colony · Maritime Southeast Asia
British Java
Origins
After Napoleon annexed the Netherlands, Britain targeted its colonies. In August 1811 a force from India under Lord Minto and General Samuel Auchmuty landed near Batavia and defeated the Franco-Dutch army of Governor-General Jan Willem Janssens, who capitulated in September. Thomas Stamford Raffles was appointed lieutenant-governor.
Rule and society
Raffles replaced forced deliveries with a land rent assessed on villages, reduced the powers of Javanese regents, and in 1812 stormed the kraton of the Yogyakarta Sultanate, creating Pakualaman. He also attacked the Palembang Sultanate. British officials surveyed Borobudur and Prambanan, and Raffles wrote his History of Java.
Decline and legacy
The Anglo-Dutch Convention of 1814 returned Java to the Netherlands, and the British handed over in August 1816, when the Dutch East Indies was restored. Some of the land-rent reforms survived, and Raffles went on to found Singapore.
Lineage
On the connections map
Open the full map →Connections (3)
- British Java was a colony of British Empire1811 CE – 1816 CE
- British Java was part of Company rule in India1811 CE – 1816 CE
- Pakualaman was a vassal of British Java1812 CE – 1816 CE
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Cite this page
- APA
- The Epoch Institute. (2026). British Java. In The Epoch Institute States Register. https://the-epoch-institute.org/state/british-java
- MLA
- “British Java.” The Epoch Institute States Register, The Epoch Institute, 2026, https://the-epoch-institute.org/state/british-java. Accessed .
- Chicago
- The Epoch Institute. “British Java.” The Epoch Institute States Register. 2026. https://the-epoch-institute.org/state/british-java.
- Harvard
- The Epoch Institute (2026) ‘British Java’, The Epoch Institute States Register. Available at: https://the-epoch-institute.org/state/british-java (Accessed: ).
Last reviewed October 2026Random state ↻