Batavia was founded as the headquarters of the VOC (Verenigde Oost-Indische Compagnie) in Asia on 30 May 1619, on the ruins of the Javanese port town of Jayakarta. To support its livelihood as a... Show moreBatavia was founded as the headquarters of the VOC (Verenigde Oost-Indische Compagnie) in Asia on 30 May 1619, on the ruins of the Javanese port town of Jayakarta. To support its livelihood as a large trading centre, Batavia required a hinterland which could provide it with food crops, building materials, and human resources. The area which fulfilled this role as a hinterland from which it could draw what it needed was called the Ommelanden or the environs of the city. The highest authority in the Ommelanden was in the hands of the Company government and was administered through various institutions such as: the College van Heemraden, the Gecommitteerde voor de zaken der Inlanderen, and the landdrost. To supervise landownership and the infrastructure in the Ommelanden, the Company set up the College van Heemraden in 1664, but this institution only became fully functional in 1682. Sugar was indubitably the prime commodity in determining the economic development in the Ommelanden. After several fluctuations, Batavian sugar industry really began to deteriorate in the 1730s. The upshot of the bankruptcy of the sugar industry was large numbers of unemployed people and growing social disorder which culminated with the Chinese massacre of 1740. Show less
