RAILWAYS of INDONESIA

The first Chinese settlement in Java was most likely established in Lasem . Lasem is located on the north coast of Java, about three hours drive east of Semarang, the provincial capital of Central Java. Its current population is about 30,000. The Chinese settlers arrived in phases, the first one in the 15th century, then in 1740, 1743, 1842, and finally in 1881. These succeeding years marked important events in the history of Chinese-Indonesians. In 1740 there was an uprising of the Chinese in Batavia against the Dutch East Indies Company . Many Chinese were killed, while those who survived escaped to Lasem. These refugees established themselves north and south of the existing Chinese settlement. In 1743 the Chinese of Lasem revolted against the Company, in retaliation to the Batavia massacre. The Company reacted by forcing all the Chinese who where living in villages around Lasem to settle within the town, on the western bank of the Lasem River, across the earlier Chinese settlement. ...

It was to be the greatest exposition ever held in the Netherlands East Indies, an unabashed celebration of colonial supremacy. And the venue was Semarang. As the colonial administrators drew up their plans for the exposition celebrating the centennial of Dutch independence, they hoped the Koloniale Tentoonstelling would draw many visitors and an influx of revenue to the city. New hotels and pensions were opened; car rental companies were set up. The city was galvanized into activity for the grand event. Unfortunately, by the time the exposition opened on August 20, 1914, rumblings of war in Europe, triggered by the assassination of Austria's Archduke Franz Ferdinand in Sarajevo, cast a dark shadow on the event. Due to the tense political situation the patron of the exposition, governor general Idenburg, was unable to attend the opening ceremony. And even though Japan, China, Australia, India, French Indochina and the United States were represented by their respective pavilions, all...