The Balinese princes prospered and 'soon started out for new
colonies, extending their influence to the East and conquering
he neighboring islands of Lombok and Sumbawa. In 1510 the Portuguese
adventurer Alphonso de Albuquerque discovered Sumatra and made
voyages to the " Spice Islands " to procure valuable
cargoes of pepper, cloves, and nutmeg, all the while fighting
pirates, hostile Malays, and Javanese. In 1597 2 fleet of Dutch
ships, headed by a former employee of the Portuguese, Cornelius
Houtman, discovered Bali. He and his men fell in love with the
island and made excellent friends with the kin a!9 good-natured
fat man who had two hundred wives, rode in a. chariot drawn
by two white buffaloes which he drove himself and owned fifty
dwarfs whose bodies bad been distorted into resemblance of kris
handles. After a long Sojourn in the island, some of the Dutch
returned to Holland to report the discovery of the new "
paradise ". others refused to leave Bali. The news created
such a sensation in Holland that in 1601 the trader Herm skerk
was sent to Bali with presents of all sorts for the king, who
in turn presented him with a beautiful Balinese lady.
The relations between the Indies and Europe later were darkened
by the appearance of the Dutch East India Company, an organization
of merchants and traders whose goal was the unlimited exploitation
of the islands. They promoted wars, seized lands, established
monopolies of opium (if a native was caught selling opium he
was put to death) . and collected revenues from the natives
that were even greater than those exacted by the local princes.
The traders used every possible means to gain the favors of
the Raja in order to control Bali, bringing gifts to them of
Persian horses, gilt chairs, red cloth, wines, brass candelabra,
and so forth. Not meeting with much success, they resorted to
political intrigue, selling arms to the enemies of the Balinese
while Offering assistance against those they had armed, in exchange
for concessions.
Meantime the Balinese had completed the conquest of Lombok (1740).
There the Dutch tried to influence the Balinese governors to
become independent of Bali and join the " Honorable East
India Company." After two centuries of ruthless operation
the company, already bankrupt and decayed, attracted such unfavorable
criticism that the Dutch Government was forced to assume control,
and in 1798 the Dutch East India Company went into inglorious
collapse.
