The early modern period, trom about 1400 to 1900 was one in which the various societies of the Archipelago assumed the forms we now see as traditional, though they are in reality a product of unceasing change. Indonesians become an integral part of the world trading system, producing the spices that helped fuel a global trade boom, and building cities, states and shipping networks that served it. Islam and Christianity reshaped the way Indonesians understood the world.
A combination of new Islamic ideas, new technologies and new wealth brought Indonesian states to their highest pinnacles of power in the early 17th century. When the Dutch East India Company took much of the trade wealth away from these states, Indonesians responded by developing pluralistic networks, alliances, and ideologies which brought societies together without the centralised state. This volume covers this process up to the fall of the last Indonesian states around 1900.