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Amboina, 1623: Fear and Conspiracy on the Edge of Empire
Contributor(s): Clulow, Adam (Author)

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 ISBN: 0231175124     ISBN-13: 9780231175128
Publisher: Columbia University Press
OUR PRICE: $68.25  

Binding Type: Hardcover - See All Available Formats & Editions
Published: August 2019
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Additional Information
BISAC Categories:
- Political Science | Imperialism
- History | Modern - 17th Century
- History | Asia - Southeast Asia
Dewey: 959.852
LCCN: 2018058385
Physical Information: 1.1" H x 6.2" W x 9.1" L (1.25 lbs) 312 pages
Themes:
- Chronological Period - 17th Century
- Cultural Region - Southeast Asian
Features: Bibliography, Illustrated, Index, Price on Product
 
Descriptions, Reviews, Etc.
Publisher Description:
In 1623, a Japanese mercenary called Shichizō was arrested for asking suspicious questions about the defenses of a Dutch East India Company fort on Amboina, a remote set of islands in what is now eastern Indonesia. When he failed to provide an adequate explanation, he was tortured until he confessed that he had joined a plot orchestrated by a group of English merchants based nearby to seize control of the fortification and ultimately to rip the spice-rich islands from the Company's grasp. Two weeks later, Dutch authorities executed twenty-one alleged conspirators, sparking immediate outrage and a controversy that would endure for centuries to come.

In this landmark study, Adam Clulow presents a new perspective on the Amboina case that aims to move beyond the standard debate over the guilt or innocence of the supposed plotters. Instead, Amboina, 1623 argues that the case was driven forward by a potent combination of genuine crisis and overpowering fear that propelled the rapid escalation from suspicion to torture, that gave shape and form to an imagined plot, and that pushed events forward to their final bloody conclusion. Based on an exhaustive analysis of original trial documents, letters, and depositions, this book offers a masterful reinterpretation of a trial that has divided opinion for centuries while presenting new insight into global history and the nature of European expansion across the early modern world.
 
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