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North Sumatra

Province in Sumatra, Indonesia

  • 36 min read
  • 7 chapters

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Through Indian Ocean and Java

Lab · Class 6–12Ancient Indian Ocean Trade

With a population of around 14.8 million in 2020 and a mid-2025 estimate of around 15.8 million (and adding about 200,000 people each year), North Sumatra is Indonesia's fourth most populous province and the most populous province outside of Java Island. At 72,437.755 square kilometres (27,968.374 mi2), North Sumatra is the third-largest province in area on the island of Sumatra behind South Sumatra and Riau. Major ethnic groups include the Malay, native to the east coast; several Batak groups, indigenous to the west coast and central highlands; the Nias people of Nias Island and its surrounding islets; and Chinese, Javanese, and Indian peoples, who first migrated to Sumatra during Dutch rule.

North Sumatra is home to the Toba supervolcano, located in what is now Lake Toba, which erupted 74,000–75,000 years ago, wiping out nearly all of humanity. The supereruption resulted in the creation of Lake Toba and was rated a VEI-8 eruption.

During Dutch rule, North Sumatra was administered under the Gouvernement van Sumatra, which governed the entire island of Sumatra out of Medan. In 1948, after Indonesian independence was proclaimed, Sumatra Province was divided into three sub-provinces, each of which had the right to regulate and manage its own affairs. The 15th of April was later designated as the anniversary of the founding of the province of North Sumatra.

History

Prehistoric era

Archaeological understanding of early North Sumatran peoples is limited compared to that of other nearby regions. Prehistoric relics in North Sumatra show that the oldest population may have been Austronesian or Melanesian. Archaeological evidence indicates that their dispersal took place in the Mesolithic era (Middle Stone Age). They spread to the eastern part of Indonesia, to the island of Papua, and to the west, to North Sumatra and the Malay Peninsula. Early peoples in North Sumatra consumed mostly snails and clams, leaving large shell deposits sometimes referred to as kjokkenmoddinger (kitchen waste), some of which are still found as hills in Saentis, Hinai, Tanjung Beringin, along the Deli-Langkat shore, and on riverbanks.

In the second wave of migration from mainland Southeast Asia c. 1000 BC, the Young Malays or Deutero Malays settled on the coast. They mainly lived by fishing and by cultivating the marshy land for agriculture. Their villages were scattered along the big rivers that flow to the east coast of North Sumatra such as Besitang, Wampu, Asahan, and Barumun. Larger villages grew at the mouths of rivers and became centres of government. Relics of the Mesolithic era have been found in North Sumatra, including finely honed stone axes, bone tools, and painting materials.

Linguistic and archaeological evidence indicates that Austronesian speakers reached Sumatra from Taiwan and the Philippines through Borneo or Java about 2,500 years ago, and the Batak probably descended from these settlers.

New genetic research has found that the Nias people also came from the Austronesian peoples, though their initial ancestors may have arrived earlier: ancestors of the Nias people are thought to have come from Taiwan through the Philippines 4,000 to 5,000 years ago. Ten years of research involving blood samples of 440 Nias people in 11 villages on Nias island show similarities between their Y-chromosome and mitochondrial DNA and that of Taiwanese and Filipino peoples.

Early historic era

The eastern coast of North Sumatra, bordering the Strait of Malacca, has been widely visited by Hindus and by Chinese traders for centuries since the founding of early Situs Kota Cina or Chinatown sites in Hamparan Perak c. 11th–14th centuries AD. Barus, a trading port on the western coast of Tapanuli, attracted Middle Age era traders in search of camphor, which was popular in Ancient Egypt. In 1030, Rajendra Chola recorded the names of North Sumatran states he defeated in one expedition to conquer Srivijaya. States that he mentioned included Sriwijaya, Malayur, Kendara, and the Panai Kingdom. Furthermore, the Nagarakretagama epic by Mpu Prapanca from the 14th century lists states found in North Sumatra such as Pane, Haru, Mandailing, Tamiang, Lawas, and Barus, all of which were mainly defeated by the Majapahit.

The earliest kingdom that was present on the eastern coast of North Sumatra was the Aru Kingdom, which existed from the 13th to the 16th century AD. In its height, the kingdom was a maritime power and controlled the northern part of the Malacca strait. The kingdom was initially established as a Karo polity. The indigenous population practiced native animism and Hinduism. Starting in the 13th century, some also practised Islam. Aru's capital was located close to present-day Medan and Deli Serdang. Its people are believed to have been descendants of the Karo people from the hinterland of North Sumatra.

An area near Lake Toba called Batakland (or the Batak Lands) housed kingdoms of Batak people. It was first mentioned in Zhao Rugua's 13th-century Description of the Barbarous Peoples, which refers to a 'Ba-ta' dependency of Srivijaya. The Suma Oriental, written in the 15th century, also refers to the "Kingdom of Bata" between Pasai and the Aru kingdom. The Batak mainly practiced animism and cannibalism and remained isolated from foreign culture and kingdoms like Srivijaya and Majapahit. The Toba people divided the Batak Lands into several independent kingdoms, which often entered into defensive alliances. Of the many kingdoms, Bakkara and their king or Sisingamangaraja held the most leverage due to customs and traditions which consider Bakkara the place of origin of the Batak people.

The Nias people on Nias Island remained isolated during its early era. Its people practised agriculture and cultivation, made art carvings, and adhered to shamanist and pagan practices.

Kingdom, sultanate, and colonial era

By c. 1500, there were several kingdoms on the east coast of Sumatra, namely the larger Nagur and Aru kingdoms and the smaller Panai and Batangiou kingdoms. To the west, in the hinterland of Tapanuli, another kingdom emerged: a Batak kingdom founded by descendants of Sisingamangaraja. This kingdom gradually expanded its influence throughout Tapanuli to Angkola, Mandailing, and Dairi. The three largest kingdoms in North Sumatra in the sixteenth century were Nagur, the Batak kingdom under the rule of King Sisingamangaraja, and Aru.

Wars between these three kingdoms made the region vulnerable to outside influences from Aceh, Melaka, the Portuguese, Siak, and Minangkabau. The Sultanate of Aceh worked to spread Islam across the eastern coast, and in the Padri War, succeeded in spreading Islam into the southern Tapanuli kingdom. As a result of this warfare and cultural shifts, the three big kingdoms split into several small kingdoms and sultanates, including Deli, Serdang, Asahan, Langkat Sultanate, Maropat and Lingga.

Malacca fell to the Dutch East India Company (the VOC) in 1641. Coastal areas of North Sumatra felt economic impacts as the VOC subsequently reduced the presence of trade in Malacca and shifted resources towards Batavia. Nevertheless, North Sumatra also saw an increase in Arab, Chinese and Indian traders.

After Britain gained a position on the nearby island of Penang by establishing a trading post for the British East India Company (Britain's first such post in the Far East) in 1786, the British traded heavily with the east coast of Sumatra. Prior to the nineteenth century, Dutch power was concentrated on the island of Java and parts of the Moluccas, the Dutch East India Company competed with the British East India Company for trade in the area, especially for pepper, with the two nations trying to obstruct the other's trade efforts. In the nineteenth century, the Dutch began to focus more on areas outside Java, including North Sumatra, driving out British influence. Dutch control was formalized with the handover of most of Indonesia in the 1814 Treaty of London, which was renewed in the 1824 Treaty of London. However, the UK maintained a presence in several places that were considered important for trade, including parts of Sumatra and Kalimantan.

During the Padri War, in the years prior to 1860, Dutch forces arrived in South Tapanuki at the request of a local leader to provide protection. The Siak sultan subsequently signed a treaty with the Dutch East Indies government recognizing Dutch authority over it and the sultanates of Asahan, Serdang, Deli and Langkat. The Dutch proceeded further into Batakland and North Sumatra, invading Toba, Karo Highland, Nias and Silindung with the help of Christian missionaries, such as Ludwig Ingwer Nommensen, who worked to evangelise the area. The Dutch invasion into Batakland met resistance by Sisingamangaraja XII, causing a guerilla war lasting 30 years until and Sisingmangaraja XII's death in battle and a subsequent Dutch victory. Meanwhile, particularly after 1869, Dutch tobacco plantation activities expanded on the east coast, including the establishment of Deli Maatschappij and London Sumatra, using land leased from the Malay sultans. As there was a worker shortage, the Dutch began importing labourers from Java, Southern China and Southern India. This first big wave of migration established substantial Javanese, Chinese, and Indian populations in North Sumatra that remain to this day. By 1874, the sultanates had been formally included within the Dutch East Indies, and in Deli, the sultan of Deli granted the Dutch sole rights over taxation and leases, in exchange for an annual pension. That year, the East Coast Residency was established.

On March 12, 1942, Japanese forces landed in Palubuhan Ruku on the east coast, and advanced on Medan. The advance force reported it had captured the town the next day. The main force followed on bicycles. There was some resistance from the Dutch forces, particularly around Pematangsiantar, but the last major town, Sibolga, fell on 15 March. During the Japanese occupation of North Sumatra, the leader of the Japanese Armed Forces was centred in Bukittinggi, moving the de facto capital out of the Dutch centre of Medan. The occupation lasted 3 years. In 1945 the Japanese occupation officially ended with Japan's surrender in the Pacific and two days later Sukarno declared Indonesian Independence, beginning the four-year Indonesian War of Independence against the Dutch.

Independence and contemporary era

Beginning on 3 March 1946, there was a social revolution in East Sumatra. Across 25 "native states", many sultanates were overthrown. Armed pergerakan groups (Indonesian nationalists) conducted mass killings of the members of aristocratic families. To opportunistic pergerakan militants (including Communist Party of Indonesia members Xarim MS and Luat Siregar), the revolutionary movement was seen as a means for East Sumatra to be freed from colonial rule and to join the larger Indonesian National Revolution. Participants of the revolution were believed to be provoked by leaders to kill aristocrats and create violence with three prime objectives: to eliminate the sultans and aristocrats (who were seen as Dutch allies), to seize their wealth (to fund the Indonesian independence campaign), and to eliminate the region's feudal social structure.

The Dutch authorities, working with the East Sumatra Union (Persatuan Sumatra Timur), which had been formed in 1938 by westernized Malay elites to reassert Malay and Simalungun ethnic interests, established the State of East Sumatra (Indonesian: Negara Sumatra Timur (NST)) as part of the planned United States of Indonesia. The state lasted from December 1947 to August 1950. In addition to the Dutch, the NST state was supported by Malay aristocrats, most of the Simalungun rajas, some Karo chieftains, and Chinese groups who felt that the revolution threatened their interests. Dr Tengku Mansu, a member of the Asahan royal family, was selected as head of state for the NST. While the Dutch wanted the NST to be seen as an orderly and progressive alternative to the republic, western-educated aristocrats saw it as a bastion for their own ethnic interests. Following the Dutch-Indonesian Round Table Conference in late 1949, the Dutch withdrew military support for the State of East Sumatra and its local authority began to collapse. The short-lived state was viewed with suspicion, and Dr Tengku Mansur entered into negotiations with Mohammad Hatta to reunify East Sumatra with the Republic of Indonesia in May 1950. Mansur surrendered authority to the republic and East Sumatra merged with Tapanuli to become the province of North Sumatra on August 15, 1950.

After Indonesian independence, at the first session of the National Committee of Regions (KND), Sumatra was divided into three sub-provinces: North Sumatra, Central Sumatra and South Sumatra. North Sumatra was an amalgamation of three administrative regions called Residencies: the Residency of Aceh, the East Sumatra Residency, and the Residency of Tapanuli. The publication of the Law of the Republic of Indonesia (R.I.) No. 10, Year 1948 on April 15, 1948, formalized the division of these three provinces. The date of 15 April 1948 has been subsequently celebrated as the anniversary of North Sumatra Province.

Act R.I. No. 24 of 1956, promulgated on 7 December 1956, established a separate Aceh Province, independent of the province of North Sumatra.

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