sciences [Bataviaasch Genootschap der Kunsten en Wetenschappen], a learned society modelled after examples in the Dutch Republic, with a strong focus on practical, «useful» knowledge, to be used for «the common good»
27. It is not unthinkable that Reimer was working on a contribution to the society’s journal, called Verhandelingen [Transactions]. Among Reimer’s left papers is an unfinished manuscript on Brahmin
26 In the past the secretive, or unwilling, character of the VOC has been blamed for obstructing scientific progress. This view no longer holds. During the final quarter of the eighteenth century on the island of Java the VOC partially or wholesome facilitated scientific research by eight naturalists of different nationalities. Some of them were even allowed to send samples and specimens to their home countries. This contradicts the traditional view of the obstructive character of VOC in scientific matters. For the traditional, obstructive view of the VOC, see K.VAN BERKEL, Een onwillige mecenas? De rol van de VOC bij het natuurwetenschappelijk onderzoek in de zeventiende eeuw, in J.BETHLEHEM,A.C.
MEIJER (eds.), VOC en cultuur. Wetenschappelijke en culturele relaties tussen Europa en Azië ten tijde van de Verenigde Oostindische Compagnie, Amsterdam, Schiphouwer en Brinkman, 1993, pp. 39-58.
27 For the history of the decades of the Batavian Society of Arts and Sciences under the reign of the VOC, see the first chapter of H.GROOT, Van Batavia naar Weltevreden. Het Bataviaasch Genootschap van Kunsten en Wetenschappen, 1778-1867, Leiden, KITLV Press, 2009. See also P.BOOMGAARD, For the Common Good: Dutch Institutions and Western Scholarship on Indonesia around 1800, in ID., (ed.), Empire and science in the making: Dutch colonial scholarship in comparative global perspective, 1760-1830, New York, Palgrave Macmillan, 2013, pp. 135-164.
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(=Hindu) antiquities and notices on the health situation and waterworks of the city of Batavia28. Reimer discussed regularly with Society members and even asked its librarian to send him some books for consultation. Unfortunately, in the last decade of the eighteenth century the Society was dormant. The founding members had already died or repatriated to Europe, and the succeeding generation did not possess the same spirit. Between 1792 and 1814 not a single Transaction was published.
A third reason why Reimer’s data remained unknown was the chaotic and uncertain times in which he lived. Not long after the Military Commission reported to the Stadtholder and States General, the political constellation in the Republic was completely overthrown. The revolutionary French armies crushed the armies of the Dutch Republic, leading to the flight of the Stadtholder to England and the installation of a pro-French government with the patriotten finally seizing their opportunity. The Dutch East India Company ceased to exist in 1799 and all the reports, recommendations and analyses of the Military Commission were archived. By then most overseas settlements in the Dutch East Indies were taken by the French or the British. When these were returned in 1816, it was time to start from scratch.
The house of Orange came back to the Netherlands and the son of the Stadtholder was installed as absolute monarch. After the dust settled in Europe the focus was soon directed towards the Dutch East Indies. An ambitious and extensive colonial state-sponsored program, encompassing commerce, science and the military, was set up according to the latest insights. By this time, the reports, conclusions and recommendations of the Military Commission were already considered outdated and counterproductive.
The paper trail had to be archived or, preferably, destroyed29.
Luckily, this order was never carried out thoroughly. The examined manuscript survived this clean- up wish and – some two hundred and twenty-five years later – provides us with a glimpse of late eighteenth century colonial information gathering and knowledge creation in the Dutch overseas empire.
28 R.JORDAAN, The lost gatekeepers statues of Candi Prambanan: A glimpse of the VOC beginnings of Javanese archaeology, in «NSC Working Paper», 14 (2013), pp. 18-20.
29 G.L.BALK et al. (eds.), Archives of the Dutch East India Company (VOC) and the local institutions in Batavia (Jakarta), Leiden, Brill, 2007, pp. 141-142.
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Figures
Figure 1, Andries Beeckman, The castle of Batavia, c. 1661, Rijksmuseum (SK-A-19), Amsterdam
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Figure 2, Carl Friedrich Reimer, Extract of the diary, First Part, June 1789-November 1790, National Archives of the Netherlands (NL-HaNa, 1.10.03, inv.nr. 87), The Hague
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Figure 3, Simon Fokke, Instalment of Stadtholder Willem V at the directorial boardroom in the Amsterdam office of the VOC, 1771, Rijksmuseum (RP-T-00- 1623), Amsterdam
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Figure 4, Carl Friedrich Reimer, Reception of the envoy of the king of Kandy in Colombo, 1772, Rijksmuseum (RP-T-1904-18), Amsterdam
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Figure 5, Carl Friedrich Reimer, The great pagoda of Chidambaram, 1774, Rijksmuseum (RP-T-1904-19), Amsterdam
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Figure 6, Carl Friedrich Reimer, Moorish cemetery with a party, 1773-1775, Rijksmuseum (RP-T-1904-20), Amsterdam
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Figure 7, Carl Friedrich Reimer, Plan of the English defences of Fort St George (Madras), National Archives of the Netherlands (NL-HaNa, 1.10.03, inv.nr.
76), The Hague
