Violence in the Colonies

Waging war was therefore one of the core activities of the Dutch East India Company (VOC). Evidence of this includes the many canons that bear the famous VOC logo – and the many captured canons that came to the Rijksmuseum directly from 19th-century battlefields. Violence was a constant feature of life in the colonies. It was a key instrument of power used by a small group of people who wanted to gain and maintain control over the large majority. The colonisers also used a sophisticated divide-and-rule strategy and imprinted a deep sense of inferiority on the population to dominate them. In many cases a wide range of cruel punishments were used.