Sir Thomas Stamford Bingley Raffles was a British colonial official who served as the governor of the Dutch East Indies between 1811 and 1816 and lieutenant-governor of Bencoolen between 1818 and 1824. Raffles was involved in the capture of the Indonesian island of Java from the Dutch during the Napoleonic Wars. It was returned under the Anglo–Dutch Treaty of 1814. He also wrote The History of Java in 1817, describing the history of the island from ancient times. Rafflesia flower was named after him.
The Invasion of Java in 1811 was a successful British amphibious operation against the Dutch East Indian island of Java that took place between August and September 1811 during the Napoleonic Wars. Originally established as a colony of the Dutch Republic, Java remained in Dutch hands throughout the French Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars, during which time the French invaded the Republic and established the Batavian Republic in 1795, and the Kingdom of Holland in 1806. The Kingdom of Holland was annexed to the First French Empire in 1810, and Java became a titular French colony, though it continued to be administered and defended primarily by Dutch personnel.
The kris or keris is a Javanese asymmetrical dagger with a distinctive blade-patterning achieved through alternating laminations of iron and nickelous iron (pamor). The kris is famous for its distinctive wavy blade, although many have straight blades as well, and is one of the weapons commonly used in the pencak silat martial art native to Indonesia. Kris have been produced in many regions of Indonesia for centuries, but nowhere—although the island of Bali comes close—is the kris so embedded in a mutually-connected whole of ritual prescriptions and acts, ceremonies, mythical backgrounds and epic poetry as in Central Java. Within Indonesia the kris is commonly associated with Javanese culture, although other ethnicities in it and surrounding regions are familiar with the weapon as part of their cultures, such as the Balinese, Sundanese, Malay, Madurese, Banjar, Buginese, and Makassar people. The kris itself is considered as a cultural symbol of Indonesia and also neighbouring countries like Brunei, Malaysia, Philippines, Singapore, and Thailand.
Trowulan is an archaeological site in Trowulan Subdistrict, Mojokerto Regency, in the Indonesian province of East Java. It includes approximately 100 square kilometres and has been theorized to be the site of the eponymous capital city of the Majapahit Empire, which is described by Mpu Prapanca in the 14th-century poem Nagarakretagama and in a 15th-century Chinese source. When it was the capital of the Majapahit Empire, the city was known as Wilwatikta, which is a name also synonymous with the empire's name. It was razed during the invasion of Girindrawardhana to defeat Kertabhumi in 1478. After this event Majapahit's capital was moved to Daha (Kediri). The Trowulan Museum includes a collection of artifacts.
The Minto Stone or Sangguran Inscription, known in Indonesia as Prasasti Sangguran, is a 3 long tons (3.0 t), 2 metres (6.6 ft) tall epigraphy found in Malang, East Java province. In 1812, Sir Thomas Stamford Raffles, then Lieutenant-Governor of the island of Java, removed it along with the so-called "Calcutta Stone" as a token of appreciation to his superior, then British Governor-General of India, Lord Minto. It consequently became part of the Minto family estate near Hawick, Roxburghshire, Scotland.
Gresik Regency is a regency within East Java Province of Indonesia. As well as a large part of the northern and western suburbs of the city of Surabaya, it includes the offshore Bawean Island, some 125 km to the north of Java and Madura. Almost a third of the Gresik Regency's area is the coastal area; the Districts in this zone are Kebomas District, Gresik District, Manyar District, Bungah District, and Ujungpangkah District.
The Java War of 1741 to 1743 was an armed struggle by a joint Chinese and Javanese army against the Dutch East India Company and pro-Dutch Javanese that took place in central and eastern Java. Ending in victory for the Dutch, the war led to the fall of the Sultanate of Mataram and, indirectly, the founding of both the Sunanate of Surakarta and the Sultanate of Yogyakarta.
Calcutta Stone or known in Indonesia as Pucangan Inscription is an ancient Javanese inscription written in Sanskrit and Old Javanese, dated from 1041 CE during the reign of king Airlangga of the Kahuripan kingdom, that explains some events and the royal genealogy of the king. The inscription more or less narrates the life story of King Airlangga, one of the greatest king in Javanese history, also explaining his lineage as the rightful ruler of Java, the successor of King Dharmawangsa of Isyana dynasty. This inscription was known as "Calcutta Stone", because it is stored in Indian Museum, Kolkata (Calcutta), India, from 19th century until today.
Wedung is a traditional large knife of the Javanese people and the Balinese people originating from Indonesia.
The French and British interregnum in the Dutch East Indies of the Dutch East Indies took place between 1806 and 1816. The French ruled between 1806 and 1811, while the British took over for 1811 to 1816 and transferred its control back to the Dutch in 1816.
Cetbang were cannons produced and used by the Majapahit Empire (1293–1527) and other kingdoms in the Indonesian archipelago. There are 2 main types of cetbang: the eastern-style cetbang which looks like a Chinese cannon and is loaded from the front, and the western-style cetbang which is shaped like a Turkish and Portuguese cannon, loaded from the back.
Fame was built at Northfleet in 1818. She made one voyage under charter to the British East India Company (EIC). A fire destroyed her in 1824 during her second voyage for the EIC.
Kemben is an Indonesian female torso wrap historically common in Java, Bali, and other parts of the Indonesian archipelago. It is made by wrapping a piece of kain (clothes), either plain, batik printed, velvet, or any type of fabrics, covering the chest wrapped around the woman's torso.
Sophia, Lady Raffles was the second wife of Sir Stamford Raffles, who was a botanist and known as the founder of modern Singapore.
Singseh, also known as Sing Seh, was an Indo-Chinese 18th-century rebel leader who fought against Dutch East Indian government during the Java War. The rebellion ended in failure, and Singseh was exiled to Sri Lanka, where he remained until the end of his life.
Indonesian numismatic charms, also known as Indonesian magic coins, are a family of coin-like objects based on a similar Chinese family of coin charms, amulets, and talismans but evolved independently from them. Indonesian numismatic charms tend to have been influenced a lot by Hinduism, Islam, and the native culture and often depict religious imagery from Hinduism for this reason. The "magic coins" and temple coins from Indonesia are largely based on the Chinese cash coins introduced to the region during the Tang dynasty era in China, and during the local Majapahit era they began circulating in the region. Unlike with Chinese numismatic charms, the coin charms of Indonesia have not been as well documented both historically and in the modern era. A major modern day work about Indonesian numismatic charms in English is Joe Cribb's Magic coins of Java, Bali, and the Malay Peninsula which is a catalogue based on the collection of coin-shaped charms from the island Java acquired by Sir Thomas Stamford Raffles during his lifetime held in the British Museum, the book is further supplemented with data and information available from various other sources.
Istinggar is a type of matchlock firearm built by the various ethnic groups of the Maritime Southeast Asia. The firearm is a result of Portuguese influence on local weaponry after the capture of Malacca (1511). Before this type of gun, in the archipelago already existed early long gun called bedil, or Java arquebus as the Chinese call it. Most of the specimens in the Malay Peninsula are actually Malaysian in origin, manufactured in the Langkasuka lands of Kedah. The states of the Malay Peninsula imported this firearm as it was widely used in their wars.
Bedil is a term from Maritime Southeast Asia which refers to various types of firearms and gunpowder weapons, from small pistols to large siege guns. The term bedil comes from wedil and wediluppu in the Tamil language. In their original form, these words refer to gunpowder blast and saltpeter, respectively. But after being absorbed into bedil in the Malay language, and in a number of other cultures in the archipelago, Tamil vocabulary is used to refer to all types of weapons that use gunpowder. The terms bedil and bedhil are known in Javanese and Balinese. In Sundanese the term is bedil, in Batak it is known as bodil, in Makasarese, badili, in Buginese, balili, in Dayak language, badil, in Tagalog, baril, in Bisayan, bádil, in Bikol languages, badil, and in Malay it is badel or bedil.
Buda Script or (Aksara Buda) or Gunung Script is an archaic script. Based on its shape, the Buda Script still has a close relationship with the Kawi script. This script was previously used on the island of Java and Bali. This type of script is called the Buda script because it is considered to have originated from the pre-Islamic era which is called the Buddhist Age. The word Buda is based on the Buddha word. Manuscripts containing writing using the Buda script are commonly found in mountainous areas. Because of that, this type of script is also called the "Mountain script".
Tarawangsa is a traditional Sundanese musical instrument from West Java, Indonesia, in the form of a stringed instrument that has two strings made of steel or iron wire. Tarawangsa is an ensemble of chordophones of two musical instruments. One is called tarawangsa itself, played by swiping and the other is called jentreng played by picking. The art of Tarawangsa is performed in the Ngalaksa ceremony, which is a ceremony for abundant harvests. The ceremony in the traditional agrarian society of the Sundanese is always identified with the figure of Nyai Sri Pohaci or Nyi Pohaci Sanghyang Dangdayang Asri or Dewi Asri or Dewi Sri as the Sundanese goddess of rice.
