Nusantara: A History of Indonesia (Wholly Revised Edition)

Abstract

A classic work by Bernard H. M. Vlekke (1899–1967), a Dutch historian, professor of international political relations at Leiden University and Director of the Netherlands Institute of International Affairs, and one of the earliest general histories of Indonesia in English. First published in 1943 in the United States during the Second World War, the book was reprinted in 1944, 1945, 1959, and 1961; this copy is the wholly revised edition, fifth printing of 1961, published by Les Editions A. Manteau, Brussels, and imported by P.T. Soeroengan, Djakarta. Vlekke presents the history of the Nusantara from prehistory, the Hindu-Buddhist kingdoms such as Srivijaya (Sriwijaya) and Majapahit, the coming of Islam and the coastal sultanates including Aceh, the arrival of the Portuguese, the VOC, and the government of the Netherlands Indies, the cultivation system (tanam paksa) and the Ethical Policy, up to the national movement, the Japanese occupation, and Indonesian independence. Although written from the perspective of a Dutch scholar, this book long served as basic reading and was translated into Indonesian as Nusantara: Sejarah Indonesia.