Impact Of Dutch Imperialism On East Indies

With mercantilism on the rise in the 17th century, the VOC was ready to use its military force to establish its place in the trading world. Making the Spice Islands an export zone was a violent and militarized process. Although the Dutch endured contestation from the incumbent peoples of Java, their use of violence and military discipline ultimately allowed them to succeed in transforming the East Indies from a subsistence economy into a colony of exportation where they controlled trade. Using its privileges granted by the Netherlands, the VOC successfully colonized Java. This involved murder, forced labor, and deforestation (76, Hall). The Dutch not only drove out the English--who had consent from the Seram natives to trade--but established complete control over trade by implementing strict restriction on native’s trading rights. Soon thereafter, Dutch policies made Java an exporter of spice commodities—entering Java in the heart of the trading world. This would eventually revolutionize the way empires interacted and redefine the meaning of colonization.
The East Indies underwent vast changes economically, socially, and even physically following the Dutch colonization. In order to understand these
But this radical transformation, and the subsequent implementation of policies, did not go uncontested. As the Dutch began building their expanse of colonies, they faced conflict with the incumbent population. The painting “Oud en Nieuw Oost Indien” by Francois Valentyn depicts one of many rebellions against the Dutch, in which we see a full-fledged conflict between Seram natives and forces of the Dutch East India Company, after the former party refused to destroy a part of clove tree plantation. Thus we can understand how the use of force played a crucial role in dictating the relationship between the incumbent population and the European