Introduction: A New Source for Seventeenth Century Aceh

Abstract

A Historical survey of Aceh (Sumatra) in the middle of the Seventeenth Century, introducing two volumes of Dutch reportage from Banda Aceh between 1636 and 1661. These documents provide a new and indispensable record of the Islamic sultanate of Aceh during its seventeenth century florescence. Aceh was then the intellectual hothouse of Islamic Southeast Asia, a key factor in the trade between India and Southeast Asia, and ruled by queens for more than half a century. The documents allow us an exceptional day-to-day insight into the workings of the court and the port, through the particular eyes of the Dutch chartered company (Verenigde Oostindische Compagnie, VOC).