Balische Slavin "(Balinese Slave) by Cornelis de Bruyn, circa 1711. BARTELE GALLERY
Traders - colonizers from the Coromandel coast brought Hinduism in Java. Religion has been adopted by the Majapahit kingdom in the eastern part of the island. Bali was a vassal state of Majapahit, and became a shelter for refugees in the kingdom where Islam became the dominant religion.
The people of Bali are the Bali Aga. Although some villages Bali Aga still today, it must be assumed that the two groups socialized and mixed freely. From here Bali and the Balinese were largely left to themselves. The Dutch, who first appeared in 1597, are not really colonizers, a colonial power, yes, but even that was a slow and cumbersome process. The process is something like this. After the brothers De Houtman had a first contact with the island, he took the Company (Dutch East India Company, VOC), and after 1800 when the company went bankrupt and was dissolved, the Government of the Netherlands Indies, more 300 years to become the administrative power and rule over Bali.
Over the centuries, Balinese kings remained an unruly lot and annoyingly stubborn - depending of course on one's perspective. All nine of them: Klungkung, the most powerful kingdom, Karangasem, Mengwi, Badung, Bangli, Tabanan, Gianjar, Jembrana and Buleleng. Many expeditions had to be sent to ensure that trade agreements have been met, the Dutch ships plundered, fines for various forms of anti-VOC and other abuses were paid - in one case, a staggering $ 75,000 Fl ... it would be millions of Euros in the conversion to this - and in general to uphold the authority of the colonial government. One wonders, however, what priority Bali was given in the colonial policy of the Dutch.
Map of regions held by VOC / colonial government
insofar concerned the main commodity Bali The VOC and later the main interest of the colonial government trade was, and had slaves. The importance of this can be seen from the fact that in 1778 the number of Balinese living in and around Batavia was 13,000. Besides slaves, the island had little to offer. He lacked the spice of Ambon and Banda, and large estates belonging abroad (eg. Coffee, tea, rubber) of Java and Sumatra. As these most interesting commercial areas had their own brand of disobedience, the Dutch supremacy over Bali was not a priority. The nine realms thus continued to govern their part of the island in their way, unencumbered by foreigners. Or almost because sometimes (indeed regularly) they had to fight with these annoying intruders-depending of course his point of view try to impose their rules and laws.
In 1815, after the British handed over to the Dutch East Indies back in the Netherlands, the colonial government seemed to become more interested in Bali. Was it a genuine interest or do they feel offended by the attitude of the kings? When Commissioner H. A. government van den Broeck was sent to Bali to assess the state of affairs, he met with mistrust and reluctance to continue the relationship where it was left off four years earlier. Not until 1826, the Raja of Badung expresses its willingness to enter into a treaty with the Dutch and allow a representative of the colonial government to establish a residence in Badung. This will be, however, should be taken with a salt and not the representative has already been recalled in 1831.
"Isle of Baly" (Bali) by Antoine Prévost and Jacob Van der Schley, circa 1746-1770. BARTELE GALLERY.
made only in 1839 all the kings agree to recognize Dutch sovereignty, which, for example, removed the king's right to the cargo recovered from sunken ships on their shores. But whatever treaty was signed, the actual adoption was poor. The kings (all nine) remained stroppy and unruly and have shown in no uncertain way that they do not agree to the colonial power superimposed on them. The colonial government complained that the colonial government representatives have not been received from a friendly and courteous manner, a Dutch ship was looted and the raja of Buleleng has not responded to a letter from the Governor General and all this leads to a series of expeditions to punish the guilty and to exercise the right of government. Some were successful, some not.
Dutch Supremacy was not fully established until the twentieth century, when in 1906, the raja of Badung, as well as members of the nobility, some of his wives and children, and members of the royal family took to the shooting of the Dutch troops, preferring death over a reduction of his royal power and having to bend the knee before the Dutch. This puputan was repeated two years later in Klungkung. And after a few more unruly elements were deported in Lombok, law and order has been established. Again, it depends of course on one's perspective, but Dutch sources the report of day when the people were not sorry to see the Kings go, and the lack of legal certainty and the continual state of war they had brought.
That the population felt relieved might even be true. According to anthropologist Clifford Geertz is Balinese who have the entrepreneurial drive to look for opportunities and take advantage of changing conditions. One of the changes when Dutch settlers have replaced the despotic rules instead of rajas, is tourism. Although negligible by today's standards of day, the number of tourists was enough to justify the first tourist guide in Bali great. As an illustration of the spirit of enterprise, we Balinese tour guide writer, GH von Faber, notes that quality woodcarvings are harder to find, as carvers and traders, having found that tourists were undiscerning in their assessment of products, produce almost prefer produced low-quality mass work and improve their cash flow.
The 136 trucks, 264 buses and 787 rental cars, some of which served the tourism industry in 1930, have grown and grown and is still growing.
Kuta Beach, 1930
Kuta, which at the time was a fishing village with a beach hut and a government to change bathing suits even exceeded. Hotels, stays at home, restaurants, bars, cafes, shops and souvenir stands, beachwear, craft and about anything a tourist might need, pushed, not only in Kuta. In addition, thousands of foreigners have settled on the island, find the official documents to obtain permits and licenses fairly easy, certainly compared to other places in Indonesia. In other words, the local government also welcomes those who bring money and acts accordingly.
I can not help but wonder how much easier and less painful (for both parties) the historical process of colonization and the awakening after the economic and political independence could be if the VOC and later the colonial government left the kings keep their rights beachcombing, and sent tourists and cruise ships rather than fleets Navy and marines.
[1] Peddlers and Princes, social development and economic change in two Indonesian cities, Geertz, the University of Chicago Press, 1963. A comparative analysis of the two Indonesian cities Modjokuto, a market town in East Java and Tabanan, a city court in the southwest of Bali.
[1] BALI, tempels Duizend het land der, GH von Faber
Source: Encyclopaedia van .ch-Indië, Martinus Nijhoff, 1917