Identity area
Reference code
LK LK-NA LK-NA/1
Title
Archives of the Dutch Central Government of Coastal Ceylon
Date(s)
- 1640-1796 (Creation)
Level of description
Fonds
Extent and medium
Files 1-6872 (CHECK), Manuscripts and Printed documents.
Context area
Name of creator
Dutch Central Government of Coastal Ceylon
(1640-1796)
Administrative history
Repository
Archival history
The administrative authority exercised by the Portuguese in the maritime provinces of Ceylon was surrendered to the Dutch by an agreement entered into between the Portuguese and the Dutch in Colombo in 1656. The agreement, however, did not contain any provision to transfer the archives of the Portuguese to the Dutch. A reference had been made by the Superintendent of the Dutch East India. Company (V.C.O.) possessions in Ceylon and India, Rijcloff Van Goens (Sr.), (1658-1665) in his diary, that he had handed over a list of Portuguese records to the Secretary Jacob Borchorst in 1662. Closer inspection of the list suggests that a considerable number of Portuguese records were among the archives of the Dutch at that time. The early accumulation of Dutch archives in Colombo began with the transfer of the Council Minutes maintained at the Secretariats in Galle and Negombo, following the relocation of the administrative center from Galle to Colombo in 1656. Since then the archives of the Dutch administration in coastal Ceylon first began to accumulate or to be assembled and acquire an identity as a single entity at the Company’s administrative centre in Colombo. The Secretary to the Council of Ceylon was usually the custodian of the Dutch Central Government archives.
In addition to the main centre of archives in Colombo, there were four other subordinate centres including Jaffna, Galle and Tutucorin in South India. The fourth centre was the office of the Dissave of Colombo where a considerable quantity of archives were created. The archives of the Dissave were housed in a separate building in Hulftsdorp in the immediate outskirts of Colombo. The archives preserved there were created in relation to the execution of the duties of the Dissave as the Chief Administrator of the dissavany of Colombo, including the land registration records referred to as Tombos, and the records relating to the administration of native soldiers, referred to as Lascoryn Rolls. The archives of the office of the Dissave were in the custody of the Tombo-Keeper. There were several institutions over which the Central government had supervision, namely, the School Board and the Board of Deacons. These archives were also preserved in the office of the Dissave. Accordingly, the archives of the Dutch administration in Ceylon were mainly accumulated in Jaffna, Galle, Tutucorin and in the office of the Dissave of Colombo.
The Dutch government in Ceylon did not conduct any periodical enumeration of its archives and it is not, therefore, possible to arrive at any assumption about the physical volume of the Dutch archives. The archives were, however, considerably increased as a result of the expansion of responsibility of the Dutch Central Government in Colombo. In 1697, the Commandeur of Jaffna, Hendrik Zwarrdecroon (1694-1697) made an effort to register and arrange documents in the Jaffna Secretariat.
Governor Joan Simons (1703-1707) introduced a better system of arrangement of records in the Secretariat in Colombo during the term of his office. The Commissioner Jacob Christian Pielat (1732-1734) took a personal interest in reorganization and preservation of archives in a methodical manner in the Secretariat of the Central Government in Colombo.
The Dutch administration in Ceylon imposed several regulations to minimize the mixing of the archive series, and, misplacing and damaging of archives by irresponsible officers. The common practice in regard to the disposal of valueless records in 1696, was to burn them in the presence of a committee of responsible officers after passing a resolution in the Governor and Council. These regulations were, however, not followed to the very letter. The largest damage to the Dutch archives occurred during the term of Governor Gerrit de Heere (1697-1703). The damage has been described as a ‘deliberate destruction’ by the Secretary Gerrit van Tol in 1700. The charges were laid against the Secretary van Tol on account of his unwarranted behavior in destroying records. The evidence presented at the subsequent inquiry showed that his conduct, and that of his staff had been highly deplorable. Governor Cornelis Joan Simons, as the immediate successor to the Governor Gerrit Heere, took preventive measures regarding any subsequent hazards to the archives including wanton destruction. Thereafter, however, no incident of unauthorized destruction of archives has been recorded.
There is evidence of several misadventures occurring to the Dutch archives during the period of the Dutch administration. A part of the Dutch archives belonging to the administration in Matara were destroyed as a result of war between the Dutch and the Kandyans in 1761. Another part of the archives of the Dutch administration in Matara was destroyed by Van Schuler, the Dissave of Matara, when he realized that the surrender of to be Dutch to the British took over the Dutch forts in 1796. The hasty evacuation of the Dutch property caused damages to the outstations archives and some parts were lost in the course of transfer of power from the Dutch to the British. The archives of the Colombo dissavany, which were deposited in the office of the Dissave in Hulftsdorp, caught fire in 1793 in consequences of which a considerable portion of the Dutch archives was destroyed. The loss of archives resulting from the above mentioned incidents cannot be evaluated in the absence of proper and sufficient information.
The British occupation of the Dutch territory in Ceylon commenced on 26th August, 1795. In accordance with the Treaty of Capitulation signed between the Dutch and the British in Colombo on 23rd February, 1796, the administration by the Dutch archives by the Company effectively terminated, and in consequences, the generation of archives by the Company ceased. In 1796, when the Dutch handed over the archives to the British, there was no custodian for the Dutch archives. Frederick North (1798-1805) was appointed as the Governor of the British possessions in the island on 12th October, 1798. On the advice of the Governor Fredrick North, the Secretary of State in London appointed the Chief Secretary in Ceylon, Hugh Cleghorn (1798-1801) as the Secretary and Registrar of the Records of the Island of Ceylon. Cleghorn retired from his office in 1801. In 1803, Albert Henry Giesler functioned as the Keeper of Records. During the British administration the Dutch archives was preserved in the Secretariat in Colombo. The archives as an institution in the general framework of the administration in the government’s civil establishment came to be recognized by the Governor since 1817.
British colonial government in Ceylon appointed a Commission in 1859 to examine and report on the archives of the Chief Secretary’s office. The Commissioners in their report suggested to transfer the Dutch archives which were in the Government Agents office in Colombo to the Chief Secretary’s office. In 1867, the archives series referred to as Land and Head Tombos of the School Thombos of the Dissavany of Colombo were transferred by the Chief Secretary from his office to the newly created office of the Registrar General on the assumption that these archives series would prove to be useful for registration purposes. The Dutch archives belonging to the administration of the Commandment of Galle, which remained at the Government Agent’s Office in Galle, with the exception of Tombos were transferred to the office of the Chief Secretary in Colombo in 1880. In 1882, the Chief Secretary required more accommodation in his office and the entire accession of archives from Galle was transferred to the Colombo Museum. Mr. Richard Gerald Anthonisz was appointed as the Examiner of Dutch Records in 1899. In 1902 his position was redesigned as the Archivist and Librarian and Mr.Anthonisz using his official capacity took every possible step to restore the integrity of the archives of the Dutch administration in Ceylon with the hope of making it into one entity.
The Government of Ceylon made a request to the Government of The Netherlands in 1936 to employ a suitable Archivist to prepare a detailed catalogue of the Dutch archivist of Ceylon. In response to this request, Maria Wilhelmina Jurriaanse (1900-1992) arrived in Ceylon on 7th February, 1937, and was appointed by the Chief Secretary of Ceylon as an Additional Assistant Archivist of the Government of Ceylon,. Jurriaanse, for the first time in Ceylon, utilized the archival principle of arrangement referred to as provenance in arranging the Dutch Central Government archives of Ceylon. Jurriaanse commenced the arrangement of the Dutch archives in 1937 and completed her catalogue in 1943 under the title Catalogue of the Archives of the Dutch Central Government of Coastal Ceylon 1640-1796.
Jurriaanse made use of the lists of documents available in the archives, as well as the indexes prepared by Mr.R.G.Anthonisz in the compilation of the catalogue. When the Catalogue of Jurriaanse was completed in 1943 the archives of the Dutch central government in Ceylon became generally accessible to the researchers.
The archives of the administration in Galle and Jaffna, however, remained-catalogued until a separate catalogue of them was prepared by Samuel Andrew William Mottau in 1975. The catalogue of Mottau was published by the General State Archives in The Netherlands as Inventory of the archives of the Dutch Government in the Divisions of Galle (Matara) and Jaffnapatanam 1640-1796. The archives relating to the Dutch administration of Matara, although not complete, were differentiated from those of Galle and included in the new catalogue by its compiler, Mottau. Several volumes which were omitted from the catalogue of Jurriaanse were also identified and added as the Appendix 1 in the catalogue prepared by Mottau. The new catalogue for the Galle and Jaffna archives continued the numbering of the volumes from the last number referred to in the catalogue of Jurriaanse in order to maintain the integrity of the Dutch archives of Ceylon as one organic entity. The publication of the catalogue for the archives of Galle and Jaffna in 1975 marked the completion of the finding aids to the entire archives of the Dutch administration of Ceylon generated by the Dutch East India Company administration in Ceylon.
In addition to the main centre of archives in Colombo, there were four other subordinate centres including Jaffna, Galle and Tutucorin in South India. The fourth centre was the office of the Dissave of Colombo where a considerable quantity of archives were created. The archives of the Dissave were housed in a separate building in Hulftsdorp in the immediate outskirts of Colombo. The archives preserved there were created in relation to the execution of the duties of the Dissave as the Chief Administrator of the dissavany of Colombo, including the land registration records referred to as Tombos, and the records relating to the administration of native soldiers, referred to as Lascoryn Rolls. The archives of the office of the Dissave were in the custody of the Tombo-Keeper. There were several institutions over which the Central government had supervision, namely, the School Board and the Board of Deacons. These archives were also preserved in the office of the Dissave. Accordingly, the archives of the Dutch administration in Ceylon were mainly accumulated in Jaffna, Galle, Tutucorin and in the office of the Dissave of Colombo.
The Dutch government in Ceylon did not conduct any periodical enumeration of its archives and it is not, therefore, possible to arrive at any assumption about the physical volume of the Dutch archives. The archives were, however, considerably increased as a result of the expansion of responsibility of the Dutch Central Government in Colombo. In 1697, the Commandeur of Jaffna, Hendrik Zwarrdecroon (1694-1697) made an effort to register and arrange documents in the Jaffna Secretariat.
Governor Joan Simons (1703-1707) introduced a better system of arrangement of records in the Secretariat in Colombo during the term of his office. The Commissioner Jacob Christian Pielat (1732-1734) took a personal interest in reorganization and preservation of archives in a methodical manner in the Secretariat of the Central Government in Colombo.
The Dutch administration in Ceylon imposed several regulations to minimize the mixing of the archive series, and, misplacing and damaging of archives by irresponsible officers. The common practice in regard to the disposal of valueless records in 1696, was to burn them in the presence of a committee of responsible officers after passing a resolution in the Governor and Council. These regulations were, however, not followed to the very letter. The largest damage to the Dutch archives occurred during the term of Governor Gerrit de Heere (1697-1703). The damage has been described as a ‘deliberate destruction’ by the Secretary Gerrit van Tol in 1700. The charges were laid against the Secretary van Tol on account of his unwarranted behavior in destroying records. The evidence presented at the subsequent inquiry showed that his conduct, and that of his staff had been highly deplorable. Governor Cornelis Joan Simons, as the immediate successor to the Governor Gerrit Heere, took preventive measures regarding any subsequent hazards to the archives including wanton destruction. Thereafter, however, no incident of unauthorized destruction of archives has been recorded.
There is evidence of several misadventures occurring to the Dutch archives during the period of the Dutch administration. A part of the Dutch archives belonging to the administration in Matara were destroyed as a result of war between the Dutch and the Kandyans in 1761. Another part of the archives of the Dutch administration in Matara was destroyed by Van Schuler, the Dissave of Matara, when he realized that the surrender of to be Dutch to the British took over the Dutch forts in 1796. The hasty evacuation of the Dutch property caused damages to the outstations archives and some parts were lost in the course of transfer of power from the Dutch to the British. The archives of the Colombo dissavany, which were deposited in the office of the Dissave in Hulftsdorp, caught fire in 1793 in consequences of which a considerable portion of the Dutch archives was destroyed. The loss of archives resulting from the above mentioned incidents cannot be evaluated in the absence of proper and sufficient information.
The British occupation of the Dutch territory in Ceylon commenced on 26th August, 1795. In accordance with the Treaty of Capitulation signed between the Dutch and the British in Colombo on 23rd February, 1796, the administration by the Dutch archives by the Company effectively terminated, and in consequences, the generation of archives by the Company ceased. In 1796, when the Dutch handed over the archives to the British, there was no custodian for the Dutch archives. Frederick North (1798-1805) was appointed as the Governor of the British possessions in the island on 12th October, 1798. On the advice of the Governor Fredrick North, the Secretary of State in London appointed the Chief Secretary in Ceylon, Hugh Cleghorn (1798-1801) as the Secretary and Registrar of the Records of the Island of Ceylon. Cleghorn retired from his office in 1801. In 1803, Albert Henry Giesler functioned as the Keeper of Records. During the British administration the Dutch archives was preserved in the Secretariat in Colombo. The archives as an institution in the general framework of the administration in the government’s civil establishment came to be recognized by the Governor since 1817.
British colonial government in Ceylon appointed a Commission in 1859 to examine and report on the archives of the Chief Secretary’s office. The Commissioners in their report suggested to transfer the Dutch archives which were in the Government Agents office in Colombo to the Chief Secretary’s office. In 1867, the archives series referred to as Land and Head Tombos of the School Thombos of the Dissavany of Colombo were transferred by the Chief Secretary from his office to the newly created office of the Registrar General on the assumption that these archives series would prove to be useful for registration purposes. The Dutch archives belonging to the administration of the Commandment of Galle, which remained at the Government Agent’s Office in Galle, with the exception of Tombos were transferred to the office of the Chief Secretary in Colombo in 1880. In 1882, the Chief Secretary required more accommodation in his office and the entire accession of archives from Galle was transferred to the Colombo Museum. Mr. Richard Gerald Anthonisz was appointed as the Examiner of Dutch Records in 1899. In 1902 his position was redesigned as the Archivist and Librarian and Mr.Anthonisz using his official capacity took every possible step to restore the integrity of the archives of the Dutch administration in Ceylon with the hope of making it into one entity.
The Government of Ceylon made a request to the Government of The Netherlands in 1936 to employ a suitable Archivist to prepare a detailed catalogue of the Dutch archivist of Ceylon. In response to this request, Maria Wilhelmina Jurriaanse (1900-1992) arrived in Ceylon on 7th February, 1937, and was appointed by the Chief Secretary of Ceylon as an Additional Assistant Archivist of the Government of Ceylon,. Jurriaanse, for the first time in Ceylon, utilized the archival principle of arrangement referred to as provenance in arranging the Dutch Central Government archives of Ceylon. Jurriaanse commenced the arrangement of the Dutch archives in 1937 and completed her catalogue in 1943 under the title Catalogue of the Archives of the Dutch Central Government of Coastal Ceylon 1640-1796.
Jurriaanse made use of the lists of documents available in the archives, as well as the indexes prepared by Mr.R.G.Anthonisz in the compilation of the catalogue. When the Catalogue of Jurriaanse was completed in 1943 the archives of the Dutch central government in Ceylon became generally accessible to the researchers.
The archives of the administration in Galle and Jaffna, however, remained-catalogued until a separate catalogue of them was prepared by Samuel Andrew William Mottau in 1975. The catalogue of Mottau was published by the General State Archives in The Netherlands as Inventory of the archives of the Dutch Government in the Divisions of Galle (Matara) and Jaffnapatanam 1640-1796. The archives relating to the Dutch administration of Matara, although not complete, were differentiated from those of Galle and included in the new catalogue by its compiler, Mottau. Several volumes which were omitted from the catalogue of Jurriaanse were also identified and added as the Appendix 1 in the catalogue prepared by Mottau. The new catalogue for the Galle and Jaffna archives continued the numbering of the volumes from the last number referred to in the catalogue of Jurriaanse in order to maintain the integrity of the Dutch archives of Ceylon as one organic entity. The publication of the catalogue for the archives of Galle and Jaffna in 1975 marked the completion of the finding aids to the entire archives of the Dutch administration of Ceylon generated by the Dutch East India Company administration in Ceylon.
Immediate source of acquisition or transfer
Content and structure area
Scope and content
Administrative Records:
The Governor in Council: Minutes of the Political Council (1640-1796),
Correspondence: Inward and Outward Correspondence with the VOC administrations in The Netherlands, Cape of Good Hope, Batavia, Jaffna, Mannar, Galle, Tuticorin, Trincomalee, Batticaloa, Mullaitive, Colombo, Kalpitaya, Puttalum, Malabar Coast, Coromandel Coast, Surat, Bengal, Malacca, Persia, Padang, Siam, Canton and Maldives Islands, Correspondence with Various Departments, (1790-1794)
Internal Affairs: Orders (1640-1763), Plakkaats or Government Notifications. (1641-1791), Instructions (1665-1795), Agreements (1671-1770), Appointments (1750-1796). Secretariat Protocols (1690-1795), Memoirs of Governors and Other Officials (1650-1794), Diaries and Reports of Governors and Official, (1662-1760), Rolls Lists and Commented Documents of the Inhabitants (1714-1791), Complaints (1664-1794), Defence and Military Records (1667-1794).
Records of External Affairs – Relations with Other V.O.C. Settlements (1675-1783), Relations with Kandy (1645-1792), Relations with South Indian Princedom (1683-1769), Documents Relating to the Expeditions Against the Portuguese (1657-1662), French (1672-1674), Reinicus Siersma Against the Sea Robbers (1739-1773), Christian Wohlfarth to Nagapatnam (1773), War Between Dutch and England Mission from Patria (1684-1690)
Departments of the Central Government – The Hoofd administrateur, Correspondence and Accounts (1749-1784). The Dissave, correspondence, Land Records, Tombos and Lascoryn Rolls (1751-1796).
Trade Records: Pearl Fisheries (1694-1794), Question of Trade (1696-1794), Internal and External Audit (1772-1781) Auction Sales (1706-1791).
Judicial Records: Registers of Bonds, Protocols, Deeds, Cases and Rolls of Civil, Criminal and Land Courts Proceedings (1728-1796).
Ecclesiastical Records: Ecclesiastical matters (1699-1785)
The Governor in Council: Minutes of the Political Council (1640-1796),
Correspondence: Inward and Outward Correspondence with the VOC administrations in The Netherlands, Cape of Good Hope, Batavia, Jaffna, Mannar, Galle, Tuticorin, Trincomalee, Batticaloa, Mullaitive, Colombo, Kalpitaya, Puttalum, Malabar Coast, Coromandel Coast, Surat, Bengal, Malacca, Persia, Padang, Siam, Canton and Maldives Islands, Correspondence with Various Departments, (1790-1794)
Internal Affairs: Orders (1640-1763), Plakkaats or Government Notifications. (1641-1791), Instructions (1665-1795), Agreements (1671-1770), Appointments (1750-1796). Secretariat Protocols (1690-1795), Memoirs of Governors and Other Officials (1650-1794), Diaries and Reports of Governors and Official, (1662-1760), Rolls Lists and Commented Documents of the Inhabitants (1714-1791), Complaints (1664-1794), Defence and Military Records (1667-1794).
Records of External Affairs – Relations with Other V.O.C. Settlements (1675-1783), Relations with Kandy (1645-1792), Relations with South Indian Princedom (1683-1769), Documents Relating to the Expeditions Against the Portuguese (1657-1662), French (1672-1674), Reinicus Siersma Against the Sea Robbers (1739-1773), Christian Wohlfarth to Nagapatnam (1773), War Between Dutch and England Mission from Patria (1684-1690)
Departments of the Central Government – The Hoofd administrateur, Correspondence and Accounts (1749-1784). The Dissave, correspondence, Land Records, Tombos and Lascoryn Rolls (1751-1796).
Trade Records: Pearl Fisheries (1694-1794), Question of Trade (1696-1794), Internal and External Audit (1772-1781) Auction Sales (1706-1791).
Judicial Records: Registers of Bonds, Protocols, Deeds, Cases and Rolls of Civil, Criminal and Land Courts Proceedings (1728-1796).
Ecclesiastical Records: Ecclesiastical matters (1699-1785)
Appraisal, destruction and scheduling
Accruals
No further accruals are expected.
System of arrangement
Conditions of access and use area
Conditions governing access
Open Access
Conditions governing reproduction
No restrictions
Language of material
- Dutch
- Sinhala
- Tamil
Script of material
Language and script notes
Physical characteristics and technical requirements
Manuscripts and printed documents.
Finding aids
Allied materials area
Existence and location of originals
Existence and location of copies
Microfilms, at Sri Lanka National Archives
Related units of description
Notes area
Access points
Subject access points
Place access points
Name access points
Description control area
Description identifier
Institution identifier
Rules and/or conventions used
ISAD(G)
Status
Level of detail
Partial
Dates of creation revision deletion
Language(s)
- English
Script(s)
Sources
International Council on Archives: Guide to the Sources of Asian History. Colombo: National Archives of Sri Lanka, 1996
Archivist's note
Description transferred from International Council on Archives: Guide to the Sources of Asian History. Colombo: National Archives of Sri Lanka, 1996.