Semarang Residency () was an administrative subdivision (residency) of the Dutch East Indies located on the northern coast of Central Java and named after its capital city Semarang. It existed from 1818 to 1942, although its borders were changed many times during that period.
History Prehistory
The territory around Semarang was the core of the Demak Sultanate in the sixteenth century; after its decline the Mataram Sultanate came to claim it. As the Dutch East India Company (VOC) became a greater presence in Java in the seventeenth century, they allied themselves with Mataram in exchange for trade and territorial concessions. Although Mataram continued to control most of central and eastern Java, they ceded the city of Semarang and its surrounding villages to the VOC in January 1678. At first it was only a small enclave, but gradually the VOC demanded expansions until Pakubuwono II was forced to yield all of the northern coast around Semarang to them in the 1740s. They were not initially structured as a residency, but as a Governorate (the of Java's Northeast Coast), with Semarang as its seat. When the French under Napoleon took control of the Indies and appointed Herman Willem Daendels as governor, he abolished the former administrative divisions and created prefectures, including Semarang, Japara, and Pakalongan.
Semarang Residency After the end of the French and British interregnum in the Dutch East Indies in 1817, Java was reorganized once again into Residencies. Semarang became one such Residency, although it was much smaller than its later extent, and was bordered by Pekalongan Residency to the west and Djapara Residency to the northeast.
In January 1901 the former Djapara Residency was added to Semarang Residency. A municipal council was established for the city of Semarang in 1906 followed by a regional council for Semarang Residency in 1908.
At around the time of World War I it was divided into a number of subdivisions (), most of which still exist as Regencies in Indonesia today: Samarang, including Salatiga and Ambarawa; Kendal; Demak; Grobogan (with its capital at Poerwodadi); Pati; Koedoes; and Japara.
In the late 1920s Semarang Residency became considerably smaller because of administrative restructuring. The 1925 Decree on the Administrative Organization allowed for the subdivision of existing residencies in the Indies. However, it took time to implement and was not put in place in Central Java province () until 1928. Parts of the former Semarang Residency were incorporated into the new Koedoes Residency and Blora Residency; Semarang only retained Semarang Regency, most of Kendal Regency, and Salatiga. In 1931 the borders were changed once again; Koedoes and Blora residencies were abolished, Semarang absorbed part of their territories, and the new Djepara-Rembang Residency to the northeast absorbed the rest.
After during the Japanese occupation of the Dutch East Indies and the Indonesian National Revolution, the Residencies in Java ceased to exist; after independence Indonesia added the former territory of the Semarang Residency to Central Java province, and retained the subdivisions as regencies (Semarang Regency, Demak Regency, and so on).
List of residents Hermannus Adriaan Parvé: 1817–1818 Jacobus de Bruin: 1818–1820 Willem Nicolaas Servatius: 1820–1822 Hendrik Jacob Domis: 1822–1827 Pieter Hubertus van Lawick van Pabst: 1827–1829 Pieter le Clereq: 1829–1834 Daniel François Willem Pietermaat: 1834–1834 Hendrik Stephanus van Son: 1835–1838 Guillaume Louis Baud: 1838–1841 Johan Frederik Walraven van Nes: 1842–1843 Jacob Willem Hendrik Smissaert: 1843–1846 Arnoldus Adriaan Buijskes: 1846–1850 Hermanus Douwe Potter: 1850–1857 Dirk Carel August van Hogendorp: 1857–1862 Theodore van Capellen: 1862–1864 Adriaan Anton Maximiliaan Nicolaas Keuchenius: 1864–1867 Karel Frederik Stijman: 1867–1868 François Henri Adolph van de Poel: 1868–1873 Nicolaas Dirk Lammers van Toorenburg: 1873–1875 Gerard Marinus Willem van der Kaa: 1875–1877 Willem Herman van der Hell: 1877–1881 Pieter Frederik Wegener: 1881–1884 Jan Marinus van Vleuten: 1884–1885 Pieter Frederik Wegener: 1885–1897 Pieter Frederik Sythoff: 1897–1905 Henri Chrétien Antoine Gérard de Vogel: 1905–1914 Petrus Karel Willem Kern: 1914–1920 Jan Hendrik Nieuwenhuis: 1920–1922 Jacob van Gigch: 1922–1924 Adrien Henri Maas Geesteranus: 1924–1925 Pieter Johannes van Gulik: 1925–1928 Johannes Bijleveld: 1928–1935 Karel Johann Alex Orie: 1935–1937 Adolph Maximiliaan Pino: 1937–1940 Jan Frederik Antonie van Bruggen: 1940–1942
References