The war was shifting the politics, relations and dynamics among the European empires and nations, which also affected their colonies abroad, including in the Far East.

[8] The power struggle and rivalry between France and Britain had spilled to other parts of the world, involving the colonies of each empires in Americas, Africa, as well as in Asia.

In 1806, King Lodewijk Napoleon of the Netherlands sent one of his generals, Herman Willem Daendels, serving as governor-general of East Indies based in Java.

However, his best-known achievement was the construction of the Great Post Road (Indonesian: Jalan Raya Pos) across northern Java from Anjer to Panaroecan.

On 22 November 1808, Daendels declared from his headquarters in Serang that the Sultanate of Banten had been absorbed into the territory of the Dutch East Indies.

In 1810 the most heavily defended islands Banda Neira, Ambon and Ternate fell, and by August the region had been conquered with little loss.

[citation needed] Raffles took his residence at Buitenzorg and despite having a small subset of Britons as his senior staff, he kept many of the Dutch civil servants in the governmental structure.

The attack was unprecedented in Javanese history, as it was the first time an indigenous palace had been captured by a European army, humiliating the Yogyakarta Sultanate.

[15][16] Raffles also ordered an expedition to Palembang in Sumatra to depose the local sultan, Mahmud Badaruddin II, and to seize the nearby Bangka Island to set up a permanent British presence in the area in case Java was ceded back to the Dutch.

During his short reign, British Java saw the surge of archaeological surveys and government attention on local culture, art and history.

Other archaeological sites in Java such as Prambanan Hindu temple and ancient Majapahit city of Trowulan, also came to light during his administration.

Under Raffles patronage, a large number of ancient monuments in Java were rediscovered, excavated and systematically catalogued for the first time.

[16] In 1816, under the administration of British governor John Fendall, Java was returned to control of the Netherlands as per the terms of the Anglo-Dutch Treaty of 1814.

After regaining full control of their colony in Java and other parts of the archipelago, the Dutch would embark on their conquest over other independent polities in the region.