Dutch Colonial History

The mosque at Japara 1676 (Java) [detail]
In: Francois Valentyn's Oud en Nieuw Oost-Indiën

Birds Eye View of Batavia 1752 [detail]
Drawing by Mattheus Sager
[Batavia, Java]

Courtiers of the king at Pegu (Myanmar)
Woodcut in Isaac Commelin's Begin ende Voortgangh 1646

View of Banda Neira and Gunung Api 1726 (Indonesia) [detail]
In: Valentyn's Oud en Nieuw Oost-Indiën

View of Negapatnam (India) [detail]
Engraving in: Valentyn's Oud en Nieuw Oost-Indiën 1726

A village chief in Manipa and a man in local dress
[details from the same image]
in: Valentyn's Oud en Nieuw Oost-Indiën 1726

"The Atlas of Mutual Heritage (AMH) is an expanding digital academic catalogue of illustrations and data about settlements of the Dutch East & West Indian Company (VOC and WIC)."

This somewhat unusual site is a work in progress but at present they have upwards of 4000 images which can be retrieved in a number of logical ways (location, book author etc). The material comes from about 15-20 institutions and I guess that a slight majority of the database consists of maps and 'maritime' images. There is much more than this however, with many book illustrations and the occasional photograph.

I first found this site some months ago and have returned there on a number of occasions but there is now some background information available and I'm finding it a bit easier to move around. Speaking for myself, I ultimately found browsing via 'institution' to be the best/quickest way to see a reasonable cross-section of images on offer. Once you choose the method by which to browse (institution, author etc), click on 'show data' to generate the thumbnails - then click for a zooming flash interface.

• The Dutch East India Company at Colonial Voyage.
• The Dutch West India Company at Colonial Voyage.
• Dutch Colonial World link list.