The Portuguese in Indonesia (1512 to 1850)

The Portuguese were the first Europeans to reach the islands of Indonesia. Their quest to dominate the source of the lucrative spice trade in the early 16th century, and their simultaneous Roman Catholic missionary efforts, saw the establishment of trading posts and forts, and a strong Portuguese cultural element that remains substantial in Indonesia.

Establishment

Europeans were making technological advances in the early sixteenth century; new found Portuguese expertise in navigation, ship building and weaponry allowed them to make daring expeditions of exploration and expansion. Starting with the first exploratory expeditions sent from newly-conquered Malacca in 1512, the Portuguese were the first Europeans to arrive in Indonesia, and sought to dominate the sources of valuable spicescite book |last=Ricklefs |first=M.C|title=A History of Modern Indonesia Since c.1300, second edition |publisher=MacMillan |date=1993 |location=London |pages=p.22–24 |url= |isbn= 0-333-57689-6 ] and to extend their Roman Catholic missionary efforts. Initial Portuguese attempts to establish a coalition and peace treaty in 1512 with the West Javan Sunda Kingdom, [cite book| publisher=Cipta Loka Caraka| title = Sumber-sumber asli sejarah Jakarta, Jilid I: Dokumen-dokumen sejarah Jakarta sampai dengan akhir abad ke-16| year =1999;cite book | last =Zahorka | first =Herwig | publisher= Yayasan Cipta Loka Caraka | title = The Sunda Kingdoms of West Java, From Tarumanagara to Pakuan Pajajaran with Royal Center of Bogor, Over 1000 Years of Propsperity and Glory
year =2007 | accessdate = ] failed due hostilities amongst indigenous kingdoms on Java. The Portuguese turned east to Maluku, which comprised a varied collection of principalities and kingdoms that were occasionally at war with each other but maintained significant inter-island and international trade. Through both military conquest and alliance with local rulers, they established trading posts, forts, and missions in eastern Indonesia including the islands of Ternate, Ambon, and Solor. The height of Portuguese missionary activities, however, came at the latter half of the sixteenth century, after the pace of their military conquest in the archipelago had stopped and their east Asian interest was shifting to Japan, Macau and China; and sugar in Brazil and the Atlantic slave trade in turn further distracted their Indonesian efforts.

Decline and legacy

The Portuguese presence in Indonesia was reduced to Solor, Flores and Timor (see Portuguese Timor) in modern day Nusa Tenggara, following defeat in 1575 at Ternate at the hands of indigenous Ternateans, Dutch conquests in Ambon, north Maluku and Banda, and a general failure for sustained control of trade in the region.cite book | last =Miller | first =George (ed.) | authorlink = | coauthors = | title =To The Spice Islands and Beyond: Travels in Eastern Indonesia | publisher =Oxford University Press | date =1996 | location =New York| pages =p.xv | url = | doi = | id = ISBN 967-65-3099-9 ] In comparison with the original Portuguese ambition to dominate Asian trade, their influences on Indonesian culture are small: the romantic "keroncong" guitar ballads; a large number of Indonesian words which reflect Portuguese’s role as the 'lingua franca' of the archipelago alongside Malay; and many family names in eastern Indonesia such as da Costa, Dias, de Fretes, Gonsalves, etc. The most significant impacts of the Portuguese arrival were the disruption and disorganisation of the trade network mostly as a result of their conquest of Malacca, and the first significant plantings of Christianity in Indonesia. There have continued to be Christian communities in eastern Indonesia through to contemporary times, which has contributed to a sense of shared interest with Europeans, particularly among the Ambonese. [Ricklefs (1991), pages 22 to 26]

ee also

*History of East Timor
*History of Indonesia
*Timeline of Indonesian History

References