Factory Records: Java

Bantam consultations, 1664-1702 Records of expedition to Java, 1809-1812 Java Public consultations, 1811-1815 Java Military consultations, 1812-1815 Java Separate consultations, 1813-1814 Java Separate Dependencies consultations, 1814 Java Separate and Political consultations, 1815 Java Journals and Ledgers, 1811-1817 Java receipts and disbursements, 1812-1816 Letters from Java, 1812-1813 Records re surrender of Java to Dutch, 1816-1817 Original letters from Java, 1812-1817 Original enclosures to letters, 1812-1814 Papers relating mainly to Sir Stamford Raffles, 1812-1827 Copies of letters from Company's Secretary to Batavia, 1812-1815 and various miscellaneous documents.

The factory at Bantam, on the north-west coast of Java, was one of the earliest Company settlements. It was established in 1603 to act as a base for the spice trade in Java and the neighbouring islands. By 1617 the Bantam factory was overseeing factories in Sumatra, Borneo, Banda, Japan and Siam as well as those on the west coast of India. Further bases had also been established at Jacatra [Jakarta] on Java itself and Jambee [Jambi] in Sumatra. In the spice islands, however, the Company was in constant conflict with the Dutch and in 1621 the Dutch drove the Company's factors from Bantam. The factory was re-established in 1629 but by then the focus of the Company's trading interests had shifted to the Indian sub-continent. Between 1630 and 1634, Bantam was officially made subordinate to Surat but it afterwards recovered its position as a presidency. In 1682, during a civil war in which the English and the Dutch took opposing sides, the Dutch drove the English from Bantam. No real efforts were made to recover the Company's position. Java came into prominence again in 1811 when the English sent an expeditionary force to recapture the island after it had been taken by the French. Java was recaptured and administered by the English until 1816 when it was restored to the Dutch.

Unrestricted

Surat Factory Records (G/36), Bengal Proceedings (P)