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Growing in Java

"In 1711, the coffee shipped from Java recorded the highest price in Amsterdam auction house. This also placed Java Island as the coffee producing areas of Mocha."

Returning from the hajj in 1600, baba budan smuggled seven arabica caffe green beans, whice were later grown in india. The seed were well-grown when cultivated In chickmaglur, a mountain area in mysore ( uker’s 1922 : 6 ), and then spread to Malabar coast.

In 1658, the dutch wa successful to take over Ceylon, known as sri lanka now, and Malabar coast, india for the portuguise. In Ceylon, the dutch found the coffee plantanions that were left by the arab traders since 1505 when Ceylon wa ruled by the portuguise.

By the dutch, Ceylon was converted into a research centre for coffee, where the botanist, corolus Linnaeus discovered te tecniquest of growing the coffee ( gabriella & hanusz 2003 : 21 ). Linnaeus named the genius as coffee Arabica. The term ‘coffee’ came from the word ‘arabica’ was added by Linnaeus as the thought that the coffee plant was originated from arab, shince it was cultivated by arab traders who had lived in Ceylon ( yahmadi 2000 : 180 ).

In addition to give a genius name for the coffee plant which then spread out and was widely known throughout the world as coffea Arabica, Linnaeus aslso revealed that these plants could grow well in the sub-tropical areas cool mountain air.

Until 1690, the demand for the coffee from the European market continued to rise despite the coffee prices increased ( bulbeck et all 1988 : 142 ). This situation has driven the mayor of Amsterdam Nicholas wisten in 1696 to order te commander of VOC in Malabar coact, andrian van omen, to take the seeds of coffea arabica from the Malabar coast,  india and groe them in java ( uker’s 1922 : 213, gabriella & hanusz 2003 : 21 )

Besides the sub-trofical weather wich wa suitable for coffea Arabica, java had fertile volcanic soils with the coo mountain air. The seeds were then cultivated on the land owend by the governor-general williem van outshoorn in kedawoeng, a suburb of Batavia, although this pilot project was unsuccessful because of flooding.

In 1699, the seeds of coffea arabican were brought by henricus zwaardecroon t the island in java. The seeds were cultivated around the kampung melayu, chiness Bifara (Bidaracina), Meester Cornelis (Jatinegara) Palmerah, Sukabumi and Sudimara (Mawardi 1999: 1, Yahmadi 2000: 181).

After the success of the second project, the coffee plant from the island of Java n shipped to Amsterdam botanical garden in 1706 to be studied. The botanists in Amsterdam concluded that the coffee from Java Island was high quality seeds. In 1707, the seeds then massively produced and spread to all botanical gardens in Europe, including to the King of France’s, Louis XIV (Ukers’s 1922; 5-; Gabriella & Hanusz 2003: 21-25.

In 1707, as ordered by Nicholas Witsen, Governor General of VOC Willem van Outshoorn (1635-1720) invited the regents of Priangan to develop coffee plantations in their respective territories. This became the starting point for coffee cultivation on a large scale in Java.

In 1711, the coffee shipped from Java recorded the highest price in Amsterdam auction house. This also placed Java Island as the coffee producing areas of Mocha.

This result opened the opportunities for the Dutch to become a major player in the coffee trade in Europe. The success of Java coffee in Amsterdam auction house had encouraged the Dutch to develop coffee plantations in Suriname. Making use of the seeds from Amsterdam botanical gardens, in 1718, the Dutch started to plant coffee in Suriname colony in the America continent and also in Sumatera using the seeds from Java.

By having the Amsterdam botanical gardens as a provider of Coffee Arabica seeds and two areas of coffee plantations in Java and Suriname (America), as well as coffee auction house in Amsterdam Rotterdam, Netherlands, a country which had a and area of 2.2% of Indonesia, began to monopolize the coffee trade in the European market. Until today, despite of its limitation in agricultural land and human resources, the Dutch is still the country’s third biggest exporter of agricultural products in the world after the United States and france. (Habibah, 2010).

Unfortunately, the coffee plantations location in Batavia (now Jakarta), such as Bidaracina, Kampung Melayu, and Meester Cornelis (Jatinegara) left no trace of its coffee cultivation activities in the past at all. Even though, from this location, the new history of Coffee Arabica was begun and spread to all big coffee plantation in the world.

Image Resource:

http://hdl.handle.net/1887.1/item:904373 

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