The Memoirs and Memorials of Jacques de Coutre: Security, Trade and Society in 16th- and 17th-century Southeast Asia

Memorial IV: Information for Your Majesty to remedy the Estado da India

242 M E M O R I A L IV Information for Your Majesty to remedy the Estado da Índia. Most Excellent Lord, Chapter I If Your Majesty were to dispatch 40 galleons to India with Castilians and Portuguese, like the armada that Your Majesty sent to Brazil, well equipped with men and artillery and good gunners and munitions and sufficient supplies, and if in the next year 20 galleons were sent in the same way, the aforementioned Estado can be remedied in the following manner, because the rebels are firmly entrenched there and have many ships and very strong fortresses. The following is the order that the armada should maintain to be effective and to expand: When the armada arrives at the cape that is known as the [Cape of] Good Hope they should sail outside the island of Madagascar and [outside] the  BNE, Ms. 2780, fol. 277 recto–288 recto.  This is a reference to the combined Spanish-Portuguese fleet despatched to Brazil in 1625 under the command of Don Fadrique Álvarez de Toledo y Osorio to oust the Dutch from Bahia.  Ms. Buena Esperança.  Ms. ysla de San Laurenço. 24 MJdC.indd 242 10/24/13 5:29:50 PM 243 Memorials of Jacques de Coutre to the Crown and Viceroy: Memorial IV Carajos Shoals and around all the islands, and they should go to Java, [find] the entrance to the Sunda or Bali Straits, and enter through these and sail along the coast of Java. They will undoubtedly come across enemy ships in the port of Palembang, and in Tuban, and in Penarukan, and in Jayakerta, and Banten because it is the same route that the Dutch use when they sail to the South10 and to Java. The fortress of Jayakerta belongs to the [Dutch] rebels and they trade along this entire coast of Java, and in the Banda Islands, from where they bring large quantities of mace and nutmeg. In all these places, the Javanese, who are the natives of [that] land,11 do not get along well with the Dutch owing to the tyrannical manner in which the [latter] trades with them. The Dutch fix the prices12 of all their wares, whether they are selling or buying. The admiral13 of our armada should look into establishing friendly ties with the king of Banten to expel the Dutch from Jayakerta. Once friendly relations are established with the king of Banten there will be no shortage of provisions for our armada, such as rice, meats, many chickens and very good water, including assistance for any purpose. The admiral can send news to Manila to enquire if there is a Spanish armada there, which could then come and join forces with the admiral; in this way it would be possible to perform some good feats. If they cannot immediately capture any prizes at the fortress of Jayakerta, since it is strong or owing to an inconvenience, they can try to capture the city of Ambon,14 which used to belong to Your Majesty. If our armada cannot go there owing to an absence of or adverse winds or any other inconvenience, they can then go to Melaka and attack Aceh to find out if they can capture that city.  Ms. Baxos de Gargaos. See the list of place names (Baxos de Garagaos).  Ms. here and subsequently: Bocarron de Sunda o del Valle. See the list of place names (Bocarron del Valle, Sunda).  Ms. Palinbona.  See the list of place names (Tuban).  Ms. here and subsequently: Jaquatera. This is the original name for Batavia. 10 Ms. zur. 11 Ms. son negros de la dicha terra, that is “they are blacks of the said land”; the local population. 12 Ms. estanques. 13 Ms. here and subsequently: general, possibly here to be translated as “commander”. 14 Ms. Amboino. Ambon, which had been Portuguese, fell to the Dutch in 1605. See also the list of place names (Amboino). 24 MJdC.indd 243 10/24/13 5:29:51 PM The Memoirs and Memorials of Jacques de Coutre 244 The Dutch also trade there. If they managed to capture [the city of Aceh] they would take a rich prize; that would be good to sustain and expand our armada and to destroy the trade of the rebels. Here, in this port, they [the Dutch] load a lot of pepper and it is a port frequented by many vessels...