Reasons for colonisation
1. Trade Reasons
Spices
Spices were astronomically priced as there is a high demand for it for preserving and making poorly preserved meat palatable, and also for making of medicines and magic potions. Thus, in the sixteenth century, Europeans sought to dominate the spice trade at its sources.
Anglo-Dutch competition for access to spices
In 1604, a second British East India Company voyage to Maluku and subsequent establishments of trading posts between 1611 and 1617 across the archipelago. Thus, the Dutch monopolistic ambitions were threatened. Diplomatic agreements and cooperation between the Dutch and the English over the spice trade ended when Amboyna massacre where ten Englishmen were tortured and killed for conspiracy against the Dutch government, following which the English withdrew from their Indonesian activities (except in Banten).
In 1619, Jan Pieterszoon Coen was appointed Governor-General of the VOC and on 30 May, 1619, Coen, backed by a force of nineteen ships, stormed Jayakarta to drive out the Banten forces and established Batavia as the VOC headquarters.
Furthermore, to establish a monopoly for the clove trade, the Dutch killed almost the entire native population of the Banda Islands in an attempt to replace them with Dutch plantations in the 1620s which is operated with slave labor.
Trade Routes
Strait of Malacca
Indonesia lies near the Strait of Malacca. From an economic and strategic perspective the Strait of Malacca is one of the most important shipping lanes in the world. The strait is the main shipping channel between the Indian Ocean and the Pacific Ocean, linking major Asian economies such as India, China, Japan and South Korea. However, although Straits of Malacca were strategic, the Portuguese conquest had made them dangerous.
In 1603, the first permanent Dutch trading post in Indonesia was established in Banten, northwest Java. However, control by a powerful local ruler and competition from Chinese and English traders make it difficult to control. From 1610 to 1619, VOC headquarters were in Ambon and they are located centrally in the spice production areas but were far away from Asian trade routes and other VOC activity ranging from Africa to Japan. Thus, a location in the west Indonesia was sought.
2. Aggressive Attitude
1512-1800
Background Information
The Portuguese were the first Europeans to reach the islands of Indonesia. Their quest was to dominate the source of the lucrative spice trade in the early 16th century and continue their simultaneous Roman Catholic missionary efforts. The Portuguese saw the establishment of trading posts and forts. A strong Portuguese cultural element that remains substantial in Indonesia.
Conflicts
Initial Portuguese attempts to establish a coalition and peace treaty in 1512 with the West Javan Sunda Kingdom. However, they failed due hostilities amongst indigenous kingdoms on Java. Furthermore, the Sultan of Aceh in Sumatra, the Sultan of Demak in Java and the Sultan of Ternate in the Maluku islands joined forces in trying to ward off the Portuguese. In 1570, the Portuguese succeeded in killing the Sultan of Ternate, Khairun. However, his successor, Sultan Baabullah, besieged the Portuguese fortress at Ternate. Baabullah then allied himself with the Dutch to further confront the Portuguese. The Dutch eventually dominate over the Indonesia after chasing away the Portuguese
1800-1942
Background Information
The Dutch East India Company (VOC) had been set up in the early seventeenth century to maximize Dutch trade interests in the Malay Archipelago. By 1700, a colonial pattern was well established; the VOC had grown to become a state-within-a-state and the dominant power in the archipelago. Its method of indirect rule was to survive it. After the bankrupt company was liquidated on 1 January 1800, its territorial possessions became the property of the Dutch government.
Conflicts
Numerous wars and disturbances across the archipelago as various indigenous Indonesian groups resisted efforts to establish a Dutch hegemony. This weakened Dutch control and tied up its military forces. During the Dutch East Indies era, the most prolonged conflicts were the Padri War in Sumatra (1821–38), the Java War (1825–30) led by Prince Diponegoro, and a bloody thirty-year war in Aceh.However each resulted in an eventual Dutch ascendancy. Disturbances continued to break out on both Java and Sumatra during the remainder of the 19th century, and between 1846 and 1849, Expeditions to conquer Bali were largely unsuccessful. The Banjarmasin War in southeast Borneo resulted in the Dutch defeat of the sultan. In Aceh, guerrilla leaders fought off Dutch invasion in what was the longest and bloodiest conflict from 1873 to Acehnese surrender in 1908. As exploitation of Indonesian resources expanded off Java, most of the outer islands came under direct Dutch government control or influence. Under the 1904–1909 tenure of Governor-general J.B. van Heutsz, the government extended more direct colonial rule throughout the Dutch East Indies,thereby laying the foundations of today's Indonesian state. Hence, Indonesia was colonised was partly because she did not adopt an open diplomacy to the Europeans. Instead, she attacked the Europeans, giving the Europeans to retaliate, thus colonising her.