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The Impact Of Dutch Imperialism In Indonesia

Decent Essays
The Dutch trade of commodities influenced Indonesia’s economy in the way that they introduced land tax, made trade routes, and printed money. The Dutch first implemented land tax by telling farmers to give them one fifth of what they harvested (“Colonial Period of Indonesia.”) This system was called the cultivation system. After the farmers gave one fifth of their harvest they got a fixed amount of money that has no relation to the value of the crops. “The Dutch and Javanese officials received bonus when their residency delivered more crops…” (“Colonial Period of Indonesia.) This made encouraged them to increase production so that they could get more money. This led to corruption (“1820-1950 Indonesia and Decolonization – Timeline Dutch History”.)…show more content…
The Dutch provided clean water, modern medicine, and education (“Dutch Imperialism in Indonesia”). This education, however, was only for males, and females couldn’t access education. The cultivation system that was previously mentioned in the previous paragraph meant that if the villagers increased production, then they would get more money. This led to the Javanese villagers trying to increase production by reproducing so that there would be more people in the family (Muhlberger). This led to overpopulation in Java. Before the Dutch didn’t use the cultivation system, but instead they forced the villagers to farm for them or else they would punish them. The Dutch may have influenced Indonesia positively, but from what the author thinks he thinks that the Dutch influenced Indonesia negatively. The Dutch bringing their technologies for water, medicine and education was positive socially, but the cultivation system, and forcing the villagers to work for them was not a good thing socially. Overpopulation made it harder for people to share resources equally since there is over 1000 people every square kilometer (Java). There is a considerable social distance between the rich and the poor in Java. This is evident in Jakarta, as there could be a high-class housing, then a few kilometers away there are slums.
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