Slaves and Slave Trade in the Timor Area: Between Indigenous Structures and External Impact

Abstract

Abstract This study rethinks the patterns of slave-holding and slave trade that can be discerned in small-scale societies in the Timor region of the Indonesian archipelago, especially Timor, the Solor and Alor Islands, Rote, and Savu. It studies how European powers—the Dutch and the Portuguese—influenced the trade in enslaved human beings and how this was balanced by slaving conducted by Asian forces. The study is based in large part on archival sources from the VOC period, together with published Portuguese sources. Data on these issues provides some basis for comparisons with other, better documented cases of slavery and slaving in Southeast Asia and elsewhere. This contributes to an understanding of how local systems of slavery interacted with the transregional systems represented by external groups.