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Mount Agung rising above palm groves and fishing boats on Bali's east coast

8 min read

History · Bali

The History of Bali: From Bronze Age Drums to Mass Tourism

By Discover Indonesia

Most visitors meet Bali as a beach, a temple and a sunset. Behind them sit two thousand years of bronze casters, Javanese conquerors, rival kingdoms, a colonial war that ended in royal processions walking into gunfire, an eruption and a massacre. Knowing that story changes what you see in every temple courtyard and palace gate.

914Oldest dated royal inscription, Sanur
1906Puputan of Badung, Denpasar
6.95 mForeign arrivals, 2025

What is the short history of Bali?

Bali was settled in prehistory, became a Hindu-Buddhist kingdom by the 10th century, and fell under the Javanese empire of Majapahit in the 14th. For the next five centuries it was ruled by Balinese royal houses, until the Dutch conquered the island between 1849 and 1908. It became part of independent Indonesia after 1945, and from the 1970s it grew into one of Asia's largest tourist destinations.

PeriodWhat happenedWhere to see it today
c. 2,000 years agoMetal-age burials and bronze castingGilimanuk museum; Pura Penataran Sasih, Pejeng
914Sri Kesari Warmadewa's pillar inscriptionPura Blanjong, Sanur
1343Majapahit conquers Bali under Gajah MadaBedulu and Pejeng area, near Ubud
16th centuryGelgel court at its height; priest NirarthaGelgel village; Uluwatu and Tanah Lot temples
1686Klungkung kingdom founded at SemarapuraKertha Gosa, Klungkung
1849Dutch take Buleleng and JembranaSingaraja waterfront; Jagaraga
1906 and 1908Puputan of Badung and KlungkungPuputan Square, Denpasar; Klungkung monument
1946Ngurah Rai's last stand at MargaMargarana memorial, Tabanan
1963Agung erupts during Eka Dasa RudraBesakih
2002Kuta bombingsMemorial on Jalan Legian, Kuta

Bronze drums and the first kings

The clearest early evidence comes from Gilimanuk at Bali's western tip, where archaeologist R.P. Soejono excavated a prehistoric cemetery dated to around the start of the first millennium AD, with bronze ornaments, spearheads and, for high-status people, carved stone sarcophagi. The most famous object of the age is the Moon of Pejeng at Pura Penataran Sasih near Ubud, a Dong Son bronze kettledrum about 186 cm high.

Indian ideas reached Bali through trade and Java, and by the 10th century it had kings who wrote in Sanskrit and Old Balinese. The Belanjong pillar at Pura Blanjong in Sanur is dated to 4 February 914 and names Sri Kesari Warmadewa, the earliest known Balinese inscription in which a king records his own name. Goa Gajah near Bedulu and the cliff-cut royal tombs of Gunung Kawi date from this era.

How did Majapahit change Bali?

In 1343 the East Javanese empire of Majapahit, led by its chief minister Gajah Mada, conquered Bali and defeated the last independent king at Bedulu. A Javanese-descended dynasty was installed, later ruling from Gelgel near today's Klungkung. The noble titles, court literature, much of the ritual calendar and the idea that Bali's royal houses descend from Java all date from this period. Villages that kept older customs, such as Tenganan and Trunyan, are known as Bali Aga, the "original Balinese".

Balinese chronicles remember the 16th century as Gelgel's high point, under Dalem Baturenggong, though their dates are traditional rather than precise. The Javanese priest Dang Hyang Nirartha became the most influential reformer of Balinese Hinduism, credited with the padmasana shrine found in almost every temple and with sea temples such as Uluwatu and Tanah Lot. As Java's courts converted to Islam, Bali kept its Hindu courts, priests and temple calendar, and its nobles saw the island as the keeper of the old Hindu-Javanese culture.

From Gelgel to nine kingdoms

The first Dutch fleet, under Cornelis de Houtman, reached Bali in February 1597, and two crew members chose to stay behind. Bali had no spices worth fighting for, so for 250 years Europeans largely left it alone; its main export was people, as courts sold war captives and debtors as slaves to Batavia and other ports. Gelgel fell into internal conflict after 1651, and in 1686 Dewa Agung Jambe founded the kingdom of Klungkung at Semarapura.

Klungkung kept a ceremonial seniority, but by the 19th century Bali was usually described as nine rival kingdoms: Klungkung, Karangasem, Buleleng, Jembrana, Tabanan, Badung, Gianyar, Bangli and Mengwi, though Mengwi was carved up in 1891. The best surviving monument of this court world is the Kertha Gosa in Klungkung, with painted ceilings in the classical Kamasan style.

How did the Dutch conquer Bali?

In two stages: the north in 1846 to 1849, and the south between 1906 and 1908. Their pretext both times was the Balinese custom of claiming the cargo of wrecked ships. In 1848 forces under I Gusti Ketut Jelantik defeated the Dutch at Jagaraga, but a larger expedition took it in April 1849, and Buleleng and Jembrana came under Dutch rule from Singaraja. In the south, two puputan, ritual fights to the death, ended Balinese independence.

On 20 September 1906 the Raja of Badung, dressed in white and carried in a palanquin, led his family, priests and followers out of the burning palace towards the Dutch guns. Contemporary accounts put the dead at over a thousand across the day, including a second puputan at the Pemecutan palace. The site is now Puputan Square in central Denpasar. On 28 April 1908 the king of Klungkung, Dewa Agung Jambe, walked out with his followers and was shot, ending the last of Bali's independent courts; his monument stands opposite the Kertha Gosa.

War, independence, 1963 and 1965

Japanese troops landed on 18 February 1942 and occupied Bali until 1945. When the Dutch returned, Balinese fighters resisted. On 20 November 1946 at Marga in Tabanan, I Gusti Ngurah Rai and his battalion were surrounded and fought to the last man; around 96 Indonesian fighters died. The Puputan Margarana memorial is one of the most moving sites on the island. On 14 August 1958 a national law created the province of Bali, and the seat of government moved from Singaraja to Denpasar between 1958 and 1960.

In 1963 Mount Agung erupted just as the island prepared Eka Dasa Rudra, a ceremony at Besakih held roughly once every hundred years. An estimated 1,100 to 1,500 people died; Besakih itself was spared, and the ceremony was performed in full in 1979. After the failed coup of 30 September 1965, the army and allied groups killed people accused of links to the Communist Party; historians estimate around 80,000 died on Bali in a few months. Geoffrey Robinson's The Dark Side of Paradise is the standard history in English.

How did Bali become a tourist destination?

Tourism began under the Dutch, who promoted Bali as a "living museum" of Hindu culture. The shipping line KPM opened the Bali Hotel in Denpasar in 1928, still operating as the Inna Bali Heritage Hotel. Walter Spies settled at Campuan, Ubud, in 1927, and in 1936 he, Rudolf Bonnet, I Gusti Nyoman Lempad and Cokorda Gde Agung Sukawati founded the Pita Maha artists' association. Spies also worked with the dancer Wayan Limbak to create the kecak performance now staged at Uluwatu.

Under Soeharto, tourism became national policy, and the expanded Ngurah Rai International Airport opened in 1969. Kuta grew from a fishing village into a surf strip in the 1970s. On 12 October 2002 Jemaah Islamiyah bombings in Kuta killed 202 people, and a 2005 attack killed 20. After Agung's 2017 to 2019 eruptions and the pandemic, Statistics Indonesia counted a record 6,948,754 foreign arrivals in 2025. Since February 2024 foreign visitors pay a 150,000 rupiah levy; check the official Love Bali site.

Where can you see Bali's history today?

At temples, wear a sarong and sash, keep your head lower than priests during ceremonies, and do not climb on shrines or walls. Many temples are closed to visitors on the busiest ceremony days, and women who are menstruating are traditionally asked not to enter.

Quick answers

Why is Bali Hindu when most of Indonesia is Muslim?

When Islam spread across Java from the 15th century, Bali kept its Hindu courts and priests. Today the island is around 86 to 87 per cent Hindu, in a country where Hindus are under 2 per cent.

What was the puputan?

A ritual fight to the death by a Balinese ruler and his court rather than surrender to the Dutch, most famously at Badung in 1906 and Klungkung in 1908.

What is the Moon of Pejeng?

A bronze kettledrum at Pura Penataran Sasih, described as the largest single-cast drum of its kind in the world. Balinese legend says it is a fallen moon.

When did tourism start in Bali?

In the 1920s and 1930s, under the Dutch, with regular steamships from Java and the Bali Hotel in Denpasar, opened in 1928.

For the full story, our The History of Bali goes deeper than any article can, and the full guide library covers the island for travellers. See also Lombok vs Bali and Mount Agung.

Facts checked October 2026. Dates from the Balinese royal chronicles before 1600 are traditional and approximate; historians still debate several of them. Entry rules and the tourist levy can change, so check the official Love Bali portal before you travel.

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