Jacques de Coutre’s memorial for fortresses in Singapore

Jacques de Coutre (alias Jacobus van de Koutere, Jaques do Couto) was a native of the city of Bruges in Flanders, Belgium. This made him a subject of the King of Spain who also ruled as the King of Portugal between 1580 and 1640. Together with his brother Joseph, Jacques headed out to the East Indies in search of opportunities and challenges. While his brother stayed in Goa, India, Jacques continued his voyage eastward and arrived in Malacca in the year 1594. It is here that the son of a broom maker became the apprentice of a gem trader from Venice. Jacques travelled widely through Southeast Asia and visited the Malayan peninsula and countries such as Siam, Burma and the Philippines. He returned to Goa in 1603, and based his operations in this eastern capital city of Portuguese India for the next two decades. Jacques returned to Europe on two occasions, both times via Hormuz and Aleppo.

Jacques and Joseph, however, were subject to considerable suspicions as they were still considered foreigners by the Portuguese in Goa. They were rounded up by the inquisition and deported to Lisbon, Portugal, in 1625. Protesting their innocence and loyalty to the Portuguese, the brothers embarked on a long campaign for personal rehabilitation. With this aim in mind, Jacques penned an autobiography, which he wrote in the Spanish language that was obviously intended for publication. He also sought to gain the attention of high-ranking officials of the Spanish crown in Madrid, Spain. For this purpose, Jacques wrote a series of memorials in which he gratuitously advised the Spanish and Portuguese on the political and commercial affairs in the wider Indian Ocean and Western Pacific region. Jacques had an amazing grasp of trade and trading networks across the Southeast Asian region. In one of the memorials he wrote to the Spanish crown is a recommendation to construct at least two fortresses on what is now the territory of Singapore. The first fortress, to be constructed at the confluence of the old and new Straits of Singapore, would have been located somewhere near the present site of Fort Siloso on the northwestern tip of Sentosa island. The second fortification was to be constructed along the eastern coast of the main island of Singapore, probably between present-day Bedok and Changi point.

In addition to the recommendation to construct forts on Sentosa and Singapore island, Jacques’s autobiography and memorials also contain important information about the territorial boundary of Singapore, the settlement on the main island as well as the capital of the Kingdom of Johor, which was then located in Batu Sawar in the upper reaches of the Johor river. He further recommended to the King of Spain to acquire sovereignty over the island of Singapore and populate the settlement with labour from China. As is known nothing ever became of any of his schemes, but what his memorials certainly prove is that Singapore was not a miserable and forgotten place, but very much a region that featured prominently on the proverbial radar screen of the early colonial powers. It is surmised that the reason why the forts were never constructed was that there was simply no money to do so then, and in any case the Iberian powers, and especially the Portuguese, were at that point in time seriously on the defensive.

References
Borschberg, P. (2013). The memoirs and memorials of Jacques de Coutre: Security, trade and society in 16th and 17th-century Southeast Asia. Singapore: NUS Press. Call no.: RSING 959 COU.

Coutre, J. D. (1989). Como remediar o estado da Índia?: Being the appendices of the vida de Jacques de Coutre (Madrid: Biblioteca Nacional, ms. 2780). Teensma, B. N. (Ed.). Leiden: Centre for the History of European Expansion.

Coutre, J. D. (1988). Aziatische Omzwervingen. Het levensverhaal van Jaques de Coutre, een Brugs diamantenhandelaar, 1591–1626.  (J. Verbeckmoes & E. Stols, Trans.). Berchem: EPO.

Coutre, J. D. (1991). Andanzas asiáticas. Stols, E., Teensma, B. N., & Werbeckmoes, J. (Eds.). Madrid: História 16.

Teensma, B. N. (1994). De politieke en economische ideeën van de Bruggeling Jacques de Coutre (1575–1640) alsmede enige tekstkritiek. Leiden: No publisher.