Dutch administration resumes after British interregnum

The colonial capital surrendered during the British invasion. Control of Batavia gave Britain the administrative center, but the population had no meaningful say in the change of sovereignty.

British forces captured Fort Cornelis, breaking the main defensive position of the Dutch-French colonial army on Java. The battle opened the way to British occupation; European military accounts often...

The formal capitulation transferred Java to British rule. Raffles later changed land and trade policies, but British rule remained colonial rule. For island communities it was another externally...

A royal decree barred Dutch ships from being equipped for the Atlantic slave trade. It followed British pressure and did not emancipate people already enslaved or end plantation slavery. Ending the...

The Convention restored many former Dutch possessions but left the Cape and Demerara, Essequibo, and Berbice outside Dutch control. European governments negotiated territory without the consent of...

Thomas Matulessy, known as Pattimura, led revolt against Dutch restoration in Maluku. Resistance opposed renewed colonial demands, forced deliveries, and loss of local autonomy. Indonesian public...

Insurgents seized Fort Duurstede and killed its Dutch garrison. The attack showed that Dutch authority remained contested after the 1816 restoration. Dutch records cast the revolt as disorder;...

Dutch authorities executed Pattimura after suppressing the uprising. Executions and punitive force aimed to restore colonial controls over local labor and trade. His death did not extinguish...

Some Minangkabau adat leaders signed an agreement inviting Dutch intervention against Padri forces. It reflected internal conflict but also opened a route for Dutch expansion inland. It should not...

Britain and the Netherlands defined competing claims in maritime Southeast Asia. The agreement divided Malay political space between European powers and enabled Dutch consolidation across the...