The influence of Christianity in Indonesia: a preliminary observation on the Bataks of North Sumatra as an example of Christianized Indonesians

Abstract

The sproud of Christianity to Indonesian dated from the seventeenth century when the first European trade armada harboured there. As the result of the political situation in Europe in the preceeding centuries the European had to find their own way to get the famous and expensive merchandise of the East, the spices. The first European succeeded in reaching the East were the Portuguese and later followed by the Spain, the Dutch the British and the French. For the purpose of this paper two of them were the most important, i.e. the Portuguese and the Dutch. The Portuguese first harboured in Malacca in 1511. Malacca was one of some important harbours in South East Asia during that time and it was as a transitory harbour with good harbour and enough facilities not only for interinsular, but also for international voyages. From Malacca the Portuguese, then, reached the Moluccan Islands and managed to make a good relationship,, although for only a short time, with Sultan of Ternate, a very important and strong principality in the area.