Acknowledgements
This book has its origins in doctoral research conducted at Leiden University, completed in 2021, and results from the subsequent process of revision. Much like the historical dynamics of colonial taxation that it seeks to uncover, the process of writing this book was far from an orderly, logical, or linear process, and rather followed an unplanned course often contingent on serendipitous discoveries, messy improvisation, and the unexpected support of many. I was fortunate to be aided along the way by the archivists and librarians of Leiden University Library, the National Archives of the Netherlands and Indonesia, and the provincial and municipal archives of West Java (Bandung), Aceh (Banda Aceh), West Sumatra (Padang), Yogyakarta (Pakualaman), and Surakarta (Mangkunegaran, Reksa Pustaka).
I also owe a deep debt of gratitude to many colleagues and friends whose advice, feedback and encouragement helped completing this book. Rex Arendsen, Adriaan Bedner, Keebet von Benda-Beckmann, Marieke Bloembergen, Peter Carey, Hans Hägerdal, Simon Kemper, David Kloos, Thomas Lindblad, Elsbeth Locher-Scholten, Sander Lugtenburg, Tristan Mostert, Remco Raben, Sanne Ravensbergen, Alicia Schrikker, Sander Tetteroo, Henk Vording, Abdul Wahid and two anonymous peer reviewers all contributed in invaluable ways, offering comments on draft chapters, engaging in discussions at various stages of this book’s development, directing me to relevant sources and data, or making other insightful suggestions that significantly enhanced the research and manuscript.
Furthermore, I am very grateful for the financial support provided by the Stichting Belastingmuseum Prof. dr. Van der Poel (the Dutch Tax and Customs Museum), the Leiden University Department for Tax Law, the Leiden University Fund, the Cultuurfonds, the Jadefonds, the Adatrechtstichting, and the Corts Foundation. Their generous contributions supported various stages of research and (re)writing of this book. Additionally, the Stichting Belastingmuseum, the Stichting Vrienden van het Belasting & Douane Museum, the Stichting dr. Hendrik Muller's Vaderlandsch Fonds and the Linnaeus University Library provided funds for the open access publication of this book so that this work may hopefully reach a broad global audience, including readers in Indonesia and elsewhere, who, unlike myself, do not always enjoy free, immediate, and unhindered access to academic literature.
I have little doubt that the same global inequalities that have caused this unevenness in free access to academic literature are entangled with the broader legacies of European colonialism. With more than three-quarters of today’s states having been part of a European colonial empire, in many cases until les then 80 years ago, understanding how the effects of colonialism shaped the modern world remains essential. As this book intends to show, much remains to be explored about the everyday spaces where lofty visions of colonial governance and statecraft collided with reality, and where grand narratives of modernisation and reform were negotiated and contested through the routines of daily life. Such everyday life, and all its unplanned turns, contingencies, and unassuming acts and interventions, deserve closer attention in both scholarly research and the haste of present-day academic practice. I thank my friends and colleagues whose generosity and companionship, often offered in just such everyday moments, made this book’s completion possible. The book is dedicated to my parents, as well as my wife, Santy, for their constant, unwavering support and patience throughout the last few years.
Maarten Manse
Voorburg, October 2025