The reform movement inaugurated by the commission of 1803 was resumed in 1830, when Governor-General Johannes van den Bosch endeavoured to improve the conditions of land-tenure and agriculture by introducing the so-called "culture system."
Owing to the general condition of poverty which prevailed after the French evacuation in the second decade of the 19th century, attention was turned to the means of industry offered by the unreclaimed heath-lands in the eastern provinces, and in 1818 the Society of Charity (Maatschappij van Weldadigkeid) was formed with Count van den Bosch at its head.
There are two classes of colonies, both originally established by the Maatschaapij van Weldadigheid (Society of Beneficence), a society founded by General van den Bosch (1780-1844) in 1818.
