The Dutch East Indies
الجزائر الهندية الشرقية الهولندية
The Dutch-ruled archipelago of Southeast Asia. Arslan's chapter reprints a lecture by Sayyid Isma'il al-Attas, delivered in Cairo in 1929, which surveys the islands from prehistory to Dutch rule. It gives a figure of about fifty million Muslims in the Dutch colonies, drawn from a census that Arslan's source reports, and describes the main crops. This is one 1920s source's picture of the islands, not a verified census.
At a glance
- Era
- The Colonial Era
- Review
- Draft Completeness 1/5 · Help complete it
Overview
The Dutch East Indies was an archipelago in south-east Asia ruled by the Netherlands. Shakib Arslan presents it in a chapter that includes a lecture by Sayyid Isma'il al-Attas, delivered in Cairo in 1929. 1
The lecture covers the history of the islands, from prehistoric remains to Dutch colonisation. It says that the Muslims there numbered about fifty million, according to a census the author cites, and that agriculture rests on rice, sugar, coconut and other crops. Arslan notes that the official Dutch figures and those of French writers did not agree.
This is one source's picture of conditions on the islands in the 1920s, not a verified census. An additional source is needed: Dutch census data for 1920 to 1930. The prehistory section is a summary of the lecture and is not accepted as archaeology without a second source.
Sources
- Stoddard, Hadir al-ʿalam al-islami (Arabic translation with Arslan's commentary)
Cite this page
islam.museum contributors. “The Dutch East Indies”. islam.museum, https://islam.museum/en/place/dutch-east-indies/. CC BY-SA 4.0. Accessed 2026-10-17.