Recreatieve rijwieltochten in de tropen

Recreational bicycle tours in the tropics. Cycle tourism in the former Dutch East Indies at the end of the nineteenth century

This article examines the early days of recreational cycling in the former Dutch East Indies (1884-1900). The central questions are: What did tourist colonial cycling cultures look like in ‘the Indies’ at the end of the nineteenth century? And what were the ideological foundations underlying these cultures? By analyzing the issues of De Kampioen - the magazine of the Dutch bicycle association ANWB - from this period, it is shown that tourist cycling was already prevalent in many forms in the Dutch East Indies at the time. Although the ANWB had some Asian members at the end of the nineteenth century, episodes of De Kampioen from the nineteenth century extol almost exclusively the physical achievements of European and Australian men. In doing so, these issues underscore the patriarchy and racial hierarchy that supported Dutch colonialism in Southeast Asia.