Krakatoa by Simon Winchester) Portent Essay

Total Length: 652 words ( 2 double-spaced pages)

Total Sources: 3

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"Much of Sumatra and Java had already become Islamized (the earliest known Muslim grave on Java dates from 1419) and the local people …were… sensitive to the strange ways of the European infidels" (Winchester 34). Therefore, there is little evidence to dispute the fact that the fundamentalist Islamic beliefs that reared themselves in the form of an organized attack after the explosion of Krakoa was deeply entrenched into Indonesia culture. The volcano's eruption merely served as the impetus to overthrow the colonizers -- especially in light of the fact of how poorly the "infidels" treated their subjects.

Most significantly, however, the author references the fact that the Dutch would inflict harsh treatment upon the colonized Indonesian natives for the duration of their tenure there. The following quotation emphasizes this truth. "…between Dutchmen and Javanese, whose three and a half year relationship would prove to be one of repression, exploitation, and all too often, cruel colonization" (Winchester 34). This passage all but confirms the thesis in this paper, that it was due to the insidious and negligent treatment of the Indonesian natives by the Dutch that the latter would eventually rebel in the name of Islam to overthrow the yoke of their oppressors.
Other sources indicate that "the… Dutch…kept a stranglehold on Indonesian life" (Griswold). It is understandable how Indonesians would interpret Krakoa's eruption as a signal to begin the rebellion.

There was a fairly lengthy history of negligent treatment on the part of the Dutch against the Indonesians they colonized. Winchester's book demonstrates that this relationship soured at the beginning, and would be responsible for the Islamic fundamentalist movement that was inspired in no small part by Krakoa's eruption.

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