Title
Come to Java: Information for Travellers
Year/Period
1917
Region
Singapore
Dimension
Object size: 19.2 x 13.0 x 1.0 cm
Accession No.
2014-00031
Collection of
Credit Line
Gift of CapitaLand Limited (Singapore), from the Raffles Hotel Museum Collection
Come to Java is a guidebook published by the Official Tourist Bureau of Batavia in 1917. It advocates tourism to Java by marketing Java as a ‘beautiful tropical island’ with ‘famous Hindu ruins - many active volcanos - splendid motoring - grand scenery - renowned botanical garden - excellent steamer and railway services - good modern hotels’. The guidebook, like others of the time, highlights the natural beauty of the land, tends to type-cast and exoticise the Javanese people, and obscures aspects of history, particularly events associated with colonial brutality and injustice.
![The History of Java, first edition [two volumes], Thomas Stamford Raffles, London, 1817](https://www.roots.gov.sg/api/media/6972aac8-d668-488a-88b7-56301f9f392a/00-cultural-connections.jpg)
