Life under Imperialism
Social Pyramid of Indonesia during Imperialism
Indonesian Society Under Imperialism
Religion
The Portuguese heavily supported the Roman- Catholic religion and tried to force the native people to convert. This was a failed attempt compared to the spread of Islam in Indonesia. Now over eighty-six percent of the people in Indonesia are Muslim and only three percent are Roman Catholic according to the CIA World Fact Book. The only areas that were really influenced by the Portuguese were the islands of Ambon and Timor. 5.7% of the people in Indonesia are now Protestant which was influenced by the Europeans.
(Information from: http://chatwarawannathip.wordpress.com/2011/10/23/the-age-of-european-imperialism-in-indonesia-and-what-happened-when-societies-interacted/)
(Information from: http://chatwarawannathip.wordpress.com/2011/10/23/the-age-of-european-imperialism-in-indonesia-and-what-happened-when-societies-interacted/)
Colonial Society
Over time, Indonesia became a popular trading spot. People from India, Europe and Persia came to trade for spices. With the trade improving so much, the kings on the coast were struggling to control the inner regions of the islands. This caused a great internal split because the coasts of the islands were focused on trade while the interior of the islands were still living in an agricultural society. This conflict allowed the Europeans to come to Indonesia with ships and weapons that were far too superior than those in possession of the Indonesians. The Portuguese arrived later to enforce Catholicism. The Dutch came to Indonesia with the intention of trading at first. They ended up setting up a trade association in Holland and then they appointed a governor general in Indonesia in order to strengthen the Dutch activity. The Dutch had set up many huge buildings which caused the lives of many of the peasants in the masses. The Dutch made the lives of the people miserable and took advantage of the people and its resources. The Dutch also made new roads and expanded there army from 4,000 to 18,000. The Indonesians had a hard time fighting back because of the technology of Europe. The English attacked the Dutch at Java and the people of Indonesia did not help because of how they were treated by the Dutch. The English defeated the Dutch and controlled Indonesia for three years. During the three years that the English were in power, they created a property tax where the peasants had to pay at a minimum, two thirds of their crop in taxes. The property the peasants owed could also be bought and sold by other rich land owners. This caused uprising in the peasants which made the land owners who sold land, buy it back in the name of the state. Later the English signed a treaty with the Dutch putting them back into power because of the defeat of Napoleon. The Dutch set up a "cultural system" were peasants were given no freedom at all. This made the peasants plant all of their land and give one to two thirds of it to the European market. This required much more labor than the Indonesians had previously used to plant rice. The peasants also had to pay excess taxes on top of the crop taxes they already had to pay. They would have to sell the extra rice that they would usually keep for food in order to pay the excess taxes. Indonesians that couldn't pay their taxes were forced to build more roads and buildings for the Dutch. The peasants suffered greatly during the time of the system which caused more uprisings. In order to completely control Indonesia the Dutch had to fight a huge was with Bali, Lombok, Sumbawa, Dompo, Flores, Bone, Bandjarmasin, Djambi, Riau, Tapanuli, Atjeh, and other places. The Dutch won the war but in order to guarantee the profits the Dutch Government studied the fields of geology, geography, botany, and biology. They also studied customs, languages, religions, culture, and the history of the nationalities of the places they fought. After 40 years, the cultural system changed to a financial capitol after the war. The Dutch were weak militarily after the war as well and could not defend Indonesia , so they had to resort to an open door policy. Over all, imperialism created a basis for a modern system of exploitation of the people and wealth of Indonesia.
(all information summarized from:http://www.marxists.org/history/indonesia/1957-IndonesianSociety.htm)
(all information summarized from:http://www.marxists.org/history/indonesia/1957-IndonesianSociety.htm)