The Social World of Batavia: Europeans and Eurasians in Colonial Indonesia (New Perspectives in Se Asian Studies)

In the seventeenth century, the Dutch established a trading base at the Indonesian site of Jacarta. What began as a minor colonial outpost under the name Batavia would become, over the next three centuries, the flourishing economic and political nucleus of the Dutch Asian Empire. In this pioneering study, Jean Gelman Taylor offers a comprehensive analysis of Batavia’s extraordinary social world-its marriage patterns, religious and social organizations, economic interests, and sexual roles. With an emphasis on the urban ruling elite, she argues that Europeans and Asians alike were profoundly altered by their merging, resulting in a distinctive hybrid, Indo-Dutch culture. Original in its focus on gender and use of varied sources-travelers’ accounts, newspapers, legal codes, genealogical data, photograph albums, paintings, and ceramics- The Social World of Batavia , first published in 1983, forged new paths in the study of colonial society. In this second edition, Gelman offers a new preface as well as an additional chapter tracing the development of these themes by a new generation of scholars. Contents......Page 8 List of Illustrations......Page 10 List of Maps......Page 12 Acknowledgments......Page 14 Guide to the Text......Page 16 Preface to the Second Edition......Page 18 Introduction......Page 26 1: Origins of the City of Batavia......Page 34 2: Growth of the Settlement Society......Page 64 3: The Web of Colonial Society: Batavia and Environs in the Eighteenth Century......Page 83 4: The Assault on Indies Culture......Page 109 5: The Destruction of VOC Society and the Creation of the New Colonial......Page 145 6: The Inner Life of Late Colonial Society Epilogue......Page 166 New Explorations of European-Asian Encounters......Page 206 Maps......Page 230 Appendix 1: Family Trees......Page 236 Appendix 2: Governors-General and Their Wives......Page 252 Appendix 3: Family and Position in VOC Batavia......Page 256 Notes......Page 262 Glossary......Page 288 Selected Bibliography......Page 290 Index......Page 304 In the 17th century, the Dutch established a trading base at the Indonesian site of Jacarta. What began as a minor colonial outpost under the name Batavia would become, over the next three centuries, the flourishing economic and political nucleus of the Dutch Asian Empire. This study offers a comprehensive analysis of Batavia's social world.