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THE PORTUGESE PERIOD


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The Portugese were the first bearers of European civilization to Indonesia. Carrying their god with them to be embraced by the heathens, they arrived in Indonesia a full 100 years before the Dutch. The Portugese period lasted only a century, from about 1512 A.D. Portugese was the lingua franca in the archipelago in the 16th Century and even Dutch merchants had to learn it in order to trade. Portugese involvement was strictly commercial and did not involve territorial expansion; they set up fortified outposts in sheltered harbors of islands to guard their trade routes and to offer respite and repair facilities for their fleets. Keeping the upper hand by virtue of their superior striking power and better navigation techniques, the Portugese were simply pirates who acquired tribute and booty, exploiting whatever commodities they came upon: slaves, pepper, gold, spices, ivory. The Portugese period was of small significance economically and had little effect on the great intra-asian trade route that stretched like a giant artery from Arabia to Nagasaki.

In 1570, they murdered the sultan of Ternate in the hopes that they would gain more favors with his successor. The inhabitants revolted and threw them off the island, the beginning of Portugese decline in Indonesia. What did they leave behind? For their numbers and for the brevity of their visit, they had a deep impact. Much musical influence is evident (kroncong, named after guitar strumming), and the Indonesian language is sprinkled with hundreds of Portugese loan words; mentega (butter), pesta (festival), garpu (fork), sepatu (shoe), gereja (church), meja (table); as well as many geographic locations (Flores, Celebes, etc.). Tobacco was first brought from the New World by these medieval adventurers in the 16th Century. Portugese ship-building techniques and designs are still adhered to in Celebes and in many places in the eastern islands old Portugese helmets and spears are kept as family heirlooms by descendants. Large numbers of Florinese and Amboinese have Portugese blood. Scores of 16th and 17th Century Portugese forts are scattered around the Moluccas and the Lesser Sundas. East Timor, their last anachronistic stronghold in the area, gave out when Indonesian troops invaded and occupied that territory in late 1975.


 

 



 

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