A Lesson from the Past

The Impact of the Bubonic Plague on Dutch East Indies’ Economic Downturn in the 20^th Century

DOI

10.2991/assehr.k.220408.084How to use a DOI?

Keywords

Bubonic Plague; Distribution of Foodstuffs; Economic Downturn; Dutch East Indies

Abstract

The Covid-19 outbreak hit the world, including Indonesia, and had resulted on the decline of the national economy within various sectors. Efforts had been made by the government to overcome these impacts. In regard to this issue, this article discussed the impact of the bubonic plague on the Dutch East Indies economy in the early 20th century as a case study of how research in history could provide lessons from the past. This study utilized the historical method, with the aim of reconstructing the contiguity between the outbreak and the economic sector. This article applied the structural theory of Braudel (1988) to analyze the existence of community structures, which were taking a role on spreading the disease. Braudel revealed that there were factors that encouraged societal economic decline: geography, demography, war, conflict, and disease outbreaks. This study analyzed cases of outbreak, which were causing the dynamics in the economic sector. The results showed that geographically, the Dutch East Indies lied in the tropical climate zone that greatly affected the lives of people who were vulnerable to outbreaks and could bring impacts on the death rate and reduced workforce in various prime sectors. As a direct impact, the colony was susceptible to the reduction of food production, the collapse of plantations and the obstruction of distribution route of trading commodities. The colonial government’s efforts were included building healthy houses, exterminating rats, fumigating housings, revitalizing food production centers, plantation industries and trading sector. Unfortunately, these efforts were insufficient to economic improvement.

Copyright

© 2022 The Authors. Published by Atlantis Press SARL.

Open Access

This is an open access article distributed under the CC BY-NC 4.0 license.

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TY  - CONF
AU  - Ipik Ernaka
AU  - Imas Emalia
AU  - Didik Pradjoko
PY  - 2022
DA  - 2022/04/27
TI  - A Lesson from the Past
BT  - Proceedings of the 9th Asbam International Conference (Archeology, History, & Culture In The Nature of Malay) (ASBAM 2021)
PB  - Atlantis Press
SP  - 605
EP  - 611
SN  - 2352-5398
UR  - https://doi.org/10.2991/assehr.k.220408.084
DO  - 10.2991/assehr.k.220408.084
ID  - Ernaka2022
ER  -