THE CENTRES OF POWER IN THE
SEVENTEENTH 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.