This dataset contains data on shipping and trade in the Java Sea in the period from 1870 until 1940. The dataset forms the basis of a source publication. The collection of statistics is published as part of the project "The Java Sea Region in an Age of Transition, ca. 1870-1970". In this co-operative project, which started in 1997, researchers from Diponegoro University in Semerang, the Free University of Amsterdam and Leiden University particpate. It attempts to analyse the infrastructural, technological and economic development of the Java Sea Region, the central maritime zone of Indonesia, during the period 1870-1970. The tables present statistics on the twelve major ports around the Java Sea, six located on the Northern Coast of Java, six located in the Outer Islands. Within the network of domestic and international trade they display a wide range of characteristics, typical of the diversity of the Indonesian Archipelago.