DAILY LIFE IN GALLE IN SRI LANKA IN 1760

By A. van Schaik

Galle in Sri Lanka is the finest example of a Dutch East Indian (VOC)
settlement within a fortress in Asia. Most probably the old archive of
Galle is the most complete VOC documentation to be found anywhere and it
has provided the Dutch historian Lodewijk Wagenaar with the unique chance
to make a reconstruction of daily life-lock, stock, and barrel in a
VOC-fortification. On 26 January he was awarded a Ph.D degree at Leiden
University.

On 17 February, in the year 1761, the crew of the VOC-ship 'Bosch en Hoven'
experienced some anxious moments near the Sri Lankan city of Galle
according to the logbook. Some men were sent ashore in a small boat to lay
in fresh water. Suddenly natives started to shoot at them. There was unrest
in the south of Sri Lanka. Groups of Sri Lankans revolted against the VOC.
The fortress of Galle was temporarily inaccessible and in Matara the Dutch
had to abandon their fortress. Wagenaar found this information in he VOC
archive in the Sri Lankan capital Colombo. He says: "Because of this revolt
in the coastal provinces there was a lot of correspondence in the financial
year September 1760 to August 1761. Many of these letters have been
preserved."

VOC ARCHIVES IN COLOMBO
The vast amount of archival material pertaining to Asia State Archives in
The Hague is unique, but the historical VOC material that Wagenaar
discovered in Colombo is probably the most complete VOC archive that
exists, especially the documentation on the VOC fortress of Galle, a town
115 kilometres south of Colombo. It was an important VOC harbour, through
which every year six VOC-ships passed on their way from Batavia to the
Netherlands or the other way around. By taking test samples from the
'Gaalse archief' Wagenaar managed to gain an insight into everyday life. "I
dislike statistics," he says. "How could people manage to survive?" he
wondered. He discovered colourful things, like the 1760 prohibition that
forbade cattle from roaming free and for children and grown ups to defecate
in the streets and on the ramparts, because this habit was damaging the
walls.

ORIENTALIZATION
In addition to searching in archives Wagenaar also used other sources like
art history and architecture. "I wanted a survey," he explains. To
illustrate this he blows up a paper bag. "I try to blow up information to
give it a three dimensional character." He says:" Only then does history
start to live."  Wagenaar discovered that the 'Eastern' influence on the
VOC was much larger than people usually think. In the Dutch language we
know the word 'westernisering' (westernization). For the VOC he introduced
the word 'ori‰ntalisering', (orientalization). For instance the VOC
personnel consisted to a large degree of Asians or people of mixed
parentage; they were the ones that stayed and guaranteed the continuity,
the Europeans came and went.


DUAL PARENTAGE
For Lodewijk Wagenaar the name 'Dutch' period of Sri lanka is a misnomer.
"Not only because of Eastern influence," he explains: "also because of the
fact that many of the VOC personnel did not come  from The Netherlands, but
from other European countries. Only 25% were Dutch, the others were mainly
from Scandinavia and Germany." Wagenaar prefers to talk about the European
period of Sri Lanka. The architecture of the Galle fortress and the 600
houses in it, including the VOC warehouse, is not typically Dutch. He calls
it a mixture of Eastern and European elements. Local material like
limestone and coral were used, the design and supervision were Western. The
labourers were Sri Lankans. They took care of the decoration. Sometimes
with surprising results, like the white church of Galle dating from 1755.
The baroque lines are typically European, but according to Wagenaar:" The
Sri Lankan labourers must have recognized in it  the motive of the
lotusflower." Especially in the furniture and in doors and windows it is
sometimes hard to see which style has been followed. This is why often the
expression dual parentage is used."

GALLE ON THE WORLD HERITAGE LIST OF UNESCO
Anyone visiting Galle nowadays and walking on the wide, high ramparts of
the fortification will discover that Galle still looks the same as in 1760.
"I visited Galle for the first time thirteen years ago, I was immediately
fascinated," says Wagenaar, who shows an aerial photograph on which you can
see that the huge fortress is the same size of the historical Dutch city of
Woudrichem with a streetplan as straight as an arrow. On the inland side it
has gigantic bastions. Galle was an impregnable fortress for the king of
Sri Lanka. Since a few years ago the Galle fortress has been included in
the World Heritage List of Unesco. Wagenaar: "The Sri Lanka government
fortunately regards this Dutch fortress as a part of its own heritage. It
restores and maintains it in an excellent way."

Lodewijk Wagenaar, Galle, VOC-vestiging in Ceylon.
Beschrijving van een koloniale samenleving aan de vooravond van de
Singhalese opstand tegen het Nederlands gezag, 1760 (1994) ISBN 90 6707 333
4  DFL 55,-