Indos in pre-colonial history

Indo people (short for Indo-European) are a Eurasian people of mixed Indonesian and European descent. Through the 16th and 18th century known by the name Mestiço (Dutch: Mestiezen). To this day they form one of the largest Eurasian communities in the world. The early beginning of this community started with the arrival of Portuguese traders in South East Asia in the 16th century. The second large wave started with the arrival of the Dutch East India Company (VOC) employees in the 17th century and throughout the 18th century. Even though the VOC is often considered a state within a state, formal colonisation by the Dutch only commenced in the 19th century.

Before the formal colonization of the East Indies by the Dutch in the 19th century, the islands of South East Asia had already been in frequent contact with European traders. Portuguese maritime traders were present as early as the 16th century. Around its trading posts the original Portuguese Indo population, called Mestiço, had developed. In the 17th century the Dutch started to expand its mercantile enterprise and military presence in the East Indies in an effort to establish trade monopolies to maximise profit. Even after the Portuguese competition was beaten by the Dutch maritime traders of the VOC, the Portuguese Indo (aka Mestiço) communities remained active in local and intra-island trade. The Dutch found merit in collaboration with these early Eurasian communities through their role as intermediaries with local traders, but also to help mitigate the threat of the encroaching British traders. In the first century of Dutch (VOC) dominance the cultural influence of the Portuguese Indo population continued as can be seen by the fact that Portuguese Malay mix languages remained in existence well into the second century of the VOC era and autonomous Portuguese Indo groups existed into the 19th century. To this day several surviving families of Portuguese descent can still be found in the Indo community. Family names include: Dias, Pereira, Rozario, Simao.

Originally the greatest source of profit in the East Indies, was the intra-islands trade within the archipelago (Dutch: inlandse handel) and the intra-Asiatic trade in general. Here one commodity was exchanged for another, with profit at each turn. This included the trade of silver from the Americas, more desirable in the East than in Europe. In this trade the original Indo or Mestizo population remained to play an intermediary role.

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