Editing Java (section)

===Colonial periods===
[[File:COLLECTIE TROPENMUSEUM Thee-kweekbedden zonder afdak Java TMnr 10011931.jpg|thumb|Tea plantation in Java during [[Dutch East Indies|Dutch colonial period]], in or before 1926]]

Java's contact with the European colonial powers began in 1522 with [[Luso-Sundanese padrão|a treaty]] between the Sunda kingdom and the [[Portuguese Malacca|Portuguese in Malacca]]. After its failure, the [[Portuguese colonialism in the East Indies|Portuguese presence]] was confined to Malacca and to the eastern islands.
In 1596, a four-ship expedition led by [[Cornelis de Houtman]] was the first Dutch contact with Indonesia.<ref>{{cite book |title=The Globe Encompassed: The Age of European Discovery, 1500–1700 |author=Ames, Glenn J. |year=2008 |page=99}}</ref> By the end of the 18th century the Dutch had extended their influence over the sultanates of the interior through the [[Dutch East India Company in the Malay Archipelago|Dutch East India Company in Indonesia]]. Internal conflict prevented the Javanese from forming effective alliances against the Dutch. Remnants of the Mataram survived as the Surakarta (Solo) and Yogyakarta principalities. Javanese kings claimed to rule with divine authority and the Dutch helped them to preserve remnants of a Javanese aristocracy by confirming them as regents or district officials within the colonial administration.

Java's major role during the early part of the colonial period was as a producer of rice. In spice-producing islands like [[Banda Islands|Banda]], rice was regularly imported from Java, to supply the deficiency in means of subsistence.<ref>{{cite book |last=St. John |first=Horace Stebbing Roscoe |title=The Indian Archipelago: its history and present state, Volume 1 |publisher=Longman, Brown, Green, and Longmans |year=1853 |page=[https://archive.org/details/indianarchipela02johngoog/page/n183 137] |url=https://archive.org/details/indianarchipela02johngoog}}</ref>

[[File:The British Occupation of Java SE6050.jpg|thumb|left|British Occupation of Java; men of the Bengal Sappers and Miners burn houses in the village of Bekasi as a reprisal for the murder of five members of the Royal Air Force and twenty Maharatta riflemen whose Dakota transport aircraft crash-landed near the village.]]

During the [[Napoleonic wars]] in Europe, the [[Netherlands]] fell to [[France]], as did its colony in the [[East Indies]]. During the short-lived [[Herman Willem Daendels|Daendels]] administration, as French proxy rule on Java, the construction of the [[Great Post Road]] was commenced in 1808. The road, spanning from [[Anyer]] in Western Java to Panarukan in East Java, served as a military supply route and was used in defending Java from British invasion.<ref>{{cite book |title=Ekspedisi Anjer-Panaroekan, Laporan Jurnalistik Kompas |publisher=Pnerbit Buku Kompas, PT Kompas Media Nusantara, Jakarta Indonesia |date=November 2008 |pages=1–2 |isbn=978-979-709-391-4}}</ref> In 1811, Java was [[Invasion of Java (1811)|captured by the British]], becoming a possession of the [[British Empire]], and Sir [[Stamford Raffles]] was appointed as the island's governor. In 1816, under the governorship of [[John Fendall Jr.|John Fendall]], Java was returned to the Dutch as per the terms of the [[Treaty of Paris (1814)|Treaty of Paris]].<ref>{{cite book |last=Atkins |first=James |title=The Coins And Tokens of the Possessions And Colonies of the British Empire |url=https://archive.org/details/coinstokensofpos1889jame |year=1889<!-- |location=Quaritch, Bernard--> |location=London |page=[https://archive.org/details/coinstokensofpos1889jame/page/213 213] |publisher=Bernard Quaritch}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last=Hannigan |first=Tim |title=Raffles and the British invasion of Java |publisher=Singapore: Monsoon Books Pte Ltd. |year=2012 |isbn=978-981-4358-85-9 |edition=4th |pages=229}}</ref>

In 1815, there may have been five million people in Java.<ref>{{cite encyclopedia |url=https://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/301673/Java |title=Java (island, Indonesia) |encyclopedia=Encyclopædia Britannica |date=31 January 2019}}</ref> In the second half of the 18th century, population spurts began in districts along the north-central coast of Java, and in the 19th century population grew rapidly across the island. Factors for the great population growth include the impact of Dutch colonial rule including the imposed end to civil war in Java, the increase in the area under rice cultivation, and the introduction of food plants such as [[cassava]] and [[maize]] that could sustain populations that could not afford rice.<ref>Taylor (2003), p. 253.</ref> Others attribute the growth to the taxation burdens and increased expansion of employment under the [[Cultivation System]] to which couples responded by having more children in the hope of increasing their families’ ability to pay tax and buy goods.<ref>Taylor (2003), pp. 253–254.</ref> [[Cholera]] claimed 100,000 lives in Java in 1820.<ref>{{cite book |first=Joseph Patrick |last=Byrne |title=Encyclopedia of Pestilence, Pandemics, and Plagues: A-M |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=5Pvi-ksuKFIC&pg=PA99 |publisher=ABC-CLIO |year=2008 |page=99 |isbn=978-0-313-34102-1 }}{{Dead link|date=March 2023 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}</ref>

[[File:The Allied Occupation of Java, 1945 SE4857.jpg|thumb|Japanese prepare to discuss surrender terms with British-allied forces in Java, 1945.]]

The advent of trucks and railways where there had previously only been buffalo and carts, telegraph systems, and more coordinated distribution systems under the colonial government all contributed to famine elimination in Java, and in turn, population growth. There were no significant famines in Java from the 1840s through to the [[Japanese occupation of the Dutch East Indies|Japanese occupation]] in the 1940s.<ref name="Taylor 2003, p. 254">Taylor (2003), p. 254.</ref> However, other sources claimed the Dutch's Cultivation system is linked to famines and epidemics in the 1840s, firstly in [[Cirebon]] and then [[Central Java]], as cash crops such as indigo and sugar had to be grown instead of rice.