Ocean of Objects

Hartog was one of thousands of travellers and traders who have sailed across and around the Indian Ocean for thousands of years. Dutch trade and the riches it brought to the Netherlands four hundred years ago was just one episode in the Indian Ocean’s long and varied history. Our ocean’s surprising history can be revealed in things people made, carried with them or left behind. Not every part of this ocean’s human story can be told through objects, some leave little physical trace, others need animals and plants to reveal their secrets.

Here we offer you an ocean of objects to explore some of the Indian Ocean’s rich story.