This study of Dutch and British colonial intervention on Sri Lanka in the period 1780 - 1815 provides a new over-all characterisation of the functioning and growth of the colonial state in a period of transition.

The VOC (Verenigde Oostindische Compagnie, the Dutch East India Company) was the largest of the early modern European trading companies operating in Asia. Its operations produced not only warehouses packed with spices, coffee, tea, textiles, porcelain and silk, but also shiploads of documents. Data on political, economic, cultural, religious, and social conditions spread over an enormous area circulated between the VOC establishments, the administrative centre of the trade in Batavia, now the city of Jakarta, and the Board of Directors in the Netherlands. The co-operation between the National Archives of Indonesia and the Netherlands resulted in this extensive catalogue of fifteen archives of VOC institutions in Jakarta. The VOC records are included in UNESCO ́s Memory of the World Register.

Colombo is in the throes of an explosion. Its face changes continuously, its vices are legion, its future as yet obscure and its paths speak of sunlight as well as of shadow.-' Carl Muller begins his quasi-fictional portrait of this beautiful, war-torn city by describing the great battles fought over it by European colonizers-. In AD 1505, a Portuguese fleet blown off-course took shelter in Galle, overthrew the local kings, fortified Colombo and decided to stay. The Dutch came along, ousted the Portuguese, made Colombo their capital and ruled till the British arrived and sent them packing. Muller intersperses the tales of the past into descriptions of the battles that are being fought in Colombo today"political battles in which vested interests play a major role as well as battles fought on the individual level in the struggle to survive: young women and children turning to prostitution to earn an extra buck, people begging in the streets to make ends meet, unemployed young men turning to crime in frustration, students demonstrating against atrocities, lovers pining for nightfall in order to push away loneliness if only for a few moments... Written in Muller's lucid style, Colombo: A Novel is a chronicle of a city's trials and triumphs.

This volume of the Bibliographical Series is a thoroughly revised English edition, with many additions, of the author's 'Chronique de l'histoire coloniale. Outre-mer neerlandais' published in May 1958 in the French periodical 'Revue d'histoire des colonies' (Tome XLIV, 1957, pp. 311-448). A stricter observance of bibliographical detail has been aimed at, mainly through the efforts of the editorial staff of the Institute. In some instances, however, the form of a continuous narrative, chosen for this bibliography, made it impossible to give full titles. The spelling of geographical names and names of languages is according to the English romanization of Malay. CONTENTS Page Introduction 1 I. Archives 3 II. Journals, Institutes, University Chairs 6 III. Books of Travel. 10 IV. The Area Covered by the Charter of the V. O. C. 21 A. General Works 21 B. Sources 27 C. Monographs . 30 1. Establishment and Commercial Activities of the V. O. C. 30 2. The Administration of Justice 33 3. Army and Navy . 34 4. Medicine and the Sciences 36 5. Religion and Education 37 6. Art 39 D. Biographies 40 1. Pioneers 40 2. Governors-General 41 3. Other Persons 45 E. Regional Studies. 47 1. The Moluccas, Amboyna and Banda 47 2. New Guinea 50 3. Australia 50 4. Celebes 51 5. Borneo 52 6. Sumatra 52 7. Java . 53 8. Japan. 59 9. China 61 10. Formosa 63 11. The Philippines 63 ] 2. Further India 64 13. India . 65 14. Ceylon 70 15.