Indonesia: Early History and Colonial Rule
Early History and Colonial Rule
Some of the oldest hominid fossils outside of Africa have been found in Indonesia, including
Early in the 16th cent. the Portuguese, in pursuit of the rich spice trade, began establishing trading posts in Indonesia, after taking (1511) the strategic commercial center of Malacca (see Melaka) on the Malay Peninsula. The Dutch followed in 1596 and the English in 1600. By 1610 the Dutch had ousted the Portuguese, who were allowed to retain only the eastern part of Timor, but the English competition remained strong, and it was only after a series of Anglo-Dutch conflicts (1610–23) that the Dutch emerged as the dominant power in Indonesia.
Throughout the 17th, 18th, and 19th cent. the Dutch East India Company steadily expanded its control over the entire area. When the company was liquidated in 1799, the Dutch government assumed its holdings, which were thereafter known in English as the Netherlands (or Dutch) East Indies. Dutch rule was briefly broken (1811–14) during the Napoleonic Wars when the islands were occupied by the British under T. Stamford Raffles. The Dutch exploited the riches of the islands throughout the 19th cent., but their rule did not go unchallenged by the Indonesians. In 1825, Prince Diponegoro of Java launched a long and bloody guerrilla war against the colonists, and in 1906 and again in 1908 the native rulers of Bali led their subjects in suicidal charges against Dutch fortifications.
Sections in this article:
- Introduction
- The Suharto Regime
- Nationalism, Independence, and Sukarno
- Early History and Colonial Rule
- Government
- Economy
- Land and People
- Bibliography
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