Portuguese colonialism in Indonesia

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The Portuguese were the first Europeans to establish a colonial presence in the East Indies. Their quest to dominate the source of the lucrative spice trade in the early 16th century through the Portuguese East India Company, and their simultaneous Roman Catholic missionary efforts, saw the establishment of trading posts and forts, and a Portuguese cultural element that remains in modern-day Indonesia, although not nearly as strong as in neighbouring East Timor.

Portugal Republic in Southwestern Europe

Portugal, officially the Portuguese Republic, is a country located mostly on the Iberian Peninsula in southwestern Europe. It is the westernmost sovereign state of mainland Europe, being bordered to the west and south by the Atlantic Ocean and to the north and east by Spain. Its territory also includes the Atlantic archipelagos of the Azores and Madeira, both autonomous regions with their own regional governments.

East Indies connote parts of Asia that came under Indian cultural influence, including South, Southeast Asia and the islands of Southeast Asia, especially the Malay Archipelago (except Vietnam which is in the Chinese cultural sphere).

The East Indies or the Indies are the lands of South and Southeast Asia. In a more restricted sense, the Indies can be used to refer to the islands of Southeast Asia, especially the Indonesian Archipelago and the Philippine Archipelago. The name "Indies" is derived from the River Indus and is used to connote parts of Asia that came under Indian cultural sphere.

Spice trade

The spice trade refers to the trade between historical civilizations in Asia, Northeast Africa and Europe. Spices such as cinnamon, cassia, cardamom, ginger, pepper, and turmeric were known and used in antiquity for commerce in the Eastern World. These spices found their way into the Middle East before the beginning of the Christian era, where the true sources of these spices were withheld by the traders and associated with fantastic tales.

Contents

Establishment

The nutmeg plant is native to the Banda Islands. Once one of the world's most valuable commodities, it drew the first European colonial powers to the Spice Islands. Myristica fragrans - Kohler-s Medizinal-Pflanzen-097.jpg
The nutmeg plant is native to the Banda Islands. Once one of the world's most valuable commodities, it drew the first European colonial powers to the Spice Islands.

Europeans were making technological advances in the early 16th century; new found Portuguese expertise in navigation, shipbuilding and weaponry allowed them to make daring expeditions of exploration and expansion. Starting with the first exploratory expeditions sent from newly conquered Malacca in 1512, the Portuguese were the first Europeans to arrive in the East Indies, and sought to dominate the sources of valuable spices [1] and to extend their Roman Catholic missionary efforts. Initial Portuguese attempts to establish a coalition and peace treaty in 1522 with the West Javan Sunda Kingdom, [2] failed due hostilities among indigenous kingdoms on Java. The Portuguese turned east to Moluccas, which comprised a varied collection of principalities and kingdoms that were occasionally at war with each other but maintained significant inter-island and international trade. Through both military conquest and alliance with local rulers, they established trading posts, forts, and missions in the Spice Islands, including Ternate, Ambon, and Solor. The height of Portuguese missionary activities, however, came at the latter half of the 16th century, after the pace of their military conquest in the archipelago had stopped and their east Asian interest was shifting to Japan, Macau and China; and sugar in Brazil and the Atlantic slave trade in turn further distracted their efforts in the East Indies. In addition, the first European people that arrived in Northern Sulawesi was the Portuguese. Francisco Xavier supported and visited the Portuguese mission at Tolo on Halmahera. This was the first Catholic mission in the Moluccas. The mission began in 1534 when some chiefs from Morotai came to Ternate asking to be baptised. Simão Vaz, the vicar of Ternate, went to Tolo to found the mission. The mission was the source of conflict between the Spanish, the Portuguese and Ternate. Simão Vaz was later murdered at Sao. [3] [4]

Portuguese Malacca former Portuguese posession in Southeast Asia between 1511–1641

Portuguese Malacca was the territory of Malacca that, for 130 years (1511–1641), was a Portuguese colony.

Missionary member of a religious group sent into an area to do evangelism

A missionary is a member of a religious group sent into an area to proselytize or perform ministries of service, such as education, literacy, social justice, health care, and economic development. The word "mission" originates from 1598 when the Jesuits sent members abroad, derived from the Latin missionem, meaning "act of sending" or mittere, meaning "to send". The word was used in light of its biblical usage; in the Latin translation of the Bible, Christ uses the word when sending the disciples to preach The gospel in his name. The term is most commonly used for Christian missions, but can be used for any creed or ideology.

Sunda Kingdom Former kingdom in Indonesia

The Sunda Kingdom was a Sundanese Hindu kingdom located in the western portion of the island of Java from 669 to around 1579, covering the area of present-day Banten, Jakarta, West Java, and the western part of Central Java. The capital of Sunda Kingdom has moved for several times during its history; shifted between Galuh (Kawali) area in the east and Pakuan Pajajaran in the west.

Decline and legacy

The Portuguese presence in the East Indies was reduced to Solor, Flores and Timor (see Portuguese Timor) following defeat in 1575 at Ternate at the hands of indigenous Ternateans, Dutch conquests in Ambon, north Maluku and Banda, and a general failure for sustained control of trade in the region. [5] In comparison with the original Portuguese ambition to dominate Asian trade, their influences on modern Indonesian culture are minor : the romantic keroncong guitar ballads; a large number of Indonesian words which reflect Portuguese’s role as the 'lingua franca' of the archipelago alongside Malay; and many family names in eastern Indonesia such as da Costa, Dias, de Fretes, Gonsalves, etc. The most significant impacts of the Portuguese arrival were the disruption and disorganisation of the trade network mostly as a result of their conquest of Portuguese Malacca, and the first significant plantings of Christianity in Indonesia (cf. the Kristang people. There have continued to be Christian communities in eastern Indonesia through to contemporary times, which has contributed to a sense of shared interest with Europeans, particularly among the Ambonese. [6]

Solor island

Solor is a volcanic island located off the eastern tip of Flores island in the Lesser Sunda Islands of Indonesia, in the Solor Archipelago. The island supports a small population that has been whaling for hundreds of years. They speak the languages of Adonara and Lamaholot. There are at least five volcanoes on this island which measures only 40 kilometres by 6 kilometres. The island's area is 222 square kilometres.

Flores Island of the Lesser Sunda Islands in Maritime Southeast Asia

Flores is one of the Lesser Sunda Islands, a group of islands in the eastern half of Indonesia. The population was 1,831,000 in the 2010 census and the largest town is Maumere. The name Flores is derived from the Portuguese for "flowers".

Timor island at the southern end of Maritime Southeast Asia

Timor is an island at the southern end of Maritime Southeast Asia, north of the Timor Sea. The island is divided between the sovereign states of East Timor on the eastern part and Indonesia on the western part. The Indonesian part, also known as West Timor, constitutes part of the province of East Nusa Tenggara. Within West Timor lies an exclave of East Timor called Oecusse District. The island covers an area of 30,777 square kilometres. The name is a variant of timur, Malay for "east"; it is so called because it lies at the eastern end of the Lesser Sunda Islands. Mainland Australia is less than 500 km away, separated by the mentioned Timor Sea.

See also

The East India Company, also known as the English East India Company, the British East India Company, and the Honourable East India Company was an English company founded in 1600

Portuguese East India Company short-lived colonial charter company

The Portuguese East India Company was a short-lived ill-fated attempt by Philip III of Portugal to create a national chartered company to look after interests in Portuguese India in the face on encroachment by the Dutch and English following the personal union of the Portuguese and Spanish Crowns.

Indonesia–Portugal relations Diplomatic relations between the Republic of Indonesia and the Portuguese Republic

Indonesia–Portugal relations are foreign bilateral relations between Indonesia and Portugal. Portuguese explorer and trader first reached Indonesian archipelago during the age of exploration in the 16th century in order to search for spices in the Indies.

Related Research Articles

Maluku Islands archipelago within Indonesia

The Maluku Islands or the Moluccas are an archipelago in eastern Indonesia. Tectonically they are located on the Halmahera Plate within the Molucca Sea Collision Zone. Geographically they are located east of Sulawesi, west of New Guinea, and north and east of Timor.

Bacan Islands Group of islands in Indonesia

The Bacan Islands, formerly also known as the Bachans, Bachians, and Batchians, are a group of islands in the Moluccas in Indonesia. They are mountainous and forested, lying south of Ternate and southwest of Halmahera. The islands are administered by the South Halmahera Regency of North Maluku Province.

North Maluku Province in Indonesia

North Maluku is a province of Indonesia. It covers the northern part of the Maluku Islands. The provincial capital is Sofifi, on Halmahera, and the largest population center is the island city of Ternate. The population of North Maluku was 1,038,087 at the 2010 Census making it one of the least-populous provinces in Indonesia; at the latest estimate the population had risen to 1,141,561. The movement of the regional economy in North Maluku is largely derived from the people's economy which relies on the agricultural sector, fisheries and other types of marine products. The main commodities that support economic pulse in North Maluku include copra, nutmeg, cloves, fisheries, gold and nickel. North Maluku's natural products include rice, corn, roasted sweet potatoes, beans, coconut, potatoes, nutmeg, sago, and eucalyptus. The regional economy mostly comes from the people's economy which relies on the agricultural sector, fisheries and other types of marine products.

Ternate City in North Maluku, Indonesia

Ternate is the largest city in the Indonesian province of North Maluku and an island in the Maluku Islands. It was the capital of the former Sultanate of Ternate and de facto provincial capital of North Maluku before being moved to Sofifi in 2010. It is off the west coast of the larger island of Halmahera. The city has a population of just under 200,000 on some 111.39 km2.

Tidore City in Maluku Islands, Indonesia

Tidore is a city, island, and archipelago in the Maluku Islands of eastern Indonesia, west of the larger island of Halmahera. In the pre-colonial era, the Sultanate of Tidore was a major regional political and economic power, and a fierce rival of nearby Ternate, just to the north.

Banten (town) strategically important site and formerly a major trading city with a secure harbour at the mouth of Banten River

Banten, also written as Bantam, is a small port town located near the western end of Java. It has a secure harbour at the mouth of Banten River that provides a navigable passage for light craft into the island's interior. The town is close to the Sunda Strait through which important ocean-going traffic passes between Java and Sumatra. Formerly Old Banten was the capital of a sultanate in the area, was strategically important and a major centre for trade.

Francisco Serrão Portuguese explorer

Francisco Serrão was a Portuguese explorer and a cousin of Ferdinand Magellan. His 1512 voyage was the first known European sailing east past Malacca through modern Indonesia and the East Indies. He became a confidante of the Sultan Bayan Sirrullah, the ruler of Ternate, becoming his personal advisor. He remained in Ternate where he died around the same time Magellan died.

Banten Sultanate sultanate

The Banten Sultanate was founded in the 16th century and centred in Banten, a port city on the northwest coast of Java; the contemporary English spelling of both was Bantam. It is said to have been founded by Sunan Gunungjati, who had previously founded Cirebon.

This is a timeline of Indonesian history, comprising important legal and territorial changes and political events in Indonesia and its predecessor states. To read about the background to these events, see History of Indonesia. See also the list of Presidents of Indonesia.

Kingdoms of Sunda

Kingdoms of Sunda refers to the monarchies of the Sundanese region prior to the establishment of Indonesia in 1945 AD. The history includes several eras:

  1. Salakanagara
  2. Tarumanagara
  3. The Sunda Kingdom and Galuh Kingdom
  4. Kingdom of Sumedang Larang, The Sultanate of Banten & The Sultanate of Cirebon
Luso-Sundanese padrão

The Luso-Sundanese padrão is a stone pillar commemorating a treaty between the kingdoms of Portugal and Sunda, better known as the Luso-Sundanese Treaty of Sunda Kalapa.

Sunda Kelapa

Sunda Kelapa is the old port of Jakarta located on the estuarine of Ciliwung River. "Sunda Kalapa" is the original name, and it was the main port of Hindu Sunda Kingdom of Pajajaran. The port is situated in Penjaringan sub-district, of North Jakarta, Indonesia. Today the old port only accommodate pinisi, a traditional two masted wooden sailing ship serving inter-island freight service in the archipelago. Although it is now only a minor port, Jakarta has its origins in Sunda Kelapa and it played a significant role in the city's development.

The Dutch East India Company had a presence in the Indonesian archipelago from 1603, when the first trading post was established, to 1800, when the bankrupt company was dissolved, and its possessions nationalised as the Dutch East Indies.

Port of Tanjung Priok Port of Indonesia

Port of Tanjung Priok is the busiest and most advanced Indonesian seaport, handling more than 50% of Indonesia's trans-shipment cargo traffic. The port is located at Tanjung Priok, North Jakarta, which is operated by Indonesian state owned PT Pelindo II. In 2016, the port loaded and unloaded 6.2 million TEUs of cargo, out of a total capacity of about 8 million TEUs.

The Sultanate of Ternate is one of the oldest Muslim kingdoms in Indonesia, established by Baab Mashur Malamo in 1257. It reached its Golden Age during the reign of Sultan Baabullah (1570–1583) and encompassed most of the eastern part of Indonesia and a part of southern Philippines. Ternate was a major producer of cloves and a regional power from the 15th to 17th centuries.

Treaty of Zaragoza peace treaty between Spain and Portugal signed on 22 April 1529

The Treaty of Zaragoza, or Treaty of Saragossa, also referred to as the Capitulation of Zaragoza, was a peace treaty between the Spanish Crown and Portugal, signed on 22 April 1529 by King John III and the Emperor Charles V, in the Aragonese city of Zaragoza. The treaty defined the areas of Castilian (Spanish) and Portuguese influence in Asia, in order to resolve the "Moluccas issue", which had arisen because both kingdoms claimed the Moluccas islands for themselves, asserting that it was within their area of influence established by the Treaty of Tordesillas in 1494. The conflict began in 1520, when expeditions of both kingdoms reached the Pacific Ocean, because no agreed meridian of longitude had been established in the orient.

Fort Tolukko

Fort Tolukko is a small fortification on the east coast of Ternate facing Halmahera. It was one of the colonial forts built to control the trade in clove spices, which prior to the eighteenth century were only found in the Maluku Islands. It has been variously occupied by the Portuguese,the native Terate Sultanate, the Dutch, and the Spanish. It was abandoned as a fort in 1864, renovated in 1996, and is now a tourist attraction.

António de Abreu Portuguese explorer

António de Abreu was a 16th-century Portuguese navigator and naval officer. He participated under the command of Afonso de Albuquerque in the conquest of Ormus in 1507 and Malacca in 1511, where he got injured. Departing from Malacca in November 1511 with four ships, in an exploratory voyage to the 'Spice Islands' of Maluku, he led the first European expedition to reach Timor and the Banda Islands, in Indonesia, in 1512.

Mona Lohanda is an Indonesian historian, archivist and academic, as well as a former curator of the National Archives of Indonesia. She is a leading authority on the history of Batavia, as well as its Chinese-Indonesian community.

References

  1. ↑ Ricklefs, M.C (1969). A History of Modern Indonesia Since c. 1300, second edition. London: MacMillan. pp. 22–24. ISBN   0-333-57689-6.
  2. ↑ Sumber-sumber asli sejarah Jakarta, Jilid I: Dokumen-dokumen sejarah Jakarta sampai dengan akhir abad ke-16. Cipta Loka Caraka. 1999.;Zahorka, Herwig (2007). The Sunda Kingdoms of West Java, From Tarumanagara to Pakuan Pajajaran with Royal Center of Bogor, Over 1000 Years of Propsperity and Glory. Yayasan Cipta Loka Caraka.
  3. ↑ Vaz, Simon. Halmahera dan Raja Ampat sebagai kesatuan majemuk: studi-studi terhadap. p. 279.
  4. ↑ Francis Xavier; His Life, His Times: Indonesia and India, 1545-1549. Xaviers mission. p. 179.
  5. ↑ Miller, George (ed.) (1996). To The Spice Islands and Beyond: Travels in Eastern Indonesia. New York: Oxford University Press. pp. xv. ISBN   967-65-3099-9.
  6. ↑ Ricklefs (1991), pages 22 to 26
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