The Atjehsche suprematie over de Timoerhoogvlakte — the Atjehnese supremacy over the Timoer-Batak hoogvlakte — was, in the Encyclopaedisch Bureau’s survey of the Outer Possessions, the long period during which the four Simeloengoensche rijkjes of Silau, Panel, Sintar and Si Tonggang acknowledged the opperhoogheid — the supreme authority — of the Sultan of Atjeh. The supremacy was, the Bureau records, the parallel of the Atjehsche oppermacht in the Gajo- and Alaslanden on the eastern side of the highlands, and it left its institutional trace in the Atjehsche viervorsten-systeem that the Timoer-Batak rijkjes preserved, in altered form, into the colonial period.
Background: the four Simeloengoensche rijkjes
The Bureau’s account of the Atjehsche suprematie over the Timoerhoogvlakte opens with the dissolution of the older Batakrijk Nggeer — the great Batak realm that had once stretched over the whole of Simeloengoen and a great part of the Timoerhoogvlakte. The Bureau records that the dissolution of Nggeer produced four successor-rijkjes: Silau, Panel, Sintar and Si Tonggang — “welke, hoewel ieder onafhankelijk, toch steeds in nauwen samenhang totelkaar bleven” — “which, though each independent, nevertheless always remained in close connection with each other.”
The Atjehsche opperhoogheid
The four Timoer-Batak rijkjes acknowledged, the Bureau records, the opperhoogheid of the Sultan of Atjeh for “geruimen tijd” — “a considerable time.” The Bureau records: “De toenemende macht van Atjeh noopte de vorsten dezer rijkjes om — evenaals dat in de Gajolanden het geval is geweest — gedurende geruimen tijd de opperhoogheid van den Sultan te erkennen” — “The increasing power of Atjeh compelled the princes of these rijkjes — just as was the case in the Gajolanden — to acknowledge, for a considerable time, the opperhoogheid of the Sultan.” The Bureau’s parallel with the Gajolanden is the explicit link between the Atjehsche oppermacht in the Gajo- and Alaslanden and the Atjehsche suprematie over the Timoerhoogvlakte: the two supremacies are presented as the western and eastern faces of the same Atjehnese highland projection.
The institutional imprint
The institutional imprint of the Atjehsche suprematie on the Timoer-Batak rijkjes was, the Bureau records, the Atjehsche viervorsten-systeem. The Bureau records: “Sommige bestuursinstellingen volgens het Atjehsche viervorsten-systeem (dat ook op de Karo-hoogvlakte werd ingevoerd door Atjeh) worden nog aan dien invloed toegeschreven” — “Some administrative institutions according to the Atjehsche four-princes system (which was also introduced on the Karo hoogvlakte by Atjeh) are still attributed to that influence.” The Bureau’s parenthetical reference to the Karo hoogvlakte signals that the Atjehsche viervorsten-systeem had been imposed, in parallel, on both the Timoerhoogvlakte and the Karo hoogvlakte — a uniform Atjehnese institutional arrangement across the entire Batak highland country.
The decay of the suprematie
The Atjehsche suprematie over the Timoerhoogvlakte decayed, the Bureau records, with the broader decay of Atjehnese power in the highlands. The Bureau records that “De steeds afnemende macht der vorsten kon een verder uiteenvallen van het [Timoer-Batak] gebied niet meer tegenhouden” — “The steadily declining power of the princes could no longer prevent a further dissolution of the [Timoer-Batak] territory” — and that Silau split into Dolok and Poerba, while Raja arose at the expense of Silau and Panel. The Atjehsche suprematie was, by the time of the Dutch advance into the highlands in the late nineteenth century, a memory rather than a political fact.
Significance
The Atjehsche suprematie over de Timoerhoogvlakte is, in the Encyclopaedisch Bureau’s survey, the eastern counterpart of the Atjehsche oppermacht in the Gajo- and Alaslanden: where the latter extended Atjehnese power across the central Sumatran highlands, the former extended it across the eastern Batak highlands. The two supremacies together constitute the highland complement of the Atjehsche overlordship of the East Coast statelets, and they leave their institutional trace in the Atjehsche viervorsten-systeem that the Dutch colonial state would later revive and amplify in the 1904–1906 annexation of the Karo hoogvlakte.
See Also
- Acheh
- Batak-Timoer
- Simeloengoen
- Silau
- Panei
- Siantar
- Si Tonggang
- Dolok
- Poerba
- Raja
- atjehsche-oppermacht-in-de-gajo-en-alaslanden
- atjehsche-overheersing-der-noordelijke-kuststaatjes
- atjehsche-viervorsten-systeem
- atjehsche-invloed-op-het-karoland
- rijk Nggeer
- 1607
- 1636
Source
De Buitenbezittingen, Deel II, Afl. 3: Oostkust van Sumatra. Eerste Stuk, bewerkt door het Encyclopaedisch Bureau, Mededeelingen van het Bureau voor de Bestuurszaken der Buitenbezittingen (Weltevreden: Landsdrukkerij, 1918), p. 117. Universiteitsbibliotheek Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, shelfmark LS.08781.