A Dutch colonial state aimed at managing…

A Dutch colonial state aimed at managing the territories and people acquired in Indonesia as a result of these conquests—or "pacifications," as some prefer to describe them—emerges gradually and piecemeal.

It first begins to take shape around the time of Diponegoro's defeat, with the inauguration in Java of policies that will come to be known as the Cultivation System (Cultuurstelsel).

This is the brainchild of Johannes van den Bosch, a military man and social reformer who becomes governor general (1830-34) and later minister of colonies (1834-39).

He seeks to solve the fiscal problems of Batavia and the Netherlands, both of which are on the brink of bankruptcy, as well as those of a populace devastated by warfare on Java.

Van den Bosch believes that Java is a rich but underproductive land, primarily because Javanese farmers, even when their own prosperity is at stake, will not or cannot produce beyond a subsistence level unless guided, even compelled, to do so.

"Force," he writes, "is everywhere the basis of industry ... where it does not exist there is neither industry nor civilization."