I. THE PORTUGUESE

II. THE DUTCH

THE COMPAGNIE VAN VERRE

THE VOC

History

Heraldry

The Cypher

The Symbol

The Seal

The Arms

The Chambers

Comptoirs

THE COLONIAL ERA

THE BATAVIAN REPUBLIC

THE KINGDOM OF HOLLAND

THE FRENCH EMPIRE

THE BRITISH

THE SECOND DUTCH KINGDOM

THE SUCCESSOR OF THE VOC

III. REPUBLIK INDONESIA

I. The Portuguese

Archeological findings trace the history of modern-day Jakarta back to the fifth century. By the 16th century, it was a thriving port city known as Sunda Kelapa. At that time, the Hindu kingdom of Pajajaran ruled the area from a place now known as Bogor, in the hills outside Jakarta.

By the time Columbus headed to the East in search of spices, Sunda Kelapa had already developed into a major trading port. Among the first foreigners to set foot here were the Portuguese. In 1522, they made a mutually beneficial agreement with the Pajajaran Kingdom. In return for access to valuable spices, the Portuguese defended the Hindus from the Islamic sultanate of Demak.

Nevertheless, on 22 June 1527, the Javanese Prince Fatahillah, of the Demak Sultanate, successfully defeated the Portuguese armed forces at the site of the Sunda Kelapa. The city was then renamed Jayakarta, meaning “a glorious victory”.

After their setting foot ashore in Sunda Kelapa the Portuguese erected a landmark, a so called padrao, as a sign of the annexation of the territory for the king of Portugal. Other padraos are known from the African coast in todays Angola and Namibia.

The Sunda Kelapa padrao was excavated  in 1918 in the then Prinsestraat, eastern side at the corner of the Groenestraat in Batavia (today’s Jakarta). On the authority of the historian De Barros it is known that the King of Sunda allowed (the Portuguese mariner) Enrique Leme to built a fortress on the right side of the river (kali) near Kelapa. The padrao was found there.

The padrao, preserved in the National Museum of Jakarta, shows the Portuguese armillary sphere which is the symbol of the Portuguese Empire. Below the letters [S]POR SE[R] .. NTO (?) are visible.

(Photo National Museum Jakarta).

II. The Dutch

The Compagnie van Verre

In 1595 a small Dutch fleet under Cornelis Houtman  had set sail for the Indies. This expedition had proved that there was no need for the Dutch to depend on Portugal  for their trade with the East. Many more voyages followed and in 1596 the Dutch settled in Bantam. Several  companies were formed. Houtman himself was commissioned by the Compagnie van Verre (“Company for the Trade Beyond”) and the seal of this company is still preserved on an undated document, bearing the signatures of the directors Jan Jansz, Kaerel, Diederik van Os and Cornelis van Campen. These directors were appointed in 1599 and it is therefore safe to assume that the document was written in that time. The seal shows the impression of a merchant sign, consisting of the letters C.V.V., held together by a vertical line. [1]

De Verenigde Oostindische Compagnie

The Dutch East India Company

History

The history of The Dutch East India Company, chartered on 20 March 1602  by the States-General of the Netherlands, was to expand trade and assure close relations between the government and its colonial enterprises in Asia. The company was granted a monopoly on Dutch trade East of the Cape of Good Hope and West of the Strait of Magellan. The charter (octrooi) was granted for a period of twenty years but was prolonged for the first time even before 1623. In its history such prolongations occurred seven times. For much of this time it was the world’s largest trading company, owning, at the height of its wealth and power, more than half the world’s sea-going shipping – with its characteristic ship, the ‘fluyt’, also being produced for the merchant marines of other countries, including England. It was known internationally by its distinctive VOC monogram, the initials standing for ‘Verenigde Oostindische Compagnie’ – or simply the United East India Company. Those who organized it did not find it necessary to add that it was ‘Dutch’ – in the commercial world of its time no-one needed to be told that, and indeed, at the beginning of the seventeenth century ‘Dutch’ was only beginning to be identified with an independent state. The VOC played not only a key role in the history of the Netherlands, but also in that of the other states in which it was involved, from England, France, Spain and Portugal in Europe and a number of principalities, sultanates and empires along the coasts of Africa and Asia, going as far as Japan and China. From its headquarters at Batavia (founded 1619) the company subdued local rulers, drove the British and Portuguese from Indonesia, Malaya, and Ceylon (Sri Lanka), and monopolized the fabulous trade of the Spice Islands. A colony, established (1652) in South Africa at the Cape of Good Hope, remained Dutch until conquered by Great Britain in 1814.

The VOC’s operations were entirely maritime, at least in principle, and, until late in the eighteenth century, its ports of call were in no sense part of a Dutch colonial empire. Its ships, although built for transporting goods, were often involved in war, from the North Sea to the furthest extremes of its trading empire – so much so that at one time or another battles at sea were fought off almost every coast where the company operated.

In 1796 the last prolongation of the charter (octrooi) ended. The Company being almost insolvent by then, it was only because new ways for the relations with Asia had to be explored first, that the charter and the VOC were continued. On 17 March 1798 the VOC was formally declared bankrupt and  dissolved. Its debts and possessions were  taken over by the Batavian Republic and came under the jurisdiction of the Raad der Asiatische Bezittingen en Etablissementen. (Council for the Asiatic Possessions and Establishments). In the time when the former Kingdom of Holland was a part of the French Empire most of these “posessions and establishments” were conquered or occupied by Great Britain. In the Anglo-Dutch Treaty of 1824 they were divided between the Netherlands and Great Britain. 

Heraldry

A. The Cypher

A cypher for the Company was adopted by the Lords XVII, the ruling council of the Company, on 28 February 1603. It consists of the letters V, O and C, the O and the C through the arms of the V. [2]

VOC Cypher from the Castle of Cape of Good Hope

1743 Batu Bersurat or Rock of the Tiger

On a short distance from Fort Dindings (Malaysia) there is a rock called Batu Bersurat (Holy Written Rock).

It is a huge massive granite stone with the inscription: “1743 I.F. CRALO and the cypher of the VOC. Also we may see a tiger or lion.

The story goes that a Dutch boy was playing near this stone. Suddenly the child disappeared and although people has looked for him intensively, he was never found back.

It was supposed that the tiger had taken away the boy.

Local Malaysian people however say that it is more likely that an angry Malaysian has taken the child with him.

The inscription on the stone shows the letters mentioned somewhat to the left, and out of sight on this photo, and also the capitals W.P.D.  The two outlines depict two coats of arms, the one of the left charged with the lion of the States General of the Dutch Republic, the one on the right with the cypher of the VOC. Alas for the nice romantic story!

ð Look for: Batu Bersurat.

B. The Symbol

The symbol of the United East India Company was a three-masted man-of-war displaying the flags of the Republic. In the 17th century this man-of-war was sailing to the dexter. About the end of the that  century its course was reversed to sailing to the sinister.

Stone from the Waterpoort of the demolished Fort of Batavia showing a man-of-war. On the main mast the flag of the States General of the Republic (her ship-owner) being yellow with a red lion, armed with a sword and a bundle of arrows. The jack and the flags on the fore mast, the mizzen and the stern striped. [3]

The most important fort of the VOC was in Batavia, on the Isle of Java in India.

In 1619 Jan Pietersz. Coen had started the construction of the fort, immediately after he had set fire to Jacatra. The fort had to protect the city from attacks from the sea and was manned with many soldiers. Also it was the residence of the governor. Near it the most important storehouses of the Company were built. After 1621 the Fort of Batavia was the most important settlement of the Company in East India.

Two other ship-symbols of the VOC. The one on the left, on a medallion from 1648, maybe a pinas with the flag of the VOC (her ship-owner) on the main mast. The legend runs: Generaale Vereenichde Oostindische Company. The one on the right from the castle of the Cape, 1666. Below the ship: C D G HOOP (Caap de Goede Hoop).

1775 The emblem of the man-of war on the gate of New Victoria in Ambon.

The man-of-war sailing to the sinister and the legend in latin: ita reliquenda ut accepta. (Everything has to be left behind as it has been received). Arms of the Republic between the date ANNOC MDCCLXXV, the cypher of the VOC and the arms of the chambers (from left to right): Amsterdam, Zeeland, Delft, Rotterdam, Hoorn, Enkhuizen.

C. The Seal.

On the seals of the Company there was a ship. The oldest print shows a man-of-war sailing to the dexter. A print of 1684 shows the ship sailing to the sinister and versions from the last years of the Company have the ship always sailing to the sinister. This implies, taking the ships-symbols of the Company mentioned above into account, that the direction the ship sailed was reversed in the time of Stadholder William III

Examples of seals of the company, from left to right:

a. Ship sailing to the dexter and the legend:  uyt de vloot door  h.h: ede afgesonden. (Sent from the fleet by their Lordships).[4]

b. Ship sailing to the sinister and the letters D O C (Directoraat Oostindische Compagnie). On a treaty with Bantam 1684.03.20. This is the seal of the Governor General and Councillors. [5]

c. Print of the seal of “De Bewindhebbers van d’Oost Ind. Compagnie ten Kaamer Amsterdam” Amsterdam, dated 1762.09.11.[6]

d. Print of the seal of P. de Neufville on:  “een heuchlyke officieele tyding van het sluyten der Vreede tusschen de Fransche Republiek en den Keiser”  Amsterdam, 1797.10.30, the third year of the Batavian Liberty. [7] With the letters D O C A  (Directoraat Oostindische Compagnie Amsterdam)

Seal of the Cape settlement.

The man-of-war sailing to the sinister, the flag of the company with the cypher in the main mast.

Below is the title C D G HOOP (Caap de Goede Hoop)

A seal of the company was even used after the liquidation of the Company. It is on a treaty between Walbeeck and Sultan Anum of Cheribon dated 1 November 1799 and on a treaty between Cheribon and Nic. Engelhard dated 1 September 1806. On these prints are the ship sailing to the sinister and the letters D O C. [8]

D. The Coat of Arms

In the early years of the Company, by default of  an achievement of the Company itself,  some arms and achievements of other administrative bodies seem to have been used. This can be seen on an engraving depicting the VOC main office (Hoofdcomptoir) of  Suratte on the Indian west coast (existing 1616-1795). [9] At the entrance there were the arms of Holland, in the inner court the achievement of Zeeland. The arms of Holland, called the arms of ‘Noort Holland’ here, are according to the hatching visible ‘Gules, a lion rampant guardant Or’. These arms may represent the chambers of Hoorn and Enkhuizen and may have been designed for the purpose. The achievement of  Zeeland (for the Middelburg chamber) consists of the crowned arms of Zeeland (per fess wavy in chief  Or, a lion rampant Gules  and in base barry wavy Azure and Argent) supported by two savages armed with clubs. This is a very uncommon version of the achievement of Zeeland and may also have been designed for the purpose. Above the achievement we can read the date ‘1625’ which is probably the year in which the inner court was finished.  [10]

The arms of Noort Holland at the entrance, and the achievement of Zeeland in the inner court of the Hoofdcomptoir of Suratte. On the roof is a weathercock in the form of a (VOC) ship.

Details from “De Logie van Svratte” by  Isaac Commelin (1646).

In the second quarter of the 17th century there appears a coat of arms of the Company. This shows the symbol of the ship, sailing to the dexter. The earliest versions of the achievement known have different supporters. The one from Malacca, probably the oldest, has a Victoria  with a palm-leaf and a VOC-soldier with a shield with the VOC cypher as supporters. The one from Hoorn, dated 1648 but maybe also older (as the work describes a voyage that took place in 1619) has a Dutch and an oriental tradesman as supporters.

The definite version of the achievement was painted by Jeronimus Becx the Younger in 1651, that is to say in the first year of the Stadholderless era (1650-1672).

The arms shows a Dutch man-of-war of 14 guns, sailing to the dexter. She is flying the flags of the VOC from the fore and the main mast as well as from the stern. On the mizzen is the flag and on the bowsprit the jack of Middelburg (showing a golden castle on a blue field). This makes it likely that a Middelburg man-of-war is depicted and this matches with the fact that the painter was from Middelburg..

As a crest there is a trophy of armoury, a drum, a cross-staff, a sun-dial and a compass together with a flag of three stripes orange, white and blue and an orange flag. These flags are the war ensign of the Republic and the flag of the admiral-general of the Republic. They in their turn make it likely that the painting was started before 1650 and the (temporary) abolition of the offices of captain- and admiral-general of the Republic. [11])

In a fourth version the flag on the stern is exchanged for a red flag with the golden lion of the States General. This may be the flag of William III as an admiral-general of the Republic (1672-1702). This version occurs at the end of the 17th and in the 18th century.

(Photo H.d.V. 06.11.’80)

Achievement of the VOC on the Porta de Santiago, city of Malacca.

Arms: A 17th century man-of-war.

Supporters: D.: Victoria with a palmleaf; S. A VOC-soldier in full armour bearing a shield charged with the cypher of the VOC.

Around the achievement is a trophy of armoury. Above the gate is the date ANNO 1670.

Malacca was conquered by the Dutch in 1641 and occupied by the British in 1795.

Achievement of the VOC with the arms of the city of Hoorn and the cypher of the Hoorn-chamber. A Dutch and an Oriental tradesman serve as supporters.

On the frontispiece of  “Iovrnael ofte Gedenckwaerdige beschrijvinghe vande Oost-Indische Reyse van Willem Ysbrantsz Bontekoe van Hoorn.” Hoorn, 1648

1651 The achievement of the VOC by Jeronimus Becx the Younger.

Rijksmuseum Amsterdam,. Cat. van schilderijen n° 2988)

Arms: A Dutch man-of-war with 14 guns, on waves of the sea.

Crest: An armillary-sphere surrounded by a trophy of armoury, nautical instruments and flags

Supporters: Dexter Neptune and sinister Providentia.

Compartment: An arrangement of exotic sea-shells.

Above the achievement is the cypher of the VOC on a shield.

Download this picture from the Rijksmuseum site.

Engraving of the achievement of the VOC.

On 18th c. publications of the VOC.

In comparison with the arms of 1651 the ship has considerably more guns. On the main is the flag of the ship-owner (the VOC) on the stern the flag supposed to be of the States General as the supreme commander of the navy. Also the trophy is somewhat rearranged.

Cushion for the seat of Mr. Hendrik Carbasius, accountant and governor of the VOC in Hoorn. 1739.

Westfries Museum, Hoorn.

Achievement like the achievement of the engraving.

E. The Chambers

The company was divided in six chambers that is to say (in alphabetical order) the chambers of Amsterdam, Delft, Enkhuizen, Hoorn, Middelburg and Rotterdam. These chambers differentiated  the cypher of the Company  by adding the first letter of the name of the city of its seat.

There were also important settlements in the Cape, Ceylon, Malacca and Batavia, the capital of the Company in the east. These settlements differentiated the VOC-cypher in the same way.

Throughout the territories under the jurisdiction of the VOC the chambers were symbolized by their arms. There are examples from this known from Batavia, the Cape and Ambon (as illustrated above).

The arms of the six chambers were:

Amsterdam: Gules, a pale sable charged with three crosses of St. Andrew Argent.

Delft: Argent, a pale Azure

Enkhuizen: Azure, three herrings Argent, crowned Or, between four eight-pointed stars of the last in pale.

Hoorn: Argent a bugle horn Gules, banded Or and stringed Azure, tasseled Or.

Middelburg: Gules, a tower Or. Also: Or, a lion Gules  issuant from a base barry wavy Azure and Argent (Zeeland).

Rotterdam: Vert, a pale Argent, and a chief quarterly Or a lion Sable and Or a lion Gules.

For more detailed information about these arms see: Heraldry of the World (Netherlands).

Amsterdam

Arms with the cypher of the Amsterdam Chamber on the rope-walk of the company in Amsterdam.

Another cypher of the Amsterdam Chamber above the entrance of  VOC-warehouses in Amsterdam.

Delft

Arms with the cypher of the Delft Chamber with two lions as supporters. 1631.

Enkhuizen

Arms with the cypher of the Enkhuizen Chamber on the façade of the Oostindisch Huis

Kade, Enkhuizen.

Cypher of the Enkhuizen Chamber

On a cannon, Museum Bronbeek, Arnhem

Hoorn

Arms with the cypher of the Hoorn Chamber with four cupids as supporters

Middelburg

 Arms with cypher of the Chamber of Middelburg with two mermaids for supporters. 1671.

On the VOC storehouse at the Breestraat, Middelburg, destroyed 1940.

Cypher of the Chamber of Middelburg,1661

On the office of the Chief Master of Equipment of the VOC at the Maisbaai, Middelburg

Rotterdam

Cypher of the VOC chamber of Rotterdam

above the entrance door of its seat in the Boompjes

Cypher of the Rotterdam Chamber on a bronze cannon

(Museum Bronbeek, Arnhem)

F. Comptoirs

Ceylon

Photo Ineke Rekers, X.’96

Achievement of the VOC settlement in the city of Galle on the gate of a storehouse in Galle (Ceylon), dated ANNO MDCLXIX (1669)

Arms: The cypher of the VOC

Crest: A cock (Galle)

Supporters: Two lions guardant.

Arms of the VOC-comptoir or troops in Batavia 1660.

On a bronze cannon in Museum Bronbeek, Arnhem

Arms: The cypher VOC

Crest: The sailing ship of the VOC

The arms within a decorative frame and a cartouche with the name BATAVIA ANNO 1660 below

Cape VOC-cypher.

On the VOC Kruithuis or Powder Magazine, Stellenbosch, 1777

Batavia

Cape

Johor

VOC-cypher of Batavia with sword and crown

VOC-cypher of the Cape and/or of  Ceylon on a  6 stuiver piece, 1791.

VOC-cypher of Johor on a coin discovered in the Straits of Malacca

Negapatnam

VOC-arms of  Negapatnam, the capital of the Coromandel settlements. [12]

The Colonial Era

THE BATAVIAN REPUBLIC

1798 -1806

In the time the possessions of the former VOC were administered by the Batavian Republic it was under the supervision of the Council of the Asiatic Possessions and Establishments (Raad der Asiatische Bezittingen en Etablissementen.)

The Batavian Republic introduced the use of the emblem of the sovereign in the colonies and this was continued by the following administrations. First this emblem consisted of an altar charged with an anchor and a dolphin, supported by a lion with the national flag and the Batavian Virgin with spear an hat of Liberty. The legend of these stamps read “raad der asiat(ische): bezitt(ingen): en etabl(issementen) der bataafsche / republiek”. [13]

In 1802 the emblem was changed into a lion rampant, armed with a sword and a bundle of arrows.

On the stamps for use by the councils the emblem of state was surrounded by the legend “raad der asiat(ische): bezitt(ingen): en etabl(issementen)”.[14]

Nevertheless on a florin for circulation in the colonies there appeared the old symbols of the Company and of the States General: a ship sailing to the sinister and the crowned arms with the lion with sword and arrows.  This time the symbols can be considered as the symbols of the territory and of its ruler.

Silver “scheepjesgulden” of the Batavian Republic, 1802. Æ 34 mm.

On the obverse a ship with the legend indiæ batavorum (1802), on the reverse the crowned arms of the Executive (the successor of the States General in 1801) with the legend MO ARG ORD FŒD BELG HOL. (Coll. Het Nederlands Muntmuseum).

THE KINGDOM OF HOLLAND

1806 - 1811

In the time of the First Kingdom the symbol of the sovereign was the arms of King Louis Napoleon  and we see it in the head of the “Bataviasche Koloniale Courant” from 1810 on which are the arms adopted in 1807. [15]

From 1807 until 1814 the ministries for the navy and the colonies were united. From 1807 until 1811 the seal of this ministry showed the coat of arms of Louis Napoleon.

THE FRENCH EMPIRE

1811

After the annexation of the Kingdom of Holland by France in 1811 the imperial symbol appeared in the East Indian Archipelago.

Seal of the Governor General of the Dutch Indies dd. 20 II - 18 IX 1811.

French Imperial Eagle. L.: gouverneur generaal van indien.

This seal was only used for a very short time and prints are very rare [16]

From 1811 until 1813 the seal of the combined ministries showed the coat of arms of Napoleon Bonaparte.

THE BRITISH

1811-1815

In the time of British rule in the Dutch possessions in the East Indies the Royal British achievement should have been used. No examples of this achievement from Dutch East Indian soil are known however.

The coat of arms of the quite famous lieutenant governor of the Dutch East Indies from 1811-’16, Thomas Stamford Raffles, was:

“Or a double headed Eagle displayed Gules charged on the breast with an Eastern Crown on the first, on a Chief Vert pendent from a chain two oval Medallions in Pale the one bearing Arabic characters and the other a dagger in fess the blade wavy the point towards the dexter in relief Or, the said medallions and chain being a representation of a personal decoration called the Order of the Golden Sword conferred upon by him by the Chief or King of Atcheen in Sumatra as a mark of the high regard of the said King and in testimony of the good understanding which had been happily established between that Prince and the British Government; and for a crest out of an Eastern Crown Or a Gryphon's Head Purpure gorged with a collar gemel Gold.”

THE SECOND KINGDOM

1815 -1940/’49

After the defeat of Napoleon the Sovereign Principality of the Netherlands prepared the restoration of Dutch rule in the Indies. This meant also the restoration of the old symbols of sovereignty. By royal resolution of 8 November 1815 nr. 39 the introduction of new currency was provided for. The design for a 1 guilder-piece shows the Dutch Virgin on the obverse and the crowned ancient arms of the States General and the Executive on the reverse. From this guilder only one minted coin is known.

Nederlandsch Oost-Indië, 1 gulden, 1815 Æ 31 mm.

At the date of the Royal Resolution the coat of arms of the Sovereign Principality of 14 January 1814 was already substituted by Royal Resolution of 24 August 1815. The new coat of arms, amended in 1816, was used in the Colonies throughout the nineteenth century and was changed again in 1907. [17])

A picture of this coat of arms was in the Audience Hall above the seat of the Governor General in Batavia.

The seal for the Dutch Indies showed this coat of arms with the legend DEPARTEMENT VAN KOLONIËN (until 1848) and MINISTERIE VAN KOLONIËN until 1945.

The Dutch East Indies never had a coat of arms of its own. The coat of arms of Batavia was often considered as such and it is said that Governor General Van Heutz (1904-‘09) was a strong advocate of the idea. A proposal for a coat of arms was made in 1933 by Dirk Rühl on the frontispeice of his “Nederlandsch Indische Gemeentewapens”. His design shows a parted per pale of the Netherlands and Batavia.

However, no specific coat of arms for the Dutch East Indies was ever adopted.

THE COMMERCIAL SUCCESSOR OF THE VOC

The commercial successor of the V.O.C. was the Nederlandse Handelmaatschappij (NHM), founded in 1824  (after the Anglo-Dutch treaty). In 1964 this company merged with the Twentsche Bank and changed its name in Nederlandsche Middenstands Bank. In 1990 the NMB merged with the Amsterdam-Rotterdam Bank into the ABN AMRO Bank. This bank was split up in 2007. (Fortis, Bank of Scotland en Banco Santander).

The emblems of the Nederlandsche Handelsmaatschappij were deposed in 1866. They consisted of a larger emblem, a medial emblem and a cypher. [18]

The larger emblem consists of disc charged with a winged anchor between the date 1824, surrounded by the title nederlandsche handel maatschappy. As a crest a three-masted sailing ship and as supporters two lions couchant. Below the central emblem is the cypher NHM. The achievement is surrounded by waves of the sea and decorated with several floral motives.

The medial emblem consists of the central disc only, posed on a sun radiant of twenty points. The cypher of the company consisted of the letters NHM only.

The 1964 ABN Bank had as its first emblem a combination of the emblem of the Twentsche Bank, a rearing horse, the socalled Twenthe Steed, and the anchor of the NHM. Later this was substitued for a calligraphic logo.

The ABN Bank merged in 1990 with the AMRO Bank to be prepared for the European market.

ABN AMRO Holding N.V. took over the shares of both banks in August 1990 and on 22 September 1991 the new concern became active with the new name ABN AMRO Bank with its seat in Amsterdam.

The arms of the ABN . AMRO are Vert, a diamond parted per pale Vert and Or in base. This peculiar arms (because difficult to blason), together with the title ABN • AMRO, is the logo of the concern. It was designed in 1991 by Landor & Associates of San Francisco.