The VOC had built a vast Asian trade network from Batavia, founded by Jan Pieterszoon Coen in 1619. During the time, the VOC had also become a territorial power. Semarang fell under the rule in 1678, together with several other seaports along the Javanese coast from Tegal to Soerabaja. Furthermore the VOC claimed the sovereignty over the so-called Ommelanden (rounding area) from Batavia and the Preanger (Priangan), the area south of the Ommelanden from which coffee was grown from the begining of the 18th century. The company did this in cooperation with the 'regents' of the area, in fact local servants from the Soesoehoenan from the mighty Javanese principality Mataram, which became more independent from the Dutch because of this.

In the middle of the 18th century it seemed that the VOC would gain rule over entire Jawa. Soesoehoenan Pakoeboewono II had already rented the Pasisir - the northern coast of Jawa -, including the important seaport Soerabaja to the increasingly powerful VOC for only 20,000 units of land a year. In December 1749, he ordered 'all power, rule and authority' to the Dutch, where he hoped they would take care of a peaceful and orderly change of power. The Dutch however, explained it totally different and suddenly named the entire island theirs.

Not everyone in Mataram accepted this interpretation, which eventually lead to a civil wat in which the ones who were against the VOC were lead by Prince Mangkoeboemi, while the Compagny supported the new Soesoehoenan, Pakoeboewono III. Since none of both parties could get the rule, an agreement of alliance was signed in Gijanti in 1755. The empire of Mataram was split in two. Mangkoeboemi settled himself as Hamengkoeboewono I in Jogjakarta, a city which now has a kraton, just like Soerakarta. The other revolting prince, Mas Said, was agreed about the same a few years later, so the original principality now had become three separate principalities: Soerakarta, Jogjakarta and Mangkoenegaran, the principality of Said.

Unless the split of the Mataram empire the VOC was not capable of ruling more than the coast east of Batavia. In the hinterlands it was only possible to gain rule to start a war between two principalities, in which they only sometimes succeeded. Especially Hamengkoeboewono I seemed to be a powerful and independent king. More success was reached in Bantam, in which they took over the sultans' power and concluded Sumateras Lampongs as well. Furthermore the VOC owned areas along the western coast of Sumatera, on Ambon and the Banda islands and around Makassar and Manado on Celebes. The only area they truly ruled was Batavia and the north-Javanese coastal cities.

Unless this relative strong position on Jawa, the company would topple at the end of the 18th century, mainly because the EIC (English East India Company) ruled the trade in textile, opium and tea. The 4th English War (1780-1784) meant the final fall of the VOC. Many ships with costly goods fell in English hands, while the talks for a neutral flag were very hard and little successful. The income stopped and the company wrote shortages, in which only the support of the Staten Generaal (Dutch Government), helped it survive. There was on sign of recovery after 1795, when Dutch patriots had taken power, and the company was nationalized to be stopped finally in 1799.

The patriots didn't only settle in the Batavian Republic, but they also demanded the rule over the Dutch colonies to reform it, under the rule that everything that was normal in the Netherlands should be normal there as well. Here, they heavily criticized the exploitation system of the VOC. The most important propagandist for the replacement of the strict VOC culture for something more open was Dirk van Hogendorp, the former leader of Java's eastern corner. In 1799, his book Berigt van den tegenwoordigen toestand der Bataafse bezittingen in Oost-Indiën was published, in which he demanded the structural change of the former VOC area. Van Hogendorp was sure that the wealth would increase then the Javanese, just like the Dutch, became economical thinking people which was guided by self-importance. The 'protection against all repression and the practice of rights' should be the guiding foundation of the colonial rule. The Javanese should slowly be educated. The fear that some would turn into rebels, was unfounded as Van Hogendorp said. He thought that the lighter pressure would mean that the Javanese would attach themselves with the Dutch forever. 'When the peace and other good things from a government are well-understood, and they will think twice before they choose for repression again'. An optimistic idea which would be said much more after Van Hogendorp.

Van Hogendorp's main opponent was S.C. Nederburgh, also a former VOC servant, which still was a supporter of the VOC-system and forced agriculture. He turned down everyone who wanted to control the colonial government too much. The Netherlands didn't even have enough people to support an entire governmental system, and keep it running. After all, wasn't a colony made for making money? The Indonesian population should simply maintain their own rules and leaders and forced to make tropical products.

This caused two different groups after the fall of the VOC: the idealistic mind which more thought of the moral duty of the Dutch to create a strong form of government in the Dutch Indies and the other, which didn't think the Netherlands was capable of ruling entire Indonesia intensively, which was much more realistic. The debate between Van Hogendorp and Nederburgh mainly had an academic character: the contacts between the Netherlands and the Dutch Indies were rare and in Batavia the rulers didn't listen to the events in Europe very well. Only when the Batavian Republic was replaced by the Dutch Kingdom this situation changed. The new rule decided to send a strong man to the Dutch Indies to stop the old Compagny-rule: Herman Willem Daendels, the marshal of Holland (a Dutch province).

Daendels, born in Hattem in 1762, traveled to the Dutch Indies as H.W. van Vlieren, monsieur Bonjean and monsieur Colas in deep secret. This didn't mean that Batavia didn't know he was appointed and he had left the Netherlands. The ruling elite asked whether what the governor-general had in mind for them. Some decided to move, others publicly asked whether it was possible to arrest Daendels upon arrival. But Batavia was ruled by a very tired governor-general A.H. Wiese, which had worked in the tropics for 33 years, and had little problems giving someone else his duties. After Daendels arrived in Anjer, Bantam on 1 January 1808, he wasn't encountered by a group for arrest, but by W.H. van IJsseldijk, a member of the Council of Indië. He would name Daendels a 'een gulhartigen Gelderschman, even zoo vif als buspoeder'. 'It will be hard to prove things for him,' as Van IJsseldijk told. 'To be very short in things as well as demanding, that's one of his main points of character'. Just right said!

Daendels worked hard after he took office from governor-general Wiese on 14 January 1808 and settled on Weltevreden, near Batavia. He first started the modernization and centralization of the colonial rule, since it had become clear that it was very hard to get a good administration in this way of rule. Jawa was divided into nine 'prefectures', under the rule of a civil servant which they first named prefect. They replaced the residents that were placed by the VOC in certain occasions. The new title of prefect made it very clear why Daendels had come here: To make is very clear that the Netherlands has sovereignty over Jawa. The old title of resident originated from diplomacy and in fact was the representative of the governor-general among several regents and kings. This construction belonged to the past. Now the prefects governed the country in his name. An exception was made for Jogjakarta and Soerakarta. In these royal countries, the Dutch representatives still held their diplomatic title, and they were called ministers. But here also, the relations would change soon, and drastically. This happened after Daendels ordered his ministers to threat the kings as equals and not to give them too much honor.

Daendels meanwhile took action to reinforce the defense of Jawa. He increased the size of the army until it counted more than 19,000 men and he started the construction of what is later named Jalan Raya Pos, de Groote Postweg or Big Mail Road, a road from Anjer in the far west of Jawa until Panaroekan in the east. It only was the improvement of existing roads, but partially big constructions were set up as well. Especially the part between Buitenzorg and the city of Tjiandjoer in the Preanger caused big problems. But the road was finished within one year, and at a minimum of cost to the government. Most labor was done by Javanese. Many thousands died, especially because of contagious diseased breaking out because of lack of hygiene under which the people had to work.

However it may be: Jalan Raya Pos would prove important for the further development of Jawa. For the first time in history there was a reasonable connection between all parts of the island and the travel time from Batavia to Soerabaja was shortened with two weeks, from three to one week. This meant that the colonial rule had fewer problems showing themselves. The governor-general, which used to be a somewhat dark person far away in Batavia, not was a lot easier to contact, and he was able to sent representatives more inland as well.

Another action that was taken by Daendels, was the relocation of the governmental center from Batavia to Weltevreden, several kilometers south. The governor-general used to seat on the estate with the same name for a while already, but now more governmental offices were located there. For the housing of civil servants, Daendels ordered the construction of a new 'Governmental Hotel', located along the Paradeveld (Parade field) - the later Waterlooplein - (Waterloo square) and the current Lapangan Banteng. The governor-general also ordered the construction of a big exercitation field southwest of Weltevreden. This terrain, later named Koningsplein (Kings square) and now named Medan Merdeka, was about one square kilometer in size. About 7,000 men were able to exercise there. This meant the final start of the decline of Batavia, a city already known since the 18th century because of its very unhealthy climate and silting canals. The castle and the city walls were broken down (for more fresh air circulation), canals were filled up and more people would settle around Koningsplein.

It wasn't a coincidence that Daendels ordered the new society 'De Harmonie' wasn't built in the old Batavia, but on the crossing of Molenvliet en Rijswijk. The capital of the Dutch Indies would no longer have a 'Dutch' view, but a more 'Indian' one: an open and spacious constructed city. The new houses of the Europeans around the Koningsplein and in Weltevreden were, in contrary with the houses in the old Batavia, built in a spacious environment with big gardens.

Daendels would not only work on the European part of the Dutch Indies, but also the local population. Those who were hit mainly where Javanese royalties and regents. As a patriot, Daendels hated everyone who had annexed themselves feudal rights and to 'un-feudalize' the Javanese government, he soon organized a meeting of Javanese regents in Semarang. These locals, who were able to act increasingly independent from the Soesoehoenan because of their relation with the VOC, almost felt they were small royalties themselves. The governor-general made that very clear at that meeting. The often polite VOC-servants, which used polite Javanese traditions, were definitely used to something else! It would give Daendels the nickname Toean Besar Goentoer, 'Donderende Grote Heer'. The governor-general saw the regents as no more and no little than the 'instruments in the hands of the government'. He clearly made them into civil servants, which were appointed by a local higher prefect. The regents got fixed income from their appointed sawahs and their coffee production, while the rule of heirloom for the next heir was stopped.

Daendels didn't change the exploitation system of the Compagny. He didn't listen to Van Hogendorp with his more liberal way of thinking. He said the government didn't have another choice than forcing the little-developed Javanese to produce tropical products. As long as the Javanese didn't make more progression towards civilization, that would not change. Labor and forced production were the replacement of taxes, which they were not able to pay as yet.

Daendels decided not to demand any other taxes, which caused him to get a shortage. A solution was the sale of big parts of land to private persons, often very rich Chinese. The sale of the estate Buitenzorg was somewhat special. The buyer was the Toean Besar Goentoer himself, and he had to pay a very small amount for it as well. The government also said that the palace built by governor-general Mossel - two wings of three story's and a gallery - could be used as residence for the owner. This wasn't enough for Daendels. He ordered the construction of a main building that had to be built between the two wings. It was an Napoleonic land-owner or nothing!

But after all you couldn't name Daendels a strong reformer: while he reformed the rule, he did hold on to the old exploitation system of the Compagny. Probably the description of Paul van't Veer is the most right: with an exception for his battle against feudalism, all his reforms had the background of improving the colonial rule. Daendels was, according to Van't Veer, 'not a social reformer, not a liberal as Dirk van Hogendorp as well, but an 'efficiency expert'', which clears away anything that isn't seen as useful or handy.' It made little friends for Daendels in the Dutch Indies. Opponents constantly tried to make him black. Eventually the Dutch government decided to get him out of there and to replace him with J.W. Janssens, a former governor of the Cape colony. On 16 May 1811 he would take power in the Dutch Indies. The old as well as the new governor-general on that moment didn't know that a big English invasion fleet was about to leave for Jawa.

This invasion fleet appeared in the Bay of Batavia on 3 August. The number of troops aboard would take little more than one month to end the Dutch rule over the island of Jawa. The last remainders of the Dutch - French army capitulated on 17 September that year near the town of Toentoeng, Central Jawa.

Six days earlier, Thomas Stamford Raffles (1781) was named lieutenant-governor over Jawa and its subjects. Among the English there was nothing good about the forced cultivation system, which Daendels maintained. After a big survey Raffles decided to drop the monopoly system for the VOC, which were then replaced by a liberal economical system, in which the farmers were able to take care of their own. They only had to pay a yearly contribution for the field rent. Raffles said this meant that taxes were no longer based on too much things, but just on the fact of size and value of the soil used. There was almost nothing to do for the regents now. The payments of the rent - which had to form the base of the governmental income - should be collected by European servants (collectors), which had to go into personal contact with the desa-leaders. These desa-leaders - and not the 'feudal' regents - played an important role in the Javanese society, as Raffles said.

The European element in the colonial rule got - on paper - a much bigger influence on Jawa. A very big problem was the shortage of good European servants, for sure after Raffles tried to contact the population directly instead via the desa-leaders. This all meant that the residents - like the prefects were named again - still had to use the local leaders for the collecting of taxes, which ended up chaotically. The handful of European servants could not end the power which the regents had among the local population. Lack of money forced Raffles to pay the regents in the form of land. He also held on to the coffee cultures in the Preanger, officially because the population was used to forced cultures, but in fact because the British government could not miss the income from it. But it was very clear that Raffles continued the road that Daendels had started to walk on, the road of 'un-feudalizing' the local population.

The reaction of Raffles against the Javanese principalities was important for the history as well. Sultan Hamengkoeboewono II of Jogjakarta and Soesoehoenan Pakoeboewono IV of Soerakarta tried to regain some of the lost estate, but where forced back by the military. On 20 June 1812, the kraton of Jogjakarta was even attacked and looted by a British force. Many expensive goods were taken, while the archive and the library were also looted. Hamengkoeboewono II was brought down and banned to Penang. Parts of the sultanate were annexed, while the cooperating prince Natakoesoema got his own principality, Pakoealaman, which he ruled as Pakoealam I.

The attack on the kraton in Jogjakarta was a definitive turning point in the Javanese history. It was the first time that a European force really conquered the royal court of a Javanese king. The humiliation tic was suffered by the Jogjan elite was tremendous and it was clear to everyone that a new era had started. Raffles did understand this very well. He wrote to Lord Minto: 'The European power is for the first time paramount in Jawa. We never till this moment could call ourselves masters of the more valuable provinces in the interior, nay, our possessions on the sea coast would always have been precarious, and, had the military force been materially reduced, much eventual danger was to be apprehended.'

The act of Raffles against the local kings didn't mean he didn't have interest or respect for the cultures in Southeast Asia. In contrary: Raffles distinguished himself from his Dutch predecessors by having a great interest in the local culture; it's past and cultural expressions. When he heard about the discovery of a big temple complex by the British captain George Baker in the jungle near Jogjakarta in 1814, he went there himself to have a look. It was the more than 1000 year old Borobudur. Raffles understood that it wasn't about a Buddhist monument. He supposed that the reliefs were based on the Hinduist mythology.

Everything he saw brought Raffles onto the idea to write something about the society and history of Jawa. Therefore he collected as much as possible Javanese and Malay documents, of which several from during the attack of the kraton in Jogja were proven stolen from the sultan. Raffles got several important manuscripts from the literary and historic tradition of the Jogjan royal court, in special about texts that were written during sultan Hamengkoeboewono II. Eventually Raffles would produce a very interesting production for it's time: 'the History of Jawa', which had much more to do with history. In over 500 pages he told about the origin of the population, agriculture, trade and production, the statutional division of the Javanese society, festivities and ceremonies of the Javanese and their language and religion, before he tells about the history in about 100 pages.

Raffles was very pleased with the character of the Javanese. They were not lazy and indolent, as many Dutch supposed. The small differences between the Javanese and Europeans were just caused by the tropical climate and maybe the even more pressing Dutch colonial rule. 'Though ignorant and unimproved,', as Raffles concluded,' they are far from wanting intelligence in the general objects of their pursuit, and frequently astonish Europeans by the ingenuity of their expedients, and the facility with which they accomplish difficult operations by apparently inadequate means.' The only that was needed to develop the Javanese with success was a lighter colonial rule.

In September 1815, Raffles activities were abruptly stopped by the fact that he was dismissed as governor-general of Jawa. This was partially caused by the rumors about financial malpractice, because Raffles didn't succeed making Jawa into a profitable possession, but mainly because the British government thought it was important that there was a powerful Kingdom of the Netherlands in the post-Napoleonic period. This meant the Netherlands with colonial possession. On 13 August 1814, the Agreement of London was signed in which the British king ordered himself to return all colonies that were possessed by the Batavian Republic on 1 January 1803 to the sovereign king Willem I. This didn't include Ceylon, the very important Cape colony and Demerary, Essequebo en Berbice, three Dutch settlements in the neighborhood of Surinam. A good change of rule was planned for a less controversial person than Raffles. The lieutenant-governor strongly protested, but without result: on 25 March 1816 he was followed up by John Fendal and he left for England.

Daendels and Raffles had both ruled over the Indies for a short period of time, but they had built the base for the later Dutch Indies. They both took care of the construction of a modern governmental body that made it possible for the governor-general to rule the entire colony from one place. Furthermore the sovereignty of the colonial power was settles more clear than ever before. The local civil servants, which were named prefects, and indeed became small rulers instead of representatives of the governor-general. The royal rulers on Jawa and elsewhere in the archipelago lost terrain. They became increasingly dependant. At the end Raffles started an entirely new tax-system, rent on the estate, which would last for a long time. This caused the Dutch to retrieve a very changed Indies than Daendels had seen upon arrival in 1808.