Timor Zone: Slave Trading Network from the Traditional Era to the Late Nineteenth-Century Dutch Colonial State

This article examines the continuity and changes of the Timorese slave trade network from the traditional era to the late nineteenth-century Dutch colonial state. Archival records, newspapers, and other literature were used extensively to reconstruct the map of the Timorese slave trading. Grasping the dynamics of change and trade networks of Timor, there were two proposed research questions: First, how did the Timorese slave trading network experience continuity and change from the traditional period until the late nineteenth-century Dutch colonial state? Second, to what extent does the need for labour in the global and Southeast Asian context play in shaping and catalyzing the expansion of the Timorese slave network? Timor and its surroundings were deemed slave enclaves (peripheries) with several trading centres. Traditionally, slave trade routes formed from Timor to Java and Malacca. In addition, it was intended for Dili and Macau during the Portuguese era. During the VOC era, Batavia and Banda were the busiest routes of the Timorese slave trade. Networking was increasingly across-the-board, along with the need for labour to meet the demands of the global market. Henceforward, during the Dutch East Indies, the slave trading network continued expanding to Maurits, Réunion, Macau, Mozambique, and Mombasa and several years after the post-prohibition of slavery, leaving Ende Bay as the only centre of the slavery trade.


Introduction
Numerous travel accounts, such as Pires (1944), , Earl (1848), and Piesse (1849), describe Timor as a prima donna for European traders due to the abundant availability of highvaluable commodities, including sandalwood, beeswax, horses, and slaves. Regular visits of ships with European flags in Timor proved the aforementioned accounts (ANRI 1845).
In the most recent time, studies on slavery in Timor predominantly concentrate on social structures and political contestation. Hägerdal rethought the patterns of slave-holding and slavetrading found in the small-scale of the Timor region, particularly Timor, Solor, Alor, Rote and Sawu. Through extensive archival sources, he uncovers how the Dutch and Portuguese influenced the trade of enslaved peoples and how enslavement by Asian external forces counterbalanced this (Hägerdal 2020, 15). The commercial systems predated European influence in the commoditization of humans. Compared to the Atlantic world, the trade in enslaved people seems to have been regarded as a thoroughly natural and even respectable human activity (Hägerdal 2020, 18, 28).
Furthermore, Warren emphasizes the close relationship between slavery and social construction in a particular society, indicating a definite distinction between authorities and common society. This situation was exacerbated by the lack of strong legal provisions to regulate justice and inter-kingdom wars. These factors set a background for the emergence of slavery and the slave trade in Southeast Asia (Warren 2007, 190).
To investigate the slave-trade syndicate, Sholihah, Rochwulaningsih, and Sulistiyono (2019) discuss the contestation of slavery in nineteenth-century Timor. The slave trade was inseparable from the conflict between three factions: local authorities (rajahs), Timor-based colonial forces and pirates.
However, investigations on Timorese slave networking, notably in the transregional network, remained limited. Expanding transregional slave trade networks also proceeded simultaneously with the demand for European migrant labour. Portuguese independent traders were believed to have increased the volume of the slave trade in the northeastern Indian Ocean during the seventeenth century, facilitating the VOC's demand for enslaved people (Allen 2014, 137).
In the context of the capitalist system, labourers were producing commodities for their own needs or individuals with private contracts and domestic and international markets (Giddens 1986, 57). It corresponds to Marx's analysis that capitalism was a system of commodity production (Marx 1906). At this point, labour became a critical factor in the mass production of commodities.
Alongside Dutch colonial interests, enslaved Timorese people were also commodities hunted by the Iranuns pirates to meet their labour needs in Sulu (Warren 2007). The slaves were employed in marine sectors to catch sea cucumbers and pearl oysters. By their nature, enslaved Timorese people were considered skilled and warlike, which led importers to purchase slaves from Timor (Ardhana 2005, 43). Therefore, the present study examines the continuity and change in Timorese slave trade networks from the traditional period to the late Dutch colonial state. Grasping the dynamics of change and trade networks of Timor, there were two proposed research questions: First, how did the Timorese slave trading network experience continuity and change from the traditional period until the late nineteenth-century Dutch colonial state? Second, to what extent does the need for labour in the global and Southeast Asian context play in shaping and catalyzing the expansion of the Timorese slave network?
Within the framework of world system theory, Timor and its surroundings were deemed slave enclaves (peripheries) with several trading centres, including Makassar, Batavia, Malacca, Mindanao, Macau and Maurits (Wallerstein 1989). An enormous slave trade in Timor was also facilitated by its eligibility for commodity trade routes with distinct local and colonial actors.

Method
This study applied the historical method, focusing on archival sources of Inventaris Arsip Timor, K.43 collected in the National Archive of the Republic of Indonesia and extensive newspapers published in the nineteenth century by the British accessed from the e-resources of the National Library of Singapore. A wide range of literature also supports elaborating on reconstructing the slave trading network domestically and internationally. Ata is a typical term used in Timor and Sumba. Generally, the Nusa Tenggara region generally knows similar terms, such as panjak in Bali and tau ulin in Sumbawa. These groups were relatively easy to be enslaved. The social status of formerly enslaved people remained lower; they could not obtain a respectable position in society because the status of "former slaves" continued to stick with them. However, the treatment of enslaved people in Timor was relatively humane. They were even treated as part of their master's family and were rarely treated harshly (Warren 2007, 190).
The combination between social structure and intensive trade relations between Timor and other regions pushed slave trading activity into the broader spectrum. Initially, Timor established a relationship with another area in the thirteenth century. This fact was recorded in the Chinese Foreign Trade Inspectorate report in 1225. Chau Ju-Kua (Zhao Rugua 趙贂) mentioned the Timor Archipelago as a sandalwood-rich island (Satalum album) (Ormeling 1956).
The popularity of Timorese sandalwood persisted over the following centuries, with a Chinese chronicle dating from 1350 mentioning Timor by the term Guli Dimen, a mountain located northwest of Zhong-Jia Luo and covered with sandalwood trees. Merchants sold silver, iron, porcelain or bowls, clothes, and taffeta in exchange for sandalwood and beeswax. Align with another Chinese report, in 1436, the mountains of the island of Timor in eastern China were covered with sandalwood (Ptak 1987).
Timor's relations with other regions were also recorded in Negarakertagama (Sanjaya 2014, 34). It explained the attack on Timor by an expedition from Java in 1357. This expedition also conquered Dompu and Sumbawa. Afterwards, the Navy continued to sail east, attacking islands such as Larantuka and Flores. Timor was eventually forced to acknowledge Majapahit's sovereignty (Ardhana 2005, 30-31).
However, in the fifteenth century, the Chinese took control of most of the Archipelago through the expeditions of Admiral Cheng Ho. In addition, Malacca evolved into a new trade centre in the region. The position of Javanese and Malay traders was merely intermediaries for shipments of sandalwood, slaves and other commodities from Timor to Malacca. These commodities were also brought directly to China (Chuanzhou) by Indian and Chinese traders. Pires reports that no large Chinese ships sailed the Java Sea between 1435 and 1515 (Ardhana 2005, 31).
Wallerstein assumes that the East Indies had external connections with the European world system from 1500 to 1800. Valuable commodities from the Archipelago were hunted in both Europe and Asia. For instance, nutmeg and cloves from Maluku have become inseparable from European retail chains. Timorese sandalwood was also considered a luxury product, making its way across the Java Sea and the Strait of Malacca to the outside world of India and China (Wallerstein 1989).
Located in the western part of Timor Island, the port of Kupang has developed into one of Timor's most strategically important ports since the thirteenth century. Kupang Port was a safe anchorage because it was ecologically located at the mouth of a river on the west coast of Kupang. At the mouth of the river, Kupang Port has a sand delta of river sediments and rocks. Nevertheless, sand and coral deltas provide excellent natural defence, especially during bad weather and high waves (Sanjaya 2014). This geographical advantage was the rational explanation for why Western countries dominated trade. The fort was designed to protect the port and surrounding areas but was essentially tied to foreign interests controlling trade in Timor.  Figure 1 illustrates the crowds in Kupang Harbour, where large ships were moored in 1843. Each port in Timor was controlled by the respective king (rajah). The tariffs imposed at these ports were low (Lapian 2008, 121).
The sandalwood trade brought economic benefits to the elite and facilitated the search for other commodities such as beeswax, honey, gold, turtle shells, and slaves (Hägerdal 2012, 59). During this period, slaves became a commodity of high economic value in the Timorese trade. The slave trade involved Javanese and Malay merchants. Timor's slave trade routes also used the established commodity trade routes from east to west operated the Sulawesi Sea and the Java Sea to Malacca.
In the context of the Timorese trade, it was unprecedented that the leading actors were not Timorese. Timorese even have limited junk to export their products. Malay and Javanese traders sailed to Timor to collect these products. They brought cloth, knives, axes, swords, nails, chinaware, lead, mercury, and coloured beads as means of exchange (Barbosa 1918, 195-196).
Why did Timorese tend to be reluctant to sail? First, geographic and climatic limitations. Prolonged and complex transportation routes to commercial centres (Malacca and Java) and climate concerns also frequently deter Timorese from sailing further west. Second, the need for the maritime spirit. John Crawfurd's account, explained how the Timorese perceive fish as nothing more than an additional commodity. Timorese were fearful of operating canoes, even on a prolonged voyage. The only way to get fish was to build a wall by stacking rocks. The fish was then carried past the wall at high tide and remained on the wall when the tide ebbs (Crawfurd 1856, 434).
Third, the terror of the sea was caused by slavehunting by outer groups like the Bugis and Iranun (Hägerdal 2012, 2).
Moreover, three reasons were the main factors in the influx of foreign ships into Timor: there was no resistance from East Timorese. The role of indigenous merchants in Timor was not well-documented, but the sandalwood trade was under liurai control. Therefore, the sandalwood trade enabled liurai family to procure valuable commodities such as metals, Chinese pottery, and other commodities, including firearms. Figure 2 shows the intricately intertwined slave trade network, including supply areas and slave trade centres in Java and Malacca in the sixteenth century.
Malay and Javanese merchants formed the sea route to Timor. There were at least two crucial West-to-East shipping and trade networks. First, the route from Malacca to Sumatra, along the northern coast of Java to Nusa Tenggara and Flores, enters Maluku in search of spices, sandalwood, beeswax, and enslaved people. It enters East Nusa Tenggara waters toward Timor. The return trip followed the same route. Secondly, according to Tome Pires' note, besides this route, there was also a route that reached Tanjung Pura via Malacca, heading to Makassar, to Maluku via Buton, and back by the same route (Pires 1944, 226).

Figure 2. Map of Timorese Slave Trading Network in Traditional Era
Portuguese Era In 1566, the Portuguese established more profound power by building a fort called Ford Henericus in Solor. The Portuguese also used Solor as a storehouse for sandalwood and other goods from East Nusa Tenggara. Kupang's most prominent relationship with the Portuguese people dates back to the 1640s. This momentum began when Antonio de Sau Jacinto was entrusted with spreading Catholic Christianity in the region. Jacinto partnered with the King of Kupang (Rajah Helong) and later baptized Don Duarte, while the Empress baptized Dona Maria. This partnership eventually led him to a treaty dated December 29, 1645, in which, among other things, Jacinto was allowed to build a church and a fort, which would prevent ships from other countries from entering the port of Kupang. Ultimately, Portuguese succeeded in using the port of Kupang as a centre for spreading Catholic Christianity and as a defensive base (Sanjaya 2014, 22-23).
However, the fortress built by Padre Anton Jacinto was abandoned due to internal problems. Vereenigde Oostindische Compagnie (VOC) later took over the Portuguese fort. As a fortified port, Kupang became a trade and government centre.
After the great earthquake of 1648 destroyed Solor's fort, the VOC moved its headquarters from Solor to Kupang. Afterwards, VOC built Fort Concordia on February 2, 1653 in Kupang. Captain Johan Burger directed construction with the support of the VOC allied kings, who mobilized people to help build this fortress. A multi-ethnic settlement was residing around the fort; there were European and locals of Timorese, Rote, Sawu, Solor, Chinese, etc. The arrival of Chinese merchants in the early eighteenth century established Kupang as a bonafide city (Hägerdal 2010, 24).
In the seventeenth century, it had many large trading settlements, each ruled by a separate chieftain. An early seventeenth-century Chinese source (Wang Ch'I Tsung 1618), probably based on earlier data, described how trade occurred. In retail, the rajah was responsible for supervision. When the foreign traders arrived, rajah and all their entourage went to the marketplace, where people gathered to exchange timber with the foreigners. For fear of chaos, transactions will only occur in the presence of rajah. It needed to be clarified whether this means that rajah has any pre-emption rights. In addition to sandalwood, Timor exports wax and honey in large quantities. There was also a thriving slave trade (Lapian 2008, 63). Figure 3 illustrates a Portuguese network from the seventeenth century. Based in Dili, the Portuguese usually captured people from Timor or acquired slaves through warfare with the kings of Kupang. The route to Macau passed through the Java Sea. As was well known, the Portuguese had a colony in Macau from 1557 until 1999.  Portugal and VOC also continued to compete. As well as fighting for ports and fortresses, they assisted the region as a source of sandalwood trade. The fighting finally ended after the Penhui War broke out in 1749. The VOC succeeded in defeating the Portuguese and its allies, the inland kings. Since then, the role of the Portuguese has retreated and moved inland (Therik 1990). Figure 4 is a slave trade network established in various regions of the Archipelago by VOC. VOC also typically stopped in some areas to capture slaves. VOC in Timor had at least two routes. First, Timor -Rote -Sawu -Sumba -Flores -Bali -Batavia. Second, Timor -Solor -Banda. Perkeniers were Dutch, primarily soldiers and businessmen empowered by the VOC to manage the nutmeg plantations in Banda. The Perkeniers were allowed to own slaves and freed them to work on the nutmeg plantations. The authority granted to the Perkeniers allowed them to purchase and arrange slave work mechanisms freely. Perkeniers obtained slaves from slave trading. The slaves traded were generally indigenous peoples of Archipelagos such as Papua, Flores, Buton, Bugis, Makassar, Bali, Lombok, Java, Madura, Sumatra and Timor. Slaves occasionally worked beyond permissible, so their destiny differed from that of free people who belonged to the Mardijker and Mestizo categories (Thalib 2015, x).
Slavery activity in eastern Indonesia was one of the factors driven by the Dutch demand for slaves in Batavia. In contrast, the VOC-era slave trade, including the South African colonies, accounted for 0.5% of total trade (Vink 2003, 135). Rampant slave-hunting was motivated by Europeans who needed labour in plantations, towns and suburban plantations. Slaves were also employed as crew members in ports and ships (Villiers 1990, 150-51).
Colonial documents indicated that many slaves came from Timor and were obtained through raids and warfare between black Portuguese and Muslim villages west of Flores and Adonara (Reid 2004b, 8). Besides Timor, the slaves sold in Batavia were believed to have come from Makassar and other islands in the Lesser Sunda region and Raja Ampat (Lobato 2014, 197).
Based on a slave trade network documented from the VOC era to the Dutch colonial era. It was estimated that around 150,000 slaves were expelled from Bali between 1650 and 1830. These slaves were obtained through war and debt bondage (Schulte Nordholt 1996). In 1673, over 13,000 of the population, nearly 50% of Batavia's population, consisted of slaves. It included chained slaves acquired by war and debt (kettinggangers), skilled labourers, and coolies from various parts of the Archipelago. Sumbawa also knew that there were debt slaves called pandelingan (Chambert-Loir 1993, 80). In the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, port cities (particularly Batavia) needed craftsmen and porters who could closely monitor their movements. By 1770, the Netherlands was trading up to 4,000 slaves a year (Poesponegoro 1993, 264).
In the seventeenth-century study of Batavia, about 600 slaves were sold to Batavia in 1652, less than 25 of whom came from the Timor region (Niemeijer 2005, 402-3). However, these dates were estimated before the construction of Fort Concordia in 1653. In peacetime, the number of slaves exported was estimated at 10 to 20 per year, occasionally not at all. The situation was very unlike when large numbers of slaves were sent to Batavia during the war. One of the most threatening cases of slavery occurred in 1756 when Johannes Andreas Paravicini attacked Prince Landu and his army at Rote. As a result of this attack, Paravicini managed to enslave more than 1,000 men, women and children. Their fate in Batavia and other port cities was not yet known, but fragments of information from the colonial period suggested that they ended up as domestic slaves, prostitutes, etc. It also protected locals who practised Christianity. But in a situation of rebellion. Christians were brought to Batavia and used as slaves. Seven Dutch soldiers died in the 1710 rebellion at Damar, and 134 Christian prisoners were taken to Batavia as slaves (Hägerdal 2010, 26).
Between the seventeenth and nineteenth centuries, Batavia became a vital inter-island slave trade linkage. From the Daily Journals of Batavia Castle (Benteng). Almost every day, Batavia includes a variety of local sea facilities, such as lambu, tenggang, canoe, and wankang (a type of small Chinese boat), with various cheap trinkets. It was stated that male and female slaves were transported (Niemeijer 2005, 403).
In addition to Batavia, the VOC Post Office in West Sumatra also needed slaves for its gold mines in Salido. Finally, in Batavia, the VOC mobilized slaves from the Timor region to fill the labour gap in West Sumatra. Meanwhile, the kings of the Sawu region who cooperated with the VOC promised to hand over the slaves in their territory to the VOC. Instead, VOC helped Sawu king fight against Mesara. In July 1672, Reynout Wagenburgh, an employee of the company, went to Sawu to settle a dispute between the two kingdoms. Mesara eventually attacked the VOC but was repulsed by European gunfire. Wagenburgh continued his offensive by burning Mesara settlements. The VOC took this measure as Sawu had promised 100-150 slaves (Coolhaas 1968, 845-46). Rote, Sawu, and Solor were similar to Timor and had high conflict intensity. Disputes between little kings mainly caused the conflict. Several kings were allied, at probability, with the Dutch. The Dutch sometimes used these conflicts to acquire large numbers of slaves sent to Batavia.
Several slave supply areas, such as Sumba, Rote, Sawu, and Solor, often had problems with rajah. There were two conflicting responses regarding slaves, and some rajahs actually collaborated with the Dutch, while others were firm opponents. At some point, this conflict resulted in the acquisition of large numbers of slaves to be shipped to Batavia (Hägerdal 2010, 24).
Apart from acquiring war, the kings in Timor also deliberately handed over judicial slaves (who had been punished for certain offences) to the Dutch. This practice was stopped in 1834 after the Dutch banned the sale of unregistered slaves owned by natives and kings. These slaves could not be sold and taken outside (ANRI, n.d.).

Early Dutch East Indies Prior to the Prohibition of Slavery
Many changes in shipping and trade in the Archipelago occurred in the nineteenth century. This change was caused by expanded British shipping to Southeast Asia by opening Singapore as a free port. Following British policy, the Netherlands replaced the monopoly with a leasing system (patcher) (Sulistiyono 2003, 76).
In 1811, the Netherlands was ruled by France under Emperor Napoleon Bonaparte. The British used this situation to expand and conquer the Dutch colonies in the Archipelago. As a result, Kupang was under the control of the British Interregnum from 1811 to 1816. After the London Parliament of 1814, the Dutch colonial government was restored in Kupang in 1816 (Sanjaya 2014, 25).
After the Dutch government took control of Timor in the early nineteenth century, the situation in Kupang was distinguishable. The Dutch East Indies also adjusted its economic policies to improve the status of the Port of Kupang as a trading port. The Dutch took to achieve this was to eliminating the monopoly system and replacing it with a leasing system to collect import and export taxes (Widiatmika 2010, 110).
As Commissioner of Timorese Affairs, H.A. Lofsteh managed all matters relating to Dutch trade in Kupang. This oversight was considered significant as Kupang became the residence of the Dutch government in the Nusa Tenggara region.
The Dutch government established pachter (port tenants) to manage the port of Kupang. Most of these tenants were Chinese living around Kupang Port. Thus, the Dutch government's exceptional design of the Kupang harbour in the early nineteenth century could lead to the rapid development of the port (Widiatmika 2010, 110).
The Dutch government leased economic functions to the Chinese with sufficient experience in Kupang, such as collecting bounties from slave owners, import and export taxes, and opium taxes. On the other hand, elsewhere in Timor, such arrangements cannot be made, except for the Port of Kupang, which can be supervised by the placement of a commercial agent (Poshouder) (Sanjaya 2014, 49).
Makassar's rule continued when the Dutch returned to power in 1816 during the reign of the Dutch East Indies (Kartika 2009, 27). Many Makassarese made the port of Ende their trading hub. The Ende people (Ende Pantai) became known as consistent slave hunters. Since the early nineteenth century, most have settled on the north coast of Sumba. In 1823, the Ende people were reported to have succeeded in controlling trade in Sumba. The Makassars and Ende were known slave customers who regularly sailed to Sumba. Between 10 and 30 ships sail each year. It was also noted that by the 1840s, the Ende people lived on Sumba island's north and west coasts and were mainly active in the slave trade (Kartika 2009, 27-28).
The slave trade at Ende continued to expand, reaching as far as Singapore. According to Abdullah bin Kadir's notes, when the Bugis merchants arrived in Singapore in 1823, he saw about 50-60 male and female slaves walking the streets accompanied by the Bugis. Slaves, such as Ende and Mandar, were brought in from the harbour areas at a sale price of $30-40 per person (Abdullah bin Kadir 1985, 182-83).

The Rise of Colonialism, Capitalism, and Slave Trade Centers
Colonialism emerged around 1500 as commercial capitalism. At that time, the economy of society as a whole was still limited (Kocka 2016). But three centuries afterwards, capitalism became the dominant economic system in Europe. After dominating Europe, Capitalism gradually spread from Britain across political and cultural boundaries to other European countries. From the late nineteenth to the twentieth century, capitalism provided the main tools of industrialization in different parts of the world. In the early days of capitalism, mercantilism was often called commercial capitalism. This period was marked by discoveries by multinational merchants, mainly from Great Britain and the Low Countries, European colonization of America, and the rapid growth of cross-border trade. Mercantilism was a trading system for profit, but non-capitalist methods still produced most commodities. In addition, government controls, subsidies, and the support of monopolies allowed European merchants to benefit from the sale and purchase of goods directly. State power and foreign conquest were the significant foundations of economic policy during this mercantile era. If a country has no resources, it needed colonies to provide them. In addition, the colony also served as a market for products (Hoogvelt 1997, 14).
The slavery system embedded in such maritime trade accumulates cheap labour (labour power) in producing commodities and trade. This was done to promote mobility and profits in exchange (Thalib 2015, 1). Taking advantage of this situation, enslaved people pursued in Timor gradually developed into an industry organized as a business aimed at economic gain (Antony 2010). In the nineteenth century, the dynamics of global and Southeast Asian capitalism also catalyzed the expansion of the Timorese slave network to include Maurits and Macau.

Maurits and Réunion
The Timorese slave network also penetrated Maurits and Bourbon, and French ships sailed to Timor annually to buy slaves. Apart from Timor, Gronovius states that a Bourbon or (France) ship came to Sumba and took slaves in 1830. Even the number of slaves sent to Bourbon reached several hundred. The following year, two French ships returning from Timor were laden with slaves (Singapore Chronicle and Commercial Register 1832).
The transport routes to Maurits and Bourbon that originated in the slave trade are: Kupang traverses the Sea of Flores, the Java Sea, through the Straits of Malacca, west to Sri Lanka, and south to the Indian Ocean, directly to Maurits and Bourbon. They brought slaves from Timor instead of African slaves, who were geographically closer. This was possible because Maurits already has a longstanding relationship with Timor. Travellers from Maurits used regular trade routes to transport slaves and other goods. Slaves may have been imported along with these goods. The need for labour in Maurits resulted from the intensification of sugarcane plantations in the nineteenth century (Engerman 1983).

Macau
In 1494, Pope Alexander VI divided the shipping area of the world between the Spanish and Portuguese empires. This division was officially included in the Tordesillas Agreement (Spanish: Tratado de Tordesillas; Portuguese: Tratado de Tordesilhas). Spain was authorized to sail west, and the Portuguese sailed east from western Cape Verde. After 455 years, Portuguese rule in Asia remained in only three regions: Goa in the West Indies, Macau on the south coast of China, and Timor to the East of the Archipelago (Arndt 1976, 17-19). These three Portuguese colonies were linked by international trade, including trade stocks and the fulfilment of slaves. A trading link between Timor and Macau was illustrated in the case of the slave trade from Timor Dili to Macau in 1844. The Portuguese conducted the expedition, crossing the Sea of Flores, northward through the Straits of Makassar, the Sulawesi Sea, the Sulu Sea, to the South China Sea, and anchoring at Macau. This incident occurred on November 15, 1844, when the Dutch authorities arrested the Margaretha captain after the captain was found to be dealing with slaves. The Dutch authorities brought fifteen children from Timor Dili. These enslaved children were also exported to Macau and sold to the Chinese. The captain defended that these children had grown up as "sing-song" girls in church. But they were employed as "hospitality" women in nightclubs. The Dutch authorities eventually confiscated the shipping permit to Macau. Regardless, this confiscation was deemed too late as there had been years of slave trade activity in Macau using counterfeit licenses (The Singapore Free Press And Mercantile Advertiser 1844, 2).
Ten days after the evidence was seized, there was proof in the form of a receipt from Captain Margaretha, who stated that the enslaved people were Portuguese. Margaretha's ship was eventually confiscated. On December 2, 1844, Captain Margaretha declared the slave trade over. The captain was sentenced to a 20-year banishment from Java. This exclusion implies a strict ban on trading activity (The Singapore Free Press And Mercantile Advertiser 1844, 4). Although the confiscation of vessels and permission to operate them did not act as a deterrent against the perpetrators of the illegal slave trade, the repressive measures taken by the Dutch colonial governments served as law enforcement measures against criminals and increasingly impressed public opinion about the weakness of prosecution of perpetrators.
Most of the Solor and Timorese slaves sold to Macau were women. They were usually employed as housemaids or prostitutes. This fact provoked a violent reaction from the church. Ultimately, women from Timor and other parts of Asia were barred from entering Macau. However, empirically, this prohibition has not proven to deter slave traders. The slave trade activity by the Portuguese who sailed to Macau further exaggerated the trade. The mass procured slaves from Macau by Makassarese sailors and Chinese traders who visited Timor every two years (Lombard-Jourdan 1982, 98, 100).

Mozambique and Mombasa
The Portuguese also expanded their slave trade in Mozambique. This region was a Portuguese colony in the southern part of the African continent.
Mozambique's slave trade was one of the most critical sectors of the economy. Mozambique and Timor became "red zones" for the trade of slaves, and these two regions supplied each other with slaves. By the mid-19th century, slave traders could export 50,000 slaves a year, making Brazil the most significant supplier. There was strong evidence that slaves exported from Mozambique were also people from the Portuguese colony of Timor (Singapore Chronicle And Commercial Register 1832). According to Anthony Reid, the decline of slavery as an institution is related to the rise of moral consciousness. It was evident in the vertical bondage gangs and their efforts to resist the exploitative practices within them (Reid 2004a, 281). On Kei Island, for instance, slaves began to express a spirit of resistance and determination to reap the fruits of their labour, refusing to submit to their masters (Strait Times Weekly Issue 1893, 8). There were at least two structural factors that contributed to this moral perception. First, the state, in both colonial and state form, has the power to rule over all people legally, politically, militarily and financially in a system of slavery that was the responsibility of each patron. Second, an increase in the number of poor rural workers made the system of wage labour and exploitation of unskilled labour cheaper and more efficient (Reid 2004a, 281).
In fact, since the early nineteenth century, Europeans have made many efforts to combat the slave trade in their colonies. This step was theoretically initiated by the British Parliament in 1807. France subsequently imposed a similar ban in the 1815 Vienna Convention. The Dutch were initially unenthusiastic about regulation to abolish slavery, even in the name of humanity. The trigger was Dutch colonial rule, and slaves were still needed for various industries. It was in 1818 that the Dutch moved in the same direction to oppose slavery in their colonies. This step was taken before the British returned to the Dutch colonies in 1816. As a result of the many plantations in the Dutch East Indies, it became demanding to find labours. One of the plantations directly affected by this policy was the nutmeg plantation in Banda, where the Parkeniers admitted to having faced severe difficulties after implementing the policy (Hanna 1978). The use of forced labour then replaced the abolition of slavery. Some of these coolies came from ex-slaved nutmeg plantations, which ultimately contributed to the placement of the Banda population by the Dutch (Thalib 2015, xi).
In a more macroeconomic context, demand for labour among plantation owners in Maurits and Réunion has also increased slave smuggling from Southeast Asian ports to the islands. In 1830, Timorese slaves were also mobilized to these areas. Increasingly large flows of enslaved people eventually led to regulations abolishing slavery in Maurits in 1835 and Réunion in 1848. However, before 1860, the Dutch did not consider slavery illegal (Reid 2004a, 281). Captives could purchase enslaved people between small kingdoms or Timorese villages (Koentjaraningrat 1995, 209).
The Dutch government also attempted to register enslaved people traded in Timor. Registered slaves could be traded, while unregistered slaves could not be sold. According to the 1834 slave register, there were 1,092 enslaved people in Timor (209 less than the 1831 record). The reason the number of slaves decreased was because many slaves had been freed, and some had died. By the mid-1850s, there were about 438 registered slaves (ANRI 1834, 1/5).
In 1860, a policy update was enacted to prohibit slavery. This policy applied not only to Batavia but also to the outermost regions of the Archipelago. The outermost regions of the Archipelago were seen as hotbeds of slavery, especially debt bondage, that was, those who pledged themselves as collateral for debts. A ban on the child slave trade and debt bondage was also enacted during this period. However, the limited number of colonial officials and the long distances to external areas were the main obstacles to enforcing these rules (Tagliacozzo 2007, 237).
Also, through Staatsblad 1877, Number 180 and 181, the Dutch colonial government granted the Dutch Navy the right to board ships bearing indigenous flags (or not). This right was granted to strengthen control over the slave trade in Archipelago (Reid 2004a, 282). The British also took action against the slave trade in its colonies, but its implementation was less than ideal. For instance, the Singapore-Selangor Agreement explicitly stated that the people of Selangor were prohibited from enslaving British men. However, the agreement still allowed Selangor to engage other ethnic groups in the Archipelago, which gave space for enslaving the Batak tribe of Sumatra. In 1874, the Royal Navy's Asiatic Station received special instructions to deal with ships suspected of slave trafficking. However, inconsistencies in the implementation of British policy were taken against London law, and in practice, many efforts were made to prevent litigation from arising from this activity. It revealed it was taking advantage of economic gain by lowering the rate (Tagliacozzo 2007, 237).
Although the two colonial factions applied various repressive measures, slavery remained integral to Southeast Asia's trade dynamics, especially in the mid-nineteenth century. Between 8,000 and 10,000 slaves reportedly crossed the Strait of Malacca each year. The British did not debate the level of this figure as it reflects empirical evidence.
Malacca residents began correspondence with the Governor of Singapore in mid-1866. Slaves were disembarked in small boats at night and sometimes sold to rice merchants in Malacca. According to colonial records from the 1860s, Bugis pirates brought human cargo to Kampung Gelam during the eastern monsoon. Operated by pirates, the slave trade continued in Sulawesi and East Kalimantan until the 1870s (Tagliacozzo 2007, 238).
The abolition of slavery was starting to make an impact, but that did not mean wage labour was being used in Southeast Asia. Southeast Asians still saw hired workers as entirely unfamiliar and dehumanizing. On the other hand, the traditional system of serfdom and forced labour (corvée) was redefined by ignoring the links closely related to transferable slaves (chattel), which was considered expensive and unnecessary at the time. Chinese immigrants began to use hired workers to improve the efficiency of their trade. Apparently, both colonial and indigenous governments, as exemplified by the Spanish in the Philippines in the early sixteenth century, succeeded in transforming corvée into a tax collection service. Spanish gained full authority and even a substantial income. In the nineteenth century, corvée and bonded labour dominated almost all Southeast Asian countries. The Europeans and Chinese who sought to exploit workers in Southeast Asia in the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries assumed that wages were not the solution to their employment problems (Reid 2004a, 283).
Colonial governments could exploit labours in Southeast Asia through the corvée system. Culturstelsel of Java was best known, which benefited the Dutch colonial government.
Merchants and capitalists without access to corvée understood that similar results could be achieved through an advanced system. Cha Ju-kua described that Chinese merchants were using this system in the Philippines by the thirteenth century (Hirth 1911, 160). The Dutch called it "voorschot", and the British called it 'trust money". Southeast Asian debtors were always ready to repay their debts on time. Labours in the factories, mines, and plantations of nineteenth-century Europe were bound by an advance that required them to work for their creditors but to provide their creditors with basic needs and security (Lasker 1950, 292-311). A formal ban on the Dutch slave trade in came into force on January 1, 1860. Subsequently, in 1875, slavery was abolished throughout the Portuguese Empire. Then, towards the beginning of the 20th century, in the Portuguese colony of Timor, the abolition of domestic slavery was carried out by the local king and (presumably) local officials. Nevertheless, the slave trade continued to outstretch into the twentieth century.
Even as early as mid-September 1878, young girls were kidnapped in Ende, allegedly involving the Rajah of Ende. The Dutch did not remain silent and held the rajah accountable for this action. The fine was 2000 rix dollars for him. However, this demand was not fulfilled and was instead rewarded with the murder of the prisoners (Straits Times Overland Journal 1878, 3). Little attention was paid to the abolition of slavery and human trafficking in 1878. Captivity, piracy, and debt bondage gave them the choice of becoming slaves or being sentenced to death. Resident Ecoma Verstege reported that the official number of slaves reported to the Dutch government was downward. For example, in 1878, only five were recorded. Two were at Atapupu, and the rest at Ambugaga. Most of these slaves belonged to the Chinese at Atapupu. A Chinese resident of Timor Dili said that slaves were not employed as housekeepers in Attappu and Kupang. However, most enslaved people might not have been reported (Straits Times Overland Journal 1878, 3).
Trade in Nusa Tenggara prior to the twentieth century was dominated by sandalwood and slaves. In the twentieth century, trade increased with the advent of other commodities such as coffee, cotton and onions. In 1857, a treaty was signed between the Dutch and Bima, requiring the Sultan and the nobility to ban the kidnapping and appropriation of people and the slave trade (Noorduyn 1987, 135).
Thus, Nusa Tenggara experienced a transition period from the early nineteenth century to the twentieth century. The leaders slowly began handing over power to the Dutch colonial government. At the end of the 19th century, sandalwood and slaves, the prominent commodities of Nusa Tenggara, were gradually replaced by coffee and copra. The development of this raw material resulted from the macroeconomic system currently operating in the Port of Singapore, especially considering the demand in the global market. For example, in Timor (territory of the Kingdom of Moro), since 1880, two European companies planted 25,000 coffee trees simultaneously. Apart from that, the Chinese grew coffee not only in the Amanuban Kingdom but also in other areas of Nusa Tenggara, such as Flores, Adonara, Pantar and Alor. Another plantation product was copra, which was for export. A profitable new feedstock for oil, copra was a primary feedstock for the European petroleum industry. In 1881, Europeans planted 8,000 oil palms on Kera Island, near Kupang, owned by Rajah of Kupang (Ardhana 2005, 63).
Dutch colonialists attempted to control trade in Nusa Tenggara by establishing Koninklijke Paketvoart Maatschappij (KPM) shipping route into eastern Indonesian waters. Essential trade goods such as sandalwood, beeswax and coffee from Timor are carried to Makassar, the state's economic centre. Apart from that, there are also routes connecting to ports in Java island, especially Surabaya, Priok, Cilacap and Singapore ports. The majority of merchants returned using the same route. The ports of Kupang and Atapupu were located midway between the Singapore and Maluku route as a spice-producing area, and three ships of KPM sailed this route for two weeks (Sanjaya 2014, 59). After 1932, the Dutch colonial government replaced expensive sailing ships with steamers that could economically travel nine miles per hour (Ardhana 2005, 195). As such, Nusa Tenggara, in general, and Timor, in particular, were open and connected to the port of Singapore by wider shipping lanes. This development has also successfully stimulated the emergence of new commodities in Timor. Accelerating shipping technology also increased the benefits of trade. The opening of the broader Nusa Tenggara and Archipelago trade network and subsequent expansion into Asia-European trade has made Kupang Port one of the most essential and significant ports in West Timor (Sanjaya 2014, 60).
In Figure 8., the Timorese slave trade network remained in Ende, unlike before the Ende pirates led this network. They arrested people from Kupang, Sumba and even Ende. The route initiated was the Kupang -Sumba -Ende.

Conclusion
Traditionally, the Timorese slave trade began with the arrival of the Chinese, followed by traders from Java and Malay. Furthermore, during the Portuguese era, the knot of slavery was directed against the Portuguese colonies of Dili and Macau. During the VOC era, the network focused on Batavia and Banda. In Batavia, enslaved Timorese people were used to helping with household chores, while in Banda, these slaves were mobilized to work on the nutmeg plantations. When the Dutch began designating Kupang as a trading port in the early nineteenth century, the growing Timorese slave trade became an intricate network of hubs.
The complexity of this network was inseparable from the active role of nineteenthcentury Bugis, Makassar, Ende, and Sulu pirates who actively hunted enslaved Timorese people. These enslaved people were then sold to Sulu and Singapore, both of which became established slave markets, including Maurits, Bourbon, Mozambique and Mombasa. This incentive aligns with the demand for large numbers of workers in the Southeast Asian and South African markets. In addition, the slave trade began after the Dutch East Indies government officially abolished slavery on January 1, 1860. The flows of the slave trade began to narrow, and it was recorded that there was only one slave network controlled by the Ende Pirates, leaving Ende Bay as the only centre of this postslavery trade.