History of Bali
The History of Bali covers a period from the Paleolithic to the present, and is characterized by migrations of people and cultures from other parts of Asia. In the 16th century, the history of Bali started to be marked by Western influence with the arrival of Europeans, to become, after a long and difficult colonial period under the Dutch, an example of the preservation of traditional cultures and a key tourist destination.
Geological formation
The island of Bali, like most of the islands of the Indonesian archipelago, is the result of the tectonic subduction of the Indo-Australian Plate under the Eurasian Plate. The tertiary ocean floor, made of ancient marine deposits including accumulation of coral reefs, was lifted above the sea level by the subduction. Layers of Tertiary limestone lifted from the ocean floor are still visible in areas such as the Bukit peninsula with the huge limestone cliffs of Uluwatu, or in the northwest of the island at Prapat Agung.The local deformation of the Eurasian plate created by the subduction has encouraged the fissuring of the crust, leading to the arising of volcanic phenomena. A string of volcanoes line the northern part of the island, along a west–east axis in which the western part is oldest, and the eastern part newest. The highest volcano is the active strato-volcano Mount Agung, at 3,142 m.
Volcanic activity has been intense through the ages, and most of the surface of the island has been covered by volcanic magma. Some old deposits remain, while most of the central part of the island is covered by young volcanic deposits, with some very recent lava fields in the northeast due to the catastrophic eruption of Mount Agung in 1963.
Volcanic activity, due to the thick deposits of ashes and the soil fertility it generates, has also been a strong factor in the agricultural prosperity of the island.
At the edge of the subduction, Bali is also at the edge of the continental Sunda shelf, just west of the Wallace line, and was at one time connected to the neighbouring island of Java, particularly during the lowering of the sea level in the ice ages. Its fauna and flora are therefore Asian.
Paleolithic and Mesolithic occupation
Bali being part of the Sunda shelf, the island had been connected to the island of Java many times through history. Even today, the two islands are only separated by the 2.4 km Bali Strait.The ancient occupation of Java itself is accredited by the findings of the Java Man, dated between 1.7 and 0.7 million years old, one of the first known specimens of Homo erectus.
Bali also was inhabited in Paleolithic times, testified by the finding of ancient tools such as hand axes which were found in Sembiran and Trunyan villages in Bali.
A Mesolithic period has also been identified, characterised by advanced food gathering and hunting, but still by Homo Erectus. This period yields more sophisticated tools, such as arrow points, and also tools made of animal or fish bones. They lived in temporary caves, such as those found in the Pecatu hills of the Badung regency, such as the Selanding and the Karang Boma caves. The first wave of Homo Sapiens arrived around 45,000 BCE as the Australoid people migrated south, replacing Homo Erectus.
Neolithic: Austronesian migrations (3000–600 BCE)
From around 3000 to 600 BCE, a Neolithic culture emerges, characterized by a new wave of inhabitants bringing rice-growing technology and speaking Austronesian languages. These Austronesian peoples seem to have migrated from South China, probably through the Philippines and Sulawesi. Their tools included rectangular adzes and red slipped decorated pottery.Forests and jungles were cleared for the establishment of cultures and villages. They also made some plaited craft and a small boat was also found. Their culinary habits included pork-eating and betel-chewing. They are thought to have focused on mountain cults. They buried some of their more prestigious dead in oval stone sarcophagi, with human heads or zoomorphic figures sculpted on them. The bodies were either deposited in the sleeping position, or folded in two or three for compactness.
An important neolithic archaeological site in Bali is that of Cekik, in the western part of the island.
These same Austronesian people are thought to have continued their expansion eastward, to occupy Melanesian and Polynesian islands around 2000 years ago. The cultural traits of this period are still clearly visible in the culture of Bali today, and connect it to the cultures of Southeast Asia and the Pacific Ocean.
Bronze Age: arrival of Dong Son culture (600 BCE–800 CE)
A Bronze Age period follows, from around 600 BCE to 800 CE. Between the 8th and 3rd century BCE, the island of Bali acquired the "Dong Son" metallurgical techniques spreading from Northern Vietnam. These techniques involved sophisticated casting from moulds, with spiral and anthropomorphic motifs. As mould fragments have been found in the area of Manuaba in Bali, it is thought that such implements were manufactured locally rather than imported. The raw material to make bronze had to be imported however, as it is not available on Bali.Numerous bronze tools and weapons were made, and ceremonial drums from that period are also found in abundance, such as the "Moon of Pejeng", the largest ceremonial drum yet found in Southeast Asia, dated to around 300 BCE.
The stone sarcophagi were still in use during that period, as bronze artefacts were also found in them.
Ancient historical period: Indianized kingdoms (800–1343 CE)
The ancient historical period is defined by the appearance of the first written records in Bali, in the form of clay pallets with Buddhist inscriptions. These Buddhist inscriptions, found in small clay stupa figurines are the first known written inscriptions in Bali and date from around the 8th century CE. Such stupikas have been found in the regency of Gianyar, in the villages of Pejeng, Tatiapi and Blahbatuh.This period is generally closely associated with the arrival and expansion of Buddhism and Hinduism in the island of Bali. The Belanjong pillar in southern Sanur was inscribed in 914 with the mention of the reign of the Balinese king Sri Kesari. It is written in both the Indian Sanskrit language and Old Balinese language, using two scripts, the Nagari script and the Old Balinese script. It is dated 4 February 914 CE according to the Indian Shaka calendar.
The stone temple of Goa Gajah was made around the same period, and shows a combination of Buddhist and Hindu iconography.
Inter-marriages between Java and Bali royalty also occurred, as when king Udayana Warmadewa of the Warmadewa dynasty of Bali married a Javanese princess, sister of the Emperor of Java Dharmawangsa. Their son, Airlangga, became the ruler of East Java, and consequently ruled on both Java and Bali. In the 12th century, descendants of Airlangga are also known to have ruled over Bali, such as Jayasakti and Jayapangus.
The island of Java again started to encroach significantly on Bali with the invasion of the Singhasari king Kertanegara in 1284, as reported in the Nagarakertagama.
Contacts with China were also important during this period. Chinese coins, called Kepeng were in use in Bali from the 7th century. The traditional Barong is also thought to be derived from the Chinese depiction of a lion. According to recent Balinese legends, the 12th-century king Jayapangus of Bali is said to have married a Chinese princess.
Middle historical period: Majapahit dynastic rule (1343–1846)
Majapahit Golden Age
The Majapahit Empire rule over Bali became complete when Gajah Mada, Prime Minister of the Javanese king, defeated the Balinese king in Bedulu in 1343. The Majapahit capital in Bali was established at Samprangan and later Gelgel. Gelgel remained the paramount kingdom on Bali until the second half of the 17th century.The rule of the Majapahit marks the strong influx of Javanese culture into Bali, most of all in architecture, dance and the theatre, in literature with the introduction of the Kawi script, in painting and sculpture and the wayang puppet theatre. The few Balinese who did not adopt this culture are still known today as "Bali Aga" and still live in a few isolated villages.
With the rise of Islam in the Indonesian archipelago, the Majapahit empire finally fell, and Bali became independent at the end of the 15th or beginning of the 16th century. it is believed that the Javanese aristocracy fled to Bali, bringing an even stronger influx of Hindu arts, literature and religion. According to later chronicles, the dynasty of Majapahit origins, established after 1343, continued to rule Bali for 5 more centuries until 1908, when the Dutch eliminated it in the Dutch intervention in Bali. In the 16th century, the Balinese king Dalem Baturenggong even expanded in turn his rule to East Java, Lombok and western Sumbawa.
Around 1540, together with the Islamic advance, a Hindu reformation movement took place, led by Dang Hyang Nirartha, leading to the introduction of the Padmasana shrine in honour of the "Supreme God" Acintya, and the establishment of the present shape of Shiva-worshipping in Bali. Nirartha also established numerous temples, including the spectacular temple at Uluwatu.
European contacts
The first direct or indirect news of Bali by some European travellers can be traced back to Marco Polo and other possible travellers and traders via the Mediterranean Sea and Asia.The first known European contact with Bali is thought to have been made in 1512, when a Portuguese expedition led by António de Abreu and Francisco Serrão reached its northern coast. It was the first expedition of a series of biannual fleets to the Moluccas, that throughout the 16th century usually travelled along the coasts of the Sunda Islands. Bali was also mapped in 1512, in the chart of Francisco Rodrigues, aboard the expedition.
The Magellan expedition, through Elcano, is thought to have possibly sighted the island, and early Portuguese and Spanish charts mention the island under various names such as Boly, Bale and Bally. Sir Francis Drake briefly visited the island in 1580.
In 1585, the Portuguese government in Malacca sent a ship to establish a fort and a trading post in Bali, but the ship foundered on the reef of the Bukit peninsula and only five survivors could make it ashore. They went into the service of the king of Gelgel, known as the Dalem, and were provided with wives and homes.
In 1597, the Dutch explorer Cornelis de Houtman arrived in Bali with 89 surviving men. After visits to Kuta and Jembrana, he assembled his fleet in Padang Bai. Enthusiastic, he christened the island "Young Holland". They were able to meet with the Dalem, who produced for them one of the Portuguese who had been in his service since 1585, Pedro de Noronha.
A second Dutch expedition appeared in 1601, that of Jacob van Heemskerck. On this occasion, the Dalem of Gelgel sent a letter to Prince Maurits, a translation of which was sent by Cornelis van Eemskerck. This letter was subsequently used by the Dutch in their claims to the island: