BELANDA DEPOK

Once upon a time on 18 May 1696, Cornelis Chastelein bought the Depok area from the Dutch government. Depok was no man’s land, an area of wilderness in the Javan countryside. Chastelein thus began his own business, turning the rugged wilderness into plantations and agricultural plots. Cornelis Chastelein was the person who pioneered and initiated the clearing of Depok and its surrounding land for agriculture, especially coffee, rice, and peppercorn.

To do this, the new entrepreneur needed workers. At the time, slavery was common across the archipelago, they were often prisoners of war between local kingdoms.

“In Depok, most of the slaves came from Bali and South Sulawesi. It was possible that they were Balinese who were taken prisoner by the King of Lombok and Makassar people who were captured by Arung Palakka, who were then sold and handed over to the VOC. These poor souls were then placed by the VOC in areas now known as Kampung Bali and Kampung Bugis in Jakarta. Cornelis bought up to 150 slaves from these regions to work on his land.

Unlike many of his contemporaries, he was concerned for the natives, especially those under his ‘employment’. Though they began as slaves, in his final will he ensured that it was noted that all those that had worked for him were free people. There were 12 clans who worked under Cornelis Chastelein, all freed.”

All the clans, or ‘kaum’, had Baptismal names: Bacas, Isakh, Jonathans, Jacob, Joseph Loen, Laurens, Leander, Tholense, Soedira, Samuel, and Zadokh. Now, only 11 clans remain, as the Zadokh clan successors were mostly women and thus took the names of their husbands. There were other Depok residents outside of these 12, but they eventually assimilated into one of the kaum and together made up the ‘Depok Lama’ (Old Depok) population.

Those slaves who came from various places were taught Dutch as their main language — from which originates the term “Belanda Depok”.

#dutch #dutchindo #indonesia #indo #blasteran #dutcheastindies #dutchindonesian #history #indodutch #bersiap #depok #depokbelanda #belandadepok #Cornelis Chastelein