Most people know Kuta as a hedonistic resort where everything goes. It is a Phuket-on-Bintang, about the only place in the archipelago where public drunkenness demonstrations are tolerated.
The cabins and stalls that welcomed early visitors, hippies and backpackers in the 70s make up for glitzy shopping malls and five-star luxury as Bali is experiencing a tourism boom that will come as a welcome relief after the twin bombings in the early 21st century saw the sun and surf seekers look elsewhere for their jollies.
There has long been an element of raffish trade Kuta. While the interior of Bali, with its rice terraces and lifestyle ritual relief fought the civil war after the war between them, Kuta, lying on the peninsula in the south of the island was perfect for trade; easy access to the warm waters of the Indian ocean both sides meant that it was able to take advantage of winds that left others less blessed ports closed for months.
their days were spent making money, their retirement evenings in their compounds, locking the sounds of the jungle and the roar of blood clotting local thugs, taking solace in their memories of House.
Certainly his compound had everything to keep the 19th century trader / adventurer happy. Outside the rooms, (pendopos) that were used for trade, he kept a wine cellar, a music room and a pool table. Then as now, entertainment is a key element in business and Lange went to impress his home by the sea.
Lange was already familiar with not only Bali, but much of the rest of 'Dutch East Indies. He had spent several eventful years on Lombok nearby island where he cosied with raja then a competitor of the Company had been close to a different potentate; politics and business are inextricably linked, then as now.
He left his native Denmark when he was only 19 years, eastward as much done in those days hoping to make its mark in Asia which was then almost under the European yoke .
It was in 1834 that settled in what was to be later known as Indonesia to start his business empire. There, with a Scottish partner, with extensive contacts throughout the region, opened a trading post at Ampenan. As business expanded, he opened a shipyard nearby and was appointed Harbour Master (Shahbandar) by the local raja, a lucrative position as it allowed him to take a tariff cut on vessels using the port .
Lombok in those days was a volatile place with a control for the various micro states on the island openly challenged by local potentates, Balinese and Dutch looking around that could best serve their interests.
The Danish businessman supported the poor and Raja was forced to flee the island since 24 hours to close his business and be gone. He jumped across the Bali Strait and settled in a small trading post called Kuta.
Little Sundas is the name given to islands that extend Group East Java. As Europeans rushed to the archipelago to get a foot in the value of the spice trade that they have focused their attention on Sumatra, Java and Maluku. But there were still opportunities for a qualified contractor to enter the smaller islands, including Bali; especially if you know the language as did Lange.
When he arrived in Kuta the post of Dutch local treats looked at him with suspicion but Lange did not care. He used his contacts to make money and perhaps one of its selling points was that it was not Dutch! The dominant European power in the region were forced to take a back seat to Lange and realism finally took over the colonial dreams of Dutch hegemony and they decided the best they could hope for was working with the Dane established .
After 19 years in Southeast Asia, Lange found his mind often turns to home, but the return was not easy. With the Suez Canal still a pipedream trip home meant journeying across the vast Indian Ocean and rounding the Cape of Good Hope; a trip that was counted in months, not weeks
. He wrote a last letter to a good friend of his on strips of palm leaves. In what he called his journey back to Denmark and he suggested that it may never come back when he said: "On my return I will not speak" He died shortly before it. or sailing, rumor that he was poisoned
Lange was known to have two women while living in Bali;. a modest number in these days one was Balinese. the other Chinese. with the Chinese woman he had a daughter named Cecilia Catharina who married a future Sultan of Johor, but that, as they say, is another story!
If you are interested to learn more about Mads Lange and the first days of Kuta as a corporate control in Bali Chronicles by Willard A. Hanna.
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