THE CENTRES OF POWER IN THESEVENTEENTH CENTURY
•the power of a kingdom came to be determined not merely by commercial wealth but by the ability to marshal large numbers of people who could be supported by the resources of the state itself.
•First, wet-rice can support a far higher population than the lower-yielding hillside and rain-fed varieties, or the sago and root crops which were a staple diet in most of the eastern Indonesian islands. Second, because wet-rice growers are more sedentary, they are much easier to tie to a central authority.
•For European governors and Southeast Asian rulers alike, large settled populations supported by abundant amounts of food were seen as the key to authority and power.