Elian Schure is a PhD candidate at Utrecht University (UU). She is currently working on her research on human categorization in biological research. During her master’s degree in History and Philosophy of Science at the UU, she studied the actions of Dutch scientists in the former Dutch colonies. In December 2024, Yavanne van Tiggelen interviewed her about this research for the UU’s Faculty of Science. This interview was edited for Shells and Pebbles.
Your master’s research focused on the role Dutch scientists played in the former colonies and how scientific knowledge created in the colonial period still influences society today. When did you become interested in this subject?
While doing my master’s in History and Philosophy of Science, I was asked to research the colonial past of the Science Faculty together with Anna Bruins, David Baneke, Friso Hoeneveld, and Robert-Jan Wille. We investigated the relationship between members of the Science Faculty and the former colonies between 1815-1975. We focused especially on the Dutch East Indies (Indonesia) and Suriname, as we could find more sources on these areas than on other former Dutch colonies. Anna Bruins delved into the history of the Dutch East Indies, and I focused mainly on Suriname. Using my project findings, I then wrote my master’s thesis on the historical relationship between Dutch scientific organizations and Suriname during the slow decolonization of Suriname. I was especially interested in Suriname, as we could not find a lof of sources about Dutch scientists there. In my thesis, I hoped to discover more direct connections between Dutch scientists and Suriname.
What have you and Anna uncovered about the relationship between the Faculty and the colonies?
The research showed clear systemic contact between the Faculty and the colonies, especially in botanical and chemical research. This was a very one-sided exchange. Dutch botanists and chemists travelled there, collected information and plant material, and took it home. Very little was recorded about contact with local people, which tells you a lot about the power relations between the Dutch and the locals: the conditions and experiences of the locals were not considered relevant. A pity, because this is an important topic and we would have liked more information about it.
In the 1920s and 1930s, a quarter of all research positions in biology were located in the Dutch East Indies.1 Numerous pharmaceutical studies were also conducted there, particularly focusing on medications for tropical diseases like malaria. Many Europeans who ventured to the Dutch East Indies contracted infectious diseases. Finding cures for tropical ailments was of significant interest to the Dutch. The Science Faculty was actively engaged in combating tropical diseases, especially malaria. Around the 1850s, some botanists and chemists based in Utrecht directed their research towards the Cinchona tree. The Cinchona is a species native to the Andes, which was introduced to the Dutch East Indies by the Dutch. The Dutch government sought to promote the production of Cinchona, as the bark of the Cinchona tree contains quinine. Quinine possesses medicinal properties and can be used to prevent malaria. Due to the urgent need for medication against malaria, the Dutch government decided to invest resources into establishing Cinchona plantations in the Dutch East Indies. Two professors from the Faculty of Science played a crucial role in the production and quality control of quinine. Botanist Friedrich Miquel (1811-1871) and chemist Gerrit Jan Mulder (1802-1880) advised the government on all matters regarding quinine.2 They received quinine and Cinchona samples from around the globe and compared them for the quantity of quinine present in each sample. Various quinine samples, sent to Miquel and Mulder from numerous locations worldwide, are still preserved in the university collections.
Was the situation similar in Suriname?
Suriname did not attract much scientific attention from the Faculty of Science or the Netherlands. The country maintained a plantation economy, concentrating on the production of cash crops for exploitation. A few individuals within the Faculty of Science actively encouraged scientific research in Suriname. The renowned botanist Frits Went (1863-1935) persistently urged the Dutch government to establish an agricultural research station near Paramaribo. Although the research station was constructed, it did not lead to significant scientific research in Suriname, despite Went’s best efforts.
After Indonesian independence, many Dutch scientists moved from Indonesia to Suriname. For them, the possibility of conducting tropical research was essential. As tropical research could no longer be done in Indonesia, they moved to Suriname. As Suriname was still a Dutch colony, scientists could profit from the Dutch infrastructure present in Suriname.
What surprised you the most?
How systematic the contact between the Faculty of Science and the colonies was, really. It was relatively easy and normal to spend a few years researching the colony. It was so common for botanists that there were funds for students who couldn’t afford the journey and accommodation themselves. Frits Went, whom I mentioned earlier, developed a huge network consisting of his students and (former) coworkers in the Dutch East Indies. He encouraged research in both Suriname and the East Indies, and even saw it as a duty of Dutch scientists to study the colonies. An awful lot of our knowledge about tropical plants and medicine comes from the colonies. In plant biology and pharmacy, traces of the knowledge gained are everywhere. That knowledge is transferred to students without regard to its history. That really needs to change.
Yavanne van Tiggelen works for the communications department of Utrecht University’s Faculty of Science. The interview with Elian Schure is part of several interviews with Utrecht University employees about the colonial past of the faculty.
- Read more about this in Willem Jan van der Schoor, “Zuivere En Toegepaste Wetenschap in de Tropen: Biologisch Onderzoek Aan Particuliere Proefstations in Nederlands-Indië 1870-1940,” Dissertatie, 2012. ↩︎
- Read more about thius in Arjo Roersch van der Hoogte, Colonial Agro-Industrialism. Science, Industry and the State in the Dutch Golden Alkaloid Age, 1850-1950, Utrecht: Universiteit Utrecht, 2015 and the second chapter of The Floracrats: Andrew Goss, The Floracrats: State-Sponsored Science and the Failure of the Enlightenment in Indonesia. Madison, Wis.: University of Wisconsin Press, 2011, https://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&scope=site&db=nlebk&db=nlabk&AN=333020. ↩︎
Reading suggestions
Goss, Andrew. The Floracrats: State-Sponsored Science and the Failure of the Enlightenment in Indonesia. Madison, Wis.: University of Wisconsin Press, 2011. https://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&scope=site&db=nlebk&db=nlabk&AN=333020.
Lambers, Paul. “Anatomische Preparaten van Kinabasten in de Simpliciacollectie van Het Universiteitsmuseum Utrecht.” Studium 12, no. 1-3 (2019): 123–30. https://doi.org/10.18352/studium.10191.
Lanjouw, Joseph. Lanjouw Jubileum Serie: Uitgegeven Ter Gelegenheid van Het Veertigjarig Ambtsjubileum van J. Janjouw, 1926-1966. Utrecht: Botanisch Museum en Herbarium, 1967.
Pulle, A.A. Afscheidscollege Door Prof. Dr. A. A. Pulle Gegeven Op Zaterdag 26 Juni 1948 in de Collegezaal van Het Botanisch Laboratorium van de Rijksuniversiteit Te Utrecht: Met Verslag van de Hierna Gevolgde Huldiging. Utrecht: [Rijksuniversiteit Utrecht], 1948.
Roersch van der Hoogte, Arjo. Colonial Agro-Industrialism. Science, Industry and the State in the Dutch Golden Alkaloid Age, 1850-1950. Utrecht: Universiteit Utrecht, 2015.
Schoor, Willem Jan van der. “Zuivere En Toegepaste Wetenschap in de Tropen: Biologisch Onderzoek Aan Particuliere Proefstations in Nederlands-Indië 1870-1940.” Dissertatie, 2012.
Wille, Robert-Jan. Mannen van de Microscoop: De Laboratoriumbiologie Op Veldtocht in Nederland En Indië, 1840-1910. Nijmegen: Vantilt, 2019.