Akar Nusa
January 1641. A thin crowd of hungry defenders stands on the walls of A Famosa. Outside, the Dutch and their allies from Johor wait. The long siege is nearly over.
The story
The Dutch East India Company (the VOC) came to Southeast Asia in the early 1600s to take over the spice trade. The Portuguese stood in their way, and Melaka's fortress was the greatest prize on the strait.
In 1606 the Dutch tried to take Melaka and failed. But the fight brought a valuable friendship. The Sultanate of Johor, descended from Melaka's old royal line, signed treaties with the Dutch that year. Both wanted the Portuguese gone.
In January 1641 the second great attack came. About 700 Dutch and Javanese soldiers, helped by 500 to 600 men from Johor, took the town. By then the Portuguese town had already been weakened by hunger and disease.
The deal made in 1606 had a clause: the Dutch would take Melaka but not seek more Malay lands or wage war on the Malay kingdoms.
What came next surprised many. Melaka did not get richer under the Dutch. They ran their business from Batavia (now Jakarta) and wanted Melaka mainly to stop others from having it. Trade shrank. Johor, with its busy port at Riau, became the strongest local power. The Dutch stayed for almost 183 years, with a pause under British control during the Napoleonic wars.
For the Kristang community, the Portuguese-descended families of Melaka, the Dutch change did not end their story. They stayed, kept their language and church life, and many Kristang families also have Dutch ancestry through marriage.
A word on the Javanese. The Dutch force included local Javanese allies, which reminds us that the story was not just European against European. Johor wanted the Portuguese gone to rebuild its own power, and it succeeded: for much of the 1600s it was the strongest Malay state on the strait. The Portuguese-era fort had held out for 130 years, but by 1641 hunger and disease had worn the town down before the final assault.
Where you can still see it today
- The Stadthuys in Melaka, a Dutch-era building that survived the early 1800s demolition.
- The Porta de Santiago gate, carved 1670, with the Dutch company mark.
- The Portuguese Settlement, where Kristang families still live.
What DNA can tell, and what it cannot
A European part in a region estimate can reflect Portuguese or Dutch ancestors, usually small and mixed with others. Many Melaka families also have Malay, Javanese, Chinese and Indian ancestors from this same period.
DNA does not decide race, religion or bumiputera status.
