Originally published in 1815, Major William Thorn's The Conquest of Java describes the military and naval elements of the British expeditionary force to Java in 1811. It was a time of unrest in Europe. Napoleon was at the height of his power and had taken control of Holland and its colonies in Asia. In August 1810, Britain's Lord Minto, Governor General of India, was ordered by the English East India Company to expel "the enemy" from the Island of Java. On August 4, 1811 a fleet of 100 British ships, carrying 12,000 soldiers, landing in the Bay of Batavia. Among the landing party was the ambitious young company employee from Penang who originally masterminded the plan to take Java, and become Lieutenant–Governor of the island at the tender age of 30. This was none other than Thomas Stamford Raffles who, eight years later, would found Singapore. The Conquest of Java provides a unique and scrupulously detailed account of the British military campaign to wrest control of the island. Written by an officer who took part, Major William Thorn, and lavishly illustrated with 35 color plates, this historically important book provides a wealth of statistical and anecdotal information about Java and its environs.

In 1811, an army of 10,000 British redcoats splashed ashore through the muddy shallows off Batavia (now Jakarta) to conquer the Dutch colony of Java. They would remain there for five turbulent years. Drawing on both British and Javanese archival sources, this narrative history-cum-biography explores the bloody battles and furious controversies that marked British rule in Java, and reveals the future founder of Singapore, Thomas Stamford Raffles in a shocking new light.

This is a translation of The Duke of Saxe-Weimar-Eisenach's account of the British conquest of t he Dutch island of Java in 1811.

This is the first and most important book about the Island of Java and is essential reading for anyone interested in Javanese history and culture. Originally published in 1811, Island of Java was the first popular work in English to describe what for many centuries was the most important island in the vast Indonesian archipelago. Like most works published during this time, Island of Java recounts everything that was known at the time about the island and its inhabitants. Detailed descriptions are given of Java's ecology, history and culture, including methods of tribute and tazation used by the Dutch colonists and the design of the fortifications surrounding Batavia. Also described are such things as the dining habits of the Dutch administrators, the execution of thirteen of the ruler's concubines in Surakarta, and the notorious Upas or "Poison Tree of Java", believed to exude a foul odor which routinely annihilated all living things for miles around. This reprint is enhanced by a scholarly Introduction by Dr. John Bastin, former Reader at the School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London, and a world authority on nineteenth century Java.

*****NB: FOR QBH3-92 REANNOUNCE AS PUBLISHED***** The shortlived British occupation of Java (1811-16) at the end of the Napoleonic Wars marked a watershed in the modern history of Indonesia. For the first time the European government had sufficient military power to impose its will on hitherto semi-independent local rulers, leading to a fundamental alteration in the political relationships on the island. This volume provides a unique insight into the Javanese view of events from the vantage point of the Central Javanese court of Yogyakarta. The core of the work is a text edition of a diary kept by one of the senior Yogyakarta princes from the time of the British attack to the end of the occupation in 1816.

The expansion of the Cholas from their base in the Kaveri Delta saw this growing power subdue the kingdoms of southern India, as well as occupy Sri Lanka and the Maldives, by the early eleventh century. It was also during this period that the Cholas initiated links with Song China. Concurrently, the Southeast Asian polity of Sriwijaya had, through its Sumatran and Malayan ports, come to occupy a key position in East-West maritime trade, requiring engagement with both Song China to the north and the Chola kingdom to its west. The apparently friendly relations pursued were, however, to be disrupted in 1025 by Chola naval expeditions against fourteen key port cities in Southeast Asia. This volume examines the background, course and effects of these expeditions, as well as the regional context of the events. It brings to light many aspects of this key period in Asian history. Unprecedented in the degree of detail assigned to the story of the Chola expeditions, this volume is also unique in that it includes translations of the contemporary Tamil and Sanskrit inscriptions relating to Southeast Asia and of the Song dynasty Chinese texts relating to the Chola Kingdom.