试析莱佛士的爪哇农业观——莱佛士《爪哇史》研究

Raffle’s Colonial Reigning Ideas on Java’s Agriculture

《爪哇史》是研究莱佛士殖民统治思想的重要著作。在《爪哇史》中 ,莱佛士认为爪哇农业具有巨大潜力 ,并驳斥了爪哇人人种低劣的偏见 ,借此呼吁英国政府永久占据爪哇殖民地。受 1 8世纪末以“幸福”(Happiness)为目标的殖民理论的影响 ,参照英属东印度殖民政府的柴明达尔制 ,莱佛士设想通过土地税改革(Land -rentSystem)发展爪哇农业 ,以获取稳定的、巨额的殖民利润。

the History of Java written in 1815 is an important book to research Sir Thomas Stamford Raffles' colonial reigning ideas on Java during 1811-1816. In this book, Raffles confirms the huge potentials of Java's agriculture and refutes the traditional prejudice that Javanese is racially inferior to the west, in order to try to persuade the London Government and the British Colonial Government in India to occupy Java perpetually. Inspired by a new colony theory aiming at “Happiness” which comes into being in late 18th century and by referring to the Zamindar Institutions in Mengal, the Land-rent System is designed and applied into practice by Raffles in Java, with an aim to attain prosperity in the local agriculture for long-term and stable economic remuneration for Britain.