Balinese

The Balinese are the Austronesian people of Bali, east of Java, distinguished by their Hindu faith, the holy-water religion of Agama Tirta layered over older local cults still kept in Bali Aga villages. Indianised kings ruled from the ninth century — the Warmadewa dynasty left the Belanjong pillar of 914 — and Gajah Mada's Majapahit armies conquered the island in 1343.

Javanese arts came with the conquest: the Kawi script and wayang shadow theatre. When Majapahit collapsed around 1500, Hindu nobles and priests fled to Bali, where Gelgel kept the island independent; in the sixteenth century Dalem Baturenggong carried Balinese rule into Lombok and western Sumbawa, while the reformer Nirartha founded Uluwatu temple.

Portuguese ships came in 1512 and Dutch ships in 1597, but the Dutch East India Company found Bali unprofitable and left it to private traders. After 1816 the Dutch pressed treaties on its rival kingdoms.