Islamic States in Java 1500–1700: Eight Dutch Books and Articles by Dr H.J. de Graaf

Verhandelingen van het Koninklijk Instituut voor Taal-, Land- en Volkenkunde #70

by Theodoor Gautier Thomas Pigeaud

The growing interest in the history of Indonesia has made it desirable to have an English summary of the principal works of the Dutch historian Dr H. J. de Graaf, who in several books and articles published between 1935 and 1973 has given a description of the development of the Javanese kingdom of Mataram, based both on European and in­ digenous material. His works form a substantial contribution to the study of the national history of Indonesia. The Summary contains references to the paragraphs of the Dutch books and articles. This makes it easy for those readers who have a know­ ledge of Dutch to consult the original texts. The List of Sources for the study of Javanese history from 1500 to 1700 is composed of the lists in the summarized books and articles, and the Index of Names refers not only to the present Summary but also to the eight original texts. Many names of persons and localities in the Index have been provided with short explanatory notes and references to other lemmata as a quick way to give some provisional information on Javanese history.

Hardcover

First published January 1, 1976

Reviews

[Raynard Pardede · Rating 4 out of 5]

Last Ramadhan, I was assigned to write about Indonesian Nain Saints or The Wali Songo. It was difficult for me to gather a valid, well-researched book about it. This book is one of the few pieces of research that delved into the topics.

[Anjar Priandoyo · Rating 4 out of 5]

Important book to understand Indonesia history

[Hamdanil · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very interesting read. It is an English summary of eight books from Dutch historian de Graaf about Javanese history, mostly from the rise of Mataram up to the reign of Amangkurat II, with heavy focus on Mataram. Although it uses variety of sources, European and local, it tends to be more accepting of Dutch accounts and more dismissive of Javanese sources. For me, this Dutch-based account nicely counterbalances my Indonesian education about history of this period. In addition to the Dutch deceits and technological superiority, I learnt that the Dutch colonial success were also caused by the Javanese's incompetence, intra-Javanese enmity and infighting as well as shortsightedness. The book's language is easy to follow and not boring. Since it is only a summary - the original eight books are in Dutch and seems unavailable in English - it often glosses over details, but the overview tells a pretty solid story.