Expansion in the Shadow of the Company

Abstract

The focus of this article is the political expansion of Karangasem, one of the micro-states of Bali, in the second half of the eighteenth century. The Karangasem leadership was able to expand into Lombok and large parts of northern and central Bali, while generally avoiding confrontation with the Dutch East India Company. They encountered a range of ethnic groups and endeavoured to play out the Dutch and the British interests against each other. In spite of its regional importance, prior to 1800 Karangasem is poorly documented. The article explores ways of reading different categories of European and indigenous sources against each other. Although fragmentary, they yield information about strategic concerns, economic underpinnings of expansion, ethnicity, and cultural and ritual issues. A combination of internal and external factors, including Dutch policies in the East Indies, enabled Karangasem to pursue a successful political expansion in the shadow of the Company.