The Landschap — the Atjehnese landschap or oeléebalangschap — was the principal territorial and political unit of pre-colonial and early colonial Atjeh, governed by an oeléebalang with his own zelfbestuur (self-government) under the suzerainty of the Dutch government. The landschap is the unit of account for the pepper-trade, the petroleum-cijns, the hacil, the pangkai, and the Korte Verklaring (1899)|Korte Verklaring of 1899. Each landschap has its own landschapskas (treasury) and its own begrooting (budget); the begrooting of the associated landschappen of the afdeeling Pidië for 1923 goes over an amount of more than f 457.103. Among the expenditures the salaries take a wide place: there are oeléebalangs who receive 100, 200 guilders monthly, the highest-paid receiving 500 guilders; an army of oelama’s and imeums receives 10 and 15 guilders monthly.
The Landschap and the Pepper-Planters
When pepper-planters from elsewhere settled in a landschap, new oudtten arose to authority-bearing chiefs. A fragmentation of authority could occasionally be convenient for the Dutch administration, but as a rule it caused difficulty and delay in the application of measures. In Lho’ Seumawé the fragmentation went so far that there came to be too many chiefs and petty chiefs. The landschap Peureula (Perlak), by contrast, is an old Atjehnese settlement and the pepper-cultivation is of old date there.
See Also
- Oeléebalang
- Korte Verklaring (1899)
- Pangkai
- Wasé (hacil)
- Pepper cultivation in Atjeh
- Pidië
- Peureula (Perlak)
- Verkenningen in Atjeh (1923)
- 1923
Source
Verkenningen in Atjeh, by Dr. R. Broersma (De Locomotief, October 1923), chapters V, IX, XIII, passim.
Source
Verkenningen in Atjeh, by Dr. R. Broersma (De Locomotief, October 1923); Atjeh Patchouli-Olie, by Ir. W. Spoon (1932), where applicable.