Great Post Road
The Great Post Road (Indonesian: Jalan
Raya Pos or Dutch:
De Grote
Postweg), is the
name for the historical road that runs across Java that connects Anyer and Panarukan. It was built
during the reign of governor-general of the Dutch East
Indies Herman Willem Daendels (1808–1811).
La Grande Route, as Daendels called it, was a military
road which was laid down under the order of King Lodewijk
Napoleon the ruler of Holland that time. France was at
war with England
and the road was intended to ease military support, to defend Java.
Before the road was constructed, connections paths between Anyer and Panarukan was available at that
time. However, it were not
easily passable as heavy tropical rainfall frequently destroyed them.
Daendels faced some problem when he was starting the road
construction. The difficult one is financial situation. Because of
that he use Javanese unpaid
forced laborers to do
the heavy work, which resulted in thousands of deaths.
Many of Daendels' opponents became
historical sources of the harsh condition during the road construction.
Today the Java Great Post
Road consist the most parts of present Java North Coast Road (Indonesian: Jalan
Pantura, abbreviation from "Pantai Utara"). The road initially served as the backbone of
Java's transportation and logistic. It connects some of the largest cities in
Java.
Source : http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Post_Road
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