Oceania · The Islamic sultanates
Bali
1687–1908
After the founding of Klungkung (1686), Bali fragmented into nine kingdoms: Klungkung, Buleleng, Karangasem, Mengwi, Badung, Tabanan, Gianyar, Bangli, and Jembrana. The Dewa Agung of Klungkung, heir to the Gelgel line, held ritual precedence (primus inter pares) over the other rajas, though real power was decentralized.
- Existed
- 1687–1908
- Shown on the map
- 1687–1907
- Peak area
- 8k km²
- Region
- Oceania
Overview
After the founding of Klungkung (1686), Bali fragmented into nine kingdoms: Klungkung, Buleleng, Karangasem, Mengwi, Badung, Tabanan, Gianyar, Bangli, and Jembrana. The Dewa Agung of Klungkung, heir to the Gelgel line, held ritual precedence (primus inter pares) over the other rajas, though real power was decentralized. From the 1840s the Dutch intervened, cynically using Balinese salvage claims over shipwrecks (customary to the Balinese, but "piracy" under international law) as a pretext.
Decline and legacy
Dutch military interventions came in 1846, 1848, and 1849; the 1849 northern campaign (in which commander A.V. Michiels was killed) saw the first great puputan — the Raja of Buleleng and some 400 followers dying in a suicide charge — and brought Buleleng and Jembrana under direct rule. The 1894 Lombok campaign subdued the Balinese ruling house of Karangasem. The climactic puputans came in 1906 and 1908. On 14 September 1906, the Sixth Military Expedition under Major General M.B. Rost van Tonningen landed at Sanur; the royal families of Badung and Tabanan, dressed in white and armed with ceremonial kris, marched into Dutch rifle and artillery fire (the Puputan Badung, over 1,000 dead). The final act was the Dutch conquest of Klungkung on 18 April 1908 (the Puputan Klungkung): Dewa Agung Jambe led about 200 followers — including his six wives, who killed themselves — in a last sortie against 250 Dutch troops, ending a millennium of native Balinese kingship. The Dutch then governed Bali indirectly through surviving aristocrats, who became administrators and landowners. Bali is today a province of the Republic of Indonesia.
Common questions
- What was Bali?
- After the founding of Klungkung (1686), Bali fragmented into nine kingdoms: Klungkung, Buleleng, Karangasem, Mengwi, Badung, Tabanan, Gianyar, Bangli, and Jembrana. The Dewa Agung of Klungkung, heir to the Gelgel line, held ritual precedence (primus inter pares) over the other rajas, though real power was decentralized.
- When did Bali exist?
- Bali existed 1687–1908. On this map it is drawn 1687–1907.
- How large was Bali?
- At its greatest extent drawn on this map, Bali covered about 8,000 km². That is the largest area the border data gives it across the years it is drawn, not necessarily its greatest extent in history.
- How did Bali end?
- Dutch military interventions came in 1846, 1848, and 1849; the 1849 northern campaign (in which commander A.V. Michiels was killed) saw the first great puputan — the Raja of Buleleng and some 400 followers dying in a suicide charge — and brought Buleleng and Jembrana under direct rule.
Sources
This compendium cites its sources once for the whole document rather than per territory. Its bibliography names the English Wikipedia article for each polity and its key rulers as the basis of these profiles, supplemented by Encyclopaedia Britannica, the World History Encyclopedia, museum and UN sources, Pacific news organisations, and the scholarship of Ricklefs, Andaya, Coedès, Carey, Sri Margana and Smith & Smith. The article this entry is anchored on:
- Wikipedia — History of Bali en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_Bali
This entry was last updated .
This entry was researched and drafted with AI from the sources above, and has not been reviewed by a historian. How entries are made
Text available under CC BY-SA 4.0: reuse it with a credit to The World Through Time and a link to this page. Passages drawing on the Wikipedia articles listed above are also licensed CC BY-SA 4.0 by their contributors.
Border geometry for the map itself comes from Cliopatria v0.12 (Seshat Global History Databank, CC-BY-4.0).
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