Krakatoa by Simon Winchester) Portent

¶ … Krakatoa by Simon Winchester)

Portent of "Pepper" in Indonesia

Simon Winchester's work of literature, Krakatoa: The Day the World Exploded, is a fairly exhaustive and comprehensive study about the volcano that erupted in the late 19th century and was the greatest known catastrophe to mankind that has been recorded. Although the author demonstrates a wide variety of evidence that is indicative of the magnitude of this catastrophe, he is also prudent enough to discuss the results of this event from a political perspective that proved as influential as the ecological effects of the Krakatoa's eruption. An examination of this text shows that the rise of Islamic fundamentalism that was spurred by the volcano's eruption descended from the poor relationship between the Indonesian natives and their Dutch colonizers.

The author provides ample evidence of the tension between both cultures that would eventually result in an overthrow of the Dutch colonists in the first chapter of his manuscript. The inauspicious beginning of the relationship between the Dutch and the Java inhabitants who they first encountered in this region is illustrated by the following quotation. "…the Dutch…had a reputation for being crass and insensitive in their dealings with the "primitives" they met. Corenlius de Houtman…insulted the Banten sultan…and was ordered to leave" (Winchester 34). This quotation illustrates the fact that the Dutch behaved pejoratively to the natives who they encountered early on in the history of the relationship between these two peoples. Eventually, " the destiny of the Indonesian people was completely in the hands of the men making decisions in the European capitals" (Deidre). It is not surprising that the natives then used the eruption of Krakoa as an impetus to attack and overthrow their colonizers.

Additionally, Winchester underscores the fact that the Islamic roots that asserted themselves in the name of jihad during the revolt that ensued after Krakoa erupted were in place long before the Dutch ever arrived. The following quotation is indicative of this fact. "Much of Sumatra and Java had already become Islamized (the earliest known Muslim grave on Java dates from 1419) and the local people & #8230;were… sensitive to the strange ways of the European infidels" (Winchester 34). Therefore, there is little evidence to dispute the fact that the fundamentalist Islamic beliefs that reared themselves in the form of an organized attack after the explosion of Krakoa was deeply entrenched into Indonesia culture. The volcano's eruption merely served as the impetus to overthrow the colonizers -- especially in light of the fact of how poorly the "infidels" treated their subjects.