Not only Japan and the Netherlands, it turns out that Indonesia was colonized by these 5 countries!
Over the centuries Indonesia has had a dark history of being colonized by foreign nations. This is none other than because Indonesia has abundant natural wealth. Argued that they wanted to work together in trade, it turned out that these countries had opened up their evil intentions to colonize Indonesia. As a country known for its politeness, it became soft food for the ambitious invaders.
In its history, it was not only the Netherlands and Japan who had colonized Indonesia. It turned out that the Portuguese, Spanish and British had also come to Indonesian territory to colonize. How about the colonial history of the five countries? Here we review the facts of the countries that have colonized Indonesia.
1. Portuguese, First Country to Colonize Indonesia
Alfonso de Albuquerque is the figure most responsible for the initiation of the colonization of Indonesia by Europeans over the centuries, especially by Britain and the Netherlands. The reason is, this Portuguese sailor was the first European to reach the sea of the archipelago. From him, the news of the abundance of Indonesian spices spread quickly to mainland Europe. Moreover, the commodity of spices at that time was highly sought after and was analogous to the equivalent of gold.
The first time they arrived in the archipelago, the Portuguese conquered Malacca in 1512. Then the voyage continued to Maluku by landing in the Banda Islands and the Turtle Islands. Initially they were well received in Ternate, but it ended in 1570 with a war waged by Sultan Baabullah because the Portuguese exercised monopoly and the spread of religion. The Portuguese were driven to Tidore and Ambon until the Dutch finally arrived and succeeded in driving them from Maluku towards the island of Timor until the 20th century.
2. Spain, instantly colonized Indonesia because of the Saragosa Agreement
The arrival of the Spaniards to the archipelago was started by Cristopher Columbus who sailed west and then found San Salvador. This failure was followed by Ferdinand Magellan who departed through the Atlantic Ocean and then entered the Pacific Ocean and in 1521 arrived in the Philippines. Unfortunately Magellan was killed in that place because there was a tribal war before Del Cano took over the leadership to get to Tidore.
The arrival of the Spanish in Tidore certainly made the Portuguese feel threatened by their existence. Moreover, Ternate, which was friendly with the Portuguese, had long been hostile to Tidore. In 1527, fighting broke out between the two regions with the help of the Spanish and Portuguese in each camp. As a result, the Spanish fort at Tidore was captured by the Portuguese. To solve the problem of the two colonizers, the Saragosa Agreement was drawn up in 1534 which divided the Maluku region into Portuguese and Spanish left to the Philippines.
3. England, Colonizing Indonesia for 5 Years
The Dutch had lost their colonies in the archipelago due to the Tuntang Capitalization, an agreement that required the Dutch to surrender Indonesia to the England. This agreement occurred as a result of the Dutch losing to the attack of 60 British ships that succeeded in controlling Batavia in 1811. At the same time, the French occupation took place in the Netherlands under Napoleon Boneparte. This concurrent event occurred when the Dutch East Indies was led by the Governor General Jansens.
During the England occupation, Stamford Thomas Raffles held full power in the archipelago. Unfortunately, his reign did not last long due to political changes in Europe. In 1813 there was a war between England and France which Britain won. Napoleon Boneparte's reign in the Netherlands also fell in 1814. In that year there were also negotiations between England and the Netherlands which resulted in the London Agreement, in which in 1816 Britain had to return the Dutch colony which it had taken. Thus, the British colonial era ended.
4. The Netherlands, a country that colonized Indonesia for 350 years
In 1602 the Portuguese ended their colonial era after the Dutch colonized Indonesia. The Dutch entered the archipelago under the leadership of Cornelius de Houtman through the port of Banten. In order to monopolize the spice market in Indonesia, in that same year the Dutch established the Verenigde Oostindische Compagnie or what was commonly called the VOC. Initially the VOC failed to compete with British and Chinese traders in Banten, so it had to be transferred to South Sulawesi, which was also opposed by Sultan Hassanudin. Finally the VOC moved and settled in Yogyakarta.
VOC activities ended in 1800 after the Dutch lost the war to France. After that defeat, the Dutch colonialism actually got worse and more sadistic. Daendels was appointed governor general and it was then that construction of the post highway which took many victims began. In the era of Governor General Van Den Bosch, the occupation was getting crazy with the era of forced cultivation which tortured the people not only physically but also materially. The Dutch colonial era ended after they surrendered unconditionally to Japan in 1942 through the Kalijati Agreement.
5. Japan, a country that colonized Indonesia for 3.5 years
The colonial era did not last long. After obtaining colonization in Indonesia in 1942, Japan ended its colonization in 1945. Even though it lasted for a short time, the fact was that the colonial system was not much different from the previous colonialists, and it tended to be even more violent. At that time, Japan was one of the strongest countries after Germany and Italy in World War II. The Japanese nation had only just grown into an imperialist country for the rest of its life, therefore they made good use of this colonial period in Indonesia.
In Indonesia, Japan was not only victorious by acquiring the world market for spices, but also gaining control over vast colonies. This is of course very useful for the industrial development of the country. To strengthen military resilience, Japan also formed units of Heiho (Japanese-made Indonesian troops), PETA (Defenders of the Homeland) and Hokokai (substitute for Putera). In addition, Japan, which promised independence for Indonesia, also formed PPKI and BPUPKI. Finally, it was this agency that delivered Indonesia's independence in 1945 following Japan's defeat of allied countries after the atomic bombs in Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Well, those are the countries that have colonized Indonesian territory. It turns out that in order to become the great country it is today, Indonesia must go through the steep path of colonialism for centuries. For this reason, we, as the young generation of Indonesia, should have learned a lot from the past. So, now is the right time to give the best in developing Indonesia.
