The first English translation of Professor Locher-Scholten's 1994 Dutch text, a study of the reaction to Dutch colonial expansion by the Sumatran sultanate of Jambi. The Dutch text has been called "an excellent teaching tool for work on the Netherlands imperial project " [Locher-Scholten's] extensive archive work, in both Holland and Indonesia, her explicit reference to secondary theoretical works, and her useful lists mean that her analysis is transparent and accessible."

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The value of this work....lies in the richly detailed historical case against which to assess competing theoretical views.... This meticulously documented history of the Jambi-Batavia relationship opens a window on a critical period of time when the policy in the Hague and in Batavia changed from 'abstention' toward one aimed at the control of territory and people.... Locher-Scholten's meticulous scholarship has been expertly translated into English by Beverley Jackson. It will help ground future discussions about Dutch colonialism during this critical period when the modern colonial state was forming.