Preanger Regencies Residency

In the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, the area of Preanger (Parahyangan) had belonged to the Mataram Sultanate.^[2] In the late seventeenth century, the Dutch East India Company allied itself with Mataram, but demanded territorial and trade concessions.^[2] During this time, the Dutch started to exert more and more influence in the Western part of Java.^[2] Mataram finally ceded all control of Cheribon and regions to the south, including the Preanger region, in 1705.^[1][2] The eastern part of what would become this residency was at first ruled from Cirebon in a residency called the Cheribonsche Preanger Regentschappen, while the western parts were allowed to remain under the control of local princes.^[1] That situation remained until 1808, when Napoleonic governor Herman Willem Daendels reorganized the territory in a prefecture (the Batavian and Priangan Regencies) and connected it to Batavia via the Great Post Road.^[3]

In 1818, after the short French and British interregnum in the Dutch East Indies, the territory was reestablished by the Dutch as the Preanger Regencies Residency.^[1][3]

The residency as established in 1818 consisted of three major divisions:

• Cianjur and Sukabumi, ruled directly by the resident whose seat was at Cianjur;
• Bandung;
• Sumedang, Sukapura and Limbangan.

The capital of the residency was transferred from Cianjur to Bandung in 1856, but the seat of the resident himself was not moved there until 1864.^[1] In 1866, Limbangan was also separated to be its own division with an Assistant Resident.^[1]

 

During the early twentieth century, the residency had a number of Tea estates in its mountainous areas, as well as being a center of Tapioca flour production in the Indies.^[4] It was also one of the earliest areas in the Indies to industrialize significantly.^[5] During this time, Bandung was also the location of the first university in the Indies and the place where a number of important printing presses were located, including the popular newspaper De Preangerbode.^[6]

In 1915, Garut Regency was transferred from the Cheribon Residency to Preanger.^[1] In 1925, the four residencies of western Java were subdivided into nine new residencies.^[3] The former Preanger Regencies Residency was broken up into three smaller residencies: West-Priangan, Midden-Priangan en Oost-Priangan.^[3] However, in 1931 they were reorganized once again, with parts of the former residency now being divided between Buitzenzorg Residency and the renamed Priangan Residency.^[3] Those borders were kept by the Japanese during their occupation of Java during World War II, and for a short time by the Republic of Indonesia after 1945.^[3]

• Gerrit Willem Casimir van Motman: 1817–1819
• Robert Lieve Jasper van der Capellen: 1819–1825
• Pieter le Clereq: 1825–1827
• Willem Nicolaas Servatius: 1827–1828
• Otto Carel Holmberg de Beckfelt: 1828–1837
• Pieter le Clereq: 1837–1839
• Johan Frans Hora Siccama: 1839–1841
• Jean Baptiste Cleerens: 1841–1846
• Pieter Johannes Overhand: 1846–1850
• Carl Philip Conrad Steinmetz: 1851–1855
• Herman Constantijn van der Wijck: 1855–1858
• Christiaan van der Moore: 1858–1874
• Ferdinand Theodoor Pahud de Mortanges: 1874–1879
• Jan Marinus van Vleuten: 1879–1884
• Albert Gustaaf George Peltzer–1884–1887
• Johannes Heijting: 1887–1891
• Johannes Diederik Harders: 1891–1894
• Christiaan Willem Kist: 1894–1900
• Eduard Thomas Theodorus Henricus van Benthem van den Bergh: 1900–1903
• Gustaaf Adolf Frederik Jan Oosthout: 1903–1907
• Willem Frederik Lamoraal Boissevain: 1907–1911
• Gideon Jan Oudemans: 1911–1913
• Tielus Jan Janssen: 1913–1917
• Louis de Stuers: 1917–1920
• Willem Pieter Hillen: 1920–1921
• August Johan Herman Eijken: 1921–1925