Johannes Andreas Paravicini

Festivity in which Paravicini is surrounded by local rulers, 1756

Johannes Andreas Paravicini (born November 24, 1710 in Barcelona , † October 17, 1771 in Stenay , Lorraine ) was an envoy for the Dutch East India Company (VOC) . On the Southeast Asian island of Timor , he secured the Dutch rule over most of the west of the island for the next 200 years.

Life

Paravicini was born as the son of Johannes Paravicini (he called himself Paravicini di Copelli ), a captain in Spanish service, and Maria Ellenberger (or Ohleberger) from Altenburg , then in Saxony , and registered as Johannes Bartholomeus Paravicini . The deviating middle name led to lengthy lawsuits in which Paravicini tried to prove that he was one and the same person. Since his identity could not be proven beyond doubt, a settlement was reached between the parties to the dispute. For Paravicini, however, the relationship with his family seemed to have been broken, because at the age of 14 or 16 he broke off contact with his relatives and moved to Amsterdam . Paravicini entered the service of the Dutch East India Company, initially as a sick comforter for soldiers. In 1746 he worked as a broker in Batavia and from 1749 to 1752 as commissioner for maritime and commissioner affairs. From 1754 to 1759 Paravicini was chief merchant, Shahbandar (a post in the port administration) and license master for all Christians. Based on his experience with the sick, he advised the Governor General Jacob Mossel (1750–1761) on health issues. Batavia had a very bad reputation because of malaria . Mossel also sent Paravicini to the sultanates of Palembang and Banjarmasin and to the island of Timor .

Timor and neighboring islands in the 17th and 18th centuries

In the region, the VOC fought with Portugal for supremacy. In 1749 the Portuguese and the Topasse and Timorese allies with them suffered a devastating defeat in the Battle of Penfui . As a result of this, several small kings of Timor defected to the Dutch.

On behalf of Mossel, Paravicini concluded an alliance with 48 small kings of the islands of Solor , Roti , Sawu , Sumba and a large part of West Timor in 1756 through the treaty named after him . In the treaty Paravicini praised the Dutch as liberal and fortunate people. Only among them are the great virtues of humanity to be found. They would make no distinction between "black and white peoples". On the contrary, they see "all people as brothers, with the same basic rights" in interpersonal relationships. You can tell if you compare the “wretched and poor” base of the Portuguese on Timor Lifau with the “blessed” Dutch Kupang . An astonishing statement, because Lifau is in one of the most fertile regions of the island, while Kupang is in a much less fertile area. Apparently this was a demonstration of what Dutch diligence could achieve.

On March 12, 1766 Paravicini married Marianne de Lambert, the daughter of a Prussian captain, in Esslingen, Württemberg . Paravicini died in Stenay in Lorraine in 1771 without heirs.

See also

• History of East Timor

Individual evidence

1. ↑ ^{a b c} Tropenmuseum Amsterdam: YES (Johannes Andreas) Paravicini ( Memento of the original from March 12, 2014 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. , accessed March 12, 2014. 
2. ↑ Aquarel van het feestmaal organized by Paravicini
3. ↑ James J. Fox, “The Paradox of Powerlessness: Timor in Historical Perspective,” December 9, 1996, Department of Anthropology, Research School of Pacific and Asian Studies, The Australian National University ( Memento of July 6, 2007 in the Internet Archive ) (PDF file; 68 kB)
4. ↑ Hans Hägerdal: Rebellions or factionalism? Timorese forms of resistance in an early colonial context, 1650-1769 ( Memento of the original dated December 8, 2015 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.