Bali Frontier · History
The history of Bali
A thousand years of kings, priests and conquest on one small island. From the early Balinese kingdoms through the Majapahit conquest and the Hindu refuge from Java, Dutch rule and the puputan, war and independence, to modern Bali, here it is, era by era.
- 1343
- Majapahit conquest of Bali
- c.1500
- Hindu refuge from Java
- 1906
- Badung puputan
- 1945
- Indonesian independence
Few islands in Asia carry a past as layered as Bali. Early rice-growing kingdoms and their subak irrigation shaped the land long before Java's kings arrived. Then came the Majapahit conquest of 1343, the Hindu court culture that fled to Bali when Java turned to Islam, Dutch rule and the ritual last stands of 1906 and 1908, war and independence, and the tourism era that remade the island. Every age left its mark on the places you visit today. Follow the whole arc below, or jump straight to the era you want.
- before 1343 Early Bali: Austronesian Settlers, Bronze Drums and the First Kingdoms Prehistoric and early Bali, from Austronesian settlement and the Bronze-Iron Age Pejeng Moon to the Blanjong pillar, the Warmadewa kings and the birth of the subak rice system. Read the full story
- 1343 to 1846 Hindu Bali and Majapahit: The Last Refuge of a Javanese Golden Age How Airlangga, the Majapahit conquest of 1343 and the fall of Java made Bali the last home of Hindu-Javanese civilisation, shaping its classical art, dance and caste order. Read the full story
- 1846 to 1942 Dutch Colonial Bali: Conquest, the Puputan and the Birth of Tourism The Dutch conquest of Bali, from the spice and slave trade and the northern wars to the puputan of Badung in 1906 and Klungkung in 1908, colonial rule and the first tourism. Read the full story
- 1942 to 1949 War and Independence: Bali from Occupation to the Republic Bali from the Japanese occupation and the fight for Indonesian independence, through the Battle of Marga and the hero Ngurah Rai, to the 1963 eruption of Mount Agung and the upheavals of 1965. Read the full story
- 1949 to today Modern Bali: The Tourism Boom, the Bombings and a Living Culture Bali from the 1970s surf and hippie era through mass tourism, the 2002 and 2005 bombings, the Ubud wellness and digital-nomad wave, and the pressures on an enduring Hindu culture. Read the full story
Before 1343: early Bali and its first kingdoms
Balinese history opens long before any Javanese army crossed the strait. Austronesian settlers cleared the volcanic slopes for rice and built the cooperative subak irrigation that still runs the fields, and by around the 10th century the island had its own kings, Sanskrit and Old Balinese inscriptions, and a religion that blended Hindu and Buddhist ideas with local belief. Read the full story in early Bali.
Majapahit, the Hindu refuge and Dutch conquest
In 1343 the Javanese Majapahit empire brought Bali under its rule, and when Majapahit fell around 1500 the priests, nobles and artists of Java's Hindu court crossed to Bali, which became the last home of that culture. The Dutch took the north in the mid-19th century and pressed south, until the royal courts of Badung and Klungkung met their guns in the puputan of 1906 and 1908. See Hindu Bali and Majapahit and Dutch colonial Bali.
War, independence and modern Bali
Japan occupied the island from 1942 to 1945, and when the war ended Indonesia declared independence, with Bali's resistance remembered through Colonel Ngurah Rai's last stand at Marga. The Dutch recognised independence in 1949, and from the 1970s tourism remade the island, bringing prosperity along with pressure on land, water and traffic. The story continues in war and independence and modern Bali.
The history of Bali: common questions
Who lived in Bali before the Hindu kingdoms?+
Bali was settled by Austronesian peoples thousands of years ago, and by the early centuries of the first millennium a rice-growing society had taken shape, watered by the cooperative irrigation system known as subak. Bronze drums, stone sarcophagi and the great kettledrum kept at Pejeng point to early trade and metalwork. Indian religious ideas reached the island through Java, and by around the 10th century Bali had its own line of kings and inscriptions written in Old Balinese and Sanskrit.
When did Bali become the Hindu island it is today?+
Bali had absorbed Hindu and Buddhist influence for centuries, but the turning point came in 1343 when the Javanese Majapahit empire, led by its general Gajah Mada, brought the island under its rule. When Majapahit fell to rising Islamic states around 1500, priests, nobles, artists and scholars crossed from Java to Bali, which became the last refuge of Java's Hindu court culture. That inheritance shaped the temples, caste order, dance and craft that still define the island.
How did Dutch colonial rule begin in Bali?+
The Dutch moved on Bali through the 19th century, taking the north after wars in the 1840s and 1850s and pressing south from there. Resistance ended in mass ritual sacrifice: in 1906 the royal court of Badung walked into Dutch gunfire in a puputan, or fight to the death, at Denpasar, and the court of Klungkung did the same in 1908. With those defeats the whole island came under Dutch control, and colonial rule lasted until the Second World War.
What happened in Bali during the Second World War?+
Japan occupied Bali and the rest of the Dutch East Indies from 1942 to 1945. The occupation was harsh, with forced labour and food shortages, but it also broke the grip of Dutch rule and gave weight to the Indonesian independence movement. When Japan surrendered in 1945, nationalists across the archipelago moved quickly to claim independence.
When did Bali become part of independent Indonesia?+
Indonesia declared independence on 17 August 1945, and a four-year struggle followed against the returning Dutch. On Bali the resistance is remembered through Colonel I Gusti Ngurah Rai, who died with his battalion in a last stand at Marga in 1946 and gave his name to the island's airport. The Dutch recognised Indonesian independence in 1949, and Bali became a province of the new republic.
How did tourism change modern Bali?+
A trickle of artists and travellers came in the colonial years, but mass tourism took off from the 1970s, once the international airport near Kuta opened the island to the world. Beach resorts, then yoga and wellness retreats, surf towns and digital-nomad hubs followed, and tourism became the mainstay of the economy. The growth has brought prosperity alongside pressure on water, land and traffic that the island still works to manage.