Kreemer’s Atjèh — full title Atjèh. Algemeen samenvattend overzicht van land en volk van Atjèh en onderhoorigheden — by J. Kreemer, Archivaris van het Atjèh Instituut, published in two volumes by N.V. Boekhandel en Drukkerij voorheen E.J. Brill in Leiden, 1922–1923, is the principal twentieth-century encyclopaedic survey of the Atjèh sultanate and its dependencies. Commissioned by the Atjèh Instituut founded in 1914, the work is the fruit of Kreemer’s field-research in Atjèh from 18 February 1916 to 23 October 1917, and of his work in the governor’s archive at Koeta Radja.
Structure and contents
The work is divided into two volumes. The first volume (Leiden: Brill, 1922, Eerste Deel) covers:
- I. Geschiedenis (History) — oldest history to 1824; the period 1824–1873 and the causes of the Atjèh-oorlog; and the Atjèh-oorlog itself (1873–1910) in seven tijdvakken (periods).
- II. Oudheden (Antiquities) — Hinduism, ruins, Kraton remains, monuments, Sultans’ graves.
- III. Het Land (The Land) — statistical-geographical description: name, area, situation, borders, territorial division, mapping, terrain, geology, coast, hydrography, communications, minerals, plants, climate, animals.
- IV. Volksbeschrijving (Ethnography) — population, physical and psychological characteristics, body care, clothing, weapons and warfare, food and drink, houses and household goods, villages and village-houses, music and dance, games and entertainments.
- V. Economische Beschrijving (Economic Description) — agriculture, livestock, native industry.
The second volume (Leiden: Brill, 1923, Tweede Deel) covers — as announced by Kreemer in his preface — commerce, credit, currency, weights and measures; shipping; communications; hunting and fishing; taxes and corvée; landschapskassen (regional treasuries); education; administration and justice; customary law; ceremonies and customs of family life; religion and religious customs; folk medicine; chronology; language and literature.
Methodology and sources
Kreemer states in his preface that the building-blocks of the work are of three origins: “vooreerst die, welke reeds in de literatuur voorhanden zijn; in de tweede plaats die, welke door eigen navraag in loco van Inlandsche zijde werden verkregen; en eindelijk die, welke afkomstig zijn van het gewestelijk archief te Koeta Radja” — “first, those already available in the literature; secondly, those obtained by own enquiry in loco from the native side; and thirdly, those derived from the regional archive at Koeta Radja.”
Of the existing literature, Kreemer records that “vooral een druk en dankbaar gebruik gemaakt van ‘De Atjèhers’ en van ‘Het Gajöland en zijne bewoners’” — “especially a heavy and grateful use was made of ‘De Atjèhers’ [by Snouck Hurgronje] and of ‘Het Gajöland en zijne bewoners.’” Next to these, Kreemer credits the “onschatbare Gajösch-Nederlandsche Woordenboek” of Dr. G. A. J. Hazeu.
The principal informant
Kreemer records his principal Atjèhnese informant as Teungkoe Tjhèh Ibrahim, the hatib (preacher) of the great mosque at Koeta Radja and kali of the moesapat’s of Koeta Radja, Oelèë Lheuë, and Lam Njöng. “Maandenlang kwam hij schrijver dagelijks vanuit zijn kampoeng Lam Bhö£ te Koeta Radja bezoeken, wèl wetende, dat zijn hulp niet kon worden ontbeerd voor het doen slagen van de door schrijver op zich genomen taak.” Kreemer notes that this man — “in Westerschen zin volkomen ongeschoold en toch met een diepe kennis, een fijnen geest en onberispelijke vormen begaafd” — “in the Western sense completely uneducated and yet endowed with a deep knowledge, a fine mind, and impeccable manners” — had been one of Snouck Hurgronje’s most valued informants.
Comparative method and scope
Kreemer states that, by the comparative method underlying his arrangement, “in hoofdzaak alleen de Atjèhers, Gajö’s en Alassers betrokken” — “in the main only the Atjèhnese, Gayo, and Alas were included.” The Malay inhabitants of Atjèh’s West Coast, the Singkelese, and the Simalorese were excluded as already adequately described elsewhere. The spelling of native terms follows the system of Dr. Snouck Hurgronje, with the simplification that the Atjèhnese sound rendered by Snouck as th is rendered by Kreemer as s.
Significance
Kreemer’s Atjèh is, in the historiography of the Atjèh sultanate, the principal encyclopaedic survey of the early civil-government period — the work that synthesised the military-administrative scholarship of the war period with the ethnographic and geographical data Kreemer collected in the field in 1916–1917. Its two volumes are the source of a substantial number of entries in this wiki that document the Atjèh sultanate’s history, antiquities, geography, and ethnography from Kreemer’s distinctive perspective.
Sources
Atjèh: algemeen samenvattend overzicht van land en volk van Atjèh en Onderhoorigheden, by J. Kreemer, 2 vols. (1922-23).
De Karbouw — Zijn betekenis voor de volken van de Indonesische Archipel, by J. Kreemer (‘s-Gravenhage / Bandung: N.V. Uitgeverij W. van Hoeve, 1956), Lijst van geschriften and passim.
See Also
- Acheh
- J. Kreemer
- Atjèh Instituut
- C. Snouck Hurgronje
- G. A. J. Hazeu
- E. J. Brill
- Koeta Radja
- Teungkoe Tjhèh Ibrahim
- De Buitenbezittingen (Deel II, Aflevering 2)
- 1922
- 1923
- Alasland
- Atjeh en Onderhorigheden
- Christiaan Snouck Hurgronje
- G. A. J. Hazeu
- Gajoland
- Hoesein Djajadiningrat
- J. Kreemer
- Kreemer’s De Karbouw (1956)
- Kreemer’s De Maleier en zijn karbouw (1907)
- Snouck Hurgronje’s De Atjehers (1893-94)
- Snouck Hurgronje’s Het Gajoland en zijne bewoners (1903)
Source
Atjèh. Algemeen samenvattend overzicht van land en volk van Atjèh en onderhoorigheden, door J. Kreemer, Archivaris van het Atjèh Instituut. Eerste Deel. Leiden: N.V. Boekhandel en Drukkerij voorheen E.J. Brill, 1922. “Een woord vooraf” and “Inhoud van het eerste deel,” blz. V–XVI.
Identifier: Delpher MMKB02B:000000164 (Deel I), MMKB02B:000001798 (Deel II); PPN 395084288. Koninklijke Bibliotheek, shelfmark 1132 A 60–61.