Geography Reference
In-Depth Information
The nineteenth century ushered in the Industrial
Revolution, creating increased demand for raw materials
and markets. The Caribbean, focus of eighteenth-century
trade, fell into decline with the abolition of slavery and
the slave-labor system. The introduction of steamships
and the opening of the Suez Canal in 1869 shortened the
journey to Asia, and increasing interest in China put
Southeast Asia once more at the crossroads of activity .
European missionary zeal led to additional ventures to
the region. From about 1825 to 1870, most of Southeast
Asia came formally under European control (Figure 1-14).
struck Java causing widespread starvation and emi-
gration.
The Dutch relinquished their monopoly con-
trol to private capital after 1877 but compulsory
labor was still required. Farmers had to pay sub-
stantial taxes and were unable to get reasonable-rate
credit. The powerful position of European and Chi-
nese entrepreneurs added to the exploitation and
disruption of traditional Indonesian society .
The British, who ruled Burma from Calcutta,
brought in Indian moneylender castes to bank and fund
the expansion of rice cultivation in the Ayeyarwady (Ir-
rawaddy) Delta. Indians often foreclosed on the Burmese,
who were hit especially hard during the world depres-
sion. Anti-Indian sentiments in Burma derive from the
tactics employed by the British.
Economic concerns also stimulated population
movements. For instance, the cultivation of new crops
and the opening up of new lands attracted masses of mi-
grants. The rapid expansion of rice cultivation into the
Mekong, Ayeyarwady , and Chao Praya deltas are testa-
ment to increased global demand for rice in the late nine-
teenth century . In lower Burma, where the rice area
burgeoned from 988,000 acres (400,000 ha) to 9,880,000
acres (4 million ha), populations increased from 1.5 mil-
lion in 1855 to 8 million in 1930.
Populations were also drawn to other commodity re-
gions such as rubber and tin. Rubber was planted over
large areas of Malaya, Sumatra, and Java, literally trans-
forming these landscapes. Malay and Chinese smallhold-
ers accounted for 39 percent of the rubber industry by
1939, yet it was the capital and labor-intensive planta-
tions that dominated production. As Malays were not
keen on wage labor, companies imported large numbers
of indentured laborers—Indians and Ceylonese (from Sri
Lanka). More than 700,000 Indian workers entered
Malaya between 1907 and 1917. The tin industry in
Malaya, Indonesia, and Thailand was dominated by Chi-
nese mining enterprises employing cheap Chinese immi-
grant labor. Between 1890 and 1899, almost 165,000
Chinese laborers a year were entering the Straits Settle-
ment of Singapore and Penang alone.
The influx of Europeans, Indians, and Chinese cre-
ated plural societies; each group occupied its own resi-
dential quarters but amalgamated in the marketplace.
Immigrants concentrated in urban places and zones of
commercial agriculture or mining.
EUROPEAN IMPRESS
The various powers had their own agendas, which
diversified their influences on people and landscapes.
In 1896, Britain and France decided to preserve Siam
(Thailand) as a buffer state to protect their valuable
colonial dependencies of Burma (Myanmar) and In-
dochina. Britain treated Burma as an extension of its In-
dian empire and pursued a policy of development of
resources and building the economy . France' s doctri-
naire policy of assimilation of Indochina into France
left most of that region undeveloped. The Dutch com-
mercial exploitation policies left most of Indonesia un-
developed and unprepared, economically or politically ,
for self-government. In the Philippines, Spanish rule
gave way to American control in 1898. American anti-
colonial attitudes assured that country' s direction to-
ward self-rule.
The Dutch Cultivation (Culture)
System
The Dutch cultivation (culture) system ( cultuur
stelsel ) in Indonesia exemplifies the penetration of
capitalism and commercialization into the land-
scape. First established by the Dutch East India
Company , the system required that every farm
household allocate one-fifth of its land to the pro-
duction of a cash or export crop. The system
worked well in the sugar-growing areas of Java but
proved burdensome where land was badly needed
for food crops. The system was exploited by local
officials who received commissions for the products
they delivered to authorities. When rice was added
to the list of export crops in the 1840s, famine
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