Batavia - Toko's Rijswijk 1863 - 1866

Woodbury and Page made this albumen print titled, "Batavia - Toko's Rijswijk," in the Dutch East Indies. Here we see a street scene, likely in the 1860s, that speaks volumes about colonial power. "Toko's" suggests shops, likely owned and operated by the Dutch, catering to a European clientele. The wide, empty street itself is a constructed space, designed to facilitate trade and control. Consider how photography, a relatively new medium at the time, was used by colonial powers to document and promote their activities. This image, while seemingly benign, subtly reinforces the idea of Dutch authority and the reshaping of the Indonesian landscape to suit their economic interests. To fully understand this photograph, we can turn to archives of colonial records, trade statistics, and accounts from the period. These resources can reveal the complex power dynamics at play and how seemingly straightforward images participated in the construction of colonial ideology.