Home › Timeline › The Seat Moves to the Bench › Java's Cultivation System
From 1830 the Dutch governor-general Johannes van den Bosch required Javanese villagers to set aside a fifth of their rice land for export crops such as sugar, coffee and indigo, or give 66 days' labour a year, as rent to the state; in practice far more was taken. Between 1830 and 1877 the Dutch treasury received 823 million guilders from the Indies; Multatuli's novel Max Havelaar (1860) exposed the system, which was abolished in 1870.
The mechanism
THE CLOCK
How it was checked
- EvidenceT5 INDEPENDENT SECULAR; Status: ADDED 2026-09-19
- Letter eraTHE SEAT MOVES TO THE BENCH 1713 to 1945
- SourcesRECORD — Britannica, 'Culture System'; Britannica, 'Multatuli' · checked 19 September: Britannica (read in a browser; WebFetch is refused by the site), 'Culture System'; Wikipedia, 'Cultivation System' (1870 laws; forced labour persisted)
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