THE PEPPER PLANTATION SYSTEM DURING THE EAST INDIA COMPANY ERA IN BENGKULU 1685–1825

Author

Taufik Hidayat

Universitas Nusa Cendana, Indonesia

Febta Pratama

Universitas Negeri Yogyakarta, Indonesia

Susilo Setyo Utomo

Universitas Nusa Cendana, Indonesia

Saswal Ukba

Universitas Nusa Cendana, Indonesia

Ayu Febriyanti Akbar

Universitas Nusa Cendana, Indonesia

DOI: https://doi.org/10.19184/jhis.v10i1.60007

Keywords: Pepper Plantation, British Colonialism, East India Company, Bengkulu, Enslaved Labor

Abstract

This study aims to analyze the pepper plantation system in Bengkulu during the East India Company (EIC) period from 1685 to 1825, with a particular focus on colonial exploitation mechanisms, labor dynamics, and Bengkulu's integration into global pepper trade networks. The central questions examined include how the EIC constructed its pepper production system, mobilized and exploited labor, implemented colonial policies, and positioned Bengkulu within the global commodity trade. This research employs a historical research methodology encompassing the stages of heuristics, source criticism, interpretation, and historiography, drawing on primary sources from the National Archives of the Republic of Indonesia (ANRI) and Sumatra Factory Records, supplemented by relevant historiographical secondary literature. The study finds that the EIC constructed the pepper plantation system through three primary mechanisms: (1) monopoly agreements with local rulers that obligated each household to cultivate a minimum of 1,000 pepper vines; (2) the use of enslaved African laborers as the operational backbone of the plantation system, with their numbers reaching 1,121 in 1778; and (3) the deployment of British Residents in pepper-producing districts as instruments of colonial control. Bengkulu was integrated into global trade networks through two principal export routes   Fort Marlborough–India–London with annual export volumes reaching 453,600–907,200 kg to European markets during the eighteenth century. This study concludes that the EIC's plantation system in Bengkulu constituted a systematic and exploitative form of colonial capitalism, integrating the region into the world economy not for the benefit of its inhabitants, but for the commercial gain of European merchants as evidenced by the recurring resistance of the Bengkulu population throughout the 140 years of EIC occupation.

References

Archival Sources

ANRI. (1696). Oral report of Tsiely Godong, Minister of Banten and Harkis Bali, former interpreter for the English, regarding the presence of the English at Silebar and Bengkulu, West Sumatra, 28 January 1696.

ANRI. (1648). Dagregister, 4 February 1648.

ANRI. (1719). Papieren van den Engelsen te Bengkoulow 1719.

ANRI. (1766). Papieren Omtrent eene te doene Ondernemingen tegen Bezittingen der Engelsche te Bencoolen op. S.W.K 1766.

Sumatra Factory Record, Vol. 10. (1754). General abstract of the surveys of the pepper gardens on the west coast of Sumatra within the limits of the East India Company's jurisdiction 1754. Record Department of the India Office.

Sumatra Factory Record, Vols. 23–24. (1786). Record Department of the India Office.

Books and Journal Articles

Anatona. (2008). Budak Afrika milik EIC Inggris di Fort Marlborough Bengkulu tahun 1786 [African slaves of the British EIC at Fort Marlborough Bengkulu in 1786]. Kultura, 1(3), 42–50.

Arman, D. (2018). Perdagangan lada di Jambi abad ke-XVI–XVIII [Pepper trade in Jambi, 16th–18th centuries]. Jurnal Handep, 1(2), 45–72.

Asnan, G. (2004). Dunia maritim pantai barat Sumatra [The maritime world of West Sumatra's coast]. Ombak.

Bastin, J. (1965). The British in West Sumatra (1685–1825): A selection of documents with an introduction. University of Malaya Press.

Beckert, S. (2014). Empire of cotton: A global history. Alfred A. Knopf.

Emmanuel, A. (1972). Unequal exchange: A study of the imperialism of trade. Monthly Review Press.

Fanon, F. (1963). The wretched of the earth. Grove Press.

Frank, A. G. (1966). The development of underdevelopment. Monthly Review, 18(4), 17–31.

Harfield, A. (1995). Bencoolen: A history of the Honourable East India Company's garrison on the west coast of Sumatra (1685–1825). A.J. Partnership.

Imaludin, I. (2016). Perdagangan lada di Lampung dalam tiga masa [Pepper trade in Lampung across three periods]. Jurnal Patanjala, 8(3), 389–404.

Mamdani, M. (1996). Citizen and subject: Contemporary Africa and the legacy of late colonialism. Princeton University Press.

Marihandono, D., & Kanumoyoso, B. (2017). Rempah, jalur rempah, dan dinamika masyarakat Nusantara [Spices, spice routes, and the dynamics of Nusantara societies]. Directorate of History, Directorate General of Culture, Ministry of Education and Culture.

Marsden, W. (2014). Sejarah Sumatra [History of Sumatra]. Komunitas Bambu.

Meilink-Roelofsz, M. A. P. (2016). Persaingan Eropa dan Asia di Nusantara: Sejarah perniagaan 1500–1630 [European and Asian competition in the archipelago: A history of trade 1500–1630]. Komunitas Bambu.

Reid, A. (2011). Asia Tenggara dalam kurun niaga 1450–1680 Jilid 2: Jaringan perdagangan global [Southeast Asia in the age of commerce 1450–1680, Vol. 2: Global trade networks]. Yayasan Pustaka Obor.

Scott, J. C. (1985). Weapons of the weak: Everyday forms of peasant resistance. Yale University Press.

Setiyanto, A. (2015). Gerakan sosial masyarakat Bengkulu abad XIX: Peran elit politik tradisional dan elite agama [Social movements of the Bengkulu community in the 19th century: The role of traditional political and religious elites]. Ombak.

Siddik, A. (1996). Sejarah Bengkulu 1500–1990 [History of Bengkulu 1500–1990]. Balai Pustaka.

Wallerstein, I. (1974). The modern world-system I: Capitalist agriculture and the origins of the European world-economy in the sixteenth century. Academic Press.

Wolf, E. R. (1982). Europe and the people without history. University of California Press.