Council of War in Bantam and Javanese Local Traders, 1614, Paper

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One leaf with an engraving on each site and text in old Dutch. One side shows the War Council of … Read more One leaf with an engraving on each site and text in old Dutch. One side shows the War Council of the locals in Bantam and the other side show some vegetables traders of Bantam. Banten, also written as Bantam, is a port town near the western end of Java, Indonesia. It has a secure harbour at the mouth of Banten River, a navigable passage for light craft into the island's interior. The town is close to the Sunda Strait through which important ocean-going traffic passes between Java and Sumatra. Formerly Old Banten was the capital of a sultanate in the area, was strategically important and a major centre for trade. The English East India Company began to send ships to the East Indies around 1600 and established a permanent trading post at Bantam in 1603, as did the Dutch also. Aaron Baker (1610-1683) served for twenty years as President of Bantam, as is recorded on his mural monument in Dunchideock parish church, Devon. In the thirty years following 1603, the trading factories established by the English on the Coromandel Coast of India, such as those at Machilipatnam (estd. 1611) and Fort St. George (estd. 1639), reported to Bantam. During the 17th century, the Portuguese and the Dutch fought for control of Bantam. Eventually, the fact that the Dutch found they could control their Batavia trading factory, established in 1611, more thoroughly than Bantam may have contributed to the decline of the English trading post. (Source: Wikipedia) This leaf is from the rare Johan Isaac Pontanus & J. Hondius edition of 1614 - 'Historische beschrijvinghe der seer wijt beroemde coop-stadt Amsterdam'- which includes the text of the first voyage around the Cape to the East Indies (including a visit to Madagascar), the fight against the Portuguese on Bantam (West Java), of Java, etc. Creator: Anoniem / Anonymous(engraver / etcher), Lodewijcksz, Willem(copied after) Period: 1614 Material: paper Technique: copper engraving Measurements sheet: 9.5 x 7 inch ( 24x18 cm) Measurement engravings: 5.9 x 4.5 inch ( 15x11.5 cm ) each The condition of the engravings is very good, Dutch text on verso of the leaf, but the paper is not strong. Water damage, but mostly outside the images. Study the image of the larger leaf carefully. See less