Trained as a doctor, John Crawfurd (1783–1868) went on to have a distinguished career in colonial administration with the East India Company. He held senior posts in Java from 1811 to 1816, including that of resident at the court of Yogyakarta. A talented linguist and ethnologist, Crawfurd acquired a sound knowledge of ancient Kawi and contemporary Javanese. Upon his return to Britain in 1817, he became a fellow of the Royal Society and published this three-volume work on the Indonesian islands, principally Java, to great acclaim. Following further service abroad, he published accounts of his various missions in south-east Asia and an encyclopaedic sequel to the present work (all of which are reissued in the Cambridge Library Collection). Volume 2 examines language, literature, religion, and history, and the impact of Islam, Christianity and European colonisation.
Contents
Part V. Language: 1. Language and literature of Java; 2. Language and literature of the Malays; 3. Language and literature of Celebes; 4. Minor languages of the archipelago; 5. General observations on the Polynesian languages; 6. Vocabularies; Part VI. Religion: 1. Ancient religion of the Indian islanders; 2. Religion of Bali; 3. Character of Mahomedanism in the Indian archipelago; 4. State of Christianity in the Indian archipelago; Part VII. History: 1. Preliminary remarks on the history of the archipelago; 2. Ancient history of Java; 3. History of the propagation of Mahomedanism in Java; 4. History of Java continued; 5. Sequel of Javanese history; 6. History of the Malays; 7. History of Celebes; 8. Portuguese history of the archipelago; 9. Dutch history of the archipelago; 10. Spanish history of the archipelago; 11. Chronological table of the principal events in the history of the archipelago.
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