View source for L.W.C. van den Berg

{{short description|Dutch politician}}
{{Infobox person
| honorific_prefix = [[Doctor (title)#The Netherlands|Dr.]]
| name             = L.W.C. van den Berg
| honorific_suffix =
| image            = Lwc van den berg.jpg
| caption          = Lodewijk Willem Christiaan
| birth_name       = Lodewijk Willem Christiaan van den Berg
| birth_date       = October 19, 1845
| birth_place      = [[Haarlem]], Netherlands
| death_date       = {{death date and age|1927|3|2|1845|10|19}}
| death_place      = [[Delft]], Netherlands
| death_cause      =
| resting_place    =
| education        = Doctorate in Social Sciences<ref name="oriental">{{cite book| url=https://books.google.com/books?id=dUv3dF7aDycC&pg=PA84| title=Leiden Oriental Connections: 1850&ndash;1940| author=W. Otterspeer| edition=illustrated| publisher=BRILL |year=1989| isbn=978-9004090224}}</ref>
| alma_mater       = [[Leiden University]]
| occupation       = [[Scholar]], [[researcher]], [[professor]], politician
| years_active     =
| employer         = [[Dutch East Indies]] government<br/>[[Indische Instelling Delft]]
| organization     =
| agent            =
| known_for        = Research on [[Arab Indonesian]]s
| notable_works    = ''Le Hadhramout et les colonies arabes dans l'archipel Indien''
| title            = [[Drs.#Netherlands|drs.]], [[Ph.D]]
| term             =
| predecessor      =
| successor        =
| party            =
| boards           =
| spouse           = Françoise Steup
| children         =
| father           = Simon van den Berg
| mother           = Sophie Charlotte
| relatives        =
| awards           =
| website          = <!--{{URL|link}}-->
| footnotes        =
|resting_place_coordinates =}}
'''Lodewijk Willem Christiaan van den Berg''' (October 19, 1845 – March 2, 1927), or more commonly known as '''L.W.C. van den Berg''', was a Dutch [[oriental studies|oriental]] scholar in the Dutch colonial era famous with his research on [[Arab Indonesians]] of [[Hadhrami people|Hadhrami]] descent, which was the first detailed research of its kind in the world at the time.<ref>{{cite book|url=https://archive.org/details/lehadhramoutetl02berggoog| title=Le Hadhramout et les colonies arabes dans l'archipel Indien| first=Lodewijk Willem Christiaan | last=van den Berg| language=fr| year=1886| publisher= Impr. du gouvernement}}</ref>
==Education and career==
Van den Berg was born in [[Haarlem]], [[Netherlands]] on October 19, 1845. His father is Simon van den Berg and his mother is Sophie Charlotte Immerzeel. He married Françoise Steup in 1884.<ref name="geni">{{cite web| url=http://www.geni.com/people/Lodewijk-Willem-Christiaan-van-den-Berg/6000000025660160141| title=Lodewijk Willem Christiaan van den Berg| access-date=July 8, 2014}}</ref>
After completing the [[Gymnasium (school)|gymnasium]], he studied at ''Taal-, Land- end Volkenkunde'' in [[Leiden University]],<ref name="oriental"/> graduating [[summa cum laude]] in 1868 with a dissertation on Muslim property law, ''De Contractu Do Ut Des''. Soon afterwards, he left for the [[Dutch East Indies]] where he held several clerical and judicial posts until, in 1878, he was given the prestigious, newly created position of Official for the practice of "Indische" languages and Adviser for Eastern (''Oostersche'') languages and Muslim law.<ref name="essay">{{cite web|url=http://cip.cornell.edu/DPubS?service=Repository&version=1.0&verb=Disseminate&view=body&content-type=pdf_1&handle=seap.indo/1195498231#|title=van den Berg's Essay on Muslim Clergy and The Ecclesiastical Goods in Java and Madura: A Translation|first1=L. W. C.|last1=van den Berg| first2=Paul W.| last2=van der Veur| number=84 |date=Oct 2007|pages=127–159|publisher=Southeast Asia Program Publications| place=Cornell University}}</ref>
Van den Berg continued his exploration of Muslim law by publishing ''De Beginselen van het Mohammedaansche Recht, Volgens de Imâm's Aboe Hanifat en Sjâfi‘i'' (The Principles of the [[Fiqh|Mohammedan Law]], according to the Imams [[Abu Hanifah]] and [[Shafi'i]]) in 1874. Second and third editions followed in 1878 and 1883. Van den Berg's interest in the Arab communities of [[Java]] led him to complete an important work on this subject.
His book on [[Priyayi|ranks and titles]] on Java and [[Madura Island|Madura]] should also be noted among several other contributions, but his book which has been most referenced and cited for topic of Indonesian [[Hadhrami people|Hadhrami]] is ''Le Hadhramout et les colonies arabes dans l'archipel Indien'' ("The [[Hadhramaut]] and Arab settlements in the [[Nusantara (archipelago)|Indian archipelago]]")
Many times Van den Berg had opposite opinions with another Dutch [[oriental studies|orientalist]], [[Christiaan Snouck Hurgronje]]. Van den Berg's first exchange with Snouck concerned Van den Berg's own paper publication on [[Al-Nawawi|Imam al-Nawawi's]] ''Minhâdj at-talibîn'' ({{langx|fr|Le guide des zélés croyants}}). Snouck stressed that including the original Arabic text was [[:wikt:superfluous|superfluous]] as excellent copies were available throughout the Muslim world. While complimenting Van den Berg on the smoothness of the French text, Snouck also questioned whether the various terms found in the [[Fiqh]] books should be translated because the Arabic words were critical technical terms, "the pillars" of knowledge and wisdom.<ref name="essay"/>
In July 1881, Van den Berg wrote a critique of the Holle's recommendations which called for strict monitoring Islam in the [[Dutch East Indies|East Indies]]. In a matter of putting spies in Mecca, for example, according to Van den Berg, it is completely useless because most Arabs residing in [[Nusantara (archipelago)|Nusantara]] were from [[Hadhramaut]]. [[Hadhrami people|Hadhramis]] were considered strangers in the eyes of the Arabs of Mecca.<ref name="paranoia">{{cite web|url=http://cabiklunik.blogspot.com/2010/08/buku-paranoia-kolonial-dan-diaspora.html| title=Paranoia Kolonial dan Diaspora Hadramaut| first=Geger |last=Riyanto| date=8 August 2010| access-date=Jun 17, 2014}}</ref>
A state commission was established in 1890 for revision of colonial legislation in the field of private law and Van den Berg was appointed as its secretary.<ref name="oriental"/>
A decade later, Snouck used another opportunity to critique Van den Berg. In this case, it concerned [[Aceh]]. In 1880, Th. Der Kinderen, a member of the [[Council of the Dutch East Indies]], and Van den Berg as his secretary had been instructed to visit Aceh and report on its "unruly" conditions. With the [[Aceh War|Aceh problem]] continuing to be unresolved, Snouck (who had arrived in Java in 1889 to become Advisor for Native Affairs) was sent to Aceh in 1891. His seven-month stay in that part of Aceh under Dutch military control resulted in a lengthy report and the publication of a two-volume ''De Atjèhers''. Even though Snouck criticized him many times, Van den Berg's career does not seem to have been affected negatively.<ref name="essay"/>
Van den Berg became a corresponding member of the [[Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences]] in 1876 and resigned in 1888.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.dwc.knaw.nl/biografie/pmknaw/?pagetype=authorDetail&aId=PE00001821|title=L.W.C. van den Berg (1845 - 1927)|publisher=Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences|access-date=24 January 2016}}</ref>
Van den Berg returned to the Netherlands in 1887 to accept a professorship at the [[Indische Instelling Delft]], a college for colonial administration. His tenure at the institute moved along smoothly while he continued to publish. In his later life, he also was active in politics for the [[Anti-Revolutionary Party]], serving on the municipal council of [[Delft]] from 1901 to 1904 and as mayor of the same town between 1910 and 1920. He was member of the [[Provincial Council of South Holland]] from 1902 to 1911 and a member of the [[Senate (Netherlands)|Senate]] between 1911 and 1923.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.parlement.com/id/vg09lkxwrmxp/l_w_ch_van_den_berg |title=Mr. L.W.Ch. van den Berg |language=Dutch |publisher=Parlement.com |access-date=24 January 2016}}</ref>
Van den Berg died on March 2, 1927, in Delft.<ref name="geni" /> Although the name of L.W.C. van den Berg is not as famous as his successor, Snouck Hurgronje, on researches on Islam and Arabs in East Indies, but Van den Berg still has been a very important orientalist.
==References==
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[[Category:1845 births]]
[[Category:1927 deaths]]
[[Category:Politicians from Haarlem]]
[[Category:Academic staff of Leiden University]]
[[Category:Leiden University alumni]]
[[Category:Dutch orientalists]]
[[Category:Politicians from the Dutch East Indies]]
[[Category:Islam in the Netherlands]]
[[Category:Explorers of Asia]]
[[Category:Anti-Revolutionary Party politicians]]
[[Category:Mayors in South Holland]]
[[Category:Members of the Provincial Council of South Holland]]
[[Category:Members of the Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences]]
[[Category:Members of the Senate (Netherlands)]]
[[Category:Municipal councillors of Delft]]
[[Category:Dutch scholars of Islam]]