Untitled Chart of Southeast Sulawesi.: Manuscript VOC chart showing Dutch settlements on the islands of Buton and Muna

[Batavia,, c1744-1746].. 525 by 715mm. (20.75 by 28.25 inches).. Manuscript chart, pen and black ink, and colour wash in outline, on paper watermarked with Strasburg Lily within a shield, initials "VDL" beneath and countermark "IV" (closest to Churchill 405, dated to 1733, from the mill of Pieter van der Ley, son of Gerrit Pieters van der Ley who worked De Wever - the Weaver - and De Bonsem - the Polecat - mills at Koog aan de Zaan, Holland, from 1674 onwards), signed beneath the scale, lower left; contemporary cataloging notation on verso in ink: "No. 21." and "Straat d Bouton"; some oxidation of black ink with minor loss. Buton was a strategic island on the route from Java and Makassar, in southern Sulawesi, to the Spice Islands. In 1613 the sultanate of Buton entered into a contract with the VOC, in which the sultan La Elangi sought support for independence from the sultanates of Makassar and Ternate. By 1669 the VOC had subjugated those sultanates and Buton remained a relatively independent kingdom. However, the area was investigated by many interested parties, and the British Library holds a number of manuscript charts of the area dating from 1680. This large-scale, and very detailed chart, of the southern coast of present-day Sulawesi and the islands of Wowoni, Buton, Muna, and eastern Kabaena, shows the numerous Dutch settlements on Buton and Muna, and frequent soundings in the straits between the islands. In terms of printed charts, Bergh's cartography closely follows that expressed by Francois Valentyn in the large, but small-scale, inset to his chart 'De Landvoogdy der Moluccos, met de aangrenzende Eylanden', from 'Oud en Nieuw Oost-Indien, vervattende een Naaukeurige en Uitvoerige Verhandelinge van Nederlands Mogentheyd in die Gewesten' (1724-1726), based on his own travels in the area and previously unpublished VOC charts and information. Louis Antoine de Bougainville (1729-1811), published the results of his survey in 1769, covering the same area, but with less detail. The cartography of Bergh's chart is almost identical to the inset 'Isles de Bouton et Pangesane', on Jan Barend Elwe's four-sheet map of 1792, 'Partie de la Nouvelle Grande Carte des Indes Orientales'. Campbell records that "Johannes van Bergen arrived in Batavia from his native Rotterdam in 1742 and worked as a draughtsman in the period 1744-6)" (Campbell p. 43, no. 149). One Jan van den Bergh (1587-1660) was a Dutch painter of some note and a friend of Rubens; although it is unlikely he and this cartographer are one and the same person. The style of this chart is very similar to that of Paulus Paulusz., baas-kaartenmaker (chief mapmaker) in Batavia from 1736-1747. Paulusz., or Paulson, was a Swede from Karlskrona. "On 13 May 1733, he set sail for Batavia as gunner on board the Delfland, which had been outfitted by the Amsterdam Chamber. Under way, the Governor at the Cape appointed him to the position of second pilot. The Delfland arrived in Batavia on 12 February 1734. After that, he served in 1734 and 1735 as a pilot on the ships Barbersteijn and Middelwout. In 1736, he was appointed head of the kaartenmakers-winkel, relacing the deceased baas-kaartenmaker, Frans de Put (1733-35), for a salary of 60 guilders. Paulus Paulusz. was baas-kaartenmaker until 1747 (drawing a salary of 100 guilders in that year), when Gerrit de Haan succeeded him. At the same time, he was also pursuing a distinguished career for himself in the navy. In 1739, he became a ship's master, in 1745 an ensign and in 1749 a lieutenant at sea; thereafter he rose to the rank of captain at sea, and in 1750 to artillery major with a salary of 150 guilders. On 17 December 1745, Paulus Paulsz. was appointed head of the Academie de Marine" (Schilder, plage 173). He is known to have undertaken a number of local surveying voyages, particularly along the south coast of Java in 1739, and it is very likely that the information in the current map is a direct result. The chart was undoubtedly produced by the kaaretenmakers-winkel (mapmaker's workshop) in Batavia, and is drawn on Dutch paper with a watermark that dates to about 1733. It bears hand-drawn rhumb lines, and so pre-dates the measures, such as pre-printed compass lines, implemented later to minimize copying errors. In 1753, the sixth volume of the 'Zee-Fakkel, vertoonende de zee-kusten, eylanden en havens van Osst-Indien', depicting the sea coasts, islands and harbours of the East Indies, was printed by Johannes II Van Keulen. From the following year, each VOC ship departing Holland had this volume on board, with orders for the pilots to compare the charts and descriptions with their own findings. Discrepancies were to be reported to the publisher, who would update the printed charts, and the "name of the informer would be inserted into the Nautical Atlas in his memory and honour" (Schilder page 165). It is not surprising, therefore, that in 1755, Gerrit de Haan felt able to return 1163 parchment charts to Amsterdam from Batavia, having deemed them to be defective. It is highly likely that the current chart is one of these. Although, overall, the VOC must have caused the production of many thousands of charts, some estimate as many as 55,000 in the course of 200 years of its dominance, less than one percent of that total is known to survive. They included "overzilers", or plotting charts for long-range voyages mostly drawn on vellum; and short-range navigation charts that describe coastal waters, roadsteds, harbour and river entries, and charts that show where accidents were prevalent, mostly drawn on paper. The current chart was produced for one of these shorter local voyages, so was drawn on paper to keep production costs to a minimum. The war of attrition on all VOC charts, but particularly those on paper, from conditions at sea, theft, official destruction, political intrigue, and the degenerative effects of time and environment, has been great. Additionally, the charts kept in the archive in Jakarta, that had not been decimated by climate and local fauna, were "cleansed" on the orders of Governor-General Herman Willem Daendels (1807-1810), making charts from the kaartenmakers-winkel there exceptionally rare. VOC — Vereenigde Oostindische Compagnie — Dutch East India Company The VOC and its subsidiaries were the first joint stock companies in history, and the forerunners of modern corporations; eventually giving rise to a multi-national global empire, where money, and the ability to manipulate and move it, becomes the principal resource and driving force. For nearly one hundred years, after Vasco da Gama discovered a sea route to India in 1499, the Portuguese and the Spanish were dominant in the eastern and western hemispheres respectively. This dominance was aided by a policy of extreme cartographic secrecy by both crowns, and returning ships were required to surrender both their charts and information on any discoveries made. All charts were state property, and illegal use or copying was punishable by death. However, smuggling often took place, and piracy by both English and Dutch vessels meant that, eventually, the routes to both the "Old", or East, and "New", or West, Indies became available to northern Europe. Using this purloined information, the British East India Company – EIC- and Dutch Vereenigde Oostindische Compagnie –VOC — were established — in 1600 and 1602 respectively — to cash in on the lucrative trade in nutmeg, pepper, cinnamon, cloves, and other spices. These monopolistic giants continued the tradition of jealously guarding the secret charts that laid the path to the source of their immense wealth and power. Both organisations employed teams of chartmakers or hydrographers to record the most up-to-date navigational information for speedy distribution in order to obtain commercial advantage with the quickest routes to the most profitable markets. The principal vector for this information was the "pascaert". The publication of these pascaerts proudly makes proprietary information inviting and accessible to a new investor class. In joining the chase around the globe for a nutmeg, one of the smallest countries in the world created a vast empire by applying the principle of capital investment to their ventures, eventually driving the Spanish, the Portuguese, and even the English from the East Indies. CAMPBELL CANNOT FIND THE REFERENCE; Schilder 'Sailing for the East', pages 153 - 183; 231-232.