Travelling the Dutch East Indies

In 1594, the first Dutch ships sailed to 'the East'. Throughout the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, almost five thousand ships were sent to the Dutch East Indies, attracting a growing number of travellers, with trade as one of the major incentives. In addition to Dutch missionary ambitions, progress and technological innovations not only fed the growing hunger for expansion, but also stirred an appetite for adventure. The hope for a life in welfare is mirrored in the growing numbers of passengers travelling 'East' in the nineteenth century and the first half of the twentienth century. At the same time, Javanese travellers started to explore their homeland as well. Travelling the Dutch East Indies not only offers a diverse picture of travel and a critical perspective on the colonial ideology with which it is associated, but also shows how the collections of Leiden University Libraries can serve as a rich source for all kinds of historical research. 

Acknowledgements 7 Introduction 9 Doris Jedamski & Rick Honings

Part I Historical Perspectives Preparing the ‘First Voyage’ to ‘the East’. Investment, Ships, and Information in Amsterdam, 1592-1595 27 Erik Odegard Floating Cuisine. Food on Board of Dutch Ocean Liners Heading to the Indies, 1871-1964 57 Geke Burger Up in the Sky. Civil Air Transport in the Dutch East Indies and Colonial Society, 1928-1942 85 Marc Dierikx 

Part II Literary Representations Thrilling Fiction, Travel Guides and Spaces of Identity. Sea Voyages between the Netherlands and the Dutch East Indies in Novels and Short Stories, 1850-1940 111 Coen van ’t Veer Indigenous Eyes. Javanese Colonial Travel Texts as Autoethnographic Expressions: The Case of Purwalelana and Suparta 138 Rick Honings The Art of Travel Along the Post Road. Impressions of Nineteenth-Century Journeys Across the Island of Java 169 Judith E. Bosnak ‘An Evocation of Our Colonies for the Western Eye’. Louis Couperus’ Aestheticising Gaze from the Car 201 Nick Tomberge Notes on the Contributors 228

'[...] Dit boek moet daarom gezien worden als een vertrekpunt. Het is een inspirerend hulpmiddel geworden voor bijkomend onderzoek naar Indische reizen. Zowel de inhoud als de opzet van de bundel geeft ingangen voor dergelijk vervolgonderzoek.. Het bevat originele onderwerpen, informatieve hoofdstukken en is toegankelijk geschreven. Het is daarom een aanrader voor zowel academici als leken met een interesse in de geschiedenis van en literatuur over Indische reizen.' - Arnoud Arps in Internationaal Neerlandistiek Vol. 62. No. 1 (2024), p. -114-118