The Kaart van Groot-Atjeh (“Map of Great Atjeh”) is the folded map of Groot-Atjeh included at the end of Borel’s Onze vestiging in Atjeh, critisch beschreven (‘s-Gravenhage: D. A. Thieme, 1878). Together with the companion Schets van het Bivouak Penajoeng en van den Kraton met omgeving at 1:10 000, it constitutes the cartographic apparatus of the book — the visual representation of the theatre of operations that Borel’s narrative describes. The map’s purpose was, in Borel’s stated intention, to spread “meerdere kennis betreffende de Atjeh-aangelegenheden” at a moment when the war had “weder zoo geheel op den voorgrond” returned.
The Cartographic Apparatus of the Book
The Kaart van Groot-Atjeh was, in Borel’s design, one of two folded maps bound into the book. The first — the Kaart van Groot-Atjeh itself — depicted the whole theatre of operations: the sultanate of Atjeh, the Kraton and the Dutch hoofdplaats of K. Radja, the Atjeh-rivier and its tributaries, the Sagi’s (the VI, IV, IX, XXII, XXV, XXVI and III Moekims), the coastal kampongs from Marassa to Oeleh Leh and from Lemboe to Gigieng, the vassal coastal states (Analaboe, Pedir, Samalangan, Pasangan, Simpang Olim, Edi, Gedoeng), and the projected afsluitingslinie from the Kroeng Raba on the west coast to the Kroeng Raya on the north coast that constituted Pel’s plan. The second map — the Schets van het Bivouak Penajoeng en van den Kraton met omgeving at 1:10 000 — was a detailed sketch of the Penajoeng bivouac and the Kraton with its surroundings, the focus of the opening chapters of the book. Both maps were printed on folded sheets bound at the end of the volume; the map legends on pp. 379 and 381 of the printed book provide the keys.
Function in Borel’s Argument
The Kaart van Groot-Atjeh functions in Borel’s argument as the visual complement to his indictment of the afwachtende houding (wait-and-see posture) and his advocacy of the aanvallende tactiek. The map allows the reader to see at a glance the geography that Borel’s narrative describes in detail: the smallness of the Dutch vestiging around K. Radja relative to the vast Sagi’s of the interior; the exposure of the Dutch line to the XXII Moekims — “de kern van Atjeh’s weerstandsvermogen,” the densest-populated Sagi, never permanently occupied; the strategic importance of the Kroeng Tjoet as a contraband supply channel from the sea to the XXVI Moekims; the projected afsluitingslinie from the Kroeng Raba to the Kroeng Raya that Pel’s plan was intended to complete; the vulnerability of the vassal coastal states — Analaboe, Pedir, Samalangan, Pasangan, Simpang Olim, Edi, Gedoeng — through which the Atjehneezen received hulpbenden, wapens and levensmiddelen. The map thus makes visible the strategic logic of Borel’s argument: the Dutch vestiging at K. Radja was a small point in a vast hostile interior; the afwachtende houding merely allowed the enemy to use the time and the space to reorganise; only the aanvallende tactiek — pursued to the closure of Atjeh from the sea — could end the war.
Relation to the Official Maps
The Kaart van Groot-Atjeh was, in Borel’s account, intended to supplement and correct the official maps of the war — including the inaccurate “map of the terrain around K. Radja” that Borel cites as having given the Dutch a false picture of the defences they were attacking during the storming of the Mesigit on 6 January 1874 and the nineteen-day bombardment that followed. The Beknopte beschrijving van den Kraton van Groot Atjeh — published by the Departement van Koloniën before the second expedition — had misrepresented the Kraton’s construction, defences and approaches; the official maps had compounded the error. Borel’s own map, drawn from his personal observation as an artillery officer who had walked the Kraton’s borstwering and had supervised the debarkation of guns at Oeleh Leh, was, in his implicit claim, a more accurate representation of the theatre. The Kaart van Groot-Atjeh thus stands in Borel’s book not merely as an illustration but as a documentary argument: the visible proof of the gap between the official picture of Atjeh and the reality that the Dutch had encountered.
See Also
- Onze vestiging in Atjeh (Borel, 1878)
- G. F. W. Borel
- Groot-Atjeh
- Beknopte beschrijving van den Kraton van Groot Atjeh
- Stelling-Pel
- Pel’s plan for the Atjeh line
- Strategische driehoek (Atjeh)
- Sagi
- Kroeng Raba
- Kroeng Raya
- 1878
Source
Onze vestiging in Atjeh, critisch beschreven, by G. F. W. Borel, Kapitein der Artillerie. ‘s-Gravenhage: D. A. Thieme, 1878. Map legends pp. 379, 381; table of contents pp. 364–377.