A Moving History of Middle Sumatra
A Moving History of Middle Sumatra
A Moving History of Middle Sumatra
published in
Modern Asian Studies
2005
document version
Publisher's PDF, also known as Version of record
General rights
Copyright and moral rights for the publications made accessible in the public portal are retained by the authors and/or other copyright owners
and it is a condition of accessing publications that users recognise and abide by the legal requirements associated with these rights.
• Users may download and print one copy of any publication from the public portal for the purpose of private study or research.
• You may not further distribute the material or use it for any profit-making activity or commercial gain
• You may freely distribute the URL identifying the publication in the public portal ?
E-mail address:
vuresearchportal.ub@vu.nl
Introduction
The history of the early modern Malay world has been told largely
in terms of processes of Islamization, the rise and demise of states,
European voyages of discovery, trade with China, India and Europe,
and colonial conquest. With a few important exceptions, these studies
underestimate, if not ignore, the role of transportation in the historical
transformations of Southeast Asia. Just as Clive Ponting’s (1992) well-
known A green history of the world rewrites the world’s history in ecological
terms, this article aims to describe the political and economic history
of Middle Sumatra in terms of transportation of goods and people.
Hence this is a moving history.
I do not wish to propose a major overhaul of the historiography of
Sumatra, but believe that a thorough understanding of transportation
helps to see familiar historical facts in a clearer, and sometimes
different, light. The body of the text gives a detailed overview of
the transportation network in Middle Sumatra between 1600 and
1870. For the most part, the history of transportation in Middle
Sumatra has not yet been written and is valuable in its own right.
Middle Sumatra is the area covered by the present provinces of West
Sumatra, Bengkulu, South Sumatra, Jambi, and Riau. From around
1600, information about Sumatra began to flow in European circles,
and by 1870, Dutch colonial control had become firmly established
and was about to steer the island towards a new economic course.
1
This article forms part of a research project on environmental changes in Middle
Sumatra between 1600 and 1870. I am grateful to the Royal Netherlands Institute
of Southeast Asian and Caribbean Studies (KITLV) and the Netherlands Foundation
for the Advancement of Tropical Research (WOTRO) for their financial support that
allowed me to delve into the national archive of Indonesia. I would also like to thank
Rivke Jaffe for improving my English.
0026–749X/05/$7.50+$0.10
1
2 FREEK COLOMBIJN
In the last two sections I take the analysis one step further and answer
the question: in what ways did the transportation network influence
the economic and political changes on the island? Although I do not
make an attempt here to compare Sumatra with other parts of the
region, I believe that the findings are relevant for other areas in the
Malay world.
The importance of transportation is demonstrated by the immense
symbolic power of some historical routes. The Nile, the Mississippi,
and the Suez Canal are but a few examples of water routes that have
inspired novelists. The Trans-Siberia Railway and the Orient Express
are perhaps the most celebrated railways. The Roman Via Appia,2
the Inca Roads over which relay runners carried messages at a speed
of 400 km per day (Von Hagen 1957), the caravan routes of the
Sahara, the Silk Route, la voie sacrée leading over 67 km from the base
at Bar-le-Duc to the battlefield of Verdun, the Great Ocean Road
in southern Australia, the highways of the Third Reich, the Trans-
Amazon Highway, the Ho Chi Minh Trail, and Route 66 are all very
famous roads, albeit for varying reasons.
With these examples in mind, practically every historian will agree
that transportation plays a key role in the centralization of states, the
subjugation of isolated insurgent peoples, the economic development
of peripheral regions, the exchange of ideas, and the mental maps that
people make of their world. Its role is so obvious that transportation is
often simply taken for granted: an element of the landscape in which
more exciting human dramas such as campaigns, mining and the
opening of plantations are staged. Even today, ‘because it appears so
self-evident, there has been comparatively little work undertaken on
the role of transport in economic development’ (Rigg 1997: 172), and
Southeast Asian national governments and multilateral development
banks have invested large sums in road construction rather uncritically
(Colombijn 2002).
The obvious, however, should never be overlooked, and fortunately
there are a number of interesting historical studies that do not neglect
transportation in Sumatra. Several historians have remarked upon
the importance of the monsoon. Ships sailing either from the Middle
East and India to China or vice versa had to wait in the Straits of
Malacca for a change of monsoon in order to pursue their voyage with
2
The roads of ancient Rome have been analysed by Ray Laurence (1999) in an
outstanding book that, more than any other work, demonstrates the kind of analysis
I had in mind while working on this article.
A MOVING HISTORY OF MIDDLE SUMATRA 3
a favourable wind. This forced interruption led to the existence of a
genealogy of major entrepôts in the Straits, from Sriwijaya via Malacca
and Riau to Singapore (see for instance Van Leur 1955: 165–6,
193–4; Meilink-Roelofsz 1962: 13, 37; Reid 1993: 36–53, 64–7).
Following Bronson (1977: 43), the term dendritic (tree-like) model
has gained acceptance. The dendritic model refers to the rise of
precolonial states in river systems in East Sumatra. The ports at
the river mouths controlled all interior shipping in the hinterland;
political-economic subcentres developed at the branches of the rivers
(Andaya 1995; Colombijn 2003; Hall 1985: 13–4; Kathirithamby-
Wells 1993: 78–81; Reid 1993: 53–7). Gusti Asnan has written a
detailed study of trade and shipping in West Sumatra in the nineteenth
century (Asnan 2000, 2002). Akira Oki (1986) has analysed the river
trade in Middle Sumatra in the nineteenth century. While these
publications form a base on which to build, they also leave many
questions unanswered.3 In this article I combine these older insights
with new information collected from Dutch and British archives and
travel reports.
3
In addition to the works mentioned here, there are two good monographs on
transportation worth being mentioned, although they deal with a later period. Amarjit
Kaur (1985) has written on transportation in Malaya (1870–1957). The railway
system, in competition with roads, facilitated the transformation of the peninsula
into a lopsided export economy, which in its turn produced a plural society and new
settlements on the west coast. Joep à Campo (1992) produced a voluminous work on
the development of the Koninklijke Paketvaart Maatschappij (KPM), a monopolistic
package boat service, which contributed to the political integration of the Netherlands
Indies archipelago. The same argument, including land transport, was made more
pointedly by Howard Dick (1996).
4
The actual geographical layout of Sumatra is from northwest to southeast. In
common parlance, however, one speaks of the north and south end of the island; the
long sides are called the west and east coasts.
4 FREEK COLOMBIJN
Bu
ki
t St
Ba ra
r is it s
a of
n M
ala
R oka n cc
a
Nias Si a
k
Natal Ka
m p ar Riau
L.Singkarak Indr ag i r i
Highlands
Ba
di
tan hari
g
an
Bu
Kerinci s i
ki
O
mb
e
ce
Te
s
wa Mus
Ba
Ra
an
i
is
r
a Palembang
n Rejang ing
Pasumah
wang
r
me
Bengkulu o
nga b
K
ala
T
Map 1.
by the Semangko Fault Zone, which cleaves the whole range into an
elevated western half and a lower eastern half. A number of volcanoes
straddle the fault zone. Debris from erosion and volcanic eruptions
has filled the highland valleys of the Semangko Fault Zone, creating a
flat, and sometimes fertile, underground. The asymmetrical location
of the Bukit Barisan and the dissimilar relief of the west and east
half of Sumatra both have a profound impact on the hydrology. The
high mountains on the western side of the Semangko Fault Zone form
Sumatra’s watershed. Short rivers run down the steep western slopes
of the Bukit Barisan towards the Indian Ocean. To the east a number of
long, wide rivers flow, emptying in the Straits of Malacca: the Rokan,
the Siak, the Kampar, the Indragiri, the Batanghari, and the Musi
(Van Bemmelen 1949: 21–5, 188–9; Wolfram-Seifert 1992: 73–6).
In 1600, the west coast was sparsely inhabited. Cultivation of
pepper at the foot of the mountains developed in the seventeenth
A MOVING HISTORY OF MIDDLE SUMATRA 5
Aceh Penang
Singkel
Barus
Singapore
Siak S.I.
Bintan
Pekanbaru
Taratak Bulu Pelalawan
Air Bangis
Pangkalan Kota baru
Bukittinggi Pagarruyung
Anai Gorge =
Rengat
Padang
Muara Tebo
Jambi
Indrapura Muara Tembesi
Palembang
Tebingtinggi
Bengkulu
Menggala
area above 500 m
100 km
Banten Batavia
Map 2.
5
See also Algemeen Verslag (AV) Sumatra’s Westkust 1825, Arsip Nasional
Republik Indonesia, Jakarta (ANRI), Sumatra’s Westkust (SWK) 125-1; Verslag
over Sumatra’s Westkust by Pieter Merkus, 23-11-1839, ANRI, SWK 151-6; Andaya
(1995: 547).
6
Reglement op het gebruik der transportwegen ter Sumatra’s Westkust, Staatsblad
van Nederlandsch-Indië 1857, no. 103. It is unknown to what extent drivers adhered to
these maximum weights or whether they surpassed them, as is usually the case in our
time.
8 FREEK COLOMBIJN
7
AV Palembang 1834 and 1835, ANRI, Palembang 62-2; AV Palembang 1853,
ANRI, Palembang 63-5; Van Hasselt 1882: 368; Van Hasselt and Snelleman 1881:
66. The colonial civil servants rarely explain the types, either because of ignorance
or because they assumed the types were commonly known. A pancalang was suited for
passenger transport and had twenty oarsmen and 2 coxswains. A bilungkang was used
for freight and had eight to ten men on board. A jukong was a swift vessel with six
rowers, which was used for sending messages. AV Palembang 1856, ANRI, Palembang
63-7.
8
AV Palembang 1834 and 1835, ANRI, Palembang 62-2. Dividing the total volume
of downstream trade by the number of boat arrivals in Palembang in 1855, Oki
(1986: 36) concludes that the actual load per perahu was no more than 0.5 ton.
Although Oki speaks of the actual load and not of the carrying capacity, as I do, I find
the figure of 0.5 ton unbelievably low compared to the capacity of both perahu and
pedati.
9
AV Palembang 1834 and 1835, ANRI, Palembang 62-2; AV Palembang 1853,
ANRI, Palembang 63-5.
10
The biggest problem with the transportation of timber was on land. Hauling one
single tree out of the forest required the work of two-hundred to three-hundred people
(AV Palembang 1949, ANRI, Palembang 63-2). A tree was usually not transported
from the spot where it was felled to the nearest waterway over a distance of more
A MOVING HISTORY OF MIDDLE SUMATRA 9
Inland Transportation Routes
than one cable length, or approximately 200 m (Generale Missive (GM) 31-12-1769,
Algemeen Rijksarchief, Den Haag (ARA), Verenigde Oostindische Compagnie (VOC)
3251, f. 801r.).
11
Kort rapport van het lid der Natuurkundige Commissie P. van Oort 16-8-1833,
ANRI, SWK 148-2.
12
Translaat rapport Thomas Dias over zijn reis naar Siak, 18-11-1684, ARA, VOC
1407, f. 3017–3029. Dias also mentioned a total of 3,550 traders in the sites he
passed on his route from Siak, on the west coast, to the Minangkabau capital; these
traders must have had an infrastructure of roads at their disposal as well. De Haan
(1897) published Dias’ report.
13
GM 31-5-1684 in: Generale 4 (1971) 691; Memorie voor Jesaia Schaap, ARA,
VOC 1683, f. 870–871.
10 FREEK COLOMBIJN
14
Dagregister Thomas da Lima op zijn reis naar Songij Pagou, 17-6-1681 to
25-8-1681, ARA, VOC 1369, f. 1155v.
A MOVING HISTORY OF MIDDLE SUMATRA 11
for the journey (Dobbin 1983: 104).15 In other words, ten men were
necessary for the transport of 1 pikul (62 kg) of trade goods, an effective
weight equal to the burden of a packhorse. In the forest, however, the
tree roots clearly made horses not beasts of burden but rather useless
burdens themselves. Roots, thorny shrubs, leeches, and elephant-made
potholes could make the paths vexing experiences for humans as well.
Elephants like to take the paths made by humans (Van Hasselt and
Snelleman 1881: 65, 188, 332; Müller and Horner 1855: 130). In
the rainy season, the paths were virtually impassable. The paths were
ruined by buffaloes, which were driven over them in herds to be sold
in towns. Sometimes villagers placed gates on the path, which, while
easily passed by humans, forced the animals to make a detour (Van
Hasselt & Snelleman 1881: 164, 188). Rivers were crossed over rattan
suspension bridges. A spectacular 368-foot suspension bridge spanned
the Musi River near Tebingtinggi.16 In the seventeenth century, in
addition to the natural obstacles, Minangkabau traders established
toll gates by placing a rattan across a footpath, demanding money
from passing Chinese and Javanese traders (Andaya 1993a: 94).
Once the goods had reached the rivers, transportation became less
onerous, because the flow of the water did most of the work. On the
way to the estuary, goods were frequently transferred from one boat to
another for two reasons. Firstly, navigation was sometimes interrupted
by natural obstacles and luggage and goods had to be hauled overland.
Secondly, it was economical to combine goods from small boats into
one larger vessel, as soon as the depth of the river allowed this.
Trade centres developed at points for transhipment: at confluences
of rivers, at junctions of rivers and forest paths, and at the upper
limits for certain types of ships requiring a specific depth (Dobbin
1983: 6; Müller 1837: 28–33; Oki 1986: 12). The river transportation
system served as an outlet not only for the mountains, but also for the
lower-lying ecological zones. For instance, in 1855, 28,000 boats and
rafts drifted down the Musi to Palembang; four-fifths came from the
peneplain and only one-fifth from the piedmont zone. Another 4,000
15
This information contradicts the aforementioned observation by Van Hasselt
and Raffles that porters carried their own necessities. I believe that this discrepancy
must be explained by the fact that Van Hasselt and Raffles observed porters in a
densely populated area, where the porters could replenish their provisions every day.
16
AV Palembang 1856, ANRI, Palembang 63-7; see also AV Palembang 1852,
ANRI, Palembang 63-4.
12 FREEK COLOMBIJN
small vessels sailed up the Musi from the coastal zone. On average
almost 90 vessels reached Palembang each day.17
The points for transhipment formed a three-layer hierarchy of
collector and distribution points, reflected in Bronson’s dendritic
model. The term pangkalan stood for a landing place at the riverside in
the piedmont zone, where footpaths conjoined the higher reaches of
the rivers. In order to embark or disembark at a pangkalan, one usually
had to descend or ascend a ladder leaning against the high riverbank.
The toponyms of many upriver sites included the word pangkalan; one
example is Pangkalan Kota Baru, which was, in 1834, a town of only
fifty houses on the Kampar (Collet 1925: 279; Dobbin 1983: 104;
Müller 1837: 31–3; Oki 1986: 12, 36–38). Starting with the pangkalan,
the upper rivers served as feeder routes for the ports at the confluences.
The toponyms of these ports usually combined the word muara (mouth)
with the name of the smaller river that emptied into the main stream.
For instance, travelling down the Batanghari from piedmont to alluvial
plain, one passes Muara Tebo, Muara Tembesi and Muara Kumpeh.
The downstream river ports, finally, functioned simultaneously as
collector points for a whole river system and as seaports for ocean-
going vessels (Bronson 1977; Reid 1993: 54). Chinese junks and VOC
ships sailed up the river to these seaports in the seventeenth century,
while steamships did the same in the nineteenth century. Empirical
reality was, of course, more complex than the analytical three-tiered
hierarchy might imply. Palembang, for instance, combined functions
of pangkalan, confluence of rivers, and seaport.
The river ports were not located on the coast, but about 100 km
inland, respectively: Patapahan, Pekanbaru, and Siak Sri Indrapura
on the Siak; Pelalawan on the Kampar; Rengat on the Indragiri;
Tanahpilih ( Jambi) on the Batanghari; Palembang on the Musi; and,
farther south, in Lampung, Menggala on the Tulangbawang. All of
these ports were located higher than the alluvial coastal land, at a
point where the soil became more solid. Moreover, at such a point of
the river, all confluences had emptied in the main stream, but the
delta had not yet branched off, which meant that all river traffic could
be controlled from one spot (Colombijn 2003). Finally, the distance
from the sea provided protection against overseas attacks, especially
as defence works were erected along the river (Goudie 1989: 151,
177; Woelders 1975: 245, 265).
17
Politiek verslag (PV) Palembang 1855, ANRI, Palembang 61.
A MOVING HISTORY OF MIDDLE SUMATRA 13
One type of obstacles to navigation consisted of those impediments
created by humans. During disputes between the Jambinese
downstream king and the upstream Minangkabau people, a rattan was
stretched across the river to block all traffic.18 It is unclear whether
the rattan effectively sealed off the river, or whether it was merely a
traffic sign. Likewise, in 1731 and 1762, the Minangkabau king, co-
operating with the VOC on the west coast, promised to close off the
route from the highlands to Patapahan on the Siak, in order to redirect
trade towards Padang;19 whether or not he was able to implement this
promise is unknown. In the 1860s the sultan of Siak agreed with
traders coming from the interior to hang a rattan across the River
Kampar, to block traffic to his rival, the ruler of Kampar.20 It is not
known whether, during a smallpox or cholera epidemic, a rattan or
rope would be hung across the mouth of a river in order to prohibit sick
people from ascending into yet uninfected areas, as was the custom
on Borneo (Knapen 2001: 145). Rattan could also hinder upcoming
transportation. For example, eight exceptionally thick rattan cords,
strung one after the other, defended the River Siak from a Dutch
naval attack.21
There were also various natural obstacles that could hinder the
vessels. Tree trunks sometimes obstructed their passage (Cornelissen,
Van Hasselt and Snelleman 1882: 24, 235), and natural groynes, so-
called arahan, could form behind those trees. The water table was of
great importance. By drifting on the high tide and waiting during
ebb, ships could make it from the river mouth to the town of Jambi
in five or six days, in the dry season.22 In the wet season, however,
the current could be so strong that navigation became dangerous.
In those cases, on both the Batanghari and the Musi, big ships were
forced to put out a hawser of some hundred metres and winch their
way up; this time-consuming procedure was repeated over and over
(De Sturler 1843: 41; Wellan 1926: 349).23 By the early eighteenth
century, even small Dutch vessels were forced to use this method on the
18
Dagregister Batavia (DR) 19-10-1636, 15-11-1636, Dagh-register 1636 (1899:
254, 281); GM 13-1-1644, Generale 2 (1964: 231).
19
GM 2-2-1731, Generale 9 (1988: 212); GM 31-12-1762, ARA, VOC 3031,
f. 954r-v.
20
PV Riau 1868, ANRI, Riau 59.
21
Rapport Kapitein J.J. Visboom over de expeditie naar Siak, 16-8-1761, ARA,
VOC 3024, Malacca p. 76.
22
Letter J.P. Coen to Heren XVII 31-3-1616, Coen (1919: 177).
23
See also Journal of a voyage [...] to Jambi, 11-9-1615 to 25-10-1615, Letters 3
(1899: 165–6).
14 FREEK COLOMBIJN
24
GM 25-11-1708, Generale 6 (1976: 542); see also GM 15-1-1711, Generale 6
(1976: 715); GM 30-11-1719, Generale 7 (1979: 423).
25
‘de rivier meer menschen eet als de tijger’, Memorie van Andries Tersies, July 1659,
ARA, VOC 1229, f. 292r.
26
Belangrijke aanmerkingen over de rivier Kommering van J.F. Swent, 1823,
ANRI, Palembang 70-15.
27
AV Palembang 1863, ANRI, Palembang 64-4; AV Palembang 1865, ANRI,
Palembang 64-5.
A MOVING HISTORY OF MIDDLE SUMATRA 15
Estimates for travelling time on the rivers vary from author to
author; this variation was probably related to the fluctuating water
level in the river (depending on the season, and also varying from
year to year), the kind of vessel used, the weight of the cargo, and
the exact point of departure and arrival. Even more important is the
significant difference between the upward and downward travelling
time. According to John Anderson’s (1826: 390) informants, it took
15 to 30 days to ascend the Batanghari to the Minangkabau heartland,
while the descent took only 10 days (this time probably included an
overland route). Dutch colonial officials counted on 24 to 36 days to
sail from Palembang to Tebingtinggi, and only 3 to 4 days to return;
the figures for Lahat were respectively 12 to 18 days and 2 to 3 days.28
The actual pattern described above varied from river to river in
two important respects: the navigability of the river and the density
of footpaths connecting the highlands with the upper reaches of the
respective rivers. The navigability of the rivers varied, depending on
the depth of the river and possible shoals obstructing a free entrance
from the sea. The current deterred ships from entering the Rokan
and Kampar (Marsden 1811: 357). The so-called beno or bena is
a high wave that moves up the Kampar during rising tides. This
spectacular phenomenon gave rise to several local ghost stories; a
western observer compared it to a charge of the cavalry. It seems that
the beno first occurred four or five centuries ago (Tideman 1935: 6;
Westenenk 1927: 37–46). The Siak was the deepest of the northern
rivers, navigable for vessels of any size (Anderson 1826: 200, 210).
The Batanghari was also fine, although shifting sandbanks required
the pilots’ full attention (Van Hasselt and Snelleman 1881: 220, 253).
Once a ship was on it, the Musi was the most convenient waterway, but
the mud bar at its mouth forced ships to wait for the tide to enter.29
In the piedmont zone, the upper reaches of the rivers were connected
by a tightly knit network of footpaths (Dobbin 1983: 104–5; Oki
1986: 12–22). The peneplain had few connecting footpaths, with one
important exception: the short track between Taratak Bulu on the
Kampar and Pekanbaru on the Siak. This connection allowed traders
to combine the best of two rivers for a popular route: the upper Kampar
28
AV Palembang 1834 and 1835, ANRI, Palembang 62-2; AV Palembang 1836,
1837 and 1838, ANRI, Palembang 62-4; AV Palembang 1851, ANRI, Palembang
63-3.
29
De Sturler (1843: 41); see also Aantekeningen gehouden gedurende de
commissie naar Riau en Palembang juni-december 1838, ANRI, Palembang 71-4.
16 FREEK COLOMBIJN
between Pangkalan Kota Baru and Taratak Bulu, and the lower Siak
between Pekanbaru and the open sea. It took only a day to walk from
Taratak Bulu to Pekanbaru, but robbers made the route unsafe.30
Because of the network of footpaths in the piedmont zone and the
peneplain path between Kampar and Siak, the Minangkabau traders
could choose which river to take as an outlet. This choice of outlets
meant that, for the rulers in the ports near the river mouth, the
opportunities to tax the highland traders coming down from their
respective hinterlands were reduced. If the highlanders felt they were
being squeezed in the downstream port, they would simply choose
another river.31 For example, in the early 1860s, traders from one
district in the interior, L Koto, agreed with the sultan of Siak to
replace the River Kampar as outlet for their export by the River Siak.
They hung a rattan across the Kampar at Taratak Bulu and forced all
traders to go from there overland to the Siak. A strongman ( jago) sent
by the ruler of Kampar tried in vain to break the blockade by force,
but the heads of L Koto, persuaded by presents and promises by the
ruler of Kampar, cut the rattan voluntarily in 1868.32
The Musi was something of an exception among the other rivers.
It was too far away from West Sumatra to be frequented much
by Minangkabau traders; other ethnic groups lived in the Musi’s
hinterland. A dense network of roads and paths existed between
its unusual number of tributaries—Rawas, Lakitan, Klingi, Musi
proper, Lematang, Enim, Ogan and Komering, and the piedmont
town of Tebingtinggi became an important regional centre where
several roads came together. Tebingtinggi’s importance was enhanced
by the fact that two roads led from it to Bengkulu on the west
coast, one through Ampatlawang and the other through Rejang.33
30
Nota over het rijk Siak Sri Indrapura, ANRI, Riau 58-2. See also: Müller (1837:
30) and Oki (1986: 13).
31
There was also one connection in the eastern alluvial zone, namely between the
Batanghari and the Musi via the River Lalang (GM 27-12-1688, Generale 5 1975:
216; Cornelissen, Van Hasselt and Snelleman 1882: 204–6). As this route lay below
the towns of Jambi and Palembang, it was merely an alternative to coastal navigation
and had no impact on the relation between the two capitals and their respective
hinterlands.
32
PV Riau 1865, ANRI, Riau 58-2; PV Riau 1868, ANRI, Riau 59.
33
AV Palembang 1834 and 1835, ANRI, Palembang 62-2; AV Palembang 1846,
ANRI, Palembang 62-9; Topografisch verslag van de weg die langs de Moesie door
Ampat Lawang en Redjang naar Benkoelen leidt, 1839, ANRI, Palembang 71-7;
Journaal van de resident J.E. de Sturler naar de divisie Oeloe Moesie aangevangen op
17-6-1824, Koninklijk Instituut voor Taal-, Land-en Volkenkunde, Leiden (KITLV),
H243, pp. 130–4.
A MOVING HISTORY OF MIDDLE SUMATRA 17
As a whole, this system lay somewhat isolated from the other rivers,
although trade developed between the Tembesi (a tributary of the
Batanghari) and the Rawas (a tributary of the Musi), leading to quite
lively traffic in the 1860s (Andaya 1993b: 93; Andaya 1995: 546;
Kathirithamby-Wells 1993: 85; Oki 1986: 19). The Musi’s special
geography was one reason why the Palembang sultans’ hold over their
subjects was much more secure than that of the rulers on other rivers
(Colombijn 2003).
The other outlet from the mountain valleys, the route to the west
coast, was very different from the trajectory to the east coast. The
mountains west of the Semangko Fault were higher and steeper than
the mountains to the east. For a long time, goods were simply carried,
by men, across the watershed of the Bukit Barisan to the ports on the
west coast.34 From at least the seventeenth century on, coolies were
for hire to carry goods.35 Caravans of gold-traders en route to the
west coast consisted of a hundred or more men on foot (Dobbin 1983:
67). The two most important passes were the Anai Gorge (Lembah
Anai, alt. 750 m) and the Subang Pass (alt. 1100 m), which were
not necessarily popular, as they were easily controlled by rulers and
robbers collecting levies. On his 1818 journey to the highlands, Raffles
had to pay toll 26 times (Asnan 2002). The British paid fixed stipends
to some villages so that the roads would be kept open.36 There were
many other trails leading over the mountains to the coast. These
footpaths connected highland and coastal places that were ruled by
the same clan, so that, in a way, the path was a physical realization of a
kinship tie. At first, the paths were used by highlanders mining salt in
the coastal saltpans. In the fifteenth century, they began to be used for
international trade and acquired the name jalan dagang (trade roads)
(Asnan 2002). In periods of heavy rain, the mountain paths became
slippery and few people ventured crossing them.37 On the west flank of
the mountain range, the tracks often followed the bottom and banks
of the rivers; although this meant that travellers had to clamber over
rocks, at least the river bed was clear of vegetation (Raffles 1830:
34
AV Sumatra’s Westkust 1825, ANRI, SWK 125-1.
35
Memorie van Overgave van Jacob Pits aan Melchior Hurt, Padang 18-12-1677,
ARA, VOC 1330, f. 783.
36
Letter Coles to Parr, 24-12-1805, India Office Records, London (IOR), Sumatra
Factory Records (SFR) 108, p. 156.
37
GM 28-1-1701, ARA, VOC 1630, f. 1085v.
18 FREEK COLOMBIJN
318, 345, 361; Van Hasselt and Snelleman 1881: 156, 404).38 The
rivers themselves were navigable only in the western alluvial plain,
sometimes for less than ten km. The navigability of the western rivers
was further reduced by sandbanks impeding entrance from the sea.
For instance, the entrance to the River Natal, with a medium sized port
of the same name, was particularly dangerous, because the location
of the sandbanks shifted. Ships of five feet depth could sail the river
up to the market only, 15 minutes from the mouth.39 In the mid-
eighteenth century, the most important rivers for navigation were the
Airbangis and the Tiku,40 but their relevance paled in comparison
with the eastern rivers. Most rivers in Bengkulu, south-west Sumatra,
were also too shallow for navigation.41
As the crow flies, the route to the west coast was short, but it was
also troublesome. According to De Stuers (1850: 148), it took porters
ten to twelve days to get from the mountain valleys of the Padang
Highlands to the west coast. When a port town developed into a
collector point, as Tiku or Pariaman did in the seventeenth century,
and Padang did later under the VOC, no network of tracks came
together in that port. Completely in line with theories that would
be formulated later by the geographer A. Lösch (Tolley and Turton
1995: 48–54), people preferred a detour that minimized the distance
travelled overland, because sea transport was so much easier, hence
cheaper. Consequently, they brought goods down to the beach in a
straight line, and, from there, travelled further on coasters.42 A lively
coastal trade ensued.
In addition to this coastal shipping, one long road followed the whole
west coast through the alluvial plain, from Airbangis to Bengkulu. The
road had to make only one inland detour immediately south of Padang,
where the mountains reached all the way to the sea.
38
For a seventeenth-century report about the use of riverbeds, see Dagregister
Thomas da Lima op zijn reis naar Songij Pagou, 17-6-1681 to 25-8-1681, ARA, VOC
1369, f. 1154v–1155v.
39
Nota betreffende Natal en Airbangis [1825], ANRI, SWK 151-3. See also: Müller
and Horner 1855: 84.
40
Ht van Bazel, De Radicaale Beschrijving van Sumatra’s West Cust, 13-4-1761,
KITLV, H167. Jacob Joriszn. One century earlier, the Padang and Terusan rivers
were considered the best to sail on; Jacob Joriszn. Pits, Beschrijvinge over de Westcust
caerte, 25 September 1672, ARA, VOC 1290.
41
AV Bengkulu 1872, ANRI Benkoelen 3-19.
42
It has been calculated that, for thirteenth-century Europe, transport costs were
twenty times greater over land than over sea (Reid 1993: 53).
A MOVING HISTORY OF MIDDLE SUMATRA 19
The condition of this road, and this can be said of all roads and paths,
depended on the season. In 1680, the VOC servant Johannes Maurits
van Happel and his Minangkabau companion travelled southward
from Padang to Salida in three days, going first through the coastal
mountains and then over the beach. They rode on horseback, but
had to walk ‘per pedes apostolorum’ where the path was too narrow,
too steep or too slippery for the horses. The pair swam across the
deep rivers. Salomon Vermeeren and fifteen VOC servants made the
same trip in the reverse direction twelve years later. They started
travelling after five rainless days, so that the river water never reached
above their knees. In the valleys, where Van Happel and his comrade
had toiled through swampy fields, Vermeeren and company rode
over an easy road. They found the road in the mountains fairly
good though neglected, overgrown with grass reaching 2.5 metres
high. The road was probably temporarily under-utilized because of
recent fights in the area. They too found some slopes dangerously
steep.43
From the above overview it is clear that there were several
connections straight across Sumatra in existence. Several such
connections existed between West Sumatra and Siak or Jambi. As
early as the late seventeenth century, the Dutch knew about Tanjung, a
lively pangkalan fifteen days’ travel up the Batanghari from Jambi; from
Tanjung routes led to various places on the west coast.44 The British
were also already sending letters from Palembang to Bengkulu in
the seventeenth century (GM 28-2-1687, Generale 5 1975: 82). There
were two different connections between Bengkulu and Palembang
via Tebingtinggi. A British group made this crossing in twelve days
(Raffles 1830: 321, 339). In 1748, a new path was cut to facilitate trade
between Limun, in Palembang’s hinterland, and Bengkulu (Andaya
1993a: 172), but no more was heard of it later. Yet another transversal
connection went from Bengkulu via Kerinci to Jambi (Anderson 1826:
399).
43
Relaas van de overlandreis van Padang naar Silida door Johannes Maurits
van Happel, Salida 7-9-1680, ARA, VOC 1361, f. 117–122; Rapport van Salomon
Vermeeren en Joannes Sas over hun landreis van Troussan naar Padang, Padang
19-12-1692, ARA, VOC 1518, f. 357v–365.
44
GM 27-12-1688, Generale 5 1975: 215; for descriptions of later routes, see:
Sumatra’s Westkust Jaarlijksch verslag 1819–1827, ANRI, SWK 125-3.
20 FREEK COLOMBIJN
Coastal Navigation
45
The description of Bangka, in a letter by M.H. Court to T.S. Raffles, Muntok
20-7-1814, IOR, Java Factory Records (JFR) 41, third part pp. 13–17; AV Riau 1825,
ANRI, Riau 60-1. The creeks were so efficient routes that when an ambitious Dutch
civil servant constructed a road on the island of Bintan in 1826, it was afterwards
called ‘one of the most ridiculous and most useless enterprises that can have been
undertaken at any place’ (een van de belachelikste en meest nuttelooze ondernemingen die ooit
op eenige plaats kunnen zijn daargesteld). AV Riau 1827, ANRI, Riau 60-1.
46
Letter M.H. Court to Henry St. George Tucker, Muntok 5-9-1814, IOR, JFR 41,
third part pp. 57–8.
A MOVING HISTORY OF MIDDLE SUMATRA 21
Table 1
Volume of Pepper Loaded on Several Types of Coastal Vessels
Type n min max mean stdev median 1–3 quartile
jung 57 3.4 123.5 23.8 24.8 15.4 10.2–24.7
giliang 37 0.9 18.5 7.5 4.5 7.4 3.7–9.9
tingan 21 0.7 11.1 6.7 3.0 7.4 5.6–8.3
balau 13 0.7 10.2 5.1 2.8 5.6 2.8–7.4
wangkang 7 6.2 49.4 20.4 14.9 13.6 12.4–24.7
lambu 7 4.6 14.8 8.8 3.8 7.4 6.4–11.1
konting 4 3.7 18.5 8.2 6.9 5.2 4.6–8.8
sampan 4 0.9 9.3 4.3 3.6 3.5 2.6–5.1
Source: Dagh-register [1624–1648] (1887–1903) passim.
Volume in metric tons (calculated from pikul valued at 61.75 kg).
The figures do not represent the ships’ tonnage, but their actual load,
including almost empty or overloaded ships. The weighted average is
14 tons. The widely disparate maximum and minimum values, and the
high standard deviation suggest that the mean is not a good indicator
of the normal ship loads. The median and the first and third quartile
provide us with more information in this respect.
Coastal shipping depended on the prevailing winds, which changed
with every monsoon. It was impossible to sail against the monsoon,
even for the ocean-going VOC ships. In 1615, a Dutch ship battled
for five months with an eastern wind off the west Sumatran coast,
trying to make its passage through the Sunda Strait. It lost 163
sailors due to, ironically, lack of water.47 Accordingly, coastal shipping
was as dependent on seasonal changes of the weather as inland
transportation.
Colonial Interference
47
Letter of J.P. Coen to Heren XVII 25-12-1615, Coen (1919: 150); for similar
cases see: GM 22-12-1638, Generale I (1960: 731); GM 31-12-1647, Generale 2 (1964:
311).
22 FREEK COLOMBIJN
48
As early as the 1820s, Dutch civil servants had worked on a road from Padang
to Kayutanam, at the lower end of the Anai Gorge. Sumatra’s Westkust, Jaarlijksch
verslag 1819–1827, ANRI, SWK 125-3.
49
AV Sumatra’s Westkust 1852, ANRI, SWK 126-6.
50
AV Padangsche Bovenlanden 1864, ANRI, SWK 127-21; AV Padangsche
Bovenlanden 1868, ANRI, SWK 128-7; AV Sumatra’s Westkust 1871, ANRI, SWK
128-14.
A MOVING HISTORY OF MIDDLE SUMATRA 23
of the excellent quality of this road by contemporary standards. By
the middle of the century, five other roads passable for pedati from
the mountain zone to the west coast were ready, ending at Sibolga,
Natal, Airbangis, Tiku and Painan.51 A seventh road to the mountains,
intended to create a direct connection between Padang and XIII Koto
via the Subang Pass, was started in 1861, but progress was hampered
by repeated landslides. A satisfying trajectory was searched for by trial
and error, but by 1870 this road had still not been completed.52
The new roads formed only the hardware of transportation, and
by trial and error the colonial administration searched for an
adequate management of the means of coffee. During the years
1825–1830 and 1834–1841 the so-called Transport Etablissement
(State Transportation Service) took care of the coffee. At the end of
the first period it was decided that it would be more economical,
from the treasury’s perspective, to have the coffee brought down
to Padang on men’s backs using unpaid compulsory labour. The
Minangkabau population detested this corvée strongly. In 1833, Van
den Bosch, who preferred to have the local people cultivate coffee
rather than carry it, decided to employ debt-slaves from the island
of Nias for the transport of coffee. In 1839, a reported number of
956 coolies were employed by the Transport Etablissement, but they
cost 60 percent more, per ton-kilometre, than local, private coolies.
The state therefore decided to farm out the coffee transportation
to entrepreneurs (transportaannemers) who hired coolies on the free
market. In this way, for example, a private entrepreneur hired a
train of 300 porters to carry a particular shipload of coffee from XIII
Koto down to Padang. At first, the private entrepreneurs complained
that payment was too low for a viable business, and did not dare to
invest in ox-carts. Later they hired private pedati owners. In 1850, one
entrepreneur experimented with four-wheeled carts drawn by four
bulls; they had a loading capacity of over 900 kg, but their limited
manoeuvrability made them impracticable.53 Many people were able
51
AV Sumatra’s Westkust 1854, ANRI, SWK 126-11; see also Graves (1981: 66–7).
52
The section ‘Wegen, rivieren en waterwerken’ (Roads, rivers and waterworks) in
the Algemene Verslagen (annual reports) of Sumatra’s Westkust provides abundant
details on road construction by the colonial regime.
53
Verslag over Sumatra’s Westkust van Pieter Merkus, 23-11-1839, ANRI, SWK
151-6; AV Sumatra’s Westkust 1849, ANRI, SWK 125-9; AV Sumatra’s Westkust
1850, ANRI, SWK 125-12; AV Sumatra’s Westkust 1851, ANRI, SWK 125-13; AV
Sumatra’s Westkust 1862, ANRI, SWK 127-15; De Stuers II 1850: 66, 68, 136, 138.
The calculation of costs per ton-kilometre by the Transport Etablissement is from
Graves (1981: 55).
24 FREEK COLOMBIJN
54
See the various Algemene Verslagen (annual general reports); for some
interesting details, see in particular AV Padangsche Bovenlanden 1852, ANRI,
SWK 126-9; AV Sumatra’s Westkust 1853, ANRI, SWK 126-10; AV Padangsche
Bovenlanden 1860, ANRI SWK 127-10; AV Sumatra’s Westkust 1863, ANRI, SWK
127-19.
55
Besluit 2 May 1853, no. 7, Staatsblad van Nederlandsch-Indië 1853, no. 35.
56
Reglement op het gebruik der transportwegen ter Sumatra’s Westkust, Staatsblad
van Nederlandsch-Indië 1857, no. 103. This rule was withdrawn in 1864 and task of
drafting a new one placed in the hands of the governor of West Sumatra.
A MOVING HISTORY OF MIDDLE SUMATRA 25
took care that road construction, and even urgent repair work, did
not interfere with rice cultivation, and in the course of the nineteenth
century they provided the summoned labourers with more tools and
food. Nevertheless, where the population density was low, the burden
of road maintenance was so heavy that the population moved to other
areas to avoid the corvée. This happened, for instance, along the
road from Mandailing to Natal, so that in 1854 the state decided
to relieve the compulsory labourers on this specific trajectory and
contracted wage labourers instead. The road through the Anai Gorge
was maintained by wage labourers paid by a tax levied from all
inhabitants of the Padang Highlands, the so-called kloofgelden (‘gorge
money’). Nevertheless, after a devastating flood (banjir) in 1872,
in addition to the ordinary wage labourers, the state summoned
thousands of corvée labourers, who each worked between 17 and
28 days, adding up to 137,400 working days in total, and eighty
convicts, to restore the damage to the road through the Anai Gorge.
The maintenance of the excellent roads in the residentie capital,
Padang, was financed through a tax borne by non-indigenous urban
residents from 1858 on; but in 1807 residents who owned a carriage
were already being assessed incidentally.57 In the more densely
populated areas, where the corvée labour was spread over more
people, civil servants noticed a certain popular enthusiasm. The people
recognized the advantage of the good and occasionally excellent roads
for trade (and not only in coffee), were willing to invest time in them,
and sometimes asked the colonial state to organize the construction
with corvée labour.58 In 1836, at which time the road through the Anai
Gorge was not finished, but already in a usable state, two thousand
people were taking it daily (Dobbin 1983: 213).
On the east coast of Sumatra, there was less need for improvement
of the transportation system. The rivers and their tributaries and
countless rivulets formed adequate routes, as most transport of bulk
57
AV Sumatra’s Westkust 1855, ANRI, SWK 126-12; AV Sumatra’s Westkust
1866, ANRI, SWK 128-2; AV Sumatra’s Westkust 1872, ANRI, SWK 128-18; Letter
Martin to William Grant, Fort Marlborough 10-2-1807, IOR, SFR 110, p. 212; see
also Graves (1981: 56, 68–9). In the town of Palembang all families were demanded
to contribute to the maintenance of roads and bridges in labour or money. The money
was for the largest part used to buy materials and to hire coolies. The remainder
of the money was used for the secret police, as bonus for underpaid but deserving
indigenous civil servants, and for maintenance of indigenous public buildings. AV
Palembang 1845, ANRI, Palembang 62-8.
58
AV Padangsche Bovenlanden 1852, ANRI, SWK 126-9; AV Sumatra’s Westkust
1859, ANRI, SWK 127-7; AV Padangsche Bovenlanden 1860, ANRI, SWK 127-9.
26 FREEK COLOMBIJN
59
Memorie van Overgave J.A.W. van Ophuijsen, 17-12-1862, ANRI, Palembang
72-5.
60
See, for instance: AV Palembang 1839–1841, ANRI, Palembang 62-6; AV
Palembang 1844, ANRI, Palembang 62-7; AV Palembang 1860, ANRI, Palembang
63-11.
A MOVING HISTORY OF MIDDLE SUMATRA 27
more than adequate state. There were stations at regular intervals of
16–19 km, where carriers (inhabitants of surrounding villages taking
their coolie service, herendienst), were for hire at fixed rates (Wallace
1869: 134). This situation, however, was exceptional. The intensified
road maintenance and coolie system had been instigated in 1861 and
called off the very next year, because it kept people from agricultural
work. Whole villages were deserting the River Musi to escape this
burden.61
The colonial civil servants had more enduring success with the
elaboration of existing footpaths into roads in Palembang’s piedmont
zone. There was a constant struggle against decay here as well,
but, following extant paths, these roads at least met something
of a popularly felt need. Population density was higher, and the
construction work was borne by more people. In general, the roads in
the piedmont zone were quite nice and the state carried its own goods
around in ox-carts. The piedmont roads were lined with bamboo, which
provided shade and kept weeds away from the road. At places, the road
could be as wide as six metres; sometimes it had gutters (Cornelissen,
Van Hasselt and Snelleman 1882: 54, 102, 136, 140). In the 1860s,
the Dutch required the Rejang to build a road to close the connection
between the upper Musi and Bengkulu. The construction was not only
intended as a connection, but also as a sign of Dutch power (Galizia
1995: 39). A breakthrough was the road to Bengkulu, which enabled
the transportation of agricultural produce in bulk from the mountains
to the west coast. The scale of traffic was, however, much smaller than
at the latitude of Padang.
With the exception of the way to Bengkulu, the roads in Palembang’s
piedmont zone did nothing to stimulate the exchange of goods
produced in different ecological zones, and hence changed little in the
exploitation of natural resources. The local Sumatrans continued to
carry goods over the shortest distance to a river, preferring waterways
from there. A potent reason to avoid the roads was the danger of tigers.
What is more, the state prohibited private ox-carts on these roads and
as such they were practically empty.62 From an economic point of
view, the old established practice of upgrading the waterways was far
61
Memorie van Overgave J.A.W. van Ophuijsen, 17-12-1862, ANRI, Palembang
72-5.
62
AV Palembang 1839–1841, ANRI, Palembang 62-6; AV Palembang 1860, ANRI,
Palembang 63-11; see also: Cornelissen, Van Hasselt and Snelleman 1882: 39, 54,
138; De Sturler 1843: 37.
28 FREEK COLOMBIJN
63
See, for instance, AV Palembang 1852, ANRI, Palembang 63-4; AV Palembang
1856, ANRI, Palembang 63-7.
64
PV Riau 1873, ANRI Riau 59.
65
AV Sumatra’s Westkust 1868, ANRI, SWK 128-6; Colombijn 1996: 389; Oki
1986: 22.
66
AV Palembang 1862, ANRI, Palembang 64-1.
67
AV Sumatra’s Westkust 1870, ANRI, SWK 128-13; Gerdes Oosterbeek 1919:
477.
A MOVING HISTORY OF MIDDLE SUMATRA 29
comes as no surprise that in Middle Sumatra as well people preferred
waterways to roads wherever possible. What is surprising is that
overland transport was also considerably elaborate by the seventeenth
century at the latest. Even in the flat highland valleys and on the
western alluvial coast, however, people did not travel as the crow flies
but preferred a detour that enabled them to take a waterway as soon
as possible, because the price of transport over water was so much
lower.
The various means of transportation were each adequate for a
particular ecological zone, or part of a zone: walking through dry
river beds on the west coast; leading packhorses over the mountains;
using ox-carts in the highland valleys; crossing Lake Singkarak by
boat; walking over jungle paths to the eastern rivers’ headwaters; and
boarding boats and rafts of different sizes on the eastern rivers. There
are many examples of precolonial rulers and ordinary people taking
the initiative to upgrade roads and waterways.
The transportation network had a considerable impact on economic
specialization of ecological zones.68 It was not the product that
determined the means of transport, as happens today; the available
means of transport determined which goods were produced. Trees
were only felled near rivers; deep in the forest only non-timber forest
products with a very high value per unit weight were profitable, and
the first bulk good, coffee, only became really significant after the
construction of roads that were passable by carts.
The different ecological zones in Sumatra, each with their own
opportunities, had the potential for economic specialization, but
specialization is only feasible when the different ecological zones
are to some extent integrated into one encompassing market. A
prerequisite for regional economic integration is a transport network.
Such a network existed at least as early as the seventeenth century.
We can also invert the argument here, and state that a reasonably
developed inland transportation network was probably in existence
since the first millennium, as at that time Sumatra was already known
68
Another kind of economic specialization, not further discussed here, is the rise
of new occupations. I have already mentioned the transportaannemer and grasscutter.
A person with another new job, who made his appearance after the introduction of
pedati on the road to the west coast, was the agent who retailed coconut oil. Before
pedati were allowed to bring oil in bulk form the coast to the interior, porters who
returned from the coast to the interior brought coconut oil in hollow bamboo and sold
it directly to buyers (Asnan 2002).
30 FREEK COLOMBIJN
69
AV Sumatra’s Westkust 1852, ANRI, SWK 126-6.
70
AV Sumatra’s Westkust 1851, ANRI, SWK 125-12.
A MOVING HISTORY OF MIDDLE SUMATRA 31
Fifth and last, rice was brought in quickly to places where merchants
heard food was in short supply (Kato 1980: 743), so that famines were
mitigated.
71
There is insufficient detailed information about the valleys in the Semangko
Fault Zone south of the Minangkabau area (Rejang, Lebong, Pasumah), to ascertain
the existence of a central place system there too.
72
Two caveats must be made. First, now and then, a seaport could be eclipsed
by another port slightly higher or lower on the river, as happened on the Siak (Oki
1986: 12–14), but the pattern of one dominant port per river would soon be restored.
Secondly, some rivers had outports, populated by pilots, custom officers, and guards,
together with fishermen. Examples are Sungsang on the Musi and Muara Kumpeh
on the Batanghari. Neither of the caveats fundamentally alters the structure of the
dendritic pattern.
A MOVING HISTORY OF MIDDLE SUMATRA 33
port. The dendritic pattern allowed one, and only one, seaport with a
ruler near the mouth of each river, from which point the ruler could
control all traffic sailing up and down the river. The polities on the
east coast were the most centralized of Middle Sumatra and of these
states Palembang was the most stable, because the River Musi had
the least alternative transport routes from the interior that bypassed
the ruler at the river mouth (Colombijn 2003).
There was little natural differentiation on the west coast, and one
place was as good as another for the establishment of a trading place.
Therefore a large random number of small settlements sprang up,
each with a small road leading to the interior. Ht van Bazel mentions
as many as 39 coastal places between Barus and Indrapura, and farther
south, in the direction of Bengkulu, still more places were found. The
list includes names now almost forgotten, such as Ulakan, Bayang and
Surantih.73 Each place had a single route, path or river inland, and this
route inland was as straight as possible because of the cost of travelling
into the mountains. The result was a comb, with the coast as the back
of the comb, with a tooth at each coastal town. This arrangement of a
large but undetermined number of small towns arranged in one line is
a clear contrast to the small, fixed number of ports on the east coast.
With so many alternatives available, no single town or ruler could
dominate others for a prolonged time, and political power was very
fragmented (Colombijn 2003).74
Transportation not only influenced the measure in which a central
town could control trade in cash crops and luxurious prestige goods,
but also set the maximum size of towns. Theory predicts that the size
of a town depends on the size of its hinterland, which in turn depends
on the efficiency of the transportation system. Food cannot be brought
to towns if it takes more food to feed a porter than he can carry himself.
In early modern times there was a clear upper limit to the maximum
size a landlocked town could attain (Batten 1998). This insight helps
73
Ht van Bazel, De Radicaale Beschrijving van Sumatra’s West Cust, 13 April
1761, KITLV H167. Indrapura and some other places were not situated directly on
the coast, but a little inland. For his survey, Van Bazel obviously made use of an older
work: Jacob Joriszn. Pits, Beschrijvinge over de Westcust caerte, 25 September 1672,
ARA, VOC 1290.
74
The lack of political centralization did not prohibit a measure of cultural
homogenization. Minangkabau custom (adat) spread from the highland valleys to
the west coast and Islam entered the interior from the coast. Hence the Minangkabau
saying: ‘custom goes down, religion goes up’ (adat manurun, syarak mandaki) (Asnan
2002).
34 FREEK COLOMBIJN
explain why the towns in the mountain valleys had to remain small to
medium sized, despite the plentiful rice fields surrounding them. Most
towns on the west coast had to remain relatively small as well: their
direct hinterland was meagre, the rice-rich highland valleys too far
away, and overseas supply of food unreliable. The residents of British
Bengkulu, for example, often faced starvation (Kathirithamby-Wells
1977: 131). Natal was vulnerable during VOC blockades, because the
town had no rice-fields in its environs.75 Palembang, on the other hand,
was easily fed with supplies transported over the River Musi and was
by far the largest town on Sumatra. Journeying on the River Musi,
the traveller constantly encountered craft bringing daily necessities
down to Palembang.76 After it could be fed by pedati coming over the
Anai Gorge road, Padang began to outgrow all other towns with the
exception of Palembang.
The new road from the Minangkabau valleys to the west coast via the
Anai Gorge, which had such a tremendous effect on economy, ecology,
and urban size, also brought about a historical political caesura. For
the first time, the comb pattern of transportation on the west coast was
replaced by a system with one dominant city, Padang. What emerges is
in fact a dendritic pattern, not of rivers, but of roads, rooted in Padang
with the trunk road branching beyond the upper end of the Anai
Gorge. From this perspective, Padang’s rise in the nineteenth century,
which is usually ascribed to Dutch military force and compulsory coffee
deliveries, can also be understood in terms of transportation.
References
Aanmerkingen. 1836. Aanmerkingen gehouden op eene reise door eenige districten
der Padangsche Bovenlanden, Verhandelingen van het Bataviaasch Genootschap van
Kunsten en Wetenschappen 16: 159–226.
Andaya, Barbara Watson. 1992. Political developments between the sixteenth and
eighteenth centuries, in: N. Tarling (ed.), The Cambridge History of Southeast Asia vol 1,
402–59. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
—. 1993a. To Live as Brothers; Southeast Sumatra in the Seventeenth and Eighteenth Centuries.
Honolulu: University of Hawaii Press.
—. 1993b. Cash cropping and upstream-downstream tensions: the case of Jambi in the
seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, in: Anthony Reid (ed.), Southeast Asia in the
Early Modern Era; Trade, Power, and Belief, 91–122. Ithaca: Cornell University Press.
75
Memorie van Overgave van Sumatra’s Westkust van Willem Maurits Bruijnink,
6-1-1737, ANRI, SWK 5-1.
76
Journaal van de resident J.E. de Sturler naar de divisie Oeloe Moesie
aangevangen op 17-6-1824, KITLV H243.
A MOVING HISTORY OF MIDDLE SUMATRA 35
—. 1995. Upstreams and downstreams in early modern Sumatra, The Historian 57:
537–52.
Andaya, Barbara Watson and Leonard Andaya. 1982. A History of Malaysia. London
and Basingstoke: Macmillan.
Anderson, John. 1826. Mission to the East Coast of Sumatra in 1823. Reprint 1971, Kuala
Lumpur: Oxford University Press.
Asnan, Gusti. 2000. Trading and Shipping Activities: The West Coast of Sumatra 1819–
1906. Jakarta: Yayasan Rusli Amran.
—. 2002. Transportation on the West Coast of Sumatra in the nineteenth century,
special issue of Bijdragen tot de taal-, land-en volkenkunde 154, 727–41.
Batten, David C. 1998. Transport and urban growth in preindustrial Europe;
implications for archaeology, Human Ecology 26: 489–516.
Bemmelen, R.W. van. 1949. The Geology of Indonesia. The Hague: Government Printing
Office.
Bronson, Bennet. 1977. Exchange at the upstream and downstream ends: notes
toward a functional model of the coastal state in Southeast Asia, in: Karl L.
Hutterer (ed.), Economic Exchange and Social Interaction in Southeast Asia: Perspectives
from Prehistory, History, and Ethnography, 39–52. Ann Arbor: Center for South and
Southeast Asian Studies, University of Michigan.
Campo, J.N.F.M à. 1992. Koninklijke Paketvaart Maatschappij: Stoomvaart en staatsvorming
in de Indonesische archipel 1888–1914. Hilversum: Verloren.
Christaller, W. 1933. Die zentralen Orte in Süddeutschland. Jena: Fischer.
Claessen, H.J.M. 1995. Waarheen de weg ons voerde, in: H.J.M. Claessen (ed.),
Over de weg; De betekenis van infrastructurele voorzieningen in en voor vroege staten,
185–94. Leiden: Rijksuniversiteit Leiden, vakgroep Culturele Antropologie en
Sociologie der Niet-Westerse Samenlevingen.
Claessen, Henri J.M. and Pieter van de Velde. 1987. ‘Introduction’, in: Henri
J.M. Claessen and Pieter van de Velde (eds), Early State Dynamics, 1–23. Leiden:
Brill.
Coen, 1919. Jan-Pietersz. Coen; bescheiden omtrent zijn verblij f in Indië vol. 1, edited by H.T.
Colenbrander. Den Haag: Martinus Nijhoff.
Collet, Octave J.A. 1925. Terres et peuples de Sumatra. Amsterdam: Elsevier.
Colombijn, Freek. 1996. The development of the transport network in West
Sumatra from pre-colonial times to the present, in: J.Th. Lindblad (ed.),
Historical Foundations of a National Economy in Indonesia, 1890s–1990s, 385–400.
Amsterdam: North-Holland. [Verhandelingen Koninklijke Nederlandse Akademie
van Wetenschappen, Afdeling Letterkunde, Nieuwe Reeks 167].
—. 2002. Introduction; On the road, special issue of Bijdragen tot de taal-, land-en
volkenkunde 154, 595–617.
—. 2003. The volatile state in Southeast Asia; evidence from Sumatra, 1600–1800,
The Journal of Asian Studies, 497–529.
Cornelissen, C.H., A.L. van Hasselt and Joh. F. Snelleman. 1882. Reisverhaal; vol. II.
Leiden: Brill. [Midden-Sumatra, reizen en onderzoekingen der Sumatra-expeditie
1].
Dagh-register, 1896–1931. Dagh-register gehouden int Casteel Batavia vant passerende daer ter
plaetse als over geheel Nederlandts-Indië 31 vols. Edited by J.E. Heeres, J.A. van der Chijs,
J. de Hullu, F. de Haan, H.T. Colenbrander and W. Fruin-Mees. ’s-Gravenhage:
Nijhoff, Batavia: Landsdrukkerij, Batavia: Kolff.
Dick, H.W. 1996. The emergence of a national economy, 1808–1990s, in: J.Th.
Lindblad (ed.), Historical Foundations of a National Economy in Indonesia, 1890s–1990s,
21–51, Amsterdam: North-Holland.
Dobbin, Christine. 1983. Islamic Revivalism in a Changing Peasant Economy, Central
Sumatra, 1784–1847. London and Malmö: Curzon.
36 FREEK COLOMBIJN
Durand, Frédéric. 1993. On the regional level, the risk of widespread forest retreat, in:
Muriel Charras and Marc Pain (eds), Spontaneous Settlements in Indonesia; Agricultural
Pioneers in Southern Sumatra/Migrations spontanées en Indonésie; la colonisation agricole du
sud de Sumatra, 243–56. Paris: CNRS, Nanterre: ORSTOM, Jakarta: Departemen
Transmigrasi.
Furukawa, Hisao. 1994. Coastal Wetlands of Indonesia: Environment, Subsistence and
Exploitation. Kyoto: Kyoto University Press.
Galizia, Michele. 1995. Verkehrserschliessung und räumliche Gliederungem—
Ursprung und Struktur einer Region im Bergland des südlichen Sumatra, in:
W. Marschall (ed.), Menschen und Märkte; wirtschaftliche Integration im Hochland
Südsumatras, 37–74. Berlin: Reimer.
Generale, 1960–1988. Generale missiven van gouverneurs-generaal en raden aan Heren XVII
der Verenigde Oostindische Compagnie 9 vols. Edited by W.Ph. Coolhaas and J. van Goor,
’s-Gravenhage: Martinus Nijhoff. [Rijks Geschiedkundige Publicatiën Grote Serie
104, 112, 125, 134, 150, 159, 164, 193, 205].
Gerdes Oosterbeek, W.F. 1919. Post-en telegraafdienst, in: D.G. Stibbe (ed.),
Encyclopaedie van Nederlandsch-Indië vol. 3, 465–84. ’s-Gravenhage: Martinus Nijhoff,
Leiden: Brill.
Goudie, Donald J. (editor and translator). 1989. Syair perang Siak; a court poem presenting
the state policy of a Minangkabau Malay royal family in exile. [with essays on the text by
Phillip L. Thomas & Tenas Effendy]. Kuala Lumpur: Malaysian Branch of the Royal
Asiatic Society. [MBRAS Monograph 17].
Graves, Elizabeth E. 1981. The Minangkabau Response to Dutch Colonial Rule in the
Nineteenth Century. Ithaca: Cornell Modern Indonesia Project. (Monograph Series
60.)
Haan, F.de. 1897. Naar midden Sumatra in 1684. Tijdschrift voor Indische taal-, land-en
volkenkunde 39: 327–66.
Hagen, Victor W. von. 1957. De heerbaan van de zonnegod; Ontdekkingsreizen in het rijk van
de Incas. Amsterdam: Van Ditmar.
Hall, Kenneth, R. 1985. Maritime Trade and State Development in Early Southeast Asia.
Honolulu: University of Hawaii Press.
Hasselt, A.L. van. 1882. Volksbeschrijving en taal; I-1 Volksbeschrijving van Midden-Sumatra.
Leiden: Brill. [Midden-Sumatra, reizen en onderzoekingen der Sumatra-expeditie
3].
Hasselt, A.L. van and J.F. Snelleman. 1881. Reisverhaal; vol. I. Leiden: Brill. [Midden-
Sumatra, reizen en onderzoekingen der Sumatra-expeditie 1].
Kathirithamby-Wells, J. 1977. The British West Sumatran Presidency 1760–1785; Problems
of Early Colonial Enterprise. Kuala Lumpur: Penerbit Universiti Malaya.
—. 1993. Hulu-hilir unity and conflict: Malay statecraft in East Sumatra before the
mid-nineteenth century. Archipel 45: 77–96.
Kaur, Amarjit. 1985. Bridge and Barrier; Transport and Communications in Colonial Malaya
1870–1957. Singapore (etc.): Oxford University Press.
Kato, Tsuyoshi. 1980. Rantau Pariaman: The world of Minangkabau coastal
merchants in the nineteenth century. Journal of Asian Studies 39: 729–52.
Kielstra, E.B. 1889. Sumatra’s westkust van 1833–1835. Bijdragen tot de taal-, land-en
volkenkunde van Nederlandsch-Indië 38: 161–249, 313–79, 467–514.
Knapen, Han. 2001. Forests of Fortune? The Environmental History of Southeast Borneo,
1600–1880. Leiden: KITLV Press. [KITLV, Verhandelingen 189].
Laurence. Ray. 1999. The Roads of Roman Italy; Mobility and Cultural Change. London and
New York: Routledge.
Letters. 1896–1902. Letters received by the East India Company from its servants in the East;
transcribed from the ‘‘Original Correspondence’’ series of the India Office Records 6 vols. Edited
by F.C. Danvers and W. Foster. London: Sampson Low, Marston & Company.
A MOVING HISTORY OF MIDDLE SUMATRA 37
Leur, J.C. van. 1955. Indonesian Trade and Society; Essays in Asian and Social Economic
History. The Hague, Bandung: Van Hoeve.
Marsden, William. 1811. The History of Sumatra, third edition. Reprint 1966. Kuala
Lumpur: Oxford University Press.
Meilink-Roelofsz, Marie Antoinette Petronella. 1962. Asian Trade and European Influence
in the Indonesian Archipelago between 1500 and about 1850. ’s-Gravenhage: Martinus
Nijhoff [PhD University of Amsterdam].
Miksic, John N. 1984. Penganalisaan wilayah dan pertumbuhan kebudayaan tinggi di
Sumatera Selatan. Berkala Arkeologi 5(1): 9–24.
Müller, S. 1837. Berigten over Sumatra. Amsterdam: Beijerinck.
Müller, S. and L. Horner. 1855. Reizen en onderzoekingen in Sumatra gedaan op last der
Nederlandsche-Indische regering, tusschen de jaren 1833 en 1838, ’s Gravenhage: Fuhri.
Nahuijs, H.G. 1827, Brieven over Bencoolen, Padang, het rijk van Menangkabau, Rhiouw,
Sincapoera en Poelo Pinang, 2nd edition. Breda: Hollingérus.
Oki, Akira. 1986. The river trade in Central and South Sumatra in the 19th century,
in: T. Kato, M. Lutfi and N. Maeda (eds), Environment, Agriculture and Society in the
Malay World, 3–48. Kyoto: Center for Southeast Asian Studies, Kyoto University.
Ponting, Clive. 1992. A Green History of the World. Harmondsworth: Penguin. [First
published 1991].
Porath, Nathan. 2002. A river, a road, an indigenous people and an entangled
landscape in Riau (Indonesia), special issue of Bijdragen tot de taal-, land-en volkenkunde
154, 769–97.
Raffles, Lady Sophia. 1830. Memoir of the Life and Public Services of Sir Thomas Stamford
Raffles. Reprint 1991. Oxford: University Press.
Reid, Anthony. 1993. Southeast Asia in the Age of Commerce 1450–1680 vol. 2 Expansion
and Crisis. New Haven and London: Yale University Press.
—. 1997. A new phase of commercial expansion in Southeast Asia, 1760–1850, in:
Anthony Reid (ed.), The Last Stand of Asian Autonomies; Responses to Modernity in the
Diverse States of Southeast Asia and Korea, 1750–1900, 57–81. Houndmills: Macmillan.
Rigg, Jonathan. 1997. Southeast Asia; The Human Landscape of Modernization and
Development. London and New York: Routledge.
Scholz, Ulrich. 1988. Agrargeographie von Sumatra; eine Analyse der räumlichen
Differenzierung der landwirtschaftlichen Produktion. [Giessen: Geographischen Instituts
der Justus Liebig-Universität. Giessener geographische Schriften 63].
Scott, James C. 1985. Weapons of the Weak; Everyday Forms of Peasant Resistance. New
Haven: Yale University Press.
Staatsblad van Nederlandsch-Indië. 1853, 1857.
Stuers, H.J.J.L. de. 1850. De vestiging en uitbreiding der Nederlanders ter Westkust van Sumatra
vol 2. Amsterdam: Van Kampen.
Sturler, W.L. de. 1843. Proeve eener beschrijving van het gebied van Palembang (Zuid-Oostelijk
gedeelte van Sumatra). Groningen: Oomkens.
Tideman, J. [1935]. Land en volk van Bengkalis. [Mededeeling 9 van het Encyclopaedisch
Bureau van de Koninklijke Vereeniging ‘Koloniaal Instiuut’].
Tolley, Rodney S. and Brian J. Turton. 1995. Transport Systems, Policy and Planning; A
Geographical Approach. Harlow: Longman.
Veth, D.D. 1882. Aardrijkskundige beschrijving van Midden-Sumatra met atlas. Leiden: Brill.
[Midden-Sumatra; reizen en onderzoekingen der Sumatra-Expeditie 2].
Wallace, Alfred Russell. 1869. The Malay Archipelago; The Land of the Orang-utan, and the
Bird of Paradise. London: Macmillan. [Reprint 1986 Singapore: Oxford University
Press].
Wellan, J.W.J. 1926. Onze eerste vestiging in Djambi; naar oorspronkelijke stukken.
Bijdragen tot de taal-, land-en volkenkunde van Nederlandsch-Indië 82: 339–83.
Westenenk, L.C. 1927. Waar mensch en tijger buren zijn, ’s-Gravenhage: Leopold.
38 FREEK COLOMBIJN
Wisseman Christie, Jan. 1995. State formation in early maritime Southeast Asia; a
consideration of the theories and the data. Bijdragen tot de taal-, land-en volkenkunde
151: 235–88.
Woelders, M.O. 1975. Het sultanaat Palembang 1811–1825. ’s-Gravenhage: Martinus
Nijhoff. [Verhandelingen van het Koninklijk Institut voor Taal-, Land-en
Volkenkunde 72].
Wolfram-Seifert, Ursel. 1992. Faktoren der Urbanisierung und die Entwicklung regionaler
Städtesysteme auf Sumatra. Hamburg: Institut für Geographie der Universität
Hamburg. [Hamburger Geographische Studien 46].
Wolters 1967. Early Indonesian Commerce; A Study of the Origins of Srivijaya. Ithaca:
Cornell: University Press.