# Britain invades and takes Java (4 August – 18 September 1811)

URL: https://allhistories.com/indonesia/timeline/1811-britain-invades-and-takes-java
Location: Cilincing and Meester Cornelis, Batavia
Themes: Napoleonic wars, British Java

On 4 August 1811 a British fleet of nearly 100 vessels landed some 8,000 troops at Cilincing, east of Batavia. Batavia surrendered on 8 August. The British then besieged the fortified camp at Meester Cornelis, which they stormed on 25 or 26 August, taking nearly 5,000 prisoners. The Franco-Dutch commander surrendered the whole island on 18 September. Java had been a Dutch possession allied to Napoleonic France since the Netherlands was annexed in 1810. Britain, based in India, wanted to remove a French-controlled base on the route to China and Southeast Asia. About half the invasion force were Indian soldiers of the East India Company. Resentment of the previous administration among some Javanese rulers helped the invaders. Java was governed by the British until 1816. Their administration introduced a new land tenure system, ended some Dutch practices and, by decree, set traffic on the left, a rule Indonesia still follows. Under the 1814 Anglo-Dutch settlement, Java was returned to the Dutch in 1816, but the interlude had weakened the Javanese courts. At this point in the timeline (1811), the Dutch East Indies were under Governor-General Jan Willem Janssens (16 May 1811 – 18 September 1811). Other contemporary rulers included Muhammad ibn Muhyiddin Zainussalihin, sultan of Banten (1809 – 1813), Hamengkubuwono III, sultan of Yogyakarta (1810 – 1811) and Mahmud Badaruddin II, sultan of Palembang (1803 – 1821).

## Why it matters
It briefly ended Dutch rule on Java, set the stage for the sack of Yogyakarta and land reform, and left the left-hand traffic rule that Indonesia still uses.

Ruler at the Time: [Jan Willem Janssens](https://allhistories.com/indonesia/rulers/jan-willem-janssens)

## Sources
- [Wikipedia — Invasion of Java (1811)](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Invasion_of_Java_(1811))
- [Encyclopaedia Britannica — Sir Stamford Raffles](https://www.britannica.com/biography/Stamford-Raffles)