East India Company in Sumatra: Cross-Cultural Interactions

Author: Silva Jayasuriya, Shihan de¹

Source: African and Asian Studies, Volume 8, Number 3, 2009 , pp. 204-221(18)

Publisher: BRILL

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Abstract:

For scholars concerned with historical studies of cross-continental movement, migration from Africa to Asia poses challenges. Administrative records of the East India Company reveal the multi-ethnicity of slaves, trends of slavery, resistance to slavery and the circumstances that led to emancipation of the slaves. Through a case study on Sumatra, this paper considers how transition from British to Dutch control affected the emancipated slaves, what rights they had and their eventual fate. It suggests that descendants of African slaves could still be living in Southeast Asia although creolisation and assimilation may have rendered them invisible.

Keywords: EAST INDIA COMPANY; EMANCIPATION; CROSS-CULTURAL INTERACTIONS; SUMATRA; DUTCH; BRITISH

Document Type: Research article

DOI: 10.1163/156921009X458082

Affiliations: 1: Institute of Commonwealth Studies, University of London, London WC1B 5DS, England;, Email: shihan.desilva@sas.ac.uk

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