General Governor Van Den Bosch
Governor-General Van Den Bosch took office after the Diponegoro War (1825-1830) and sought to restore the wealth of the Dutch East Indies colonial government that had been used for the war. He implemented the cultuurstelsel or forced cultivation policy, which required the people to grow export crops such as coffee, tobacco, and sugar, and to set aside 20% of their land for these commodities. This forced cultivation marked the widespread planting of commodity crops in Indonesia, with Surabaya as the highest producer of sugar and a collecting center for plantation products before they were exported to Europe. Van Den Bosch also updated Surabaya's defenses, including the construction of the second city wall in 1835 and the Prins Hendrik fort in 1837, although the second city wall was never completed due to high costs and incompatibility with the military technology of the time.
Surabaya's urban layout and design during the Dutch East Indies era
The city of Surabaya developed along the Kali Mas river, with ethnic communities such as the Chinese, Arabs, and Bumiputera concentrated around it. After the arrival of the Dutch East Indies colonial government, the city layout became systematic with a policy of “closing” settlements to newcomers, who were required to report to the government. This policy led to the concentration of settlements based on ethnicity, reinforced by the governor-general's rights known as exhorbitante rechten. The wijkenstelsel policy of 1843 regulated the separation of settlements based on ethnic groups to prevent conflict, especially after the massacre of the Chinese ethnic group in Batavia in 1740. In Surabaya, European settlements were located on the west side of Kali Mas, while the East Asian community was on the east side. The passenstelsel rule was also enforced to restrict the movement of East Asians. This policy led to overcrowded settlements, while Europeans had the freedom to move and develop the area.