Portuguese Empire in the Indonesian Archipelago

The Portuguese were the first Europeans to establish a colonial presence in the Indonesian Archipelago. Their quest to dominate the source of the spices that sustained the lucrative spice trade in the early 16th century, along with missionary efforts by Catholic orders, saw the establishment of trading posts and forts, and left behind a Portuguese cultural element that remains in modern-day Indonesia.

Insulindia[a]
c. 1522–1605
Flag Coat of Arms
Map of the Portuguese empire in the East Indies (including the Indonesian Archipelago), Atlas Miller.
Status	Settlement and possessions of the Portuguese Empire
Capital	São João Baptista de Ternate in Ternate (1523–1575) Nossa Senhora de Anunciada in Amboina, Moluccas (1575–1605)
Common languages	Portuguese, Malay, Ternate, Tidore, Other indigenous language.
Government	Monarchy
Monarch
• 1522–1557	John III
• 1598–1605	Philip III
Captain-General
• 1522–1525 (first)	Antonio de Brito
• 1602–1605 (last)	Pedro Alvares de Abreu
Historical era	Early modern
• Established	c. 1522
• Treaty of Zaragoza	22 April 1529
• Defeat and fall	22 February 1605
Succeeded by Dutch East India Company

Portuguese colonization era
1512–1605
Map from 1519 showing the islands of North Maluku, with the Portuguese banner planted.
Location	Malay Archipelago, East Indies
Including	Portuguese–Ternate wars
Leader(s)	Alfonso de Albuquerque António de Abreu Francisco Serrão
Key events	Age of Discovery
Chronology Era of Islam Dutch East India Company Portuguese Timor

Establishment

The nutmeg plant is native to the Banda Islands. Once one of the world's most valuable commodities, it drew the first European colonial powers to the Spice Islands.

Europeans were making technological advances in the early 16th century; new-found Portuguese expertise in navigation, shipbuilding and weaponry allowed them to make daring expeditions of exploration and expansion. Starting with the first exploratory expeditions sent from newly conquered Malacca in 1512, the Portuguese were the first Europeans to arrive in the East Indies, and sought to dominate the sources of valuable spices^[1] and to extend their Christian missionary efforts. Initial Portuguese attempts to establish a coalition and peace treaty in 1522 with the West Javan Sunda Kingdom^[2] failed, owing to hostilities among islamic kingdoms on Java. The Portuguese turned east to Moluccas, which comprised a varied collection of principalities and kingdoms that were occasionally at war with each other but maintained significant inter-island and international trade. Through both military conquest and alliance with local rulers, they established trading posts, forts, and missions in the North Sulawesi and in the Spice Islands, including Ternate, Ambon, and Solor.

The height of Portuguese missionary activities, however, came in the latter half of the 16th century, after the pace of their military conquest in the archipelago had stopped and their East Asian interest was shifting to Portuguese India, Portuguese Ceylon, Japan, Macau and China; and sugar in Brazil and the Atlantic slave trade in turn further distracted their efforts in the East Indies. In addition, the first European people to arrive in Northern Sulawesi were the Portuguese. Francisco Xavier supported and visited the Portuguese mission at Tolo on Halmahera. This was the first Catholic mission in the Moluccas. The mission began in 1534 when some chiefs from Morotai came to Ternate asking to be baptised. Simão Vaz, the vicar of Ternate, went to Tolo to found the mission. The mission was the source of conflict between the Spanish, the Portuguese and Ternate. Simão Vaz was later murdered at Sao.^[3][4]

Decline and legacy

The Portuguese presence in the East Indies was reduced to Solor, Flores and Timor (see Portuguese Timor), alongside a small community in Kampung Tugu^[5] following defeat in 1575 at Ternate at the hands of indigenous Ternateans, Dutch conquests in Ambon, north Maluku and Banda, and a general failure for sustained control of trade in the region.^[6] In comparison with the original Portuguese ambition to dominate Asian trade, their influences on modern Indonesian culture are minor: the romantic keroncong guitar ballads, a number of Indonesian words and some family names in eastern Indonesia such as da Costa, Dias, de Fretes, and Gonsalves. The most significant impacts of the Portuguese arrival were the disruption and the disorganisation of the trade network, mostly as a result of their conquest of Portuguese Malacca and the first significant plantings of Christianity in Indonesia, with the Kristang people. Christian communities in eastern Indonesia have continued to exist and have contributed to a sense of shared interest with Europeans, particularly among the Ambonese.^[7]

See also

• Indonesia portal
• Portugal portal

• Portuguese East India Company
• Indonesia–Portugal relations
• Portuguese loanwords in Indonesian
• Mardijker people
• Portuguese Indonesian
• Timeline of Indonesian history
• Portuguese Timor

References

1. Ricklefs, M.C (1969). A History of Modern Indonesia Since c. 1300, second edition. London: MacMillan. pp. 22–24. ISBN 0-333-57689-6.
2. Sumber-sumber asli sejarah Jakarta, Jilid I: Dokumen-dokumen sejarah Jakarta sampai dengan akhir abad ke-16. Cipta Loka Caraka. 1999.;Zahorka, Herwig (2007). The Sunda Kingdoms of West Java, From Tarumanagara to Pakuan Pajajaran with Royal Center of Bogor, Over 1000 Years of Prosperity and Glory. Yayasan Cipta Loka Caraka.
3. Vaz, Simon. Halmahera dan Raja Ampat sebagai kesatuan majemuk: studi-studi terhadap. p. 279.
4. Francis Xavier; His Life, His Times: Indonesia and India, 1545-1549. Xaviers mission. p. 179.
5. "A comunidade de Tugu" (in Portuguese). Instituto Camões. Retrieved 25 August 2023.
6. Miller, George, ed. (1996). To The Spice Islands and Beyond: Travels in Eastern Indonesia. New York: Oxford University Press. pp. xv. ISBN 967-65-3099-9.
7. Ricklefs (1991), pp. 22 to 26

1. The term Indonesia did not yet exist