Het cultuurstelsel en zijn buitenlandse ondernemer. Java tussen oud en nieuw kolonialisme

Abstract

Java tussen oud en nieuw kolonialismeThe Dutch state cultivation system and its global entrepreneurs. Java between old and new colonialism Since the reign of lieutenant governor-general Stamford Raffles (1811-1816 British trading interests had been firmly established in colonial Indonesia. The establishment of the cultivation system in Java by the Dutch colonial government in 1830 was an attempt to bring the potentially rich colony under economic control of the Dutch. It is also considered to be a departure from the principles of economic liberalism and a phase in which private entrepreneurs were barred from the emerging plantation economy. On the basis of census data and immigration records, and with reference to recent literature on the development of nineteenth century sugar industry, this article argues that British trading houses that were present in Java in the early nineteenth century continued to play an important role in the development of the production of tropical products in Java. They also attracted a modest influx of British technicians to manage the estates. The article proposes to consider the state Cultivation System and private enterprise not as mutually exclusive categories but as complementory factors in making the Java cane sugar industry the second largest in the world after Cuba.Het cultuurstelsel (1830-1870) werd door koning Willem i ingevoerd om de zwaar verliesgevende kolonie Nederlands-Indië winstgevend te maken voor de Nederlandse schatkist. Het koloniale bestuur nam zelf de leiding bij de bedrijfsmatige exploitatie van bevolking en grond. Onder toezicht van de koloniale ambtenaren werd de inheemse bevolking gedwongen tegen een laag en vooraf vastgesteld plantloon producten voor de Europese markt te verbouwen. De producten werden in consignatie gegeven aan de in 1824 opgerichte Nederlandsche Handel-Maatschappij (nhm). Deze zorgde voor vervoer en verkoop tijdschrift voor sociale en economische geschiedenis 2 [2005] nr. 2, pp. 3-28

Dutch Commerce and Chinese Merchants in Java

“…39 See Bosma (2005), De Bree (1928-1930, Mansvelt (1938: 5-6, 10-12), Stevens (1982: 203, 207-215), TNI (1842: I 218-219).…”

The Cultivation System (1830–1870) and its private entrepreneurs on colonial Java

“…48 Most of the Dutchmen were employees of the NHM, which gradually established offices all over the archipelago. As a consequence, the percentage of English, Irish, and Scottish traders on Java remained high.…”

“…50 Nationality was apparently considered less important than being at home among the Indies elite, and possession of organisational skills. 55 The small European society in Java easily absorbed the technicians, trading-house staff, and the cadre of army officers, quite a number of whom went into plantation agriculture in the early decades of the nineteenth century. 51 The most important reason for this influx of foreigners was the need to attract technicians to the emerging sugar industry, a need which had been identified even before the Cultivation System was adopted, when experiments were undertaken to introduce the West-Indian way of sugar production.…”

Sailing through Suez from the South: The Emergence of an Indies-Dutch Migration Circuit, 1815–1940

“…7 7 For the numbers of the Dutch military leaving for the Dutch East Indies, see Bossenbroek (1992:79, 105, 123, 1986:192). For the civilians, see Bosma (2005:21, 22, 36) and Figure IV of this article. On the basis of the latter article the following estimates have been made for the yearly Dutch civilian emigration to the Indies: 1815–1825: 75, 1825–1830: 0, 1831–1835: 150, 1836–1840: 200, 1841–1855: 250, 1856–1864: 300. …”

“…13 13 The data are obtained from the “Oost‐Indische Besluiten (Decisions by the governor‐general of the Netherlands‐Indies) NA, MvK I, 2450–2763 and Oost‐Indische Besluiten van de gouverneur‐generaal in Rade NA, MvK I, 2838–2763. They are published in: Bosma, 2005:22. …”