Dutch Settlement

Dutch Settlement - In April, 1633, Joost Schouten, the Dutch VOC Chief-trader, was instructed to build a permanent trading post at Ayutthaya. One year later a two-storey brick building enclosed by a stockade was ready and was called "the lodge". The lodge was special because it was a stone construction, which gave it a "high-status", as in Ayutthaya only the monasteries and palaces were made of stone. The VOC-factory was located north of the English trading post and the Japanese settlement – outside the city walls of Ayutthaya. By 1732, the territory of the company accommodated 240 families, in total 1,443 people. The Burmese attacked Siam's capital in 1760, and the VOC's trading post was greatly plundered. However, the post continued to serve its purpose until the end of the company's presence in Ayutthaya in 1765. The last VOC ships left Ayutthaya in November 1765. The area of the Dutch lodge was latter a scene of heavy fighting against the Burmese in 1767.  A memorial was built at the old VOC settlement during modern times. Some of the foundations of the destroyed factory have been excavated, but most of the remnants still remain buried as unexplored witnesses of a Dutch adventurous past.

Ayutthaya Historical Research