Plantation Inspector Office in North Sumatra, 1900s

Photo: Carl Josef Kleingrothe/National Gallery of Australia

As transportation and telecommunications technology developed, the distance between Europe and Asia shortened. What was previously taken in a month, is now only a week. The closer the distance, the stronger the relationship.

More and more Dutch private companies dared to invest in the Dutch East Indies, sending employees and their families to settle there. Especially in the plantation and mining sectors.

Since 1800 the Dutch East Indies were no longer under the VOC, which went bankrupt and dissolved. The Dutch East Indies was taken over by the Kingdom of the Netherlands by establishing a colonial government under the leadership of a governor general. Since then, the implementation of modern bureaucracy has been carried out. The government was ran by a tiered bureaucratic system from the center to the regions.

The photo above is a plantation inspector's office in North Sumatra circa 1900's. As proof of the supremacy of the Dutch East Indies government over private companies. In the photo, apart from the building, the employees and soldiers are also lined up. Ensure plantation companies comply with regulations and pay royalties according to the results they get.