At the SARBICA conference held in the Hotel Savoy Homann in Bandung Indonesia, the website www.sejarah-nusantara.anri.go.id was officially launched. With the help and support of The Corts Foundation the Arsip Nasional Republik Indonesia successfully implemented the process of digitizing and publishing handwritten Dutch documents of the 17th and 18th century. In the coming years this website and its content will expand en enhanced to provide access and research facilities to anyone interested in the history of the Indonesian Archipelago and its archival heritage.
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The official press release of this launching:
The Nusantara’s old history on a new website
On Friday, 27 September 2013, the National Archives of the Republic of Indonesia (ANRI) and The Corts Foundation together launched a website on the history of the Nusantara, the old pre-colonial name for the Indonesian Archipelago.
Thousands of digital documents available
This website is aimed at everyone who is interested in the early modern history of Indonesia and Southeast Asia. For researchers the site offers detailed and searchable databases.
Memory of the World register
These collections are preserved in the Archive of the Dutch East India Company (VOC), which in 2004 was accepted onto the UNESCO Memory of the World register. They thus have a protected status.
Sejarah Nusantara (History of the Archipelago) is the result of a long-standing cooperation between the ANRI and the Corts Foundation. Sejarah Nusantara is an official website which can be accessed via www.sejarah-nusantara.anri.go.id.
Letters of governors, kings and merchants
The ‘Daily Journals of Batavia Castle’ (1624-1807) form the first part of the digitalized VOC archive. This is a source of some 80,000 pages, which are of great importance for the history of the Nusantara and Southeast Asia. Thousands of documents originate from Asians.
The ‘Daily Journals’ contain hundreds of letters of the susuhunans (rulers) of Java, the Maluku sultans, the kings of Siam, and the rajas of Cochin. It is also a rich source for the national and international history of the Indonesian archipelago. The Nusantara had at this time important political and economic links with China and India.
Hidden Treasures
A selection of unusual documents have been published online in the special ‘Hidden Treasures’ category (in Indonesian: ‘Harta Karun’). These documents have been translated both into Indonesian and English. Ten internationally renowned historians have provided the introductions.
Contacting us
The ANRI is the national archive of Indonesia and is based in South Jakarta. The Corts Foundation is based in Enkhuizen, The Netherlands.
The Corts Foundation is a Dutch non- profit organization founded in 2003 with the legacy capital of Kees Corts, whose interest in the Indonesian history led to the support of many interesting projects.
The main goal of the foundation is to support projects and initiatives concerning the archives of the Dutch East India Company in the 17th and 18th century, and the history of World War II, especially the Japanese occupation of Indonesia and the Dutch-Indonesian war (1945-1949).
For questions please consult sejarah-nusantara[at]anri.go.id or info[at]cortsfoundation.org.
