Sumbawa is a medium-sized island in eastern Indonesia which has a particularly interesting past. In the premodern era it lay on the trade routes that connected the north coasts of the islands of Melaka and Java with the spice-producing areas in Maluku, while Sumbawa itself exported horses, sappan wood, and rice. Its recorded history covers periods of Hindu-Javanese influence, the Southeast Asian Age of Commerce, early Islamisation, and Dutch colonialism. Dutch Indologist Gerrit Jan Held wrote this book in 1955 but died before it could be published; this volume represents its first translation into English, and includes extensive footnotes that set it in context of current research.

Hans Hägerdal is an Associate Professor in History at the Linnaeus University, Sweden. He has published extensively on East and Southeast Asian history, including the monograph Lords of the land, lords of the sea: Conflict and adaptation in early-colonial Timor, 1600-1800 (Leiden: KITLV Press, 2012).Voor Concurrent Concepts of Piracy:Hans Hägerdal is a Professor in History at Linnaeus University, Sweden. He has published on Chinese and Southeast Asian history, and early-modern colonialism.

1. Translator's introduction2. The ancient period3. Islam and Makassar4. The Sumbawan kingdoms under VOC suzerainty (1)5. The Sumbawan kingdoms under VOC suzerainty (2)6. In the wake of the Tambora disaster7. From colonial rule to independenceAppendix: Lists of Sumbawan rulers