Bali - SpeedyLook encyclopedia

History

5000 years ago (3000 before J. - C.), of the inhabitants of the littoral of the China of the south start to cross the strait to settle with Taiwan. Towards 2000 before J. - C., of the migrations take place of Taiwan towards the Filipino . New migrations start soon of Philippines towards Célèbes and Timor and from there, the other islands of the archipelago indonésien, of which Bali. The Austronésiens are undoubtedly the first large navigators of the history of humanity.

The oldest written document found in Bali is a Buddhist religious text registered on clay shelves in the south of Pèdjèng; the writing made it possible to date these shelves from the 8th century. The first dated documents appear only at the 10th century. Found in Sanur, the charter of Blanjong is written in Sanscrit and is gone back to 913 after Jesus Christ. She mentions a sovereign of the name of Sri Kesari Warmadewa and a place named “Walidwipa”.

An inscription gone back to 1041 and engraved on what is called the Calcutta Stone (thus named because it is preserved in Indian Museum of Calcutta), found in the east of Java, declines the genealogy of the Javanese king Airlangga, which reigned on the east of Java of 1016 to 1045. According to the inscription, Airlangga was the son of a Balinese prince, Udayana, and of a Javanese princess, Mahendradatta. Mahendradatta was the girl of king Sri Makutawangsawardhana, itself wire of the queen Sri Isana Tunggawijaya. Isana was the girl of king Mpu Sindok. Airlangga thus affirmed to be the back-back-small-wire of Sindok, which one knows that it moved its capital of the center of Java in the east of the island in 928. It is estimated that Bali belonged to the territory controlled by Airlangga.

Bali is still mentioned in Javanese texts between 1059 and 1205. The Nagarakertagama , poem epic writes in 1365 under the reign (1350-89) of the king Hayam Wuruk of Majapahit, draws up a list of the “tributary regions”, which in addition to Bali, Madura and Sunda, goes from Pahang in the Malayan Péninsule to Gurun in the Moluques, while passing by Malayu (Jambi) with Sumatra and Bakulapura with Borneo. Actually, the territory directly controlled by Majapahit consisted in the fertile valley of the Brantas river. A certain number of areas of Java were given in prerogative to lords undoubtedly related to the king. These territory extended until Mataram, the old ground of the dynasty of Sanjaya which built Prambanan in the center of Java. The areas in the south and the east were regarded as marginal, such Blambangan. At the end of the 15th century, quarrels of succession involve the decline of Majapahit, which disappears in 1478. Its territory passes under the control of its vassal princes of Kediri. The troops of the Javanese Moslem kingdom of Demak conquer in their Kediri turn in 1527. Blambangan, remained hindouist, is put under the protection of the Balinese kings.

In 1585, a Portuguese ship wets with broad peninsula of Bukit in the south of the island. But the first Europeans with really going to Bali are the forwarding of the Dutchman Cornelis de Houtman in 1597.

In the years 1620-1630, prince de Blambangan, vis-a-vis the threat of the Agung Sultan of Mataram, request assistance of the VOC ( Vereenigde Oostindische Compagnie or Dutch Compagnie of the Indies Orientales), which refuses it to him. Blambangan turns then to its suzerain, the Dewa Agung (king) of Gelgel in Bali. The Balinese troops push back Sultan Agung in 1635. Up to 1650, Gelgel dominates the whole of Bali, Blambangan, and of the parts of Lombok and Sumbawa. In these two last islands, Gelgel faces the expansionism of the Royaume of Gowa of the southern of Célèbes.

Bali does not take part in the maritime trade which animates the archipelago indonésien, but exports cotton, rice, cattle, poultry. The foundation of Batavia by the VOC in 1619 results in the opening of a market for the slaves. It is an occasion for the Balinese princes to sell their prisoners, in particular war. This phenomenon seems to encourage the wars between the Balinese princes.

In the years 1660, Ki Gusti Ngurah Panji Sakti founds the kingdom of Buleleng in the north of Bali. The house of Gelgel is prolonged by the kingdom of Klungkung, whose kings, who keep the title of Dewa Agung, will remain regarded as the highest line of Bali. In the east of Bali, the kingdom of Karangasem undertakes as from the years the 1680 conquest of Lombok, where he faces the armies of the kingdoms of Gowa and Bima (Sumbawa).

In 1684 Surapati, a former Balinese slave who was escaped of Batavia and refugee in the mountains in the south of the city, attacks a troop of the VOC. Surapati takes refuge finally with Pasuruan, with the doors of Blambangan. The descendants of Surapati take part in various wars between Javanese princes and against the VOC, until the capture in 1771 of last representing line.

Buleleng conquers Blambangan in 1697. About 1700, the kingdom of Mengwi seems the dominant power of the south of Bali. Mengwi removes Blambangan with Buleleng and ends up becoming most powerful of the island. To three recoveries (1714, 1726 and 1729), Balinese kings launch forwardings in the Western part of Java East to go in pilgrimage on the site of the old kingdom of Majapahit, from where they thought that their lines came.

Kings de Mengwi devote many efforts to maintain their suzerainty on Blambangan, which they lose when the last sovereigns of this principality convert with Islam about 1770 and lend allegiance to the VOC. Eager to eliminate the Balinese influence from Java, the Dutchmen made some disappear the last State hindouist.

At the end of the XVIIIe century, none the kingdoms of Bali succeeded in imposing its domination on the whole of the island like Gelgel before 1650.

The Dutchmen are not interested in Bali during XVIIe and XVIIIe centuries. At the beginning of the XIXe century, the saving in Bali depends still primarily on the export of slaves. The Balinese aristocracy sells some 2.000 of them each year. The imports of Bali consist of weapons and opium, whose Balineses make great consumption. The Dutchmen are rather anxious to put an end to the piracy and the plundering of wrecks, another gainful employment of the Balineses who carry wrong to them. In 1846, the Dutchmen attack the kingdom of Buleleng in the north of the island. They install then administrators in the north and the west of Bali. In 1894, the Dutchmen unload in Lombok, suzerain kingdom of Karangasem in the east of Bali. In 1906, the Dutchmen attack the kingdom of Badung (Denpasar) in the south of the island. Realizing that the Dutchmen are Masters of the island, the two royal families of Badung put fire at their palate and, accompanied by their subjects, all in ceremonial dress, throw themselves under the grapeshot and the guns of the Dutchmen all while stabbing itself of their kriss in a collective suicide - puputan -. This gesture of glory which made great noise in Europe did not prevent that the totality of the island is integrated into 1908 into the the Indies Dutchwomen, but it obliged the Dutchmen to respect the habits of the island until their departure (after the 2° world war).

The economic interest of Bali takes a new contour in the years 1920 with a beginning of international tourism and following the international colonial exposure of Paris in 1931.

As the remainder of the the Indies Dutchwomen, Bali is occupied by the Japanese forces of 1942 to 1945. The proclamation of the independence of Indonesia in 1945 by Soekarno and Hatta is followed of a return of the Dutchmen, who want to recover their colony. I Gusti Ngurah Rai is charged to organize defense in Bali. In 1946, Spoke and 100 of its combatants are encircled by the Dutch forces in the village of Marga close to Tabanan. In front of the resistance of the men of Spoke, the Dutchmen make come from the bombers of Makassar (southern of Célèbes. In the Balinese tradition, Spoke and its last men make the puputan or fights with death. The International airport of Denpasar Ngurah Rai was named in homage to its combat.

Bali will be again the theater of violences in 1965-66, when the general Soeharto takes the head of the repression of a " movement of September 30th " whose army shows the Communist party indonésien to be the author. In Java and Bali, between 500.000 and one million people will be massacred.

administrative Divisions

The province of Bali is divided into eight Kabupaten (departments) which correspond to the old kingdoms which existed in the island on arrival of the Dutchmen:

and of a Kota (municipality): Denpasar.

The name of the other chief towns is the same one as the kabupaten .

Population

The Balinese language belongs to the group known as " bali- Sasak " Austronesian branch of the Languages austronésiennes.

Bali presents the originality to be the only island of Indonesia to being remained primarily Hindou ist.

Apart from Bali, one finds still also populations remained hindouists in the island close to Java, in particular the Osing of the area of Banyuwangi (Java Is), but also in the area of Blitar, the area of the Tengger around the volcano Bromo and on the sides of Lawu volcano in the east of Solo. Banyuwangi is heiress of the principality of Blambangan, vassal of Bali to XVIe century.

There exist some Balinese communities which preserved pre-hindouistes traditions. They are called Bali Aga . Two more known are the village of Tenganan, in the kabupaten of Karangasem, and that of Trunyan at the edge of the Lac Batur.

Culture

Rites and ceremonies

Like many other indonésiens ethnicities, the Balineses are holders of an original culture, which is one of the elements of the tourist attraction of the island - with the risks of loss of authenticity that this exploitation comprises. One of its most spectacular demonstrations is the dance of which there exist several types, often danced by very young girls (the Legong). One notes also the very characteristic music, carried out by the Gamelan, the theater which puts in scene, inter alia, mythical the Barong.

Hindouists, the Balineses proceed to the Crémation their deaths. This circumstance is the occasion of what has all the appearance of a festival, with procession in the city, music of gamelan, offerings of all nature deposited on the catafalque of late before the cremation in an environment good child and relaxed.

The originality of the rites that one finds there, such as the filing of the teeth or the reclusion of the young girls, is justified by the existence of a type of hindouism specific to Bali: Agama Tirtal .

Literature

One divides the Balinese traditional literature into three groups, on the basis of language used: old man Javanese, means-Javanese (still called, " javano-balinais" or " balino-javanais") and Balinese.

The first group shows the fundamental role played by Bali in the safeguarding of the literary heritage of Java before Islamization. The majority of the Javanese texts of this period, whose Nagarakertagama writes in 1365 in Majapahit, are indeed known to us by copies preserved in Bali and Lombok.

The Balinese tradition describes the aristocracy of the island like the descendants of princes of the kingdom hindouist of Majapahit in the east of Java. Two events would be at the origin of this filiation. The first, told in the Nagarakertagama , would be the victory into 1343 of an army of Majapahit over " king de Bali" , a monster with head of pig to the supernatural capacities. The officers of this army would have been established in Bali, creating some of the current royal lines. The second would be the victory of the Moslem armies over Majapahit, which would have caused the escape of the priests, aristocrats and artists towards Bali. Actually, when the troops of the Moslem kingdom of Demak conquered in 1527 the territory which had been that of Majapahit, this kingdom did not exist more. In the east of old Majapahit, the principality of Blambangan remained hindouist and was placed under the protection of Bali.

The anthropologist Clifford Geertz, in The Interpretation off Cultures (p. 332), sees in these accounts a myth intended to legitimate the capacity of the Balinese aristocracy on the people. At the beginning of the XVIIIe century, the Balinese kings tried three forwardings towards the site of Majapahit to go in pilgrimage on what they regarded as the ground of their ancestors. What is certain, it is that it is in the island close to Lombok that one found a specimen of the Nagarakertagama , in the palate of the Balinese king, after his catch by the Dutchmen in 1894. The little story says that it is a Dutch officer who saved this invaluable document, whereas a soldier was going to burn it.

Until the loss of Blambangan, Bali always endeavoured to keep a bond with the ground of Majapahit. The literature in means Javanese is especially made up of kidung , chansons de geste which report legends on the golden age of Majapahit. Most known are the Kidung Rangga Lawe , which tells the revolt of prince Rangga Lawe de Tuban against its suzerain, king de Majapahit, the Kidung Sunda, who sings a history of unhappy love affair between king Hayam Wuruk and the princess Dyah Pitaloka, girl of the king of Sunda, what is called the " cycle of Panji" , another Javanese prince, and of many stories to the more popular heroes, as the cycle of Calon Arang with its witch Rangda . The argument of the majority of the kidung is located at Java. The Pararaton or " Deliver rois" , chronicle which declines the genealogy of the kings of the kingdom Singasari in the east of Java and its Majapahit successor, is another important work written in means-Javanese.

As these texts are known only by manuscripts found in Bali, it is for the moment difficult to determine if it is about an pre-Islamic Javanese heritage or work of Balinese well-read men still " javanisés". The loss of Blambangan at the end of the XVIIIe century is thus a fundamental event on the cultural level. Moreover, it removes with the Balinese sovereigns their last bond in Java, and will physically separate the two islands until the Dutch conquest from Bali.

Of course, the Balineses also wrote in their own language, especially for the chronicles of their own kingdoms, called babad as in Java. Their principal goal was to establish the genealogy of the families of the aristocracy. Some babad have an especially literary interest. Others constitute historical sources of value.

As in the remainder of Indonesia, there is in Bali of the artists who create according to a personal step. They can take elements of their traditional culture, or be even inspired some, but basically, their works are the reflection of an interior universe which is clean for them.

Craft industry and Arts

Amateurs of craft industry of all qualities, wood, stone, concrete, shells, money, textiles (including the Batik, which is a technique java is born), will be allured by the Balinese achievements. Wood is in particular worked with Mas, the money with Celuk, and the batik with Ubud.

Architecture and decoration are also a field of predilection of the Balineses and architects of the whole world find their inspiration there.

Tourism

Bali is the only true tourist destination international of Indonesia.

Bali belongs to the imaginary Westerner since the years 1930, when European and American artists decide to settle there.

However, this Western tourism remains confidential and élitiste until the beginning of the year 1970. It is the time when the mode of Soeharto undertakes to develop tourism of mass resting on Bali. A French research department is consulted, whose conclusions are the following ones:

One needs a place for great capacity of reception.
This place must be close to an airport.
the tourists must be relatively isolated from the local population.

The concept of Nusa DUA was born.

Like many areas of Indonesia, Bali is characterized by the beauty of its landscapes, the approval of its climate, the originality of its culture. The island is the principal tourist destination of Indonesia. The International airport of Denpasar is 3rd of Indonesia by its traffic, and the first main door of the country of many visitors. It takes approximately 15 hours of plane to rejoin Bali from Europe.

The principal hotel stations are in the south of the island:

Kuta, very attended by the Australian surfers
Nusa DUA, complex of hotels 4 stars isolated from the Balinese population
Jimbaran, or are aligned on the beach paradisiac more than 100 seafood restaurants with barbecues of outdoor
Legian, just in the north of Kuta, calmer and more crested
Sanur, quiet and family

On the northern coast, Lovina Beach is the principal seaside resort. The North-West and the North-East (Amed) comprise the best sites of diving or snorkeling. The southern northern way takes approximately 3 hours in car or the motor bike.

Ubud is the principal tourist center of the interior of grounds.

If one goes has Bali for his beaches and his sun, one goes back there for his intense cultural life and the beauty of his interior landscapes, in particular his temples and his rice plantations in terraces.

The sportsmen find also their account with deep-sea diving (French-speaking club with Sanur), surfing, the trekking, the descents of rivers.

The hikers will be able to climb the slopes of the Agung mount, culminating point of the island or those of the mount Batur, only active volcano.

Gallery

Random links:

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