It was in the seventh century that the veil over this island started lifting with outside influences. Lombok came under the influence of Balinese and Makassarese of Sulawesi. The Balinese arrived from Karangasem crossing the Lombok Strait in the early part of the seventeenth century and around the same time, the Makassarese invaded the eastern part of the island. 1677 was a landmark year in the history of Lombok, it was in this year that the two intruders managed to subdue the other one. Balinese won as they had the help of the native Sasak aristocracy. Henceforth, it became a Balinese obsession to secure and maintain their control over this island. However with the passage of time, it was found that the Balinese control over Lombok had run into hard times and the beginning of the nineteenth century saw Pagesangan, Pagutan, Mataram and Cakranegara competing for the island.
1894 changed the course of Lombok’s destiny. From this year Lombok began her journey as one of the colonies of the Dutch. Balinese army had attacked the Dutch camp in Mayura Palace, Cakranegara. Though the Dutch escaped, they could not escape casualties to artillery and man. Now they were determined to pay back the Balinese and this resulted in their taking total control of Lombok.
Lombok now started to realize what colonialism meant. There was abject poverty and they were on the verge of starvation on more than one occasion. The Dutch wanted control as well as personal profit. Heavy taxation was another area of concern for the Lombok population along with exportation of food materials. The last straw on the camel’s back was famine which tormented Lombok for nearly half a century.
So continued Lombok’s tryst with destiny. But suddenly in 1945, Lombok had a new sun rising . Soekarno arrogated that Indonesia was independent and Lombok was also a part of this new order of things. But in 1965, after a difficult two decades, mass killings of Communist sympathizers and ethnic Chinese created a scar for ages to come on Lombok. It was President Suharto who can be credited with much of the growth and stability of this island, but here it has to be mentioned that in comparison to Bali and Java’s glitz and glamour, Lombok comes a poor second. Now this island is slowly gaining its place under the sun as a distinguished alternative to Bali in the tourism world.