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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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