...Indonesia — a former Dutch colony — was historically composed of many kingdoms, each with its own culture, language, and political structure.
Indonesia became a colony early on, largely for economic reasons such as the spice trade and international commerce. From 1602 to 1799/1800 the Dutch East India Company (VOC) dominated the region through trade and coastal settlements.
In the 15th–16th centuries, European powers sought a direct sea route to Asia in order to buy spices (pepper, cloves, nutmeg, mace) without the expensive middlemen of Arab and Venetian merchants. The Moluccas (Ternate, Tidore, Ambon, the Banda Islands) were then the world’s only source of cloves and nutmeg — literally the “gold of the East.” For this reason, the Portuguese were the first to sail directly to Asia via the Cape of Good Hope.
When the VOC was dissolved in 1799–1800, its territories were nationalized as the colony of the Dutch East Indies.
The first missionaries left for Indonesia around the 16th century.
Catholic missions (16th century): With the Portuguese breakthrough in the spice route, Franciscan, Dominican, and Jesuit missionaries arrived. Francis Xavier worked in Ambon and Ternate (Moluccas) in 1546–47. Their aim was to evangelize in the spice ports and provide pastoral care for sailors and local communities.
Protestant missions (VOC period): The VOC encouraged Reformed preaching in areas under its control (especially coastal Java, the Moluccas, and Minahasa). Catholic missions, apart from a few older Portuguese remnants, remained restricted for a long time.
19th–20th century revival: After 1800 Catholic orders returned. On Java, the mission was strengthened by figures such as Frans van Lith, SJ (from 1896 onward), who developed a solid mission network in Muntilan/Sendangsono.
How many people lived there “back then”?
Reliable population totals only exist from the 20th century. The 1930 census recorded 60.7 million inhabitants, of whom about 60 million were classified as “indigenous”, plus a Chinese minority of 1.23 million.
Where were the early mission posts? (Sulawesi, Papua, etc.)
There was a development toward a “high point,” with the main emphases differing by period.
16th–18th centuries: coastal and spice-region missions (Moluccas) dominated. Under the VOC, Protestant church-building became the dominant form of Christianity; wherever the VOC held authority, Catholic mission activity was heavily restricted.
19th–early 20th centuries: rapid expansion of both Protestant (e.g., Minahasa) and Catholic networks (Java, Papua). Education (schools and colleges), catechist systems, and linguistic–cultural work (for example, the Javanese context shaped by Van Lith) became the backbone of mission activity. In Papua, missions, boarding schools, and healthcare developed together. This phase built up to a high point just before the Japanese occupation (1942).
Colonial policy as the broader context:
The Cultivation System (Cultuurstelsel, 1830–1870) on Java imposed compulsory cash-crop production (sugar, indigo), and is linked to poverty and famine in the 1840s.
The Ethical Policy (from 1901 onward) promised education, irrigation, and migration programs; it did result in growing numbers of schools, but remained underfunded and only partly alleviated rural poverty.
How much poverty and why?
There are no quantitative poverty rates for the 19th century, but scholarship connects poverty to:
Persistent challenges for mission work:
Partly yes — but conditions differed strongly by region.
North Sulawesi (Minahasa):
Here the process was relatively smooth in the 19th century. The VOC and later the colonial government supported Protestant schools and catechesis. Missionaries such as Riedel and Schwarz established a dense network, and most Minahasan groups became Protestant during this period.
South/West Sulawesi (Makassar and Bugis regions):
Islam had been dominant here since the 17th century. Mission work therefore had very little room and remained limited mainly to diaconal work and education.
Tana Toraja (highlands of South Sulawesi):
This was the most difficult terrain. The traditional religion Aluk To Dolo (an ancestor religion with a strong ritual and economic order — elaborate funerary rites, buffalo sacrifices, status structures) made rapid conversion unlikely. Missionaries only gained a real foothold in the early 20th century; growth accelerated after 1930 and especially after 1945, supported by education, healthcare, and Bible translation into Toraja languages.
Why was it difficult?
What eventually proved effective?
In short:
Yes — parts of Sulawesi were difficult mission terrain, especially the Toraja highlands due to the strength of Aluk To Dolo; in contrast, Minahasa experienced early and rapid church development.
Missionaries of Zutendaalse side by side...
On the world map...
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