During the rise of VOC (Dutch East India Company) power starting in the century, many Javanese were exiled, enslaved or hired as mercenaries to Dutch colonies of Ceylon in South Asia and the Cape colony in South Africa.
Masked Men of the Theater Acting in "Topéing," Java, Indonesia Description This photograph of a theatrical performance in the Dutch East Indies (present-day Indonesia) is from the Frank and Frances Carpenter Collection at the Library of Congress.