Between Segregation and Permeability: The VOC’s Spatial Dilemma in Zeelandia Facing External Actors and Intervening Groups (1624–1662)

Abstract This study re-evaluates the “dual city” model through the case of the VOC’s Zeelandia in the seventeenth century. It argues that the settlement’s spatial order was crucially shaped not only by Dutch-indigenous relations but also by an external force: Chinese pirate-merchant confederations. This Chinese intermediary group, forming the socio-economic core, fostered a colonial dynamic of simultaneous dependence and distrust. Spatially, this crystallized into a “confrontation model” of segregation—with rigid yet economically permeable boundaries between the Dutch Fort and Chinese Town, whose intensity varied with external geopolitical threats. A comparison with Malacca and Pulicat further reveals that the spatial form and segregation strategies of VOC settlements were calculated responses to each site’s strategic value and perceived external danger. Thus, colonial urban space must be understood within wider regional and global networks of trade and power.