In 1795, the French, under Napoleon, invaded and occupied Holland, and Herman Willem Daendels was made governor-general of the East Indies. He ruled for just three years, but was unable to fend off attacks by the British who, under the leadership of Sir Thomas Stamford Raffles, picked off the islands one by one, eventually landing at Batavia in 1811.

Raffles' tenure lasted for just five years before he was forced to hand back the territories to the Dutch. But he left a lasting impact, having ordered surveys of every historical building, and conducted extensive research into the country's flora and fauna