Indonesia map
Indonesia is the largest archipelago country in the world. One in every 30 people on the earth today regard it as their home. The abundant natural resources have aroused the covetousness of all countries and have been ravaged by colonial exploitation and war for many years.
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Why are Europeans ahead of the Japanese on the Indonesian archipelago?
When the leader of the Indonesian National Party Sukarno declared Indonesia's independence, he liberated an incomplete country, unifying a large fragment of broken islands that appeared to have a common history and a little common culture based on imagination. The hastily drafted Declaration of Independence only mentioned that "other matters will be handled as soon as possible", and was hastily announced two days after Japan, who was involved in World War II, suddenly surrendered.
Japan invaded , Dutch East India in 1942, and drove Dutch colonists out of the Indonesian archipelago. The Indonesian National Party thought this was a gratifying thing because they did not trust white people very much. Who told the Dutch to rule Indonesia for 350 years by plundering people's wealth and ointment, but later discovered that the Japanese devils were as hateful as the Dutch, but they did it differently. Sukarno and his followers hurriedly declared independence, which was to free the Indonesian islands from the clutches of any greedy outsider.
19th century French spice shop
The main reason why Europeans emerged first over the Japanese was that they found spices and other wealth in markets across Indonesia. It is precisely because of these greedy Dutch businessmen in Indonesia that they united. In the centuries before the Europeans landed, Arab and Asian traders had already done business with various feudal territories of the Indonesian Archipelago. They crossed the ocean to Indonesia with the assistance of the sea breeze, and most of the long-term trade in human history was also driven by the sea breeze.
Kalimantan Island topographic map
At some time during the year, trade winds near the equator will change the wind direction, providing a convenient transportation channel for merchant ships from both countries on the sea between China and India. Between December and March of the following year, northeastern winds from East Asia hit the south. From June to September, the southeastern wind on the sea quickly blew north to India. Therefore, any merchant who wants to transport silk, cotton, porcelain, iron, tea and silver between India and China either has to cross the Himalayas or pass through the current Indonesian territorial waters.
The Great Age of Navigation
In the transition period with uncertain wind direction, trade activities in the Indonesian archipelago often come to a halt. Foreign traders have used these months to stay in some lively ports to load and unload goods, repair ships, replenish food, and even intermarry with local women, and obtain supplies for the next batch of businesses. Nutmeg powder and dried lilac buds come from the Eastern archipelago. The sultans of Aceh and Sumatra at the western end can supply pepper. Local lords compete to attract merchants and captains to their fiefdoms. Some ports are the best pipeline for mass-market pepper, some commercial ports are well-known for providing safe storage, some ports are cheap, and traders are less likely to be robbed.
Marco Polo passed through Indonesian waters on his way back from China to Italy around 1290. He described the busy situation of the port of Java in this way: "There are ships coming and going here, and merchants who buy and sell goods and make profits are often seen. The island is rare and not as good as it is available."
"Marco Polo's Travels" records: The black man who collected peppers in the Kingdom of Quilon, India
The scene and atmosphere in the market of the Indonesian Modern Trade City can be said to be close to what Marco Polo described more than 700 years ago. The stalls are next to each other, made of old packaging boxes, discarded furniture, and wooden slats that no one wants. No one cares about the appearance of the vendor, and the goods placed on the table are important.
Spice
There are wooden boxes on the stall. The first box is filled with nutmeg powder, the second box is filled with peppercorns, the third box is dried lilac buds, and the other twenty-two row boxes are filled with spices that can be identified by taste with your tongue.
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Persian and Muslims are also coming - business has influenced the religion and language of the Indonesian archipelago
All businessmen in the market use "Indonesian Mandarin" instead of "dialect" to talk to customers who may be willing to pay for their money. Their language they share with each other is actually a Malay language that traders have used for thousands of years. A long time ago, waves of foreign merchants took merchant ships to cross several straits between the Indonesian archipelago, through island communities speaking in various dialects.
The largest Buddhist temple in the world, "Borobutu", was built in Java in the ninth century in
0 Persians ruled Indonesia in the 7th century, and then the Arabs replaced it. Then Indians from the western state of India and the coast of Koromandel in the east came ashore. Chinese began to appear in large numbers in the 12th century. The common point of these outsiders is that they are keen on trade. Later, when the island residents of various skin colors and from various ethnic groups bargained for baskets of mother-of-pearls, bundles of sandalwood, baskets of birds of paradise, bags of peppercorns, and piles of soft sea cucumbers, they spoke Malay, just like now. Although residents of each island are still accustomed to using hundreds of local languages when talking in private, almost everyone speaks Indonesian language. Indonesian is the language in public. Indonesians from different backgrounds and gather in big cities also speak Indonesian in daily life.
Business has affected the religion and language of the Indonesian archipelago. Since the 7th century, scholars who traveled with Indian merchants introduced Hinduism and Buddhism to the Kingdom of Srivador south of Sumatra, and later became the first maritime commercial empire established by local indigenous people. The rulers accumulated huge wealth through trade, which was enough to establish an army, conquer neighboring islands, spread Buddhism across the sea to Java, and recruit vassals far away in Thailand and southern Cambodia today.
Jia Island Tanger Mountain in the morning
Glory temples began to rise in the plains and hills in central Java. The world's largest Buddhist temple "Borovtu" was completed in Java in the 9th century. Another dynasty that worships Hinduism was not to be outdone and established the stunning "Balambannan" temple group.
The next wave of businessmen are Arab Muslims, from South Asia, South China and Middle East , respectively. Because of common religious beliefs like commercial lubricants, traders on Indonesian islands became the first group to accept Islam. The princes and nobles of Java gradually abandoned Sanskrit names and began to adopt the title of Sultan. By the beginning of the 16th century, almost all the rulers of Java converted to Islam, but the Hinduism-worshiping , Bali, still retained the Indian palace and caste system.
Java Island map (early 18th century)
Indonesian archipelago has many different feudal territories, and residents of various places never think they belong to a major country with territorial integrity. However, as merchants frequently traveled to and from various islands, the common people who lived on the islands became willing to tolerate and accept each other's differences, and developed a hospitality attitude, and these islands also became places to tempt outsiders to explore.
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is rich in spices here: Portugal, Spanish, British, and Dutch followed one after another
However, such openness also has its disadvantages, which has led to Indonesia becoming the meat of Europeans and has also changed each other's business methods.
Ottoman Empire
Constantinople Translation ( Istanbul ) After being captured by the Turks in the mid-15th century, European Christian merchants could no longer buy goods from Asian Muslim merchants as they pleased. At that time, spices were an indispensable ingredient in the pantry of wealthy European families - in the era without refrigerators, spices prevented meat from rotting and covering up the smell. If Europeans want to continue to have the perfect supply of pepper, cloves, nutmeg , they will definitely go directly to the islands where these spices are grown to search for sources.
月21
Zheng He went to the country or region where he went to the West to trade with Zheng He's fleet
1497, after the Portuguese explorer Dagama sailed around the southern end of Africa and discovered the sea route to the east, this wish was finally expected to come true.The Portuguese quickly found the right channel and went straight to the Malugu Islands (formerly known as Moluca Islands or Spice Islands ), which produces precious spices. The first destination was the volcanic island of Ternath, which is full of lilacs. The island is located on the winding and rugged coast, and is located in a bustling city, where two Portuguese bunkers and a Sultan Palace ruins are still preserved. The desire for the spices produced here is also considered one of the main causes of the great discoveries of European navigation.
East-West trade
That palace was once magnificent. From 1570 to 1583, the sultanate countries on Ternat Island were in great power, and their power expanded to Sulawesi eastern, Ambon , Slan , Tire Island , Mindanao southern and even parts of Papua. In 1579, British explorer Derek made a temporary attempt to land on Turnerdi Island as the last stop of his global voyage and wrote down his thoughts on visiting the Sultan Palace. This pirate navigator has never seen any gold and silver treasures, but he is still impressed by the local Sultan's waist, red shoes, huge gold chains and six rings (set with two diamonds, two turquoise, a ruby and an emerald).
Malugu Islands topographic map
He sat upright on the throne, with a treasure fan on the right side (it was densely covered with embroidery and covered with sapphires). The palace was extremely hot and the fan leaves were filled with cool breezes, which made the king feel comfortable.
In the era of Derek, the throne of the Sultan was no longer stable and comfortable. The Portuguese used cannons to burst out many holes at the Sultan Palace, and they did not just want to move them all away. The Portuguese thought that trade was a zero-sum game, and as long as one side lost, the other side would win, but it was later proved that those foreigners were not very good at playing this kind of game.
According to Derek's records:
"The Portuguese... wanted to establish an autocratic government to order local people... to kill the king."
Their plan caused fire to set fire, and the people of Turnerti resisted and drove away the Portuguese. So other Europeans, Spanish, British, Dutch, and others came one after another, competing to purchase spices from the Malugu Islands to sell them to Europe, causing the price of production to rise and the profits of Europe to fall, which made ocean traders very unhappy. In 1602, Dutch merchants decided to take action to jointly establish Dutch East India Company .
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Dutch East India Company is only 4 years away from celebrating its 200th anniversary.
East India Company is the world's first joint-stock company with 1,800 initial investors. After the company was established, it promoted the world's earliest stock market transactions; before the first merchant ship set sail, investors raised prices and sold their stocks in the early stages. The 17 directors are under huge pressure to create profits for stockholders. Their first step to increase profits is to monopolize the spice market and eliminate competition from other Europeans, and adopt a strategy: bribery + win over + violence.
17th century Maluku Islands Today, many families in the north will tear down clusters of pink buds on the lilac tree during the harvest season. Children spread the picked buds on a disk made of palm leaves, and adults will then carry the plates to the roof covered with coconut leaves to dry. The buds become wrinkled, black and curved after days of wind and sun exposure. Europeans will place them in the hot wine they drink on Christmas to add aroma. July is the season for lilac buds. If you sail near a small island in the Maluku Islands during this season and a gust of wind happens to float from the sea, then you may have smelled the Christmas atmosphere before you even saw the land.
East India Company intends to buy every lilac bud, but things go against its wishes - although almost every family in the northern Maluku Islands planted lilac trees, they would rather sell the buds to Muslim merchants than hand them over to the hands of these white pagans covered in hair. Later, 617 directors of the East India Company came up with a bad idea: cut down all the lilac trees in the Maluku Islands and only retain the lilac trees on Ambon Island .To achieve their goals, they paid a large sum of money to the local Sudan, which opened a tradition of bribing and winning over local lords for more than 300 years.
The nutmeg market is more likely to be monopolized because there was only one place in the world that this spice grew: the Banda Islands. These small islands are isolated from the world and are located on the deep sea, and most of the maps can hardly see where they are located. The Dutch's strategy of winning over them was ineffective because these islands had an indestructible village-style democratic tradition, and the Dutch could not find sultans, kings, and central governments that could bribe or intimidate in the local area.
After the residents of Banda Island signed a trade agreement with the Dutch, they sold nutmeg to the British. In 1609, the East India Company sent troops to build a bunker locally, but was ambushed by islanders and sacrificed a navy admiral and 33 subordinates. Twelve years later, the Dutch took unprecedented large-scale retaliation. Although the exclusive business of lilac and nutmeg has contributed huge profits to the East India Company, they have also paid a high price to consolidate these businesses. The company was caught in a series of inexpensive battles due to frequent disputes between the Prince of Java, so it had no intention of operating a high-profit trade with China. Then it began to lose money and eventually went bankrupt in 1798.
Schematic diagram of the Dutch colony in the "Golden Age". The Netherlands East India Company managed light green areas; the dark green areas were controlled by the Netherlands West India Company.
At that time, the East India Company was only 4 years away from holding a celebration of its 200th anniversary. It also had as many as 50,000 employees, with nearly 150 merchant ships and dozens of warships. Because the company was obviously "too big to collapse", the Dutch royal family then took over its property and debts and took over the Dutch East India colony until it was invaded by Japan 150 years later.
However, it is always a puzzle that which islands are covered by the Dutch East India. Before the East India Company went bankrupt, it had established certain authorities in Java and the spice-rich Maluku Islands, controlling the busy port of Sulawesi, Makassar, and had 1-2 outposts in Sumatra.
For the next century and a half, the Dutch royal family gradually extended their tentacles to a wider field, but the Dutch colonial rulers who took over these islands were like the East India Company in the past, and were less interested in making money and were not very concerned about the lives and death of the locals. They cut down the jungles of Sumatra to plant rubber and cocoa; to obtain coffee, tea, sugar, and tobacco, and tobacco, and tobacco, and tobacco, and to develop land to dig tin, gold ore and dig wells to obtain oil. If there was an island or region that could not produce something that Dutch merchants were interested in, the colonists would let the local kings and princes continue to be powerful and did not come to an end until the 1880s.
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