The globalizing of copra and coconut oil industry of Makassar before the second world war

This article is aimed at clarifying the long term historical relationship of production, banking, and industry in economic growth that led Makassar (Indonesia) as the biggest copra exporter of the world. The historical fact showed that the policies in copra production, banking, and industry were the determinant factors that made Makassar either as a center of economic growth in eastern Indonesia and being a part of copra trading and coconut oil network of the world. The economic condition of Makassar as a growth center in the eastern Indonesia region, banking expectation, the coconut oil industry in local as well as global trading are also discussed. The role of the local trading system that had been established is also elaborated concerning the industrial copra process while the global trading system is viewed according to the banking role. The data in this article were taken from archives and historical records in Indonesia and in the Netherlands as well.