Centuries before the French colonialists 'discovered' the Mekong, a Dutch merchant showed the way

 If we think of journeys down the Mekong River, names of great explorers of the French colonial area like Francis Garnier, Henri Mouhot and August-Jean-Marie Pavie spring to mind.

These men were motivated by a combination of commercial, political and scientific reasons. Their exploits have been well documented and widely read by an audience thirsty for stories of adventure in exotic places. Many of the works, published during the time of their journeys, can still be found today in bookshops around Bangkok.

Less well known are the endeavours of an earlier explorer, a Dutch under-merchant Gerrit Van Wuysthoff, who was employed by the Cambodian office of the United Dutch East India Company (Voc). In 1641, two centuries before the French even took an interest in Southeast Asia, Van Wuysthoff travelled from Loveck (or Lauweck), the then-capital of Cambodia, to Vientiane in the Lan-Xang Kingdom in present day Laos. This makes Wuysthoff the first official European visitor to Laos.

His travelogue, which provides details on travel conditions enroute, as well as observations on Lao politics, culture and religious life, was translated into French and used by the 19th-century pioneers as a travel guide.
The journey of this Dutch traveller and the report he wrote are the topic of an exhibition in the National Museum in Vientiane.

It was a long and tedious journey for Van Wuysthoff and his party. It took them more than four months to reach the capital of Lan-Xang. They left on July 20, during the rainy season when the water levels in the river were conveniently high. Van Wuysthoff was accompanied by two assistants, a barber-cum-surgeon, a Malay interpreter, two boys and a group of Lao merchants. Together with samples of merchandise and presents for King Surinyavongsa of Lan-Xang, the party of 30 packed into 12 boats.
The reason for Van Wuysthoff’s journey was twofold. His first objective was to find out if it would be profitable for Voc to establish diplomatic and economic ties with Lan-Xang, and the second was to test the usability of the Mekong as a trade route into the interior of the Southeast Asian mainland.
The Dutch were interested in the forest products of Laos, such as gum-lac, benzoin and deer skins. Traders in the Voc offices in Cambodia and in the Siamese capital of Ayutthaya bought these products from visiting Lao merchants. The Lao came to both countries from their isolated landlocked kingdom to offer their wares in exchange for various kinds of textiles and cloth.
The Dutch, after acquiring the Lao goods, exported them to Japan in exchange for precious metals like silver and copper. These were in turn, used to buy spices elsewhere in Southeast Asia for the European market. The merchandise from Lan-Xang was part of the extensive Dutch Asian trade network.
After 1633, trade between Siam and Lan-Xang came to a standstill. Because of political difficulties between the two kingdoms, Lao merchants felt it was unsafe to travel to Ayutthaya, so obtaining gum-lac and deerskin had become difficult. However, Loveck was still frequented by the Lao, and in order not to lose the supply of forest products, a Voc lodge was opened in the Cambodian capital in 1636.
The next step in securing the supply from Laos was to open a lodge in Vientiane itself. This was potentially beneficial for the Voc. The Dutch were not the only ones to offer textiles in exchange for deerskin and gum-lac. They faced fierce competition from, what Van Wuysthoff calls, “the Moor traders”.
Muslim merchants from India and the Malay states, threatened to undercut the Dutch position by offering textiles at a much cheaper price.
However, Voc realised that taking the merchandise directly to Lan-Xang would eliminate competition, so Van Wuysthoff hoped to persuade King Surinyavongsa to grant the Dutch a monopoly on the trade in certain wares.
King Surinyavongsa would also benefit from establishing closer ties with the Dutch. It was after all the king himself who had requested the company’s governor general Antonie van Diemen to send a representative to foster a friendship between his kingdom and the Voc. Contacts with the company would secure access to the maritime trade network. It would also provide the king with a politically beneficial alliance.
The Voc had a vast network of trade posts and military strongholds throughout Southeast Asia. In January 1641, only a few months before Van Wuysthoff embarked on his journey, the company conquered the strategically important port city of Malacca on the Malay Peninsula from the Portuguese. It was clear to all Asian rulers that the Dutch East India Company was a force to be reckoned with, so close ties with it would enhance the status of King Surinyavongsa in the eyes of his neighbours.
The elaborate manner in which the Dutch representatives were received and bestowed with honours reflected the importance that the king attached to the visit.
Wuysthoff’s journey never resulted in the establishment of a Voc lodge in Vientiane. The most important reason was the difficulty of navigating the Mekong.
The going was tough almost all the way. At waterfalls, all the boats and their cargo had to be pulled ashore and carried for miles across rough terrain. In other places, traitorous rapids made it hard to navigate and the expedition was slowed down to a snail’s pace. The journey was probably regarded by Van Wuysthoff’s superiors as a failure.
For us, in the 21st century however, Van Wuysthoff’s account provides a unique insight into Laotian history. Through the lens of a 17th-century Dutch merchant, we catch a glimpse of Lao society during one of the most glorious periods in its history.

The exhibition ‘Van Wuysthoff and the Lan-Xang Kingdom, a 17th Century Meeting of Cultures’ opens at the National Museum in Vientiane on February 15 and runs through April 15.