Contested Coastlines: Diasporas, Trade and Colonial Expansion in Eastern Sulawesi 1680-1905

Abstract In this study, the small-scale, polycentric polities in eastern Sulawesi are the prism through which political processes at the local and regional levels are explored in the period 1680-1905. Such small-scale polities were the most prevalent mode of political and social formation in the Indonesian archipelago and retained a high degree of autonomy up to the imposition of direct Dutch rule in 1905. The three sections of this study trace the position of these polities as they were integrated into overlapping spheres of regional influence that were dominated, but not controlled, by regional political centres. When the Dutch colonial state started to expand its influence over the seas, intervene in local conflict and suppress raiding in the middle of the nineteenth century, the traditional political system in which eastern Sulawesi participated was increasingly defined as a colonial periphery in relation to the remote centre of Batavia. Part one hones in on the local level: because of the small-scale of political units, individual leaders played an important role not only at the local level, but also in relations with external allies and traders.Download di sini