The Kemanglen Sugar Factory near Tegal on Java

The so-called Cultivation System was imposed on the Dutch East Indies in 1830. It obliged Javanese farmers to grow sugar and other products on one-fifth of their rice fields as an enforced tax. Refined in factories like his one, the sugar was destined for the European market. Profits were for the Dutch treasury. The Javanese population, on the other hand, had to work harder and received less money because of this policy.