Which European power established colonial forest control in Java?

Correct answer: Dutch

The direct answer is option B: the Dutch. Java was under Dutch colonial rule, and the Dutch established and expanded systems for controlling forests and using timber commercially. This is a place-and-ruler question: identify Java, recall its colonial connection, and then select the European power that governed it. Option B is correct because Dutch authorities regulated forest access, timber cutting, and related labour. Option A is wrong because, although the British controlled many other colonies and had forest policies in places such as India, they were not the colonial power identified for Java in this question. Option C is wrong because France did not establish the forest-control system described here. Option D is wrong because Portugal was not the relevant colonial ruler of Java in this textbook topic. The essential chain is Java, Dutch colonial rule, and state forest control. Memory trick: pair “Java forests” with “Dutch,” just as the question’s teak and Kalang examples belong to the same context.