Beginnings of Indonesian Trade

800 AD Indonesian Ship Carving at Borobudur

Recognizing that statistically Indonesia can be called a poor country, that does not mean that it is a country that is without anything of value.  Far from it.  It has plenty of resources that have always been sought after by its neighbors and by people from far away.  Asians began visiting the islands that we now call Indonesia from as far back as historians kept track of the comings and goings of people.  

Nearby neighbors from the Malay Peninsula visited Indonesia on relatively simple missions; stealing whatever they needed from the villages near the coasts.  When you think about it the visits of the Malays to Indonesia were not very different from the raids Norsemen made on the British Isles or the Chinese made on the Formosans.  Raiding neighbors has been a part of how humans have always acted.  It seems that taking whatever you can from those folks over the mountain or across the strait was the basis for commerce until the neighbors got tired of getting beat up and decided to arm themselves well enough to discourage their rapacious friends.  Thus international trade was born.

The way trade developed in Indonesia had a great influence on how the country developed.  Arab traders from the Persian Gulf ventured eastward and called at ports in the Indian subcontinent,   Because commerce works best when it is two way, Indian sailors soon began voyaging to the Persian Gulf and the East coast of Africa where there were goods available that they could swap for their commodities or products.  

With the experience of trading to the west the Indian subcontinent sailors thought they could go east and be the dominant sea going force in the Indian Ocean/South China Sea area.  When they visited Indonesian islands they not only were interested in trade, they wanted to give the natives the benefit of their religious beliefs.  Does this sound familiar?  Think of the Spanish in Central and South America or the Philippines or Muslims in Turkey.  Religions are either official sponsors or behind the scenes influences of ventures to foreign lands.

Recognizing that statistically Indonesia can be called a poor country, that does not mean that it is a country that is without anything of value.  Far from it.  It has plenty of resources that have always been sought after by its neighbors and by people from far away.  Asians began visiting the islands that we now call Indonesia from as far back as historians kept track of the comings and goings of people.  

Nearby neighbors from the Malay Peninsula visited Indonesia on relatively simple missions; stealing whatever they needed from the villages near the coasts.  When you think about it the visits of the Malays to Indonesia were not very different from the raids Norsemen made on the British Isles or the Chinese made on the Formosans.  Raiding neighbors has been a part of how humans have always acted.  It seems that taking whatever you can from those folks over the mountain or across the strait was the basis for commerce until the neighbors got tired of getting beat up and decided to arm themselves well enough to discourage their rapacious friends.  Thus international trade was born.

The way trade developed in Indonesia had a great influence on how the country developed.  Arab traders from the Persian Gulf ventured eastward and called at ports in the Indian subcontinent,   Because commerce works best when it is two way, Indian sailors soon began voyaging to the Persian Gulf and the East coast of Africa where there were goods available that they could swap for their commodities or products.  

Dutch East Indies Ship

With the experience of trading to the west the Indian subcontinent sailors thought they could go east and be the dominant sea going force in the Indian Ocean/South China Sea area.  When they visited Indonesian islands they not only were interested in trade, they wanted to give the natives the benefit of their religious beliefs.  Does this sound familiar?  Think of the Spanish in Central and South America or the Philippines or Muslims in Turkey.  Religions are either official sponsors or behind the scenes influences of ventures to foreign lands.