Land en Volk van Atjeh Vroeger en Nu (Jongejans, 1938)

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tagsdocument, book, jongejans, aceh, 1938, colonial, ethnography, primary-source
aliasesLand en Volk van Atjeh Vroeger en Nu, Land en volk van Atjeh vroeger en nu, Jongejans 1938, Jongejans Land en Volk, Land and People of Atjeh Past and Present

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Land en Volk van Atjeh Vroeger en Nu (“Land and People of Atjeh, Past and Present”) is a Dutch-language colonial-era monograph on Aceh by J. J. Jongejans, formerly Oud-Resident van het Gewest Atjeh en Onderhoorigheden (Former Resident of the Region of Atjeh and Dependencies), published by Hollandia Drukkerij N.V. in Baarn around 1938. With a foreword by Dr. Hendrikus Colijn, the work is a comprehensive survey of the geography, history, ethnography, economy, administration, and military history of Atjeh, written from the perspective of a senior colonial administrator who had served in the region.

Author and Authority

Jongejan wrote the book in retirement, drawing on his first-hand experience as Resident of Atjeh (he was succeeded by Pauw on 30 September 1938) and on the assistance of serving officials. In his preface he acknowledges the help of officials named Pelger (who assisted with Chapter I, on history), Klerks (who assisted with Chapters V and VII, on economics and administration), and others who supplied the most recent data. The book was written in 1938 and the author notes that the Pretendent-Sultan Toeankoe Moehamad Dawot died in Batavia in April of the year preceding publication, placing the book in the late 1938 or early 1939 period.

Foreword by Dr. H. Colijn

The foreword was written by Dr. H. Colijn, the former Prime Minister of the Netherlands and himself a former colonial official with Atjeh experience (he served as a young lieutenant under Van Heutsz and was decorated for the Lho’Soekon expedition of the 1890s). Colijn commended the book for showing “overeenstemming tusschen woord en werkelijkheid” (agreement between word and reality) and recommended it as a corrective to the prevailing image of Atjeh as merely a theatre of military operations, arguing that the fruits of Dutch political and military action should also be observed.

Structure and Contents

The book is divided into ten chapters covering:

  1. Historical overview — from the Hindu colonization through the Aceh Sultanate, the Atjeh-oorlog (1873–1918), and the Atjeh-murder phenomenon.
  2. The land and its regions — geography of Groot-Atjeh, the Noordkust (North Coast), Oostkust (East Coast), Westkust (West Coast), Gajolanden, Alaslanden, and the islands.
  3. The people — the Atjehers, Gajos, Alassers, and other ethnic groups; their customs, religion, and social organization.
  4. The Atjehnese family — rites of passage, performance traditions, dress, food, and burial customs.
  5. Economic survey — agriculture (rice, nilam, coconut, betel nut, rubber, kapok, coffee, spices, pepper), livestock, mining (oil, coal, gold), forestry, fishing, native industry, and trade, with detailed 1937 export statistics.
  6. Communications — the Atjeh railway, roads, motor services, and shipping.
  7. Administration and clergy — the colonial civil administration, the oelèëbalang system, the sagi federation of Groot-Atjeh, and the religious hierarchy (ulama, teungkoe, imeum).
  8. Atjeh figures — biographical sketches of the principal Acehnese leaders: Teukoe Oemar, Tjoct Nja Din, Panglima Polém, the Pretendent-Sultan Toeankoe Moehamad Dawot, the four generations of Teungkoe Tirò, and others.
  9. Atjeh-murders — the phenomenon of Atjeh-moord, with year-by-year statistics 1910–1938 and the Amat Leupon case study of 1933.
  10. The Army — the military history from 1819 to the late 1930s, including the marechaussee campaigns and the transition to civilian rule on 2 September 1918.

Significance

The work is one of the principal late-colonial surveys of Atjeh and is cited by Piekaar in the bibliography of Atjèh and the War with Japan alongside the works of Dr. Snouck Hurgronje, Damsté, Kreemer, and Zentgraaff. It provides a unique administrator’s-eye view of Atjeh in the final decade before the Japanese invasion, combining economic statistics, administrative detail, and personal recollection. The book is the source for the present wiki’s articles on many Atjeh-related subjects drawn from the 1938 snapshot.

See Also

Source

Land en Volk van Atjeh Vroeger en Nu, by J. Jongejans, Oud-Resident van het Gewest Atjeh en Onderhoorigheden, with a foreword by Dr. H. Colijn (Baarn: Hollandia Drukkerij N.V., c. 1938). OCR transcription: 20260801_230453_DLP-150-Land_en_volk_van_Atjeh_vroeger_en_nu_Nemotron-OCR-v2_OCR.txt.

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