The History of Java; Volume 1

by Thomas Stamford Raffles

This work has been selected by scholars as being culturally important, and is part of the knowledge base of civilization as we know it. This work is in the "public domain in the United States of America, and possibly other nations. Within the United States, you may freely copy and distribute this work, as no entity (individual or corporate) has a copyright on the body of the work. Scholars believe, and we concur, that this work is important enough to be preserved, reproduced, and made generally available to the public. We appreciate your support of the preservation process, and thank you for being an important part of keeping this knowledge alive and relevant.

Genres: History

416 pages, Hardcover

First published January 12, 2010

About the author

Sir Thomas Stamford Raffles, FRS was a British statesman and the founder of Singapore.

Reviews

[Saravana Sastha Kumar · Rating 4 out of 5]

Most people in India and perhaps even Indonesia have little or no idea of the glorious history of Java, the largest island and civilisation in the Indonesian archipelago. It had its own great Hindu civilisation, languages and literature developed over several centuries. The decline of this great civilisation strangely coincides with the decline of Vinayanagara Kingdom of the Deccan. This is an area where more research needs to be done. This book written so long ago by Stamford Raffles (yes the same guy on whom the Raffles square in Singapore is named) is a phenomenal tome of knowledge, observation and interpretation. I'm sure it was hastily done too as the interpretations were in many places incomplete, biased and seen from a Abrahamic lens. Nevertheless it has helped me appreciate the great civilisation of Java of the yore. Looking forward to Vol.2 which deals with the decline of Majapahit, Hindu religion and rise of Mohemadinism, arrival of Portuguese and other important part of modern history of Java.

[Rifhi Anugrah]

good