The Great Post Street
The Great Post Road (Indonesian: Jalan Raya Pos , Dutch: Grote Postweg ) is an approximately 1000 km long , historic route stretching from west to east of the island of Java . It runs from Anyer in the west of the Indonesian province of West Java to Panarukan ( Sumatra Selatan ) in the east of the island. Most of the time the route runs along the north coast of Java. It was built during the rule of the Dutch general Herman Willem Daendels .
There are a number of historically significant hotels en route to Bandung , including the Savoy Homann Bidakara Hotel , Villa Isola and the Grand Hotel Preanger . At an intersection in Bandung, Braga Street ( Jalan Braga ), which became famous in the 1920s , is a promenade along which chic cafés, boutiques and restaurants with a European ambience spread out.
Road construction under Herman Willem Daendels
Daendels came to Java and immediately decided to build a transport route in the northern part of Java to protect the island against British attacks. The road was supposed to ensure that troops could move quickly. However, Daendels found very difficult conditions. The financial situation in the colony of the Dutch East Indies (Indonesia) was so tight that a ministerial decree from The Hague postulated that expenditure should be drastically reduced. Daendels then decided to use Javanese unpaid slave labor to do the hard work with the most difficult health challenges. The local guides were instructed to recruit large numbers of workers in order to promote the road construction. The specified production targets had to be met, otherwise the workers were threatened with death. Since the specifications could often not be met, the street lined the bizarre picture of skulls hanging on trees. Daendels proceeded rigorously in this matter. Around 12,000 natives are said to have died during the construction. Nevertheless, the road could be completed within only one year (1808), which must be understood as an extraordinary achievement of the time.
Thousands of Javanese slave laborers died while the road was being built. Many Indonesian historians, however, recognize road construction as an important step in building the island's infrastructure. Before the road was completed, there were only a few connections between the cities and towns, for example between Batavia (Jakarta) and Semarang and Semarang and Surabaya from around 1750. North-south connections existed between Semarang, Surakarta and Yogyakarta . The latter connection paths were often difficult or impossible to navigate because heavy tropical rainfalls often destroyed them.
Route
The street names "Java Große Post-Straße" and along the coastal region "Java North Coast Road" (Indonesian: Jalan Pantura , abbreviation for "Pantai Utara") still exist today . The original route ran partly through the Preanger highlands, going from the south to Bogor , Cianjur , Bandung and Cirebon . The current north coast road runs through Bekasi , Karawang, Pamanukan and Cirebon. In its current form, the road extends over five provinces: Banten , DKI Jakarta , West Java , Central Java and East Java .
Movie
In 1996 the Dutch film producer Pieter van Huystee made the film "De Groote Postweg". It has been shown in various cinemas in the Netherlands, Italy and France.
See also
Individual evidence
- ^ Encyclopædia Britannica: Herman Willem Daendels
- ^ Rough Guides, Southeast Asia, Jalan Braga (p. 267)
- ^ In: Bijdragen tot de Taal-, Land- en Volkenkunde 158 (4). pp. 707-725. Retrieved October 25, 2007
- ^ William Thorn, The Conquest of Java , (1993), originally 1815. Singapore: Periplus Editions.
- ↑ Thomas Stevens, "De Postweg van Daendels: Een vraagstuk". In F. Van Anrooy. In: Herman Willem Daendels 1762-1818: Geldersman - Patriot - Jacobijn - Generaal - Hereboer - Maarschalk - Governor: Van Hattem naar St. George del Mina. (1991) pp. 71-76
literature
- Pramoedya Ananta Toer , Jalan Raya Pos, Jalan Daendels , Lentera Dipantara, Jakarta, (2005) ISBN 979-97312-8-3
