Changes of Regime And Social Dynamics in West Java

Book excerpt: This volume deals with the sultanate of Banten from the outbreak of the rebellion of 1750-52 to the launching of the Cultivation System in 1830. After the suppression of the rebellion by the Dutch East India Company (VOC), local society showed considerable vitality. The introduction by the VOC of forced exploitation of the pepper cultivation did not lead to a significant increase in production, but enabled the local elites to augment their power. In the late 18th century Asian traders (many Bugis and Chinese) and English country traders integrated Banten and its Sumatran territory Lampung into a vibrant inter-regional trading network. This trade pattern, which involved the exchange of pepper and the maritime and forest products demanded by the China market for opium, contributed to the emergence of a new economic order in insular South-East Asia. This study shows how the the society of Banten was in a state of constant transformation in reaction to the Western presence and the shifts of the world economy during the period from 1750 to 1830.