White and Dark Stranger Kings: Kupang in the Early Colonial Era

The article explores the common Southeast Asian epistemological theme of a “stranger king” as an ordering principle in a polity, a principle that was also relevant in a colonial context. The case studied here is the Dutch colonial post in Kupang, West Timor, in the VOC period, 1653-1800. The Dutch fort was surrounded by five princedoms, which stood in the relation of subordinate allies to the VOC. Four of the five groups had migrated to Kupang due to pressure from the Portuguese and their clients, which dominated the rest of Timor. Arenas of interaction were developed, whereby the elites of th... Mehr ...