View source for French and British interregnum in the Dutch East Indies

{{Short description|French and British colonial administration in the Dutch East Indies}}
{{EngvarB|date=September 2015}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=September 2015}}
{{Infobox historical era
| name      = French and British interregnum in the Dutch East Indies
| location  = [[East Indies]]
| start     = 5 June 1806{{efn|Interregnum started after Kingdom of Holland was proclaimed on June 5, 1806.<ref>{{cite book |author1=K. Hagemann, J. Rendall |title=Soldiers, Citizens and Civilians Experiences and Perceptions of the Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars, 1790-1820 |date=November 27, 2008 |publisher=Palgrave Macmillan UK |isbn=9780230583290 |page=183 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=AWGCDAAAQBAJ&dq=Kingdom+of+Holland+5+june+1806&pg=PA183 |access-date=24 August 2021}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |author1=Ute Planert |title=Napoleon's Empire European Politics in Global Perspective |date=January 26, 2016 |publisher=Palgrave Macmillan UK |isbn=9781137455475 |page=53 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=JSZ8CwAAQBAJ&dq=Kingdom+of+Holland+5+june+1806&pg=PA53 |access-date=24 August 2021}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |author1=Elise Van Nederveen Meerkerk |author2=Griet Vermeesch, Manon van der Heijden |title=Serving the Urban Community The Rise of Public Facilities in the Low Countries |date=2009 |publisher=Uitgeverij Aksant |isbn=9789052603506 |page=232 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=GyqI-UjSTy8C&dq=Kingdom+of+Holland+5+june+1806&pg=PA232 |access-date=24 August 2021}}</ref>}}
| end       = 19 August 1816{{efn|The Dutch took back East Indies from the British in 1815,<ref>{{cite web |title=The French and the British in Java, 1806–15 |url=https://www.britannica.com/place/Indonesia/The-French-and-the-British-in-Java-1806-15 |website=Britannica |access-date=24 August 2021}}</ref> and reverted the control from Britain to the Dutch on 19 August 1816.<ref name="London : W. Heinemann">{{cite web |author1=Campbell, Donald Maclaine, 1869-1913; Wheeler, G. C |title=Java: past & present, a description of the most beautiful country in the world, its ancient history, people, antiquities, and products |url=https://opac.perpusnas.go.id/DetailOpac.aspx?id=711740 |publisher=London : W. Heinemann |access-date=24 August 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210824162608/https://opac.perpusnas.go.id/DetailOpac.aspx?id=711740 |archive-date=24 August 2021 |page=404 |url-status=bot: unknown }}</ref>}}
| image     = The Boats of H.M.S Sloop Procris (10 guns) engaging French Gunboats off the mouth of the Indramayo, Java.jpg
| alt       =
| caption   = The [[action of 31 July 1811]] during the French and British interregnum
| before    = [[Dutch East Indies]]
| after     = [[Dutch East Indies]]
| including ={{Collapsible list
| bullets = on
| title = {{nobold|'''Events:'''}}
|[[Kingdom of Holland]]
|[[Incorporation (Netherlands)|Annexation by the First French Empire]]
|[[Invasion of the Spice Islands]]
|[[Invasion of Java (1811)|Invasion of Java]]
|[[Anglo-Dutch Treaty of 1814|Anglo-Dutch Treaty]]
|Dutch regained control over the Dutch East Indies from the British
}}
| key_events = [[Napoleonic wars]]
}}
{{History of Indonesia|||image=&nbsp;}}
The '''French and British interregnum in the Dutch East Indies''' of the [[Dutch East Indies]] took place between 1806 and 1816. The French ruled between 1806 and 1811, while the British took over for 1811 to 1816{{efn|The Dutch took back East Indies from the British in 1815,<ref>{{cite web |title=The French and the British in Java, 1806–15 |url=https://www.britannica.com/place/Indonesia/The-French-and-the-British-in-Java-1806-15 |website=Britannica |access-date=24 August 2021}}</ref> and reverted control to the Dutch on 19 August 1816.<ref name="London : W. Heinemann">{{cite web |author1=Campbell, Donald Maclaine, 1869-1913; Wheeler, G. C |title=Java: past & present, a description of the most beautiful country in the world, its ancient history, people, antiquities, and products |url=https://opac.perpusnas.go.id/DetailOpac.aspx?id=711740 |publisher=London : W. Heinemann |access-date=24 August 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210824162608/https://opac.perpusnas.go.id/DetailOpac.aspx?id=711740 |archive-date=24 August 2021 |page=404 |url-status=bot: unknown }}</ref>}} and transferred its control back to the Dutch in 1816.<ref name="London : W. Heinemann">{{cite web |author1=Campbell, Donald Maclaine, 1869-1913; Wheeler, G. C |title=Java: past & present, a description of the most beautiful country in the world, its ancient history, people, antiquities, and products |url=https://opac.perpusnas.go.id/DetailOpac.aspx?id=711740 |publisher=London : W. Heinemann |access-date=24 August 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210824162608/https://opac.perpusnas.go.id/DetailOpac.aspx?id=711740 |archive-date=24 August 2021 |page=404 |url-status=bot: unknown }}</ref>
The French invaded the Dutch Republic and established the Batavian Republic by 1795, and then the Kingdom of Holland in 1806. The fall of the Netherlands to [[Revolutionary France]] and the dissolution of the [[Dutch East India Company]] led to some profound changes in the European colonial administration of the [[East Indies]], as one of the Revolutionary and [[Napoleonic Wars]] was [[Invasion of Java (1811)|fought in Java]].<ref name="Britannica">{{cite web | title=The French and the British in Java, 1806–15| publisher=Britannica | author = Asvi Warman Adam | url = http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/286480/Indonesia/22812/The-French-and-the-British-in-Java-1806-15}}</ref> This period, which lasted for almost a decade, witnessed a tremendous change in [[Java]], as vigorous infrastructure and defence projects took place, followed by battles, reformation and major changes of administration in the colony.
== Introduction ==
In 1800, five years after the French invasion, the [[Dutch East India Company]] ({{langx|nl|Vereenigde Oost-Indische Compagnie|links=no}} (VOC)) was declared bankrupt and nationalised by the Dutch government. As a result, its assets, which included seaports, storehouses, fortifications, settlements, lands and plantations in the [[East Indies]] were nationalised as a Dutch colony, the [[Dutch East Indies]]. Based in [[Batavia, Dutch East Indies|Batavia]] (today [[Jakarta]]), the Dutch ruled most of [[Java]] (with exception of interior lands of [[Mataram Sultanate|''Vorstenlanden Mataram'']] and [[Banten Sultanate|Banten]]), conquering coastal West Sumatra, wrested former Portuguese colonies in [[Dutch Malacca|Malacca]], the Moluccas, South and North Celebes also in West Timor. Among these Dutch possessions, [[Java]] was the most important one, as the production of cash-crops and Dutch-controlled plantations was located there.
On the other side on the world, [[Europe]] was devastated by the [[Napoleonic Wars]]. The war was shifting the politics, relations and dynamics among the European empires and nations, which also affected their colonies abroad, including in the Far East. The Netherlands under [[Napoleon Bonaparte]] in 1806, oversaw the [[Batavian Republic]] become the Commonwealth of Batavia and then dissolved and replaced by the [[Kingdom of Holland]], a French puppet kingdom ruled by Napoleon's third brother [[Louis Bonaparte]] (Lodewijk Napoleon). As a result, the East Indies during this time were treated as a proxy French colony, administered through a Dutch intermediary.<ref>{{cite book |author1=Kalman Dubov |title=Journey to the Republic of Indonesia Review & Analysis |date=13 December 2021 |publisher=Kalman Dubov |pages=Part one: H |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=aYdUEAAAQBAJ&dq=french+proxy+colony+east+indies&pg=PT65 |access-date=29 August 2022}}</ref>
The power struggle and rivalry between [[France]] and [[United Kingdom|Britain]] had spilled to other parts of the world, involving the colonies of each empires in [[Americas]], [[Africa]], as well as in [[Asia]]. Since 1685 the British had consolidated their rule in [[British Bencoolen|Bencoolen]] on western coast of Sumatra, and also had established their rule in Malaccan strait, the island of [[Singapore]] and [[Penang]]. As the British coveted the Dutch colonies in the region, the Dutch-controlled East Indies was bracing for the predicted incoming British invasion.
== French interregnum (1806–1811) ==
{{Infobox former country
| conventional_long_name = French rule over the Dutch East Indies
| common_name            = Indonesia
| image_flag             = Flag of the Netherlands.svg
| image_flag2            = Flag of France (1794–1815, 1830–1958).svg
| capital                = [[Batavia, Dutch East Indies|Batavia]]
| life_span              = 1806–1811
| status                 = [[First French Empire|French colony]]
| government_type        = Adminstered through the [[Kingdom of Holland]]
| title_leader           = [[Monarchy of the Netherlands|Monarch]]
| year_leader1           = 1806–1810
| leader1                = [[Louis Bonaparte|Louis I]]
| year_leader2           = 1810
| leader2                = [[Napoléon Louis Bonaparte|Louis II]]
| year_leader3           = 1810–1811
| leader3                = [[Napoleon|Napoleon I]]
| title_representative   = [[Governor-general of the Dutch East Indies|Governor-General]]
| year_representative1   =  1806–1808
| representative1        = [[Albertus Henricus Wiese]]
| year_representative2   =  1808–1811
| representative2        = [[Herman Willem Daendels]]
| year_representative3   = 1811
| representative3        = [[Jan Willem Janssens]]
| p1                     = Dutch East Indies
| s1                     = #British interregnum (1811–1816){{!}}British Interregnum
| flag_p1                = Flag of the navy of the Batavian Republic.svg
| flag_s1                = Flag of the United Kingdom.svg
}}
In 1806, King [[Louis Bonaparte|Lodewijk Napoleon]] of the Netherlands sent one of his generals, [[Herman Willem Daendels]], serving as governor-general of East Indies based in Java. [[Herman Willem Daendels|Daendels]] was sent to strengthen Javanese defenses against a perceived incoming British invasion. He arrived in the city of Batavia (now [[Jakarta]]) on 5 January 1808 and relieved the former Governor General, Albertus Wiese. He raised new forces, built new roads within Java, and improved the internal administration of the island.<ref name="Britannica"/><ref>{{cite book |author1=H. L. Wesseling |title=The European Colonial Empires 1815-1919 |date=23 October 2015 |publisher=Taylor & Francis |isbn=9781317895077 |pages=104 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=PdHMCgAAQBAJ&dq=herman+willem+daendels+appointed&pg=PA104 |access-date=2 September 2022 |language=English}}</ref>
Daendels' rule was a harsh and martial one, as the colony prepared for the British threat. He built new hospitals and military barracks, a new arms factories in [[Surabaya]] and [[Semarang]], and a new military college in Batavia. He demolished the Castle in Batavia and replaced it with a new fort at Meester Cornelis ([[Jatinegara]]), and built ''Fort Lodewijk'' in [[Surabaya]]. However, his best-known achievement was the construction of the [[Great Post Road]] ({{langx|id|Jalan Raya Pos}}) across northern [[Java]] from [[Anyer|Anjer]] to [[Panarukan|Panaroecan]]. The road now serves as the main road in the island of [[Java]]; some sections of the road that go through the northern coast of Java became part of [[North Coast Road (Java)|Jalur Pantura]]. The thousand-kilometre road was completed in only one year, during which thousands of Javanese forced labourers died.<ref>Pramoedya sheds light on dark side of Daendels' highway. ''The Jakarta Post'' 8 January 2006.</ref> Major William Thorn wrote that about 12,000 natives are said to have perished during the construction.<ref>{{cite book |first = William |last = Thorm |title = The Conquest of Java |year = 1993 |orig-year = originally 1815 |location = Singapore |publisher = Periplus Editions }}</ref>
[[Image:Java Great Post Road.svg|thumb|left|360px|Java Great Post Road, commissioned by Daendels.]]
The reign of [[Catholic Church|Catholic]] King Lodewijk in the [[Netherlands]] ended the centuries-old of religious discriminations against Catholics both in the Netherlands and in the East Indies. Previously the Netherlands only favoured [[Protestantism]]. The Catholics were permitted freedom of worship in the Dutch Indies, though this measure was mainly intended for European Catholics, since Daendels ruled under the authority of [[Napoleonic France]]. This religious freedom would be consolidated later by [[Stamford Raffles]].
Daendels — known as an avid [[Francophile]] — built a new governor general palace in smaller version ''[[Château de Versailles]]''-style in Batavia, known as [[Palace of Daendels|Daendels' Palace]] or ''Witte Huis'' (White House) is often referred to ''Groote Huis'' (Big House). It is now Indonesia's [[Ministry of Finance (Indonesia)|Ministry of Finance]] office on the east side of ''[[Lapangan Banteng]]'' (''Waterlooplein''). He also renamed ''Buffelsveld'' (buffalo field) to ''Champs de Mars'' (today [[Merdeka Square, Jakarta|Merdeka Square]]). Daendels' rule oversaw the complete adoption of [[Continental Law]] into the colonial Dutch East Indies law system, retained even until today in Indonesian legal system. Indonesian law is often described as a member of the 'civil law' or 'Continental' group of legal systems found in European countries such as France and the Netherlands.<ref name="Indonesia Law">{{cite book| title= Indonesia, Law and Society|editor=Timothy Lindsey |publisher= Federation Press |year=2008 |isbn=9781862876606 |page=2|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=VaLzpe5pK9cC|access-date=9 November 2015}}</ref>
Daendels displayed a firm attitude towards the local Javanese rulers, with the result that the rulers later were willing to work with the British against the Dutch. He also subjected the population of [[Java]] to forced labour (''Rodi''). There were some rebellious actions against this, such as those in Cadas Pangeran, West Java. He was also responsible for the dissolution of [[Banten Sultanate]]. In 1808, Daendels ordered Sultan Aliyuddin II of Banten to move the Sultanate capital to [[Anyer]] and to provide labour to build a new port planned to be built at [[Ujung Kulon]]. The Sultan refused Daendels' command, and in response Daendels ordered the invasion of Banten and destruction of Surosowan palace. The Sultan, together with his family, was arrested in Puri Intan and held as a prisoner in Fort Speelwijk, and later sent into exile in [[Ambon, Maluku|Ambon]]. On 22 November 1808, Daendels declared from his headquarters in [[Serang]] that the Sultanate of Banten had been absorbed into the territory of the [[Dutch East Indies]].<ref>{{cite book |title = Ekspedisi Anjer-Panaroekan, Laporan Jurnalistik Kompas |publisher= Penerbit Buku Kompas, PT Kompas Media Nusantara, Jakarta Indonesia | date= November 2008|pages= 1–2|isbn= 978-979-709-391-4}}</ref>
== British interregnum (1811–1816) ==
{{main|Invasion of the Spice Islands|Invasion of Java (1811)}}
{{Infobox former country
| conventional_long_name = British rule over the Dutch East Indies
| common_name            = Indonesia
| image_flag             = Flag of the United Kingdom.svg
| capital                = [[Batavia, Dutch East Indies|Batavia]]
| image_map              = A Map of Java.jpg
| image_map_caption      = A map of Java: Chiefly from surveys made during the British administration constructed in illustration of an account of Java by [[Stamford Raffles|Thomas Stamford Raffles]]
| life_span              = 1811–1816
| status                 = [[Crown colony]]
| government_type        = Adminstered as part of [[company rule in India]]
| title_leader           = [[Governor-General of India|Governor-General of Bengal]]
| year_leader1           = 1811–1813
| leader1                = [[Gilbert Elliot-Murray-Kynynmound, 1st Earl of Minto|1st Earl of Minto]]
| year_leader2           = 1813–1816
| leader2                = [[Francis Rawdon-Hastings, 1st Marquess of Hastings|1st Marquess of Hastings]]
| title_representative   = [[Governor-general of the Dutch East Indies|Lieutenant-Governor]]
| year_representative1   = 1811
| representative1        = [[Robert Rollo Gillespie]]
| year_representative2   = 1811–1816
| representative2        = [[Stamford Raffles]]
| year_representative3   = 1816
| representative3        = [[John Fendall Jr.]]
| p1                     = #French interregnum (1806–1811){{!}}French Interregnum
| s1                     = Dutch East Indies
| flag_p1                = Flag of France (1794–1815, 1830–1958).svg
| flag_s1                = Flag of the Netherlands.svg
}}
In the middle of 1809 the Colonial [[Governor-General of India]], the [[Gilbert Elliot-Murray-Kynynmound, 1st Earl of Minto|1st Earl of Minto]] wanted to conquer the lucrative [[Spice islands]]. For the [[East India Company]] the occupation of these islands meant not only a reduction of Dutch and French trade and power in the East Indies but also an equivalent gain to the company of the rich trade in spice. In addition the conquest of these islands meant that they would be a good base from which to conquer Java. In 1810 the most heavily defended islands [[Banda Neira]], [[Ambon Island|Ambon]] and [[Ternate Island|Ternate]] fell, and by August the [[Invasion of the Spice Islands|region had been conquered]] with little loss.
In 1811, [[Invasion of Java (1811)|Java fell to a British force]] under Minto. He appointed Sir [[Stamford Raffles|Thomas Stamford Raffles]] as lieutenant governor of Java.<ref>{{cite book |author1=Sir [[Thomas Stamford Raffles]] |title=The History of Java |date=1830 |publisher=J. Murray |pages=xxiii |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=oA8PAAAAYAAJ&q=history+of+java |access-date=12 August 2022}}</ref> Raffles carried further the administrative centralisation previously initiated by Daendels. He planned to group the regencies of Java into 16 residencies. He ended Dutch administrative methods, liberalised the system of land tenure, and extended trade. Raffles tried to implement the liberal economic principles and the cessation of compulsory cultivation in Java.{{citation needed|date=January 2021}}
Raffles took his residence at [[Bogor Palace|Buitenzorg]] and despite having a small subset of Britons as his senior staff, he kept many of the Dutch civil servants in the governmental structure. He also negotiated peace and mounted several military expeditions against local Javanese princes. Rumours of plans by the [[Yogyakarta Sultanate]] to launch an attack against the British led to uneasiness among Britons in Java. On 20 June 1812, Raffles led a 1,200-strong British force to capture the [[Kraton Ngayogyakarta Hadiningrat|Royal Palace of Yogyakarta]]. Yogyakarta forces, surprised by the attack, were easily defeated; the palace fell in one day, and was subsequently sacked and burnt. Raffles ordered the much of the palace's archives to be removed, taking them back with him. The attack was unprecedented in Javanese history, as it was the first time an indigenous palace had been captured by a European army, humiliating the Yogyakarta Sultanate.<ref>Ricklefs, M. C. ''A History of Modern Indonesia Since C. 1200'', 4th Edition, Palgrave Macmillan, 2008</ref><ref name="Carey, Peter 1855">Carey, Peter, The Power of Prophecy: Prince Dipanagara and the End of an Old Order in Java, 1785-1855, 2008</ref>
Raffles also ordered an expedition to [[Palembang]] in [[Sumatra]] to depose the local sultan, [[Mahmud Badaruddin II]], and to seize the nearby [[Bangka Island]] to set up a permanent British presence in the area in case Java was ceded back to the Dutch.<ref name = "husnial">{{cite book|last1=Abdullah|first1=Husnial Husin|title=Sejarah Perjuangan Kemerdekaan R.I. Di Bangka Belitung|date=1983|publisher=Karya Unipress|pages=393}}</ref> Other than Javanese court archives, Raffles also sent a number of Javanese archaeological artefacts, such as a [[Buddha]] head from Borobudur and two large ancient Javanese stone inscriptions, known today as the [[Minto Stone]] and the [[Calcutta Stone]] to Lord Minto as a token of appreciation.<ref>{{cite book|author=Noltie, Henry|title=Raffles' Ark Redrawn: Natural History Drawings from the Collection of Sir Thomas Stamford Raffles|pages=19–20|publisher=British Library & Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh|place=London & Edinburgh|year=2009}}</ref><ref>Kern, H., (1917), ''Steen van den berg Pananggungan (Soerabaja), thans in't India Museum te Calcutta'', Verspreide Gescriften VII, 85-114, Gravenhage: Martinus Nijhoff.</ref>
Raffles particularly holds special interest on the [[Java#History|history]], [[Javanese culture|culture]] and the [[Javanese people|people of Java]]. During his short reign, British Java saw the surge of archaeological surveys and government attention on local culture, art and history. His administration rediscovered the ruins of the great Buddhist mandala of [[Borobudur]] in Central Java. Other archaeological sites in Java such as [[Prambanan]] Hindu temple and ancient [[Majapahit]] city of [[Trowulan]], also came to light during his administration. Under Raffles patronage, a large number of [[Candi of Indonesia|ancient monuments]] in Java were rediscovered, excavated and systematically catalogued for the first time. Raffles was the enthusiast of the island's history, as he wrote the book ''[[The History of Java (1817 book)|History of Java]]'' published later in 1817.<ref name="Carey, Peter 1855"/>
In 1816, under the administration of British governor [[John Fendall Jr.|John Fendall]], Java was returned to control of the Netherlands as per the terms of the [[Anglo-Dutch Treaty of 1814]]. After regaining full control of their colony in Java and other parts of the archipelago, the Dutch would embark on their conquest over other independent polities in the region.<ref name="London : W. Heinemann"/> By 1820 they had consolidated their realm, a colonial state in the [[Indonesian archipelago]], established Dutch East Indies as one of the most profitable European colonies in the world's colonial history.
==References==
===Notes===
{{Notelist}}
===References===
{{Reflist}}
[[Category:Military history of Indonesia]]
[[Category:History of the Dutch East Indies]]
[[Category:Netherlands–United Kingdom relations]]
[[Category:Napoleonic Wars]]
[[Category:France–Indonesia relations]]
[[Category:British rule in Indonesia]]
[[Category:Indonesia–United Kingdom relations| ]]