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Ahmad Rifaʾi (or Ripangi) (c. 1786–1876), one of the most radical Islamic reformers of nineteenth-century Java, was born in Kendal, Java, and died in exile in Ambon. Ripangi, as he is usually known in Java, was the sixth son of Raden Kyai Haji Muhammad Abu Sujak, also known by his Javanese name, Raden Sutawijaya, a penghulu (the highest level of religious official) in the Residency of Kendal. The position of penghulu in Kendal was subsequently held by a son of Sutawijaya’s older brother, and it was this penghulu who, in the 1820s, ordered Ripangi imprisoned for some time in Semara…

BiographyLittle is known about the childhood and early career of Livinus Bor. He entered the service of the Dutch East India Company (VOC) in 1639 as a naval cadet and worked in modest positions in Ternate after arriving in the Indies. In 1650, he became the secretary to Arnold de Vlaming van Oudshoorn, superintendent for the three governors in East Indonesia: Banda, Ambon and Ternate. He joined his superior when, in early 1652, the sultan of Ternate was brought to Batavia to sign a treaty in wh…

'Account of India and a history of the Mughal Empire' Francisco Pelsaert Date: Probably 1627 Original Language: Dutch DescriptionThe Dutch in Batavia (present-day Jakarta) considered the Dutch settlements in Arabia, Persia and India to be western settlements ( Westerkwartieren) of the expanded VOC. In the mid-1620s, the central office in Batavia requested that reports be sent from these regions. Within this context, Pelsaert wrote his Remonstrantie, a report from Agra as the central location of the Mughal Empire. The work has no true title and there is no title page in the manuscript. R…

Nicolaas de Graaff Date of Birth: 18 August 1619 Place of Birth: Alkmaar, Netherlands Date of Death: Shortly before 14 October 1688 Place of Death: Egmond aan Zee, Netherlands BiographySon of a seaman, Nicolaus de Graaff entered the service of the Dutch East India Company, Hoorn Chapter, as a chirurgijn, the lowest degree of medical worker, commonly connected to a barber’s shop. He made 16 voyages, from several months to several years long, visiting nearly the whole known world of the time: from Greenland to Brazil, Denmark and the Mediterrane…

Date of Birth: Place of Birth: Date of Death: Place of Death: Biography Primary Sources of Information Secondary Sources of Information Works on Christian-Muslim RelationsAcehnese, Dutch and Malay authors on the Aceh War (1873-1903)Karel Steenbrink

- Dutch and Malay accounts of the conflicts known as the Banjar War, 1859-1905 Date: 19th century Original Language: Dutch DescriptionIn order to situate works on Christian-Muslim relations related to the Banjar War, it is necessary briefly to outline the historical context in which they were written. Almost at the same time as the Portuguese arrived in the Malay Archipelago (Malakka 1511, Ternate 1522), the princedom of Banjar accepted Islam as its official religion. In 1526, a complicated transfer of rulers took place. During a war of succ…

Compendium of decrees by the Government of the Dutch East Indies Nederlandsch-Indisch Plakaatboek Date: 17th/18th century Original Language: Dutch DescriptionAfter exploratory trips to Asia between 1595 and 1600, traders in the young Dutch Republic established the VOC ( Verenigde Oostindische Compagnie; Dutch East India Company). The VOC built, or captured from the Portuguese, fortifications along the route, or in key locations, for the spice trade from Arabia and India to the Malay Archipelago. Jan Pieters­zoon Coen and his Dutch fo…

Date of Birth: Unknown Place of Birth: Unknown Date of Death: Unknown Place of Death: Unknown Biography Primary Sources of Information Secondary Sources of Information Works on Christian-Muslim RelationsRepen RipangiKarel Steenbrink

‘The Ambonese wars of Arnold de Vlaming van Ourhoorn’ Livinus Bor Date: 1663 Original Language: Dutch DescriptionLivinus Bor’s book on the Ambonese wars (its full title is  Amboinse oorlogen door Arnold de Vlaming van Oudhoorn als superintendent over d’oosterse gewesten oorlogaftig ten eind gebracht, ‘The Ambonese wars waged in a violent manner by Arnold de Vlaming van Ourhoorn as superintendent of the eastern districts’), printed in small type, and consisting of xxxix + 369 pages, is written as a tribute to Arnold de Vlaming, the superi…

- Salomon Keijzer Date: 1854 Original Language: Dutch DescriptionIn a short period of 12 years, between 1853 and 1864, Salomon Keijzer published 13 works on normative Islam, as well as an abridged reprint in three volumes of the great work by François Valentyn,  Oud en nieuw Oost-Indiën (‘The old and new East Indies’). For his first publication on Islamic law, he took an Arabic work by the 14th-century scholar, Muḥammad ibn Yaʿqūb al-Fayrūzābādī (1329-1414), which was among the Leiden collection of Arab manuscripts. He wrote a quite free Dutch translation 426 …

Francisco Pelsaert Date of Birth: Approximately 1595 Place of Birth: In or near Antwerp Date of Death: 1630 Place of Death: Batavia (present-day Jakarta) BiographyFrançois Pelsaert was born into an impoverished middle-class family in Antwerp and as an adult probably sought a career in Holland. In 1616, he sailed with a fleet of the VOC to the Indies, arriving in Banten in April 1617. He was later appointed to the Western sections of the VOC and travelled to Surat, from where he was posted as an assistant to the office …

- Acehnese, Dutch and Malay authors on the Aceh War (1873-1903) Date: 1873-1903 Original Language: Dutch, Malay and Acehnese DescriptionAccording to the Anglo-Dutch Treaty of London of 1824, the Sultanate of Aceh, in the north-western region of the island of Sumatra, lay outside the colonial sphere. However, in 1871 a new treaty between the two colonial powers gave the British the African Gold Coast, while the Dutch received a free hand to move into Aceh. By 1858, the Dutch had established control westward as far …

Jan Baptist Jozef van Doren Date of Birth: 2 March 1791 Place of Birth: Gent/Gand Date of Death: 14 August 1873 Place of Death: Bergen op Zoom, The Netherlands BiographyNothing is known about Jan Baptist Jozef van Doren’s family, or his early life. In 1808, he began a military career when he entered the French-Belgian revolutionary army. After the defeat of Napoleon, he continued his profession in the Dutch-Belgian army. The Dutch King Willem I (r. 1815-40) decorated him for his bravery at the battle of Waterloo in 1815. Ho…

- Documenta Malucensia and the Jesuit Makasar documents Date: 1542-1682 Original Language: Dutch Description Documenta Malucensia ( DM) was compiled by Hubert Jacobs in 1974-84 in three chronological volumes, totalling about 2,200 pages: volume 1, 1542-77; volume 2, 1577-1606; and volume 3, 1606-82. The  Jesuit Makasar documents (1615-82) ( JMD), also collected by Jacobs in 1988, appear as a single volume, running to about 320 pages. They draw on documents found mainly in the Archivum Romanum Societatis Iesu (ARSI), together with others from …

Biography Primary Sources of Information Secondary Sources of Information Works on Christian-Muslim Relations Documenta Malucensia and the Jesuit Makasar documents Karel Steenbrink

‘Concerning the spread of the Gospel among the Javanese’; ‘Who is the cause of the terrible events in Banjarmasin?’ Jan Baptist Jozef van Doren Date: 1852; 1861 Original Language: Dutch DescriptionIn his brief pamphlet  Het voor en tegen van de uitbreiding des evangelies onder de Javanen (‘Concerning the spread of the Gospel among the Javanese’), only some 20 pages long, Van Doren attacks the prominent Protestant Reformed minister and politician Wolter Robert van Hoëvell, as well as some other contemporary authors, for their views about mi…

‘Old and New East-Indies’ François Valentyn Date: 1724-6 Original Language: Dutch DescriptionValentijn’s  Oud en Nieuw Oost-Indien, vervattende een naauwkeurige en uitvoerige verhandelinge van Nederlands mogentheyd in die gewesten (‘Old and New East-Indies, presenting an accurate and extensive treatment of the Dutch government in those regions’) is the largest work written by an individual European on Asia between 1500 and 1900. It occupies five volumes, though most copies have the last three volumes bound in two books. R…

‘Brief account of the experiences of Frederick de Houtman in Aceh during the 26 months of his captivity’ Frederick de Houtman Date: 1601 Original Language: Dutch DescriptionTwo pages into Cort verhael, his 49-page account of his second voyage to the Indonesian archipelago, Frederick de Houtman engages in a three-page description of the Maldives, expressing much admiration for the many beautiful mosques on these tiny islands. He then recounts his arrival in Aceh on 24 June 1599, paying much attention to the ceremonies of the …

Date of Birth: Place of Birth: Date of Death: Place of Death: Biography Primary Sources of Information Secondary Sources of Information    Works on Christian-Muslim RelationsDutch and Malay authors on the Paderi Wars in west SumatraKarel Steenbrink

- Javanese court chronicles on the rising power of the Dutch, 17th and 18th centuries Date: 17th and 18th centuries Original Language: Javanese DescriptionThis entry concentrates on Javanese works produced for the major courts of the Sultanate of Mataram, located in the Yogyakarta-Surakarta area. These court chronicles were not written for entertainment, devotion or moral edification, unlike the many works on Muslim romantic figures such as Amir Hamzah, Iskandar Zulkarnain, Sultan Ibrahim, Muhammad Hanafiyya and many …