Van Oerbosch tot Cultuurgebied (Volker, 1928)

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tagsdocument, book, colonial, east-sumatra, tobacco, economic-history
aliasesVan Oerbosch tot Cultuurgebied, Volker 1928, DLP-76, From Primeval Forest to Cultivation Area

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Van Oerbosch tot Cultuurgebied: Een Schets van de Beteekenis van de Tabak, de Andere Cultures en de Industrie ter Oostkust van Sumatra (From Primeval Forest to Cultivation Area: A Sketch of the Significance of Tobacco, Other Crops, and Industry on Sumatra’s East Coast) is a historical and economic survey published in 1928 by Dr. T. Volker and issued by the Deli Planters Vereeniging in Medan. The work covers the agricultural and commercial transformation of Sumatra’s East Coast from its condition as uncharted jungle in 1863 to its position by 1927 as the second most economically productive region in the Dutch colonial empire. A copy is held at the Universiteitsbibliotheek Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam under shelfmark 09383.

Purpose and Audience

Volker wrote the book to correct what he regarded as widespread ignorance among Dutch business and public circles about the East Coast’s importance and character. His preface recounts telling anecdotes of Java planters dismissing Deli’s achievements and rubber men deploring its supposed backwardness — attitudes he attributes to the fact that the Oostkust, unlike Java, had no prior scholarly literature popularizing its story. The work explicitly disclaims scientific pretension, describing itself as intended purely for “publiciteit” (public information).

Structure

The book is divided into two hoofdstukken (main chapters):

  • Chapter I — a historical overview of the East Coast’s development from 1863 to 1927, covering the pioneer period, the establishment of company structures, relations with the Acehnese and Batak populations, the pacification of the frontier, the petroleum industry, and successive crises and recoveries in tobacco prices.
  • Chapter II — a contemporary survey of the East Coast’s economic situation in 1927, with statistical data on output, labour, capital investment, and the diversity of cultures and industries.

Key Historical Narrative

The book traces the transformation from a thinly populated coast of Malay river-mouth settlements and Batak interior villages into the most intensively cultivated plantation region outside Java. Volker identifies the following milestones:

Volker also records the steady growth of the petroleum industry near Pangkalan Brandan, begun with the first test-borings by Zijlker in 1883 and resulting in the formation of the Koninklijke in 1890.

Labour and Social Statistics

The book provides detailed data on the imported labour force that sustained the plantation economy. By 31 December 1927, around 28,000 Chinese and 59,500 Javanese (together with 7,700 workers of other origins such as Bantamese, Banjarese, and British Indians) worked in the East Coast cultures. The book also records the financial flows that immigration generated: between 1888 and 1927, repatriating workers remitted ƒ 7,716,000 in money orders, with additional annual remittances averaging ƒ 96,000 (older workers) and ƒ 100,000 (new arrivals) per year.

Significance

Van Oerbosch tot Cultuurgebied is the principal contemporary account of the formative period of the East Sumatran plantation economy written from within the planter community. Its value as a source lies in its combination of economic statistics — drawn from DPV records and official data — with a narrative that preserves the memory of individual pioneer figures such as Jacobus Nienhuys and J. T. Cremer, the institutional history of the Deli Planters Vereeniging, and the security context provided by Acehnese raiding and Batak resistance. Published the year after Nienhuys’s death at 91, it serves partly as a retrospective tribute to the founding generation.

See Also

Source

Van Oerbosch tot Cultuurgebied: Een Schets van de Beteekenis van de Tabak, de Andere Cultures en de Industrie ter Oostkust van Sumatra, by Dr. T. Volker (Medan: Deli Planters Vereeniging, 1928). Delpher Digital Library, reference DLP-76. Universiteitsbibliotheek Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, shelfmark 09383.

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