Early Views of Indonesia: Drawings from the British Library

The serious study and appreciation of Indonesian archaeology began during the brief period of British rule in Java from 1811 to 1816. As Lieutenant Governor of Java, Thomas Stanford Raffles initiated the first systematic and scientific study of all aspects of the island, its history and culture, leading to the publication in 1817 of "The History of Java". During the course of these surveys, many antiquities and temples were surveyed, and many drawings of scenes of daily life in Java in the early 19th century were compiled. Special attention was paid to the study of natural history, a subject Raffles pursued with even more vigour when Lieutenant-Governor of Bengkulu in Sumatra from 1818 to 1824. This is a survey of South East Asian drawings, from a complete set of over 500 facsimile reproductions of archaeological drawings of Indonesia presented to the British Library. Most of the drawings date from the early 19th century, and represent antiquities, temples and scenes of daily life in Java. The text is bilingual, in English and Indonesian.