The So-called Tin Monopoly in Ligor: The Limits of VOC Power vis à vis a Southern Thai Trading Polity

Abstract

That which the Dutch called Ligor is the present-day southern province of Nakhon Si Thammarat in Thailand. It was one of the oldest city-states and flourishing entrepôts in Southeast Asia. Dutch East India Company (VOC) documents reveal that the Company traded tin in Ligor and had a small office there for more than a century from around 1640 until 1756. In fact, the relationship between the VOC and Ligor had already been established a few decades earlier when Ligor was still enjoying much autonomy with respect to self-governance, trade, and foreign contacts.