The Indies for beginners | De Indische Verhalentafel

1596 - First Dutch ships reach the Indian Archipelago. Pepper may only be delivered to Dutch people.

1602 - Establishment of the Verenigde Oost-Indische Companie (United East Indies Company) (VOC). Demands exclusive rights to all spices in the Indies.

1617 - Jan Pieterszoon Coen appointed governor general.

1619 - VOC builds a new outpost on Java: Batavia.

1621 - On Banda nutmeg is still sold to the Portuguese and English. Coen had almost all of the 15,000 inhabitants of Banda killed: 'Butcher of Banda.

1740 - VOC trades in cloves, nutmeg, mace, cinnamon, coffee, sugar cane and opium. Stagnating sugar market causes high unemployment among Chinese workers. Because of looting gangs massacres follow: 5'000-10,000 Chinese are murdered.

1798 - Official dissolution of the VOC.

1799 - West Timor conscripted as a colony.

1870 - End of the cultural system.

1873-1914- Subjugation of Aceh (North Sumatra) Bloody war. Also Sumatra, Celebes and part Borneo framed by Van Heutsz.

1898 - Board posts on New Guinea.

1906 - Invasion of Bali: ritual suicide Radja I Dewa Agoeng Djambe, family and court (puputan).

1901 - Ethical politics: popular education (indigenous schools), better infrastructure, irrigation systems and relocation of Javanese workers to other islands.

1908 - Bali part of

The Dutch East Indies.

1918 - Installation People's Council (advisory body colonial administration).

1927 - Foundation PNI (Persirikalan Nasional Indonesia). Chairman Soekarno strives for independence.

1945-1949 -

Departure of war victims (mainly totoks) to the Netherlands; start of 'discouragement policy' minister (-president) Drees: 'There is no place for Indo's'.

1946 - March First Dutch war volunteers admitted in western and central Indonesia.

November 15 Linggadjati Agreement concluded, but not executed.

1947 - First 'police' action: Operation Product. Trade interests on Java and Sumatra were protected at the cost of many dead (e.g. Rawagede massacre). Due to international pressure, action stopped.

1948 - Due to broken negotiations, the Netherlands starts a second 'police' action: Operation Crow, attempt to restore Dutch authority costs many more deaths. Soekarno imprisoned. Released by pressure from the international community, the Netherlands forced to negotiate.

1949 -

Sovereignty Indonesia transferred to the United States of Indonesia in union with the Netherlands. Under the leadership of President Soekarno. New Guinea remains temporarily under Dutch administration; Indo-Europeans get the opportunity to become Indonesian citizens (warga negara).

1950 - Coup d'état captain Raymond Westerling. Coup failed.

April 25 Proclamation Republik Maluku Salatan (RMS) on Ambon.

July 26 Closure KNIL.

August 15, Sukarno proclaims Unity State of Indonesia.

1950- 1952 - Departure of totoks and to a lesser extent Indo-Europeans to the Netherlands.

1810 - Construction of the Grote Postweg: connection from West to East Java for defence, trade and transport. Among the forced laborers many perrish.

1811-1816 - The Indies under the English rule of Lieutenant General Thomas Stamford Raffles.

1814 - Koninklijk Nederlands-Indisch Leger (Royal Dutch East Indies Army) KNIL founded.

1816 - English transfer. Origin of the name 'Dutch East Indies'.

1830 - Introduction of cultural system: farmers are required to pay twenty percent of the harvest to the government.
.

1859 - Multatuli writes 'Max Havelaar' indictment of the cultural system and abuses in the Dutch East Indies.

1860 - The end of slavery.

1942 - Japanese invasion, March 8 Capitulation KNIL. KNIL soldiers, civil servants and Dutch families imprisoned in Japanese camps: harsh conditions, cruel treatment and many deaths. Most Indo-Europeans remain outside the camps, often without any income. Many indigenous, Indo-European and Dutch women used as 'comfort women'. September Forced labor of prisoners of war during the construction of the Burma railroad line and employment in Japanese mines. Thousands dead
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1943 - Hundreds of thousands of Indonesians deployed as forced labourers (romushas). Many die; famine due to seizure of rice by the Japanese.

1944 - Famine uprisings violently suppressed; Japanese occupier promises independence to Indonesia. In internment camps boys are taken away and put to work in separate camps.

1945 - May-August Australian troops land on Borneo. Atomic bombs on Japan.

6/9 August Atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki.

August 15, Capitulation ofJapan.

August 17, Sukarno and Hatta proclaim Republic of Indonesia.

Bersiap: totoks (thoroughbred Dutchmen) and Indo-Europeans victim of violent pemoedas (nationalist youths) and pelopors (nationaltic fighters in areas owned by Dutchmen): rampokans (looting), rapes and chintjang (chopping up). Camps remain closed: Japanese guards deployed for the safety of 'prisoners'. Java and Sumatra apart from 6 areas in the hands of Republicans. Totoks and Indo-Europeans are locked up there in Bersiap camps.

September 2, Japanese emperor Hirohito signs surrender.

28-29 September 800 Scottish troops arrive in Batavia.

October 7 call for economic boycott of Totoks and Indo-Europeans.

October 10 British troops land on Sumatra. Former KNIL prisoners of war go via Manila to Celebes, Borneo, Moluccas and New Guinea. British Indian troops land in Surabaya, fierce fighting, killing women and children from camps. Lord Mountbatten orders former prisoners to stay in Japanese camps for safety reasons.

1951 - Molukse KNIL-militairen en gezinnen onder valse beloftes naar Nederland gebracht en ontslagen. Einde optietermijn aanvraag Indonesisch staatsburgerschap.

1952-1957 - Departure of Indo-Europeans to the Netherlands and New Guinea.

1957 - Soekarno declares all Dutch people, including Indo-Europeans, to be dangerous to the state.

1958-1968 - Departure of Indo-Europeans and Peranakan Chinese (literally Chinese descendants) to the Netherlands.

1962 - New Guinea crisis. Soekarno claims New Guinea. America prevents military intervention.

1963 - Transfer of New Guinea to Indonesia. Before the end of 1969 Papuans may decide if they want to stay with Indonesia.

1966 - April 12th Execution Chris Soumokil, second president of the Republic Maluku Selatan.

The term 'Indo-European' is used here and there as a collective name for groups that did not want to have the Indonesian nationality (such as Indo's, Moluccans, Toegoenezen and Belanda's Hitam).

Not included in the overview are the deployment of 180 KNIL soldiers in Suriname, the deployment of Surinamese KNIL soldiers in the Dutch East Indies and the emigration to Brazil, Argentina, South Africa, Suriname and the Dutch Antilles.

1969 - Indonesia breaks agreement: New Guinea stays with Indonesia.

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