Dutch East Indies
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| This article is part of the History of Indonesia series |
|---|
 |
| Pre-colonial Indonesia (before 1602) |
| Srivijaya (3rd century–1400) |
| Sailendra (8th Century – 832) |
| Kingdom of Mataram (752–1045) |
| Kediri (1045–1221) |
| The Coming of Islam (1200–1600) |
| Singhasari (1222–1292) |
| Majapahit Empire (1293–1500) |
| Sultanate of Demak (1475–1518) |
| Mataram Sultanate (1500s to 1700s) |
| Dutch East Indies (1602–1945) |
| Anglo-Dutch Java War (1810–1811) |
| Padri War (1821–1837) |
| Java War (1825–1830) |
| Aceh War (1873–1904) |
| National Revival (1899–1942) |
| World War II battles (1941–1942) |
| Japanese Occupation (1942–1945) |
| Independence (1945–1965) |
| Declaration of Independence (1945) |
| National Revolution (1945–1950) |
| Asian-African Conference (1955) |
| Indonesia-Malaysia Confrontation (1962–1965) |
| New Order (1965–1998) |
| Overthrow of Sukarno (1965–1966) |
| Act of Free Choice (1969) |
| Reformasi (1998–present) |
| Revolution of 1998 (1996–1998) |
| 2004 Indian Ocean Earthquake (2004–present) |
| [Edit this template] |
The Dutch East Indies, or Netherlands East Indies, (Dutch: Nederlands-Indië; Indonesian: Hindia Belanda) was the name of the colonies set up by the Dutch East India Company, which came under administration of the Netherlands during the nineteenth century (see Indonesia).
Contents |
[edit] Early history
Adventurous reconnoitering in the late sixteenth century (J. H. van Linschoten, 1582, and the daring adventures of Cornelis de Houtman, 1592) paved the way for Houtman's voyage to Banten, the chief port of Java, and back (1595–97), which raised a very modest profit. Dutch penetration into the East Indies, which was Portugal's sphere, was slow and discreet.
[edit] The Dutch East India Company
The Dutch East India Company (Dutch: Vereenigde Oostindische Compagnie, VOC), chartered in 1602, concentrated Dutch trade efforts under one directorate with a unified policy. In 1605, armed Dutch merchantmen captured the Portuguese fort at Amboyna in the Moluccas, which was developed into the first secure base of the VOC. The Twelve Year's Truce signed in Antwerp in 1609 called a halt to formal hostilities between Spain (which controlled Portugal and its territories at the time) and the United Provinces. In the Indies, the foundation of Batavia on the north-west coast of Java in 1619 formed the permanent center from which Dutch trade in Asia was centered. It was significant to Indonesia's history that as an unplanned colony it was founded on mercantile interests rather than Dutch national expansion.[1] From it "the Dutch wove the immense web of traffic and exchange which would eventually make up their empire, a fragile and flexible one built, like the Portuguese empire, 'on the Phoenician model'."[2]
During the remainder of the seventeenth century, the Dutch took the great trading ports of the East Indies: Malacca in 1641; Achem (Aceh) the native kingdom in Sumatra, 1667; Macassar, 1669; finally Bantam itself, 1682. At the same time connections in the ports of India provided the printed cottons that the Dutch traded for pepper, the staple of the spice trade.
The greatest source of wealth in the East Indies, Fernand Braudel has noted, was the trade within the archipelago, what the Dutch called inlandse handel, where one commodity was exchanged for another, with profit at each turn, with silver from the Americas, more desirable in the East than in Europe.
By concentrating on monopolies in the fine spices, Dutch policy encouraged monoculture: Amboyna for cloves, Timor for sandalwood, the Bandas for mace and nutmeg, Ceylon for cinnamon. Monoculture linked island economies to the mercantile system to provide the missing necessities of life.
[edit] Takeover by the Dutch government
By 1700, a colonial pattern was well established; the VOC had grown to become a state-within-a-state and the dominant power in the archipelago. Its method of indirect rule, treated in the article Regentschap, was to survive it. After the bankrupt company was liquidated on 1 January 1800 (decades before the British HEIC was taken over in the form of crown colonies), and after a British interregnum — strategic custody — during the Napoleonic Wars, the Dutch government effectively took over the administration. Malacca and the Malay Peninsula were ceded to the British after the Anglo-Dutch Treaty of 1824. A Javanese uprising was crushed in the Java War of 1825–30.
During Dutch rule, several important treaties that delineate modern Indonesian borders were signed. One of them was the Anglo-Dutch Treaty of 1824. This particular treaty effectively delineated the border of future British Malaya and Dutch East Indies. The Dutch government retained control of the remaining parts — except for the period of Japanese occupation from 1942–45 during World War II — until they accepted the independence of Indonesia in 1949 following the Indonesian National Revolution. The capital of the Dutch East Indies was Batavia, now known as Jakarta, still capital of the republic.
After 1830, a system of forced cultivations was introduced on Java, the Cultivation System (in Dutch: cultuurstelsel). This system brought the Dutch and their Indonesian collaborators enormous wealth. The cultivation system was a government monopoly and was abolished in a more liberal period after 1870.
In 1898, Wilhelmina ascended the Netherlands throne at a time when the population of Java numbered twenty-eight million with another seven million on Indonesia's outer islands (although not all of these were yet under Dutch rule).[3] In 1901 the Dutch adopted what they called the Ethical Policy, which included somewhat increased investment in indigenous education, and modest political reforms. Under governor-general J.B. van Heutsz the government extended more direct colonial rule throughout the Dutch East Indies, thereby laying the foundations of today's Indonesian state.
[edit] Post-Indonesian independence
Following the capitulation of Japan at the end of the second World War, a group of nationalists, among others Sukarno and Mohammad Hatta, declared the independence of Indonesia, sparking armed conflict when the Dutch attempted to regain control of the region. The Dutch were able to first regain control of Jakarta, forcing the removal of the Indonesian capital to Yogyakarta. A second offensive resulting in the takeover of Yogyakarta meant that capital was again moved, this time to West Sumatra. However, pressure from Australia and newly independent India forced a negotiation brokered by the United States of America resulting in the Round Table Conference of 1949 in which the Dutch acknowledged the sovereignty of Indonesia excepting the region of western New Guinea.
The Indonesian government under Sukarno eventually took control of western New Guinea by force, and military skirmishes took place between 1961 to 1962, including a brief naval engagement in 1962. The United States pressured the Netherlands to surrender West New Guinea to Indonesia in August under terms negotiated in New York City in a document called the New York Agreement. At the same time, the Australian government reversed its policy and also began supporting Indonesian control of the area. Today it remains under Indonesian control, although resistance continues in various parts of the region. To learn more about the region, see the main articles Papua (Indonesian province) and Western New Guinea.
[edit] See also
[edit] References
[edit] General
- Braudel, Fernand, The perspective of the World, vol III in Civilization and Capitalism, 1984
[edit] Notes
- ^ Vicker, Adrian (2005). A History of Modern Indonesia. Cambridge University Press, p.10. ISBN 0-521-54262-6.
- ^ Braudel 1984, p. 215
- ^ Furnivall, J.S. (1939 [reprinted 1967]). Netherlands India: a Study of Plural Economy. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, p. 9. ISBN 0-521-54262-6. Cited in Vicker, Adrian (2005). A History of Modern Indonesia. Cambridge University Press, p. 9. ISBN 0-521-54262-6.
[edit] External links
| Indonesia-related topics | |
|---|---|
| History | Timeline · Pre-colonial Indonesia (before 1602) · Dutch East Indies (1602–1945) · Independence (1945–1965) · New Order (1965–1998) · Reformation (1998 to date) |
| Geography and Natural history |
Cities · Islands · Lakes · Mountains · Volcanoes · National Parks · Rivers · Fauna · Flora |
| Government | Provinces · Subdivisions · Foreign relations · Military · Law · Law enforcement · Electoral system |
| Politics | Political parties · Elections · Human rights |
| Economy | Companies · Communications · Tourism · Transport · Stock Exchange |
| Demographics | Ethnic groups · Languages · Religion |
| Culture | Architecture · Art · Cinema · Cuisine · Dance · Education · Folklore · Literature · Media · Music · Public holidays · Sport |
| Other topics | List of Indonesians |
| Dutch empire |
|---|
| Former colonies |
| Africa: Arguin Island - Cape Colony - Lydsaamheid fort & factory in Delagoa Bay - Dutch Gold Coast - Gorée - Mauritius |
| The Americas: Berbice - New Holland (in Brazil) (part), Dutch Brazil - Dutch Guiana - Demerara - Essequibo annex Pomeroon New Netherland (New Amsterdam, New Sweden) - Tobago - Virgin Islands (part) |
| Asia & Oceania: Ceylon - Dutch India (Dutch Bengal - Coromandel Coast - Malabar Coast) - Deshima island, Japan - Dutch East Indies - Malacca - Netherlands New Guinea - Taiwan |
| Artic: Smeerenburg on Amsterdam island |
| See also: Dutch East India Company - Dutch West India Company |
| Present colonies |
| Kingdom of the Netherlands: Netherlands Antilles - Aruba |
