East Kalimantan - Magenda Burhan Djabier
- The Decline of a Commercial Aristocracy
The focus of this present monograph is East Kalimantan, where the local aristocracy was commercial in nature, tracing its origin back to the establishment of a "spice trade" route in the sixteenth century. The decline in the nineteenth century of the main harbor principality of Borneo, Banjarmasin on the south coast, opened the way for other states on the island to play a greater role, in particular the sultanate of Kutai in eastern Borneo.
Burhan Magenda's well documented study opens a new perspective of fundamental importance to our understanding of both the past and current political and economic development of East Kalimantan and of its relationship with the central power in Jakarta. It provides an illuminating analysis of strategies by which members of the aristocracy have succeeded in surviving under widely varying conditions. Clearly, despite the challenges they have encountered over the past 45 years, these aristocrats have shown a surprising political resilience. - Audrey Kahin Ithaca, August 1991
EAN: 9786028397216
