Early European Contact
Initial contact was with the Dutch Vereenigde Oost-Indische Companie in 1648. References to Savu from the period invariably concern Savunese soldiers, mercenaries or slaves. In 1674, the crew of a Dutch sloop were massacred in East Savu, after their vessel ran aground. The Dutch responded by forming an alliance with the raja of Seba, so troops could be sent in to retaliate. However, they failed to enter the fortress of Hurati, in B'olou Village of Eastern Savu, as it was ringed by three defensive walls. To save face, the Dutch force accepted payment in the form of slaves, gold and beads.
In 1770, Captain James Cook visited Savu, staying three days before continuing on to Batavia. It was the first European voyage to have scientists on board. During the three year expedition, botanists Joseph Banks and Daniel Solander collected over three thousand five hundred plant species along with specimens of animals, minerals and ethnographic materials that on their return fascinated Europeans. Cook's visit to Savu was brief and, though he and Joseph Banks produced detailed records of the island and its people, their accounts were based for the most part on information provided by Mr Lange, the German representative of the Dutch East India Company, who was stationed on Savu at the time.
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