Abstract
From 1770 A.D to 1885 A.D, Kongsi, a unique overseas Chinese community was established on the Southeast Asian island of West Borneo. This expatriate Chinese community started off by functioning as industrial gold mine but ended up dominating West Borneo both economically and politically in the late 18th century and the first half of the 19th century. In 1854 A.D, a Dutch colonial troop was sent from Netherlands East Indies in Java to West Borneo. They waged a war to decimate the Chinese Kongsis in Montrado of West Borneo. Why did the Dutch decide to annihilate the Chinese in Montrado? What was the true story hidden behind the war? To answer the questions, this thesis focuses on restoring the history of the Chinese Kongsis in the early and middle 19th century in an international context. Through studying primary sources, this thesis argues\r v\r that the vicissitude of the Kongsis was a significant epitome of the rise of the Chinese power in global trade in the early and middle 19th century. In this case, the Chinese and the Kongsis in West Borneo deeply influenced the economic benefits, military decision-makings and the prosperity of the European colonies in Southeast Asia. The Dutch suppression of the Kongsis not only caused the economic and population decline of West Borneo, but more important, prompted the Chinese to develop close trade relations with the British. The Chinese exploited the Kongsis and town ports in West Borneo as both important trade harbors and importing markets. Their participation in the global trade not only transformed the nature of the Kongsi from a regional organization into a trans-regional one, but also severely challenged the political order that the Dutch had been elaborating in Southeast Asia since the early 17th century.