Masa Penjajahan Indonesia

Teks ini hanya tersedia dalam bahasa Inggris

The colonial period of Indonesia did not immediately start when the Dutch first arrived in the archipelago at the end of the 16th century. Instead, it was a slow process of political expansion that took centuries to reach the territorial boundaries of present-day Indonesia. 

During the course of the 18th century the United East India Company (Vereenigde Oost-Indische Compagnie, abbreviated VOC) had established itself as the dominating economic and political power on Java after the crumbling and collapse of the Mataram empire. This Dutch trading company had been a major power in Asian trade since the early 1600s, but started to develop an interest to interfere in indigenous politics on the island of Java in the 18th century as that would improve their hold on the local economy. Mismanagement, corruption and fierce competition from the English East India Company, however, resulted in the slow demise of the VOC towards the end of the 18th century. In 1796 the VOC went bankrupt and was nationalized by the Dutch state. As a consequence its possessions in the archipelago passed into the hands of the Dutch crown in 1800. However, when the French occupied Holland between 1806 and 1815 these possessions were transferred to the British. After Napoleon's defeat at Waterloo it was decided that most parts of the archipelago would return to the Dutch.