2008 Volume 2008 Issue 37 Pages 137-165
This paper examines how state politics impacted local society, and how developments in local society were situated in larger frameworks such as state and world economy in the Banten Sultanate in the second half of the eighteenth century. The Dutch overlordship over the sultan, which started in 1752, did not immediately affect the traditional personal-tie based ruling system. It brought relative political stability and economic growth in the sultanate in the 1750s and the 1760s.
Changes were brought about when the Dutch decided to promote pepper cultivation directly in the Lampung region in the 1750s and in the Banten region in the 1760s. Lampung people initially welcomed Dutch officials, expecting them to mediate solution in their local troubles, but Dutch reluctance to be involved in local issues soon disappointed them. Instead Palembang, British, and Chinese traders penetrated Lampung, by offering more favorable transaction conditions for pepper cultivators. They successfully established a trade network, in which Lampung products were collected for the China market. In Banten, the local elite cooperated with the Dutch policy of promoting pepper cultivation, but they eventually made use of it to expand their influence. After 1770 the sultan’s power declined considerably, as a result of the diminishment in pepper delivery and the silting of Banten’s ports. The full support of the Dutch resulted in undermining the legitimacy and popularity of the sultan in the court circle. This allowed the Banten elite to become more powerful and independent, and Lampung to be more connected to world economy.
